pandemic - Page 8

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) – Armenia’s parliament approved a law Friday that would allow employers to fire workers who refuse to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative test result.

A member of the populist Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) has expressed concern that amendments to a law on administrative enforcement could be used to imprison unvaccinated people for as long as a year.

The introduction of Covid passes in England will lead to mandatory vaccination, creating a “subclass of people who are treated as unclean, unsafe, and excluded”, privacy and civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch has warned.

The leader of the Scottish wing of the Conservative Party has spoken out against Prime Minister Boris Johnson on vaccine passports and said he should go if he misled Parliament about an alleged lockdown-breaking Christmas party at Downing Street.

UFC legend Conor McGregor has branded “forced” vaccination a “war crime” and slammed the EU and its “lapdogs” in the Irish government.

Markus Lohi, chairman of the Finnish parliament’s Social Affairs and Health Committee, has said he will not support a European Union-wide vaccine mandate.

Britain’s system for risk management has been called “deficient and too inflexible” in a new report which was published on Friday.

There seems to be a disconnect between members who voted to pass the bill and those who did not regarding what the bill would accomplish.

Britons should keep away from the mistletoe this year, says a government minister who told the public to not kiss “people they don’t know”.

COPENHAGEN (AP) – At least 50 people in and around Norway’s capital have been infected with the omicron coronavirus variant and the cases are connected to a Norwegian company’s Christmas party in an Oslo restaurant, officials said Thursday.

The British government has placed orders for 114 million more vaccine doses for use in 2022 and 2023, the Health Secretary has said.

Incoming German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he will push for a vaccine mandate and blamed the unvaccinated for the surge in cases.

Nearly half of Americans view COVID as the country’s top health problem, even though the virus was the third leading cause of death in 2020.

The mayor of Oroville, California has found a revolutionary way to protest Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) vaccine mandate for school children.

The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) on Monday convened its second “special session” in 73 years, with the goal of hammering out a global “pandemic treaty” to coordinate a worldwide response to future threats like the Wuhan coronavirus.

AMSTERDAM (AP) – The Netherlands moved into a tougher lockdown Sunday that was announced amid spiking infections even before the country recorded its first confirmed cases of the new, more highly transmissible omicron virus variant.

TOKYO (AP) – Portuguese health authorities said Monday they have identified 13 cases of omicron, the new coronavirus variant believed to be more contagious, among team members of a professional soccer club.

A big sell-off all around the world as investors grapple with fears of latest variant from South Africa.

The UK announced that it was banning flights from South Africa and five other southern African countries effective at noon on Friday, and that anyone who had recently arrived from those countries would be asked to take a coronavirus test.

During Wednesday’s “Newsroom” on CNN, political commentator Bill Kristol argued that people should realize there was no Thanksgiving last year given the COVID pandemic before they complained about inflation causing soaring food prices this year.

The doubly vaccinated French Prime Minister, Jean Castex, has been forced to go into quarantine after testing positive for COVID on Monday.

Ten of thousands of people demonstrated through Brussels on Sunday to protest lockdown restrictions imposed by the Belgian government.

There are growing calls within Germany to follow the lead of neighbouring Austria and mandate vaccines for the Chinese coronavirus.

A report on the United Kingdom’s response to the Chinese coronavirus crisis has found that the government was “underprepared” for such a pandemic, stating that there were no “detailed plans” to deal with a coronavirus outbreak. The National Audit Office

Mass demonstrations erupted across Europe on Saturday with anti-lockdown protests being staged in Vienna, Rome, and The Netherlands.

The UK is investigating whether built-in racial bias in some medical devices led to higher Black and Asian deaths from COVID-19.

The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is reportedly making preparations to vaccinate children as young as five years old by the Spring.

The coronavirus pandemic triggered a partial collapse of Asia’s tourism sector last year, eliminating 1.6 million jobs across five Asian countries, the International Labor Organization (ILO) reported Thursday.

Police have said at least two people may have been shot as a result of officers firing warning shots during violent protests in Rotterdam on Friday evening, as demonstrations against the Dutch government’s decision to enact another coronavirus lockdown descended into chaotic riots.

VIENNA (AP) — Thousands of protesters gathered in Vienna on Saturday after the Austrian government announced a nationwide lockdown to contain the quickly rising coronavirus infections in the country.

The Austrian government has announced it will be forcing all residents to take a Wuhan virus vaccine. Those who refuse will face heavy fines and possible prison sentences starting in February.

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), who stepped down from his position during a sexual assault investigation, lost approval on Tuesday to publish his 2020 memoir, Politico reported.

Spirit AeroSystems and Textron could be “the most hit” among the United States aerospace and defense companies and “face the loss of several employees” if President Joe Biden’s federal vaccine mandate goes into effect, according to a Wednesday Reuters report.

The likely successor to Angela Merkel, Olaf Sholz has stated that he is open to the idea of mandatory vaccinations in Germany.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to rule out a winter lockdown leaving Briton’s facing the prospect of a lonely Christmas yet again. 

The Austrian government has imposed a nationwide stay-at-home lockdown exclusively on the unvaccinated, in what opposition politicians have denounced as a “corona apartheid system”.