Nevada Casinos Go Record 9 Months With $1B In House Winnings

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority set a record in November, reporting a ninth straight month of $1 billion or more in house winnings, gambling regulators said Wednesday, providing another sign that business in the nation’s tourist-dependent gambling mecca has returned to pre-pandemic levels.

The $1.32 billion in casino winnings reported statewide last month was up from $1.22 billion in October, and almost reached the record $1.36 billion figure set last July, the Nevada Gaming Control Board reported.

The streak beat the previous record of eight consecutive months set before the Great Recession, from October 2006 to May 2007, board senior analyst Michael Lawton said.

Nevada sports betting also set records — reaping a record $72 million in November on sports wagers totaling $1.1 billion.

Lawton said the previous record was $61.8 million in sports bets won by casinos in November 2020, and he noted sports books took in more than $1 billion in wagers in consecutive months for the first time. Most sports wagers were made with mobile betting apps.

“The continued acceptance of mobile sports wagering by customers is driving these results,” Lawton said. “This month represented the highest monthly total recorded in mobile (bets) since the board began tracking these wagers in January 2020.”

Business generally has been buoyed by visitors with money to spend, Lawton said, and a sustained rebound of leisure travel and the return in early November of airline flights from international places other than Canada and Mexico.

Special events and entertainment also helped push casino winnings for the year-to-date to almost 12% past 2019 levels. Only North Las Vegas and Laughlin are still below 2019 calendar year levels, Lawton said.

Most economic and revenue comparisons don’t use 2020, when many businesses were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nevada collected almost $93.6 million in tax revenues based on the November figures, the report said.

Lawton noted a full month of events in November included the return to Las Vegas of the big automobile-oriented Specialty Equipment Market Association trade show; the start of entertainer Sting’s residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace; a Rolling Stones concert at Allegiant Stadium; boxing at the MGM Grand Arena and Mandalay Bay Events Center; and two Las Vegas Raiders home games.

The report came with newly renamed Harry Reid International Airport reporting passenger traffic ramping up almost to levels seen two years ago.

The former McCarran International Airport reported Tuesday that it handled about 4 million arriving and departing passengers in November, down just 4.4% from the same month in 2019.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported 3.1 million visitors during the month, down 8% from 3.4 million in October. The regional tourism agency reported an average daily room rate of almost $156, up more than 15% from November 2019.

Coronavirus Deaths In Russia Surpass 900 A Day For 1st Time

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s daily coronavirus death toll surpassed 900 on Wednesday for the first time in the pandemic, a record that comes amid the country’s low vaccination rate and the government’s reluctance to impose tough restrictions to control new cases.

’s state coronavirus task force reported 929 new deaths on Wednesday, the fourth time this month that daily COVID-19 deaths have reached record highs. The previous record, of 895 deaths, was registered Tuesday. Russia already has Europe’s highest death toll in the pandemic at over 212,000 people, but some official data suggests that is an undercount.

The task force also reported 25,133 new confirmed cases Wednesday.

The rise in infections and deaths began in late September. The Kremlin has blamed it on too few Russians getting vaccinated. As of Tuesday, almost 33% of Russia’s 146 million people had received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, and 29% were fully vaccinated.

Despite the surge, government officials rejected the idea of imposing a lockdown and said regional authorities would take steps to stem the spread of the virus.

A number of Russian regions have limited attendance at large public events and restricted access to theaters, restaurants and other places to people who have been vaccinated, recently recovered from COVID-19 or tested negative in the previous 72 hours.

In some regions, Russia’s vast yet severely underfunded health care system has started to show signs of being overwhelmed by the outbreak.

Russian media have reported long lines of ambulances once again forming in front of hospitals in St. Petersburg. One desperate ambulance crew in the city of Vladimir, 180 kilometers (110 miles) east of Moscow, reportedly drove a COVID-19 patient to a local government building after failing to find a hospital bed for her.

On Tuesday, the presidential envoy in the Ural Mountains district — a part of central Russia that encompasses six regions — said 95% of the hospital beds for COVID-19 patients there have been filled.

“The situation is very dire,” Vladimir Yakushev was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

Asked by reporters if the Kremlin will offer support to regions if they impose local lockdowns to tackle the surge of infections, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged those authorities to think twice. He said regional authorities have the power to decide which measures to introduce but “declaring some kind of lockdown is an absolutely undesirable scenario for any region.”

Overall, Russia’s coronavirus task force has reported over 7.6 million confirmed cases and more than 212,000 deaths. However, reports by Russia’s state statistical service Rosstat that tally coronavirus-linked deaths retroactively reveal much higher mortality numbers.

Germany Proposing To Ban The Unvaccinated From Nearly Everywhere

Germany’s health ministry is preparing sweeping measures next month that could exclude unvaccinated people from many areas of public life if Covid-19 infection rates continue to rise.

What is being proposed?

The measures, which would be among the strictest in Europe, would ensure that only those who have been vaccinated against the virus, have recovered from an infection, or those who can demonstrate a negative test result would be able to access many facilities.

The Health Ministry indicated that the government was considering the idea of imposing restrictions that they called the “2G rule,” on unvaccinated people in the event that infections and hospitalizations continue to rise. This would only allow vaccinated or recovered people to attend certain facilities while unvaccinated people would be excluded.

This could ban the unvaccinated from going to restaurants, gyms or hairdressers,, indoor sports and large outdoor events or participated in other activities.

“Tests are therefore becoming a prerequisite, for example, for access to hospitals, old people’s and nursing homes, indoor catering, events and celebrations, but also for visits to the hairdresser or the cosmetic studio. The same applies to indoor sports or accommodation, for example in hotels and guest houses,” the government said on Tuesday.

“I say to all those of you who are still unsure: A vaccination doesn’t just protect you, it protects the people you care about, the people who mean a lot to you, your loved ones,” Merkel said.

Source: https://www.politicsvideochannel.com/

Pubs, Haircuts, Gyms Must Wait As UK Lifts Lockdown Slowly

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday was setting out a road map for lifting one of Europe’s strictest national lockdowns — but the millions of Britons eager for a haircut or an evening out still face a long wait.

Johnson is expected to announce a plan to ease coronavirus restrictions in increments, starting by reopening schools in England on March 8. People will be allowed to meet one friend or relative for a chat or picnic outdoors beginning the same day.

Three weeks later, people will be able to meet outdoors in groups of up to six and amateur outdoor sports can resume. But restaurants, pubs, gyms and hairdressers are likely to remain closed until at least April.

The measures being announced apply to England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have slightly different lockdowns in place, with some children returning to class in Scotland and Wales on Monday.

Britain has had Europe’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak, with more than 120,000 deaths.

Faced with a dominant virus variant that scientists say is both more transmissible and more deadly than the original virus, the U.K. has spent much of the winter under a tight lockdown. Bars, restaurants, gyms, schools, hair salons and nonessential shops are closed, people are urged not to travel out of their local area and foreign holidays are illegal.

Hopes for a return to normality rest largely on Britain’s fast-moving inoculation program that has given more than 17.5 million people, a third of the country’s adult population, the first of two doses of vaccine. The aim is to give every adult a shot of vaccine by July 31, and to protect the over 50s and the medically vulnerable by getting them a first vaccine jab by April 15.

But the government cautions that the return of the country’s social and economic life will be slow. Johnson’s Conservative government was accused of reopening the country too quickly after the first lockdown in the spring and of rejecting scientific advice before a short “circuit-breaker” lockdown in the fall.

It does not want to make the same mistakes again, although Johnson is under pressure from some Conservative lawmakers and business owners, who argue that restrictions should be lifted quickly to revive an economy that has been hammered by three lockdowns in the last year.

The Conservative government -- in normal times an opponent of lavish public spending -- spent 280 billion pounds ($393 billion) in 2020 to deal with the pandemic, including billions paying the salaries of almost 10 million furloughed workers.
Va
ccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said the government’s plan for lifting restrictions was “steady as she goes.”

“Outdoor versus indoor, priority being children in schools,” he said. “Second priority is obviously allowing two people on March 8 to meet outside for a coffee to address some of the issues around loneliness.”

The government says further easing will depend on vaccines proving effective at lowering hospitalization and deaths, infection rates remaining low and no new virus variants emerging that throw the plans into disarray.

Authorities are eagerly awaiting data on the impact of vaccination on infections, hospitalizations and deaths.

A Scottish study released Monday found that the vaccination program had led to a sharp drop in hospitalizations. Scientists from the University of Edinburgh, the University of Strathclyde and Public Health Scotland found that in the fourth week after an initial dose, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine reduced hospital admissions by as much as 85% and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine shot cut admissions by up to 94%.

Scientists said the results were encouraging, but cautioned that the study did not assess whether people who have been vaccinated can still pass the virus on to others.

Auschwitz Survivors Mark Anniversary Online Amid Pandemic

By VANESSA GERA,

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Jewish prayer for the souls of people murdered in the Holocaust echoed Wednesday over where the Warsaw ghetto stood during World War II as a world paused by the coronavirus pandemic observed the 76th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Most International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorations were being held online this year due to the virus, including the annual ceremony at the site of the former Auschwitz death camp, where Nazi German forces killed 1.1 million people in occupied Poland. The memorial site is closed to visitors because of the pandemic.

In one of the few live events, mourners gathered in Poland’s capital to pay their respects at a memorial in the former Warsaw ghetto, the largest of all the ghettos where European Jews were held in cruel and deadly conditions before being sent to die in mass extermination camps.

From the Vatican, Pope Francis spoke of the need to remember the genocide carried out in World War II, saying it was a sign of humanity and a condition for a peaceful future.

Francis also warned that distorted ideologies could lead to a repeat of mass murder on a horrific scale. Remembering the Holocaust, he said, “also means to be aware that these things can happen again, starting with ideological proposals that claim to save a people and end up destroying a people and humanity.”

Among those commemorating from home Wednesday will be Polish-born Auschwitz survivor Tova Friedman, who arrived at the camp when she was 5 years old and was 6 when she found herself among thousands of survivors liberated by Soviet troops on Jan. 27, 2020.

Friedman, who is now 82, attended last year’s event at Auschwitz and had hoped to take her her eight grandchildren there this year to help them better understand her experiences. But the pandemic prevented that.

From her home in Highland Park, New Jersey, she recorded a message of warning about the rise of hatred which will be part of a virtual observance organized by the World Jewish Congress.

Across Europe, the victims were remembered and honored in various ways.

In Austria and Slovakia, hundreds of survivors were offered their first doses of a vaccine against the coronavirus in a gesture both symbolic and truly lifesaving given the threat of the virus to older adults. In Israel, some 900 Holocaust survivors died from COVID-19 out of the 5,300 who were infected last year.

Israel, which counts 197,000 Holocaust survivors, officially marks its Holocaust remembrance day in the spring. But events were also being held by remembrance and survivors’ groups across the country, mostly virtually or without members of the public in attendance.

Meanwhile, Luxembourg signed a deal Wednesday agreeing to pay reparations and to restitute dormant bank accounts, insurance policies and looted art to Holocaust survivors.

Politicians and regular people alike were joining a World Jewish Congress campaign which involved people posting photos of themselves and #WeRemember. Those will be shown later Wednesday on a screen at Auschwitz next to the gate and a cattle car, the way victims were transported there.

The online nature of this year’s commemorations is a sharp contrast to events marking the 75th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation last year, when some 200 survivors and dozens of European leaders and royalty gathered at the site of the former camp. It was one of the last large international gatherings before the pandemic forced the cancellation of most large gatherings.

More than 1.1 million people were murdered by the German Nazis and their henchmen at Auschwitz, the most notorious in a network of killing sites set up across occupied Europe. The vast majority of those killed at Auschwitz were Jews, but others, including Poles, Roma, homosexuals and Soviet prisoners of war, were also murdered.

In all, about 6 million European Jews and millions of other people were killed by the Germans and their collaborators. In 2005, the United Nations designated Jan. 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

While commemorations have moved online for the first time, one constant is the drive of survivors to tell their stories as words of caution.

Rose Schindler, a 91-year-old survivor of Auschwitz who was originally from Czechoslovakia but now lives in San Diego, California, has been speaking to school groups about her experience for 50 years. Her story, and that of her late husband, Max, also a survivor, is also told in a book, “Two Who Survived: Keeping Hope Alive While Surviving the Holocaust.”

After Schindler was transported to Auschwitz in 1944, she was selected more than once for immediate death in the gas chambers. She survived by escaping each time and joining work details.

The horrors she experienced — the mass murder of her parents and four of her seven siblings, the hunger, being shaven, lice infestations — are difficult to convey, but she keeps speaking to groups, over past months only by Zoom.

“We have to tell our stories so it doesn’t happen again,” Schindler said in a Zoom call from her home this week. “It is unbelievable what we went through, and the whole world was silent as this was going on.”

Friedman says she believes it is her role to “sound the alarm” about rising anti-Semitism and other hatred in the world, otherwise “another tragedy may happen.”

That hatred, she said, was on clear view when a mob inspired by former President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Some insurrectionists wore clothes with anti-Semitic messages like “Camp Auschwitz.”

“It was utterly shocking and I couldn’t believe it. And I don’t know what part of America feels like that. I hope it’s a very small and isolated group and not a pervasive feeling,” Friedman said Monday.

In her recorded message that will be broadcast Wednesday, Friedman said she compares the virus of hatred in the world to COVID-19. She said the world today is witnessing “a virus of anti-Semitism, of racism, and if you don’t stop the virus, it’s going to kill humanity.”
___
Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.

United Joins Rivals In Dropping Emotional-Support Animals

CHICAGO (AP) — United Airlines is joining other major U.S. carriers in no longer allowing emotional-support animals to fly for free.

United said Friday that starting Monday, it will no longer let passengers book travel for companion animals. For people who book before the deadline, free travel for companions will end Feb. 28.

After that, United said, only trained service dogs can fly in the cabin while not being in a carrier. Owners will have to submit a government-approved form attesting to the dog’s training, vaccines and disposition. Therapy animals trained to visit nursing homes and other settings don’t count as service dogs, United said.

Owners may be able to transport other animals in the cargo hold or in carriers that fit under a seat in the cabin. Either way, the owner will pay a pet fee, which starts at $125 per flight.

Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines announced similar policies in the last several days. The moves follow a Transportation Department rule that lets airlines crack down on the growing number of emotional-support animals in recent years.

The government rules announced last month require airlines to accept service dogs that are trained individually to help a person with a disability. The rules let airlines deny free boarding for companion animals.

For many years, thousands of passengers relied on a previous regulation to bring an animal on board for free by claiming that it provided emotional support. Airlines and flight attendants believed some passengers abused the rule to avoid pet fees.

Germany Set To Extend Hard Lockdown As Daily Deaths Mount

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s disease control center on Tuesday reported 944 more COVID-19 deaths, fueling expectations that Chancellor Angela Merkel and the country’s 16 state governors will extend the country’s lockdown until the end of the month.

Germany’s latest lockdown took effect Dec. 16 after a partial shutdown starting in early November failed to reduce the number of daily new coronavirus infections. It was initially set to expire Jan. 10.

Merkel’s meeting with the governors on Tuesday will decide how long the lockdown should go on and to what extent schools will reopen. Another topic high on the agenda will be addressing criticism of the country’s vaccination program amid frustrations over its gradual start.

Vaccinations in Germany and the rest of the 27-nation European Union started over a week ago. In Germany, a nation of 83 million, nearly 265,000 vaccinations had been reported by Monday, the Robert Koch Institute said.

Opposition politicians and even some within Germany’s governing coalition have criticized the EU’s cautious advance ordering of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine — the only one so far cleared for use in EU nations. The EU’s medical regulator is also evaluating a vaccine by Moderna.

The country’s health minister has repeatedly said that the vaccinations are progressing as expected and that the slow start is because mobile teams are first going to nursing homes to vaccinate the most vulnerable, which takes more time than inviting people to mass vaccination centers.

Still, in a nod to the heavy pressure, Health Minister Jens Spahn said he has asked the country’s agency in charge of vaccinations if the second shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine could be delayed in order to be able to vaccinate more people right away with a first shot. Britain has embraced such a plan with its vaccinations, but the move is being hotly debated by scientists and governments around the world.

Germany’s new infections remain at more than twice the level of 50 per 100,000 residents over seven days, which the government wants to reach. In part because of lower testing and delayed reporting, it’s not yet clear what effect the Christmas holidays will have on Germany’s new coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and deaths.

Germany has reported 35,518 virus-related deaths overall.

Boris Johnson Orders New Virus Lockdown For England

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday a new national lockdown for England until at least mid-February to combat a fast-spreading new variant of the coronavirus, even as Britain ramped up its vaccination program by becoming the first nation to start using the shot developed by Oxford University and drugmaker AstraZeneca.

Johnson said people must stay at home again, as they were ordered to do so in the first wave of the pandemic in March, this time because the new virus variant was spreading in a “frustrating and alarming” way.

“As I speak to you tonight, our hospitals are under more pressure from COVID than at any time since the start of the pandemic,” he said.

Under the new rules, which are set to come into effect as soon as possible, primary and secondary schools and colleges will be closed for face to face learning except for the children of key workers. University students will not be returning until at least mid-February.

All nonessential shops and personal care services like hairdressers will be closed, and restaurants can only operate takeout services.

As of Monday, there were 26,626 COVID patients in hospitals in England, an increase of more than 30% from a week ago. That is 40% above the highest level of the first wave in the spring.

The U.K. has seen an alarming surge in coronavirus cases in recent weeks as public health officials struggle to control the spread of a new variant of COVID-19 that is more contagious than previous variants. Authorities have recorded more than 50,000 new infections a day since passing that milestone for the first time on Dec. 29. On Monday, they reported 407 virus-related deaths to push the confirmed death toll total to 75,431, one of the worst in Europe.

The U.K.’s chief medical officers warned that without further action, “there is a material risk of the National Health Service in several areas being overwhelmed over the next 21 days.”

Hours earlier, Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon also imposed a lockdown in her nation until the end of January.

Beginning Tuesday, people in Scotland will be required to stay at home except for essential reasons, to help ease the pressure on hospitals and intensive care units, Sturgeon said. Under the new rules, people can go out for exercise but can only meet one person from another household. Schools will remain closed until February, except for children of key workers and those in social care.

“I am more concerned about the situation we face now than I have been at any time since March last year,” Sturgeon said in Edinburgh.

Scotland, which controls its own health policy under the U.K.’s system of devolved government, has often imposed stricter coronavirus restrictions than those in England.

The announcements come on the day U.K. health authorities began putting the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine into arms around the country, fueling hopes that life may begin returning to normal by the spring.

Britain has secured the rights to 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which is cheaper and easier to use than some of its rivals. In particular, it doesn’t require the super-cold storage needed for the Pfizer vaccine.

The new vaccine will be administered at a small number of hospitals for the first few days so authorities can watch out for any adverse reactions. But the NHS said hundreds of new vaccination sites — including local doctors’ offices — will open later this week, joining the more than 700 vaccination sites already in operation.

A “massive ramp-up operation” is now underway in the vaccination program, Johnson said.

But aspects of Britain’s vaccination plan have spurred controversy.

Both vaccines require two shots, and Pfizer had recommended that the second dose be given within 21 days of the first. But the U.K.’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization said authorities should give the first vaccine dose to as many people as possible, rather than setting aside shots to ensure others receive two doses. It has stretched out the time between the doses from 21 days to within 12 weeks.

While two doses are required to fully protect against COVID-19, both vaccines provide high levels of protection after the first dose, the committee said. Making the first dose the priority will “maximize benefits from the vaccination program in the short term,” it said.

Stephen Evans, a professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said policymakers are being forced to balance the potential risks of this change against the benefits in the middle of a deadly pandemic.

“We have a crisis situation in the UK with a new variant spreading rapidly, and as has become clear to everyone during 2020, delays cost lives,” Evans said. “When resources of doses and people to vaccinate are limited, then vaccinating more people with potentially less efficacy is demonstrably better than a fuller efficacy in only half.”

In England alone, 24,957 people were in hospitals with COVID-19 on Sunday. While figures for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales haven’t been updated in recent days, that’s higher than the U.K.-wide peak during the first wave of the pandemic.

The government closed non-essential shops across London and parts of southeast England before Christmas to try to contain the new variant, but health officials say tougher measures are now needed.

Johnson said there were “tough, tough” weeks to come in the fight against COVID-19.

While schools in London are already closed due to high infection rates in the capital, students in many parts of the country were returning to in-person classes Monday after the Christmas holidays. Unions representing teachers, however, have called for schools throughout England to remain closed for at least two weeks, with classes shifted to remote learning.

But with vaccination, there is hope. Brian Pinker, an 82-year-old dialysis patient, received the first Oxford-AstraZeneca shot at 7:30 a.m. at Oxford University Hospital.

“The nurses, doctors and staff today have all been brilliant, and I can now really look forward to celebrating my 48th wedding anniversary with my wife, Shirley, later this year,” Pinker said in a statement released by the National Health Service.

Gibraltar’s Border With Spain Still In Doubt After Brexit

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — While corks may have popped in London and Brussels over the end to a four-year saga known as Brexit, there is one rocky speck of British soil still left in limbo.

Gibraltar, a British colony jutting off the southern tip of Spain’s mainland, wasn’t included in the Brexit trade deal announced on Christmas Eve between the European Union and the United Kingdom to reorganize the commercial and trade relations between the now 27-member bloc and the first nation to exit the group.

The deadline for Gibraltar remains Jan. 1, when a transitionary period regulating the short frontier between Gibraltar and Spain expires. If no deal is reached, there are serious concerns that a hard border would cause disruption for the workers, tourists and major business connections across the two sides.

Spain succeeded in convincing the EU to separate the issue of Gibraltar from the greater Brexit negotiations, meaning that Madrid is handling all talks directly with its counterparts in Gibraltar and London.

Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya said Thursday that if an agreement isn’t reached, she fears that the long lines of stranded truck drivers seen at the English Channel crossing this past week could be repeated.

“We do not have much time, and the scenes of chaos from the U.K. must remind us that we need to keep working to reach a deal on Gibraltar,” González Laya told Spanish state broadcaster RTVE. “Spaniards want one, the people of Gibraltar want one, now the U.K. needs to desire one as well. Political will is needed.”

Throughout the Brexit talks, Spain has insisted it wants a say on the future of Gibraltar.

The Rock was ceded to Britain in 1713, but Spain has never dropped its claim to sovereignty over it. For three centuries, the strategic outcrop of high terrain has given British navies command of the narrow seaway from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean.

“Neither side is going to renounce its pretensions of sovereignty, but we must set that aside to reach a deal that makes lives easier for those living on both sides of the border,” González Laya said.

Negotiations with the U.K. are ongoing, González Laya said Monday, adding that she believes “a deal in principle is perfectly possible” by the end of the year.

“The best sign that Spain is really trying to reach an agreement is that it is not discussing (the negotiations) in public,” she said during an online news conference.

More than 15,000 people live in Spain and work in Gibraltar, making up about 50% of Gibraltar’s labor force. Gibraltar’s population of about 34,000 was overwhelmingly against Britain leaving the European Union. In the U.K.’s 2016 Brexit referendum, 96% of voters in Gibraltar supported remaining in the continental bloc that they feel gives them more leverage to deal with the government in Madrid.

Breakthrough: UK And EU Reach Post-Brexit Trade Agreement

BRUSSELS (AP) — Britain and the European Union have struck a provisional free-trade agreement that should avert New Year chaos for cross-border traders and bring a measure of certainty for businesses after years of Brexit turmoil. With just over a week until the U.K.’s final split from the EU, the U.K. government said the “deal is done.” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are expected to make statements imminently. The deal should ensure the two sides can trade in goods without tariffs or quotas. But despite the breakthrough, key aspects of the future relationship between the 27-nation bloc and its former member remain uncertain. The British and European parliaments both must hold votes on the agreement, though the latter may not happen until after the U.K. leaves the EU’s economic embrace on Jan. 1.

Months of tense and often testy negotiations gradually whittled differences between the two sides down to three key issues: fair-competition rules, mechanisms for resolving future disputes and fishing rights. The rights of EU boats to trawl in British waters remained the last obstacle before it was resolved. However, key aspects of the future relationship between the 27-nation bloc and its former member remain unresolved. Johnson had insisted the U.K. would “prosper mightily” even if no deal were reached and the U.K. had to trade with the EU on World Trade Organization terms. But his government has acknowledged that a chaotic exit was likely to bring gridlock at Britain’s ports, temporary shortages of some goods and price increases for staple foods. The EU has long feared that Britain would undercut the bloc’s social, environmental and state aid rules after Brexit, becoming a low-regulation rival on the bloc’s doorstep. Britain denies planning to institute weaker standards but said that having to continue following EU regulations would undermine its sovereignty. A compromise was eventually reached on the tricky “level playing field” issues. The economically minor but hugely symbolic issue of fish came to be the final sticking point, with maritime EU nations seeking to retain access to U.K. waters where they have long fished and Britain insisting it must exercise control as an “independent coastal state,” Huge gaps over fishing were gradually closed over weeks of intense negotiations in Brussels, even as Johnson continued to insist that a no-deal exit was a likely and satisfactory outcome to the nine months of talks on the future relationship between the EU and its ex-member nation.

It has been 4 1/2 years since Britons voted 52%-48% to leave the EU and — in the words of the Brexiteers’ campaign slogan — “take back control” of the U.K.’s borders and laws. It took more than three years of wrangling before Britain left the bloc’s political structures on Jan. 31. Disentangling economies that were closely entwined as part of the EU’s single market for goods and services took even longer. The U.K. has remained part of the single market and customs union during an 11-month post-Brexit transition period. As a result, many people so far will have noticed little impact from Brexit. On Jan. 1, the breakup will start feeling real. The new year will bring huge changes, even with a trade deal. No longer will goods and people be able to move freely between the U.K. and its continental neighbors without border restrictions. EU nationals will no longer be able to live and work in Britain without visas -- though that does not apply to the more than 3 million already doing so -- and Britons can no longer automatically work or retire in EU nations. Exporters and importers face customs declarations, goods checks and other obstacles.

The U.K.-EU border is already reeling from new restrictions placed on travelers from Britain into France and other European countries due to a new coronavirus variant sweeping through London and southern England. Thousands of trucks were stuck in traffic jams near Dover on Wednesday, waiting for their drivers to get virus tests so they could enter the Eurotunnel to France. British supermarkets say the backlog will take days to clear and there could be shortages of some fresh produce over the holiday season. Despite the deal, there are still unanswered questions about huge areas, including security cooperation between the U.K. and the bloc and access to the EU market for Britain’s huge financial services sector.

Travelore Pandemic News: Several EU Nations Halt UK Flights, Fearing Virus Variant

BERLIN (AP) — One by one, several European Union nations banned flights from the U.K. on Sunday and others were considering similar action in a bid to block a new strain of coronavirus sweeping across southern England from establishing a strong foothold on the continent. Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Italy all announced restrictions on U.K. travel, hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Christmas shopping and gatherings in southern England must be canceled because of rapidly spreading infections blamed on the new coronavirus variant. Johnson immediately put those regions into a strict new Tier 4 restriction level, upending Christmas plans for millions.

The German government said that it’s banning flights coming from Britain in reaction to the new coronavirus strain. The transportation ministry said all U.K. flights with the exception of cargo flights were no longer allowed to land in Germany starting at midnight Sunday. It didn’t immediately say how long the flight ban would last. The Netherlands banned flights from the U.K. for at least the rest of the year while Belgium issued a flight ban for 24 hours starting at midnight and also halted train links to Britain, including the Eurostar. Austria and Italy said they would halt flights from the U.K. but did not say exactly when that would take place. Italy’s health minister, Roberto Speranza, said an order signed Sunday blocks flights from Britain and prohibits entry into Italy by anyone who has been in the U.K. in the last 14 days. The order bans plane travel until Jan. 6. The Czech Republic imposed stricter quarantine measures from people arriving from Britain. An EU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were still ongoing, said Sunday afternoon that the European Commission was in touch with member states on the rapidly developing situation.

High-speed train operator Eurostar canceled its trains between London, Brussels and Amsterdam beginning Monday, but kept trains operating on the London-to-Paris route. Johnson said Saturday that a fast-moving new variant of the virus that is 70% more transmissible than existing strains appeared to be driving the rapid spread of new infections in London and southern England. But he stressed “there’s no evidence to suggest it is more lethal or causes more severe illness,” or that vaccines will be less effective against it. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Sunday said he was issuing the flight ban for 24 hours starting at midnight “out of precaution.” “There are a great many questions about this new mutation,” he said, adding he hoped to have more clarity by Tuesday. The World Health Organization tweeted late Saturday that it was “in close contact with U.K. officials on the new #COVID19 virus variant” and promised to update governments and the public as more is learned. The new strain was identified in southeastern England in September and has been spreading in the area ever since, a WHO official told the BBC on Sunday. “What we understand is that it does have increased transmissibility, in terms of its ability to spread,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19. Studies are under way to better understand how fast it spreads and and whether “it’s related to the variant itself, or a combination of factors with behavior,” she added. She said the strain had also been identified in Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia, where there was one case that didn’t spread further.

“The longer this virus spreads, the more opportunities it has to change,” she said. “So we really need to do everything we can right now to prevent spread, and minimizing that spread will reduce the chances of it changing.” Viruses mutate regularly, and scientists have found thousands of different mutations among samples of the virus causing COVID-19. Many of these changes have no effect on how easily the virus spreads or how severe symptoms are. Susan Hopkins of Public Health England said while the variant has been circulating since September, it wasn’t until the last week that officials felt they had enough evidence to declare that it has higher transmissibility than other circulating coronaviruses. U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for U.S. surgeon general said Sunday that the emergence of the new strain doesn’t change the public health guidance on precautions for reducing the spread of the virus, such as wearing masks, social distancing and washing hands. “While it seems to be more easily transmissible, we do not have evidence yet that this is a more deadly virus to an individual who acquires it,” Vivek Murthy said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “There’s no reason to believe that the vaccines that have been developed will not be effective against this virus, as well.” Europe has been walloped this fall by soaring new infections and deaths due to a resurgence of the virus, and many nations have reimposed a series of restrictions to reign in their outbreaks. Britain has seen over 67,000 deaths in the pandemic, the second-highest confirmed toll in Europe after Italy. Europe as a whole has recorded nearly 499,000 virus deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University that experts believe is an undercount, due to limited testing and missed cases.

The European Medicines Agency, meanwhile, is meeting Monday to approve the first COVID-19 vaccine for the European Union’s 27 nations, bringing vaccinations closer for millions of EU citizens. The vaccine made by German pharmaceutical company BioNTech and American drugmaker Pfizer is already in use in the United States, Britain, Canada and other countries. The EMA moved up its assessment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by a week after heavy pressure from EU governments, especially Germany, which has said that after the EMA approval it could start vaccinating citizens as early as next Sunday. In an urgent address to the nation on Saturday, Johnson ordered all non-essential shops, hairdressers and gyms in London and large parts of southern England closed and told Britons to reorganize their holiday plans. No mixing of households is now allowed indoors in the region, and only essential travel is permitted. In the rest of England, people will be allowed to meet in Christmas bubbles for just one day instead of the five that were planned. After he spoke, videos emerged online that showed crowds of people rushing to London’s train stations, apparently making a dash for places in the U.K. with less stringent coronavirus restrictions before the new rules took effect. Health Secretary Matt Hancock called those scenes “totally irresponsible.” While Hancock insisted officials had acted “very quickly and decisively,” critics said Britain’s Conservative government should have moved against rising infections and hospitalizations much earlier. “The alarms bells have been ringing for weeks, but the prime minister chose to ignore them,” said Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party. “It is an act of gross negligence by a prime minister who, once again, has been caught behind the curve.” ___ Sylvia Hui reported from London. Raf Casert in Brussels, Colleen Barry in Milan, Karel Janicek in Prague, and John Hanna in Washington, contributed to this report.

UN: Skiing May Not Spread Coronavirus But Slopes Still Risky

GENEVA (AP) — As several European countries have suspended access to the ski slopes to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization’s emergencies chief said the risk of catching COVID-19 while skiing is likely minimal. “I suspect many people won’t be infected barreling down the slopes on their skis,” said Dr. Michael Ryan said at a WHO news briefing on Monday. The U.N. health agency has previously said the coronavirus transmits much less easily outside because it is dispersed in the fresh air. Restrictions to slow the spread of COVID-19 have kept ski lifts closed in Italy, France, Germany, Austria and elsewhere. Ryan said the danger of coronavirus spread from skiing is from many of the other activities linked to the sport.

“The real issues are going to come at airports, tour buses taking people to and from ski resorts, ski lifts ... and places where people come together,” Ryan said. “We would advise that all countries look at the their ski season and other reasons for mass gathering,” he said, warning that indoor socializing after skiing might be particularly risky. Earlier this year, ski resorts in France, Italy and Austria were the sites of several superspreading events that helped seed COVID-19 outbreaks across the continent. Ryan said that rather than targeting any specific sport like skiing or hiking, governments should consider how best to reduce contact between people to prevent the spread of COVID-19. “The issue is any activity that involves large numbers of people moving into a concentrated space and then using public and other transport to get there and back needs to be managed carefully,” Ryan said. WHO noted that last week marked the first time global cases of COVID-19 have dropped since September, citing the effectiveness of recent lockdown measures across Europe. WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called it “welcome news,” but said the decrease should be “interpreted with extreme caution.” Tedros said that the upcoming holiday season should prompt people to think twice about how they might celebrate during the pandemic. “Being with family and friends is not worth putting them all (and) yourself at risk,” he said. “We all need to consider whose life we might be gambling with in the decisions we make.”

England To Have 3-Tier Lockdown System Amid ‘Tipping Point’

 

LONDON (AP) — Millions of people in northern England are anxiously waiting to hear how much further virus restrictions will be tightened in coming days as the British government confirmed Sunday that it will be introducing a new system for local lockdowns.

In response to the virus’ resurgence, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce in Parliament on Monday a three-tier local lockdown system, formally known as “Local COVID Alert Levels,” for England, his office said.

Under the new system, the country will be placed into “medium,” “high” and “very high” alert levels. Johnson’s office said the government is working with local leaders to decide which areas are covered by the very high alert level, and the appropriate interventions in those areas.

Details of what is involved at each level haven’t been confirmed but the highest level is widely expected to involve the closure of pubs and restaurants and the banning of household mixing, both indoors and outside, among other measures.

The new lockdown system, which is intended to simplify the process by which local restrictions are imposed, has been widely anticipated for a couple of weeks following a sharp increase in new cases. Following further discussions early Monday, Johnson will inform lawmakers of the new system before hosting a briefing along with Treasury chief Rishi Sunak and the government’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty.

England’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, warned that the U.K. is at a “tipping point” akin to where the country was in March.

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“But we can prevent history repeating itself if we all act now,” he said . “Now we know where it is and how to tackle it — let’s grasp this opportunity and prevent history from repeating itself.”

All across Europe including the U.K., there have been huge increases in coronavirus cases over the past few weeks following the reopening of large sectors of the economy, as well as schools and universities. Infection levels — and deaths — in the U.K. are rising at their fastest rates in months.

Without quick action, there are fears that U.K. hospitals will be overwhelmed in the coming weeks at a time of year when they are already at their busiest with winter-related afflictions like the flu. The U.K. has experienced Europe’s deadliest outbreak, with an official death toll of 42,825, up another 65 on Sunday.

Although coronavirus infections are rising throughout England, northern cities like Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle have seen a disproportionate increase. While some rural areas in eastern England have less than 20 cases per 100,000 people, some major metropolitan areas have recently recorded levels above 500 per 100,000, nearly as bad as Madrid or Brussels.

As a result, national restrictions such as a 10 p.m. curfew on pubs and restaurants have been supplemented by local actions, including in some cases banning contacts between households. In Scotland’s two biggest cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh, pubs have already closed for 16 days to suppress the outbreak.

Liverpool’s local leader has said he expects his city to face the most onerous restrictions from Wednesday.

Full Coverage: Virus Outbreak

Local leaders across northern England have vented their fury at the Conservative government over what they see as an “inadequate” wage support scheme that it announced Friday and for not properly telling them about the upcoming restrictions. The wage plan aims to help employees in companies that are forced to close because of virus restrictions, but mayors say it’s not generous enough in paying only two-thirds of employees’ wages and doesn’t compensate those indirectly hit by any business closures, such as drink suppliers to pubs.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick on Sunday sought to assuage concerns that the government was being overly hierarchical in its approach. He also indicated that local authorities will be given more control over the national test and trace program, which has struggled to live up to Johnson’s prediction that it would be “world-beating.”

“In addition to the national infrastructure which is developing and increasing with every passing week, we’re also going to be making use of local councils to do contact tracing in particular, because there is clear evidence that local councils are good at that, as you’d expect,” he told the BBC.

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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

Israeli Instant COVID Gargle Test Set To Deploy In European Airports

Inventors in self-service spit test have signed a deal with airport security giant to pilot tech on the continent, predict it will be a ‘de facto solution for air travel’

A mask-wearing traveler looks at his cellphone in front of a flight panel (Vergani_Fotografia; iStock by Getty Images)

 A new made-in-Israel gargle test for coronavirus is being deployed in European airports, after a leading aviation security company threw its weight behind the tech.

A freshly inked agreement will lead to the tests being piloted in two European airports within days or weeks, and comes as pilot programs for the tests are already underway in 12 hospitals internationally, Eli Assoolin, who led the development team, told Times of Israel.

The SpectraLIT test, which eliminates the need for swabbing and lab processing, works on a self-service basis, with passengers simply asked to gargle with 10 milliliters of a special mouthwash, and then spit into a tube. “It will prove no more inconvenient than fingerprint checks,” said Assoolin.

In the initial pilot phase, a passenger who tests positive will be sent for a standard swab test.

The test, developed by Assoolin’s company Newsight together with Sheba Medical Center under the freshly formed Virusight Diagnostic, is being taken to airports by ICTS Europe, a security company that operates in more than 120 airports across 23 countries.

The self-service passenger stands in to which Virusight Diagnostic and ICTS Europe plan to integrate Israeli-developed gargle COVID-19 tests for airports. (courtesy of ICTS Europe)

ICTS has just agreed to pilot the SpectraLIT, and signed a letter of intent declaring that it will roll it out internationally if it proves effective, once regulatory approval has been received.

“We think our solution is going to be the de facto solution for air travel,” Assoolin told The Times of Israel, saying he foresees millions of his tests used over the coming months.

Illustrative: A woman gargles while using mouthwash from a glass (Tharakorn; iStock by Getty Images)

He said he expects to see the screening method deployed quickly in two European airports, integrated into self-service stands that ICTS already has for checking body temperature and printing boarding passes.

“Once the device proves itself in one airport we can — within a month including training and everything — take it to dozens of airports,” he stated.

Oren Sapir, ICTS Europe’s president and CEO, commented: “As travel restrictions are gradually lifted, innovation and technology will continue to be central to the industry’s recovery, and so we are proud and extremely pleased to join forces with Virusight to unveil SpectraLIT.”

Left to right: Eli Assoolin, CEO of Newsight, Professor Eli Schwartz of Sheba Medical Center and Eyal Yatskan, co-founder of Newsight, with the machine for testing gargle samples (courtesy of Newsight)

The tech has been trialed on 400 people at Sheba, and showed around 95% accuracy.

“We chose Virusight due to its proven diagnostic track record,” said Sapir.

Regular tests require swabs from the nose or throat and time-consuming lab processes carried out by trained staff. SpectraLIT relies on artificial intelligence to interpret a reading of a gargle sample.

It shines light through the sample and onto a special chip. Part of the light is absorbed, and the rest is captured by the sensors. The process is known as determining the sample’s spectral signature: matter reflects different light signatures, depending on its composition.

An airplane takes off over airport control tower at sunset (satit_srihin; iStock by Getty Images)

Artificial intelligence tools have made it possible for the developers to build a model for the mouthwash signature from a coronavirus-positive person, as opposed to those from non-infected individuals.

Sheba’s chief innovation officer Dr. Eyal Zimlichman described the new agreement as an “important milestone” for Virusight and said: “Digital health will transform healthcare, and this is yet another example of leveraging artificial intelligence technology to mitigate COVID-19.”

Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-instant-covid-gargle-test-set-to-deploy-in-european-airports/

Travelore News: UK Leader Urges Work From Home, Warns Limits May Last Months

 

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Britons on Tuesday that they should not expect to return to a normal social or work life for at least six months, as he ordered new restrictions that his government hopes will suppress a dramatic surge in confirmed coronavirus cases.

Saying Britain must act now or face a huge second wave of COVID-19, Johnson announced a package of new restrictions that includes requiring pubs, restaurants and other entertainment venues in England to close down between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. and urging people to work from home where possible.

The U.K. on Tuesday recorded 4,926 new confirmed cases in 24 hours, the highest daily number since early May and more than four times the figure of a month ago. There were 37 new COVID-19 deaths reported, up from single digits a few weeks ago.

Johnson had encouraged workers just weeks ago to go back into offices to keep city centers from becoming ghost towns, and he expressed hope that society could return to normal by Christmas. In a stark change of tone, he said Tuesday that “for the time being, this virus is a fact of our lives.”

“We will spare no effort in developing vaccines, treatments and new forms of mass testing, but unless we palpably make progress, we should assume that the restrictions I have announced will remain in place for perhaps six months,” Johnson told lawmakers in the House of Commons.

The announcement came a day after the government’s top scientific and medical advisers said new coronavirus infections were doubling every seven days and could rise to 49,000 a day by mid-October if nothing was done to stem the tide.

The chief medical officers raised the U.K.’s virus alert level from three to four, the second-highest rung, saying cases of COVID-19 were rising “rapidly and probably exponentially.”

The new restrictions require face masks to be worn in taxis as well as on public transportation. The size of some gatherings is being curtailed, with weddings limited to 15 people instead of 30, and a plan to bring spectators back into sports stadiums starting in October is being put on hold.

Johnson did not reduce the number of people who can gather indoors or out, which remains at six.

The British government is also increasing the penalties for breaking the rules. People who breach orders to quarantine face fines of up to 10,000 pounds ($12,800) and businesses that breach “COVID-secure” rules can be shut down.

The measures apply only to England. Other parts of the U.K. introduced similar curbs, but some went further in limiting social interactions.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has often struck a more cautious note than Johnson during the pandemic, said that with a few exceptions, people would be barred from visiting others’ homes, and car-sharing would be discouraged.

Sturgeon said the measure would be reviewed every three weeks but “may be needed for longer than that.” She said she hoped it would be less than six months.

The new restrictions outlined by Johnson are less stringent than the nationwide lockdown imposed in March, which confined most of the population and closed most businesses. Britain eased its lockdown starting in June as cases began to fall, but that trend has now been reversed.

The prime minister said if the new curbs did not slow the outbreak, “we reserve the right to deploy greater firepower, with significantly greater restrictions.”

Still, some lawmakers from Johnson’s governing Conservative Party are uneasy about tightening restrictions on business and daily life, citing the impact on Britain’s already-reeling economy.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has often struck a more cautious note than Johnson during the pandemic, said that with a few exceptions, people would be barred from visiting others’ homes, and car-sharing would be discouraged.

Sturgeon said the measure would be reviewed every three weeks but “may be needed for longer than that.” She said she hoped it would be less than six months.

The new restrictions outlined by Johnson are less stringent than the nationwide lockdown imposed in March, which confined most of the population and closed most businesses. Britain eased its lockdown starting in June as cases began to fall, but that trend has now been reversed.

The prime minister said if the new curbs did not slow the outbreak, “we reserve the right to deploy greater firepower, with significantly greater restrictions.”

Still, some lawmakers from Johnson’s governing Conservative Party are uneasy about tightening restrictions on business and daily life, citing the impact on Britain’s already-reeling economy.

Full Coverage: Virus Outbreak

To persuade people to stay home if they test positive for the virus, the government announced it would pay low-income workers 500 pounds ($639) if they are told to self-isolate for 14 days.

Businesses, especially in the areas of hospitality, sports and the arts, said they urgently needed support, too.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of trade body UKHospitality, said before the announcement that the restrictions would be “another crushing blow” for many businesses.

But most epidemiologists believe more restrictions are again necessary and even worry that the government’s plans may not go far enough.

Polls suggest a majority of people in Britain support lockdown measures to contain the virus. But they also show that trust in the Conservative government’s handling of the pandemic has declined after troubles with testing, mixed messages on reopening and the U.K.’s high death toll.

Britain has the highest confirmed virus death toll in Europe, at 41,877 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Experts say all such tallies underestimate the true number of deaths.

While ministers tout the record numbers of tests being performed, there are widespread reports of people having to travel hundreds of miles for tests or tests being voided because it’s taking labs too long to process them.

An app meant to bolster contact-tracing efforts is to be released this week after months of delay.

Jennifer Cole, a biological anthropologist at Royal Holloway University, said people’s behavior is “the biggest influence” on the spread of the virus.

“In essence, the government is saying, ‘Stay sober, stay sensible and the venues can stay open.’ It’s a carrot to encourage responsible behavior,” she said.

By JILL LAWLESS and DANICA KIRKA

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Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak