Day: July 26, 2021

PARIS, July 26 -The French parliament on Monday approved a bill which will make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for health workers as well as require a bolstered health pass in a wide array of social venues as France battles with a fourth wave of coronavirus infections. Visitors heading to museums, cinemas or swimming pools in France are already denied entry if they cannot produce a pass showing that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19 or have had a recent negative test. The pass has been required for large-scale festivals or to…

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MOSCOW, July 25 – The Russian navy can detect any enemy and launch an “unpreventable strike” if needed, President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday, weeks after a UK warship angered Moscow by passing the Crimea peninsula. “We are capable of detecting any underwater, above-water, airborne enemy and, if required, carry out an unpreventable strike against it,” Putin said speaking at a navy day parade in St Petersburg. Putin’s words follow an incident in the Black Sea in June when Russia said it had fired warning shots and dropped bombs in…

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The moving average for new daily coronavirus infections in the Netherlands fell below seven thousand for the first time in two weeks. At the same time, the number of hospitalized Covid-19 patients rose for the twelfth straight day, with three consecutive days where over 80 new patients were admitted into care. New data from the RIVM showed that another 4,665 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection, a figure which has not below five thousand since July 7. That pushed the seven-day moving average down 11 percent in a…

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BRUSSELS, July 25 (Reuters) – The European Union is sending four forest firefighting planes to Sardinia in response to a request from Italy to help tame fires that have swept across parts of the island, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of people. Two of the Canadair planes, amphibious planes used to pick up water to drop on fires, are provided by France from the European Civil Protection Pool and two by Greece from the resources of the rescEU programme, the European Commission said. Seven Canadair aircraft were already at work…

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The number of people diagnosed as being infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has fallen acutely over the last five days, and the drop could be enough to reduce the warning levels in over a half-dozen regions of the Netherlands. Domestic authorities divide the country into 25 different security regions. This past Wednesday, the Dutch government categorized 23 of them at the “Severe” risk level, the worst of four. The other two, Drenthe and Zeeland, were categorized at the second-highest level, “Serious”. The risk levels are assessed based on number of…

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