Thursday 17 Septmeber
- North-east of England faces new restrictions amid Covid-19 spike.
- PM: Speak to ‘rule-breakers’ before calling the police.
- Syria cases may be much higher than figures suggest: UN.
- Bill Gates: World Health has ‘gone in reverse.’
- Trump doubles down on Covid-19 vaccine timeline, contradicting top health official.
- Hawaii will allow Covid-negative travellers to avoid quarantine from next month.
North-east of England faces new restrictions amid Covid-19 spike
The Guardian says new restrictions on social contact between households and a 10 pm curfew on pubs are expected to be introduced in parts of north-east England in an attempt to curb rising coronavirus cases.
Nick Forbes, the leader of Newcastle city council, confirmed that “additional, temporary restrictions” were being planned to prevent another full lockdown for the region.
Read the full story on The Guardian
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PM: Speak to ‘rule-breakers’ before calling the police
BBC News says people should speak to social distancing rule-breakers first before reporting them to police, the PM said. Adding I’ve “never much been in favour of sneak culture, myself”.
The ban social gatherings of more than six people came into force in England, Scotland and Wales this week. Police hare able to break up groups larger than six and people who ignore officers could be fined £100 – doubling with each offence to a maximum of £3,200.
Read the full story on BBC News
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Syria cases may be much higher than figures suggest: UN
Aljazeera the UN’s top humanitarian official says coronavirus could be much more widespread in Syria than official figures suggest.
Mark Lowcock told the UN Security Council in New York that it would only be possible to get a clearer picture of the situation when testing was stepped up. He noted that the source of nearly 90 per cent of confirmed cases could not be traced to a known source — suggesting community transmission.
Read the full story on Aljazeera
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Bill Gates: World Health has ‘gone in reverse’
Arab News says the Covid-19 pandemic has reversed 25 years of progress in global health standards, and its long-term hit on the global economy will be “literally trillions of dollars,” said philanthropist billionaire Bill Gates.
“Typically, we have positive news, even if it’s not always completely on track. This year is different because of the pandemic. Progress hasn’t just stopped, but gone into reverse,” he said, adding that global immunization programs for other diseases such as polio had faltered because of the focus on the pandemic. “It has reversed the progress of 25 years in 25 weeks.”
Read the full story on Arab News
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Trump doubles down on Covid-19 vaccine timeline, contradicting top health official
France24 says President Trump expressed renewed confidence that a viable Covid-19 vaccine would be ready by October, directly contradicting a top administration health expert and facing fierce criticism from his election rival Joe Biden.
Trump sowed confusion about the issue with an extraordinary public rebuke of one of his top health experts who said masks were a leading weapon for fighting the pandemic and that a vaccine was unlikely to be widely available until mid-2021.
Read the full story on France24
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Hawaii will allow Covid-negative travellers to avoid quarantine from next month
CNN says Hawaii will allow people arriving from out of state to skip the 14-day quarantine if they test negative for Covid-19, Gov. David Ige announced Wednesday.
The new program begins on October 15.
The mandatory quarantine has been in effect since March, crippling the state’s critical tourism industry. “I worry about the long-term impacts of economic stress,” said Lt. Gov. Josh Green.
Read the full story on CNN
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A quick look at the other headlines today
Hurricane Sally brings ‘historic’ flooding to southeastern US
France24 says Hurricane Sally uprooted trees, flooded streets and cut power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses on Wednesday. The US National Hurricane Center called it “historic and catastrophic.”
Vienna to host ‘this year’s only international climate conference’
Euronews says this year’s “only international climate conference” is to take place in Vienna, Austria, on September 17.
Speakers at the one-day event will include Prince Charles, United Nations Secretary Antonio Guterres, primatologist Jane Goodall and the presidents of Croatia and Slovakia.
Former IAAF chief found guilty of corruption, handed two-year sentence
Africanews says the former head of athletics’ governing body Lamine Diack, has been sentenced to prison after being found guilty of corruption.
Syria calls US a ‘rogue state’ over Trump’s kill Al-Assad plan
Aljazeera says Syria hit back at President Donald Trump and likened the United States to a “rogue state” after he said he wanted to assassinate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
