Travel between US and Southern Africa will Resume, White House says
President Joe Biden will remove the ban on travel between the United States and countries in southern Africa at midnight Dec. 31, a senior administration official said Friday, reversing restrictions imposed last month to combat the spread of the omicron variant. The region’s leaders had denounced the ban as unfair, discriminatory and unnecessary. Biden made the decision this week on the advice of his medical team based on findings that existing COVID vaccines are effective against severe disease with the highly contagious omicron variant, especially among people who have received a booster shot.
S. Africa ends quarantines, contact tracing, and authorizes booster shots
South Africa’s government, buoyed by encouraging data showing that infections from the omicron variant aren’t as severe, has dropped quarantine restrictions for all but symptomatic people. That includes allowing people who have tested positive but show no symptoms to gather with others, so long as they wear a mask and social distance. A top health official explained that since the variant spreads so quickly, there are probably many infected people socializing with others and it no longer made sense to quarantine only those who have tested themselves. The new protocols go into effect immediately.
Fire on crowded Bangladesh ferry leaves dozens dead
A devastating fire on a crowded ferry in Bangladesh early Friday left at least 35 people dead and 100 others injured, officials said. The ferry was traveling to Barguna, in the southern part of the country, with 500 passengers on board, including children and older people. It caught fire on the Sugandha River around 3 a.m. Officials said the number of the dead was likely to rise because many who had jumped into the water to escape the fire were missing. The district magistrate in the area said many of those rescued were in critical condition. A dense fog hampered rescue operations. The fire’s cause was not immediately clear.
As Hindu extremists call for killing of Muslims, India’s leaders keep silent
Hundreds of right-wing Hindu activists and monks rose in unison at a conference this week to take an oath: They would turn India, constitutionally a secular republic, into a Hindu nation, even if doing so required dying and killing. “If 100 of us are ready to kill 2 million of them, then we will win and make India a Hindu nation,” said Pooja Shakun Pandey, a leader of Hindu Mahasabha, a group that espouses militant Hindu nationalism, referring to the country’s Muslims. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has maintained a characteristic silence that analysts say can be interpreted by his most extreme supporters as a tacit signal of protection.
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