Health News at Your Fingertips

The introduction of pre-departure Covid tests for travellers entering the UK has been branded a “devastating blow” for travel by the chief executive of the Airport Operators Association.

Karen Dee said that the policy, beginning on December 7, will act as a “major deterrent” to travel.

This is a devastating blow for aviation and tourism,” she said.

“Pre-departure tests act as a major deterrent to travel and most of the limited remaining demand following the reintroduction of self-isolation will now fall away, just as airports were hoping for a small uplift over the Christmas holiday.

“Travel and aviation are the only sectors hit with any operating restrictions in response to the Omicron variant.

“The UK and devolved governments should have done the right thing and, alongside the restrictions, announced support for our businesses and our staff to get through another period of shutdown.”

The UK’s transport secretary has given his reaction to the new measures for arrivals.

The mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, tweeted that he would follow the recommendations of Rio de Janeiro state to cancel the celebrations, despite the city’s own view to the contrary.
“We respect science,” he wrote. “The city’s committee says it can go ahead and the state’s says no. So it can’t take place. Let’s cancel the official New Year’s Eve celebration in Rio,” the tweet said. “I am very sad as mayor and personally. The New Year’s Eve celebration in Rio is one of the most incredible and incomparable parties in the world,” Paes later told a press conference. In Brazil, the pandemic has claimed more than 615,000 lives, the second highest total in the world after the U.S, Reuters reports.

France has reported 92,557 coronavirus deaths in hospital, an increase of 49.
It also reported that 2,037 people are in intensive care units with the virus, down by 21, Reuters reports.

Nigeria has become the 11th African country to be added to the UK’s travel red list.

Health secretary Sajid Javid said: “Over recent days we have learned of a significant number of growing cases linked to travel with Nigeria.

“There are 27 cases in England already and that’s growing.”

Some more data from Italy. The number of patients in hospital with Covid-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 5,428 on Saturday, up from 5,385 a day earlier.

There were 59 admissions to intensive care units, down from 60 on Friday, Reuters reports.

The total number of intensive care patients increased to 732 from a previous 708.

Some 636,592 tests for Covid-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 588,445, the health ministry said.

All international arrivals to the UK will again be required to take pre-departure Covid-19 tests, the health secretary Sajid Javid announced.

The rule applies to all travellers visiting the UK or returning from a holiday, regardless of vaccination status, and will come into force from 4am on 7 December.

Nigeria is also being added to the travel red list, joining several southern African nations which were added after the Omicron variant was detected.

Higher hospital admissions among children during a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections in South Africa that has been driven by the Omicron coronavirus variant should not prompt panic as infections have been mild, a health official said.
A large number of infants admitted with coronavirus last month in Tshwane, the metropolitan area that includes the capital Pretoria, raised concerns that the newly identified Omicron could pose greater risks for young children than other variants. Scientists have yet to confirm any link and have cautioned that other factors could be at play. Ntsakisi Maluleke, a public health specialist in the Gauteng province, told Reuters that out of the 1,511 Covid-positive patients in hospitals in the province 113 were under nine years old, a greater proportion than during previous waves of infection.

Italy reported 75 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday, the health ministry said.

The daily tally of new infections was 16,632.

Italy has registered 134,152 deaths linked to Covid-19 since February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain.

It has reported more than five million cases to date.

More than 40,000 people marched through Vienna on Saturday to protest against a lockdown and plans to make vaccinations compulsory to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

Faced with a surge in infections, the government last month made Austria the first country in Western Europe to reimpose a lockdown and said it would make vaccinations mandatory from February.

Around 1,200 police officers deployed to handle scattered protests that merged into a march on the central Ring boulevard.

Police put the size of the protest at over 40,000, while around 1,500 staged counter-protests, Reuters reports.

The UK has recorded 127 deaths Covid-related deaths and 42,848 positive cases in the latest 24-hour period, government figures show.

It brings the total number of cases to 10,421,104 and the death toll to 145,551.