Covid-19: Peru closes all beaches for New Year’s celebrations to keep strains at bay

LIMA, Dec 31 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — The government of Peru Wednesday announced access to the country’s beaches, lagoons and rivers will be banned on Dec 31 and Jan 1, 2022, to contain the advance of the covid-19 pandemic. Peru’s Health Minister Hernando Cevallos said closing the countries’ beaches for the remainder…

Covid-19: Sanitary emergency declared in Bolivia as cases soar

LA PAZ, Dec 31 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) –The Government of Bolivia declared a nationwide sanitary emergency due to an increase in the number of covid-19 cases, Health Minister Jeyson Auza announced. After a National Strategic Council meeting, Auza conveyed the body’s decision: “This declaration of national health emergency has a social security…

Update: 3 killed in demonstrations in Sudan’s Omdurman city

KHARTOUM, Dec 31 (NNN-Xinhua) — At least three people were killed in demonstrations in Sudan’s Omdurman city on Thursday, said the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors (CCSD), a non-governmental organization. “Three people died in the processions in Omdurman by the bullets from the coup forces and their (allied) militias,” the…

177 asylum seekers evacuated from Libya to Niger: UN

TRIPOLI, Dec 31 (NNN-Xinhua) — The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Thursday said it has evacuated 177 asylum-seekers from Libya to Niger. “In the last evacuation flight of the year out of Libya, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has brought 177 vulnerable asylum seekers to safety in…

Covid-19: Quebec announces curfew, Ontario cuts isolation period as Canada tackles Omicron

People queue to pick up coronavirus disease (COVID-19) antigen test kits, as the latest Omicron variant emerges as a threat, at Yorkdale Mall in Toronto TORONTO, Dec 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Canada’s Ontario and Quebec announced fresh measures to combat COVID-19 as the country faces a rise in cases that has…

Covid-19: South Africa lifts curfew as it says fourth wave peaks

Passengers queue to get a PCR test against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) before traveling on international flights, at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa PRETORIA, Dec 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — South Africa has lifted a midnight to 4am curfew on people’s movement with immediate effect, believing the country has passed…

COVID-19 deaths in Eastern Europe surpass 1 million

MOSCOW, Dec 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Coronavirus deaths in Eastern Europe topped 1 million on Thursday as the Omicron variant threatened to batter the region. Three out of the five countries reporting the highest number of daily deaths in Europe are from the East, including Russia, Poland and Ukraine, data through…

Covid-19: UK reports record 189,213 cases, 332 deaths as Ireland relaxes testing rules

LONDON, Dec 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United Kingdom recorded 189,213 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, a daily record, and 332 deaths, government data showed. Case numbers were up from the previous record of 183,037 on Wednesday, with infections being driven by the new Omicron variant. While the government has…

Brazilian Pres Bolsonaro refuses flood aid from Argentina, drawing Bahia rebuke

Sergio da Silva dos Santos hands clothes to other residents in front of a flooded house accessed by canoe at Sambaituba in Ilheus, Bahia state RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro rejected an offer of aid from Argentina, saying that his country did not need…

US wildfire: Wind-driven Colorado grass fire destroys hundreds of homes, displaces thousands

DENVER (Colorado, US), Dec 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A fierce, wind-driven wildfire destroyed hundreds of homes, injured at least a half dozen people and prompted the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents in and around two towns east of the Rockies near Denver, authorities said. The swiftly spreading prairie grass…