Day: December 20, 2021

(Xinhua)09:50, November 30, 2020

LONDON, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) — More than 150 people have been arrested after anti-lockdown demonstrators hurling bottles and charging through ranks of police officers in central London Saturday, local media reported Sunday.

By 7:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) Saturday, London police had detained 155 people for a host of offences including breaching coronavirus restrictions, assaulting a police officer and drug possession, the London-based Evening Standard newspaper reported.

Scotland Yard, metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, said police had made a number of early interventions to prevent people from gathering, urging them to go home.

As part of this, coaches transporting demonstrators into the British capital were intercepted and those who did not turn back and go home were either arrested or issued with fixed penalty notices, police said.

Hundreds of demonstrators marched through the city near Oxford Street chanting freedom on Saturday, with some carrying placards reading Stop Controlling Us and No More Lockdowns.

Sky News reporter said Saturday that there were quite violent, aggressive clashes between police and some protesters, while traffic was temporarily blocked on Regent Street.

The Metropolitan Police had urged people not to attend protests this weekend and warned those who attend would risk enforcement action by officers.

England is currently under a month-long national lockdown, the second of its kind since the coronavirus outbreak in Britain, in a bid to quell the resurgence of coronavirus.

According to British Health Secretary Matt Hancock, most of England will face harsh coronavirus restrictions in a new three-tier system when the lockdown ends next week, with London being listed in Tier Two.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States are racing against time to develop coronavirus vaccines.

(Xinhua)09:56, November 30, 2020

SAO PAULO, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) — Media outlets play a key role in strengthening cooperation between BRICS countries, said the chief of Brazils financial and agricultural information provider CMA Group.

Correctly ascertaining news of the social and economic activities of the BRICS countries and disseminating that reliable information can help people in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa expand the understanding of each other, CMA President Jose Juan Sanchez said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

We are always willing to collaborate with other BRICS media outlets through the exchange of content from these markets, Sanchez said on the eve of the presidium meeting of the fifth BRICS Media Forum, which will kick off on Monday via video link.

Since the launch of the BRICS media platform in 2015, media cooperation among members has continued to deepen through high-level forums, exchanges and joint reporting.

Having the possibility to disclose content that is provided by reliable sources such as the vehicles that are part of the BRICS is a resource with high added value in the view of the CMA Group, he added.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the press in BRICS countries has the important mission of investigating and reporting on development and measures to combat the pandemic, Sanchez said.

Seeing that the on-the-ground journalism has been compromised due to the pandemic, he suggests journalistic training programs be conducted virtually.

(Xinhua)13:32, November 30, 2020

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) — The United States may see surge upon a surge of COVID-19 cases in the weeks after Thanksgiving due to cold weather and travel, U.S. top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said Sunday.

We dont want to frighten people, but thats just the reality, Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told ABCs This Week, adding that he does not expect a relaxation of current public health restrictions or recommendations before Christmas.

We said that these things would happen, as we got into the cold weather and as we began traveling, and theyve happened. Its going to happen again, Fauci said.

Faucis warning came as more than 90,000 COVID-19 patients are currently hospitalized across the United States, with over 18,000 in intensive care units, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

The United States has recorded more than 13.37 million cases with over 266,800 related deaths as of Sunday night, according to the real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

(Xinhua)13:45, November 30, 2020

PARIS, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) — Frances highest administrative court on Sunday ordered the government to rethink a 30-person attendance limit for religious services to contain the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic.

The measure took effect this weekend, which faced opposition from places of worship and the faithful such as Catholic associations, describing the government rules as unnecessary, disproportionate and discriminatory.

The Council of State has ordered that French Prime Minister Jean Castex modify the measure within three days.

On Tuesday evening, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the peak of the pandemics second wave had passed, allowing a gradual return to normalcy starting on Saturday.

French churches, mosques and synagogues started opening doors again to worshippers this weekend, but only a few of them.

The countrywide confinement in force since Oct. 30 will be lifted on Dec. 15 provided that new infections remain below 5,000 per day. Cinemas, theaters and museums will then be allowed to reopen under strict health protocols.

(Xinhua)13:47, November 30, 2020

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) — U.S. top health officials on Sunday called on Americans who had traveled for Thanksgiving to get tested for COVID-19 so as to contain the pandemic.

That may be, when you go back to where youve came from, if its possible to quarantine yourself for a period of time or even get tested to make sure that you are not bringing infection back to another place, be it another home or another family, Anthony Fauci, the countrys leading infectious disease expert told ABC.

If youre young and you gathered, you need to be tested about five to 10 days later, White House coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx told CBS.

A total of 1,070,967 people were screened at airports on the day before Thanksgiving, the largest number since the pandemic broke out in March, according to the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.

To date, the United States has recorded more than 13.37 million COVID-19 cases with over 266,838 related deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.