The member states voted 124-0 in favor of the agreement, which it said “sets out principles, approaches and tools” to increase international coordination “in order to strengthen the global health architecture for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.”

“The world is safer today thanks to the leadership, collaboration and commitment of our member states to adopt the historic WHO Pandemic Agreement,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “The agreement is a victory for public health, science and multilateral action. It will ensure we, collectively, can better protect the world from future pandemic threats. It is also a recognition by the international community that our citizens, societies and economies must not be left vulnerable to again suffer losses like those endured during COVID-19.”

The 33-page Agreement is based on an objective that states its purpose is to “prevent, prepare for and respond to pandemics,” and calls on WHO members to “progressively strengthen measures and capacities for pandemic prevention and coordinated multisectoral surveillance.”

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/05/20/Switzerland-WHO-Pandemic-Agreement-Kennedy-US/8681747754030/

The post WHO member states adopt historic agreement to collaborate on pandemic prevention first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

We wish we didn’t, but we live in historic times.  Look at who’s leading this nation at a time when our enemies are consolidating and our presumptive president needs sleep.  It’s starting to feel like the worm is turning.  The gaffs, the mumbling, the pratfalls, and now something really important. There’s something we haven’t been told.

The usual suspects are out in force, doing interviews and telling us that the impeachment inquiry is nothing but a conspiracy theory with no facts to back it up.  Those three or four pesky loudmouths are playing rough with no evidence, they claim.  But things are falling apart on every front.

Can you stand to see what’s going on at the border?  It’s a stomach turning exercise, particularly after the play by play manhunt that went on this week ending in the capture of an illegal, wanted for murder in Brazil, convicted of murdering his girlfriend gruesomely.  He was just another sad sack who’d made his way to the land of opportunity.  How much did the manhunt cost?  How much is the incursion at the border costing?   What on earth is going on?

At no time in human history has anything like this taken place. The details are too idiotic to go into. Our national debt is admittedly out of hand, and we act like the well will never go dry. The truth of many untenable situations is obvious to anyone paying attention, but the networks tell us otherwise.

That may be about to change, insurance policy for the ages or not.  

We’re having electric cars waved in front of our faces day and night.  Why?  Has a panel discussion taken place somewhere that convinces us that electric cars are the future?  The news today is that auto workers are on strike at several factories.  They’re worried that electric cars will be built in such a way that they’re no longer needed.  They also want a big raise.  Where does the power that charges electric vehicles come from?  

Do you remember the news worrying whether the power grid would hold up during inclement weather?  Maybe the demands are greater, but we never worried that there wouldn’t be sufficient wind to generate what we needed.  Texas is on board with saving the planet.  Well, we’ve got windmills anyway, the life expectancy and power generated is a taboo subject.  Things are being done on the basis of feelings rather than brass tacks.  You’d think this would all be explained logically, but that’s not the case when it comes to saving the planet.  China and India think it’s nuts.

Word has it that we’re about to be legally bound by W.H.O. regulations. 

They’ve got to convict Donald Trump of something!  Otherwise the destruction might be turned around, and no self-respecting liberal can stand for that.  How dare we love the United States?  We hate seeing what is being done, and even worse, why.  The idea of the nation being saved, being turned back to the traditions we were founded upon, is reprehensible to the “new” values that we’re being spoon-fed on a daily basis.  

The values this nation was founded upon were enduring. These buffoons have tried everything and they’re almost there! If they could just stamp out those of us who remember that God’s blessings are beyond anything these do-gooders can come up with. We’d like to preserve them. The Feast of Trumpets falls tomorrow, and pictures the return of Jesus Christ to this earth. We celebrate it every year as the Bible dictates. Some things we’re never going to stop doing, no matter what.

Mark

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – September 15, 2023 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The WHO said the European model will be the first building block in creating the WHO Global Digital Health Certification Network.

The partnership will include close collaboration with the European Commission on the development, management and implementation of the WHO system. Officials said they hope the collaboration will lead to a wider range of digital tools that will help deliver better healthcare results around the world.

“Building on the EU’s highly successful digital certification network, WHO aims to offer all WHO member states access to an open-source digital health tool, which is based on the principles of equity, innovation, transparency and data protection and privacy,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general said in a statement.

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2023/06/05/Switzerland-WHO-EU-COVID-digital-system/4061685979099/

The post WHO to expand on European Union digital COVID-19 certification system first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Amid the scare that the pretend administration is trying to turn American sovereignty over to a faceless UN body known as the WHO, is the reality of “emergency powers.”  Isn’t that convenient?  Congress doesn’t have to pass laws.  A pint-sized twerp in a lab coat can be trotted out to make a declaration, and that authorizes all manner of stupidity.

Businesses were closed in New York, California and a host of states where the governors acted on behalf of the “public.”  Surely the “public” would be better off if they weren’t running around spreading coronavirus all over the place.  Businesses of all kinds closed, often permanently.  You probably miss some of them.  There was nothing gyms could do except lock the doors.  Some who bucked the lock-down were raided and forcibly closed by police.  What Constitution?

It appears that ways to exert authority have been discovered, and the protections that we thought were inherent in our citizenship are no protections at all when it comes to “emergency declarations.”  Governors retained the right to FORCE people to stay home, not work and hunker down.  At first, Joe Q. Public probably didn’t mind, thinking it would be a week off, maybe two.  But that was two years ago, and still we’re getting bossed around about coronavirus.  They’re trying to resurrect it in New York, where the mayor has declared that masks must be worn outdoors in public.  What!?!  These so-called emergency powers have been egregiously abused, and there are other emergencies around the corner.  We only have to wait for them to be manufactured.

The naysayers said Trump was dangerous.  They said he would bungle us into nuclear war.  They said the same thing about Ronald Reagan.  Not even close.  We were worried about North Korea.  Remember the panic in Hawaii?  People lowering their children down manhole covers, making one last call to loved ones?  They haven’t forgotten, and probably never will.  Now we’re worried about Russia.  Threats have been issued.  The last time we were this close to war with Russia was the Cuban missile crisis.  If you listen to some of the advisors you’d think it was the U. S. at war in Ukraine!  Talk about stumbling into big trouble.  At least Trump has all his marbles, and loved the country enough to sacrifice his billionaire lifestyle to make it thrive.

The election appears to have been stolen.  Saying so would get you thrown off social media platforms, not that I care.  Differing with the approved narrative was not allowed.  What are you, a source of “disinformation”?  The pretend regime thought they’d appoint someone to stamp out “dis-information” and set everybody straight.  Unfortunately they picked some hair-brain gal that’s been busy spreading nonsense, between singing to her computer and making creepy faces.  It was so ludicrous they’ve shut down, or more accurately “paused” the new department under the department of Homeland Security. Now Homeland Security has appointed Michael Chertoff to figure everything out.  Another creep.

Nobody can figure out what to do about China.  Tons of plastic junk fill the shelves of nearly every store.  But businesses can make tremendous profits if they manufacture in China.  The NBA has staked its future on the huge audience that has no chance of actually competing in the sport.  They must thrill to the athleticism on display.  Not only that, it’s the biggest imaginable market for their swag.  What do those profiting from China care?  They’ve got the money to live anywhere on Earth.  And no.  We’re not jealous.  Taiwan?  Apparently that’s a sacrifice worth making for the profits involved.  People making money off ignoring the abuses in China ought to have to live there.  Just saying.

The baby formula crisis is so bad that all the wire services have propelled it into everybody’s domain.  The first thought was that mothers would be going to the internet to find out how to make it at home.  But the news is warning that you better not.  Now there’s a news story about a mother who’s been “caught” hoarding formula to feed her babies.  What mother wouldn’t try to acquire a supply amid a crisis?  How many crises have arisen?  We’ve got more  crises than we can keep up with, and the pretend administration is only a year and a half old.

It’s as if turning back all of those evil Trump policies means that the American people have become the enemy.  Now it’s all about “social justice,” diversity, inclusion and saving the planet.  All the big corporate names are popping up to let us know they’re on board.  After all, they don’t want to be attacked by the three letter agencies that are tasked with making sure we all think the same thoughts.  It’s a joke, and a bad one at that.  But we seem to be on some kind of ride that we can’t get off.  Not to wreck your weekend by spelling out all the manufactured crises, you already know.  This can’t end well, and it won’t.  Hopefully there will be something left to save when the “adults” are no longer in charge.

Mark

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 20 May 2022 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

“Now is the time for the administration to sunset federal transportation travel restrictions – including the international predeparture testing requirement and the federal mask mandate – that are no longer aligned with the realities of the current epidemiological environment,” the CEOs of 10 U.S.-based passenger and cargo airlines, including Delta, American and United, wrote in a letter to President Biden.

The letter states that while the airlines and their employees supported the federal mask mandate when it was first implemented, especially because it did away with the possibility for airline-by-airline rules in the early days of the pandemic, they now feel it is no longer necessary.

“The persistent and steady decline of hospitalization and death rates are the most compelling indicators that our country is well protected against severe disease from COVID-19,” the letter states. “Given that we have entered a different phase of dealing with this virus, we strongly support your view that ‘COVID-19 need no longer control our lives.'”

While initially popular with employees, over the past two years flight attendants and gate agents in particular have taken the brunt of flyer frustration over the masking rules. Despite fewer flyers than pre-pandemic levels, cases of disruptive passengers have soared over the last two years. Airlines last year banned thousands of passengers due to unruly behavior.

“It is critical to recognize that the burden of enforcing both the mask and predeparture testing requirements has fallen on our employees for two years now,” the letter read. “This is not a function they are trained to perform and subjects them to daily challenges by frustrated customers. This in turn takes a toll on their own well-being.”

Citing the planes’ onboard air filtration systems as well as the nation’s high level of immunity thanks to vaccines and prior infection and the CDC’s most recent guidance indicating that 99% of the U.S. population live in areas of low or medium transmission and therefor no longer needs to wear masks indoors, the carriers argue it is time to wind down masking rules for them as well.

The letter noted that masks could also still be worn voluntarily, even if the mandate is removed. “The effectiveness and availability of high-quality masks for those who wish to wear them gives passengers the ability to further protect themselves if they choose to do so,” the letter read.

Delta Air Lines, in its own separate statement, also stressed that passengers would not be barred from wearing face masks. “N95 and KN95 masks that were previously unavailable are now widely available for personal protection as are vaccinations and other medical advancements for those who choose them,” the carrier wrote.

The carriers also ask Mr. Biden to lift the pre-departure testing for international travelers. They argue such measures are ineffective, citing The World Health Organization, which determined in January that “the failure of travel restrictions introduced after the detection and reporting of Omicron variant to limit international spread of Omicron demonstrates the ineffectiveness of such measures over time.” WHO did note, however, that preventative measures such as masking and testing “should be based on risk assessments.”

“The United Kingdom, the European Union and Canada have recognized this reality and lifted travel restrictions,” the letter states. “The U.S. inconsistency with these practices creates a competitive disadvantage for U.S. travel and tourism by placing an additional cost and burden on travel to the U.S. Further, many outbound travelers are not willing to risk being stranded overseas.”

Following a massive surge fueled by the Omicron variant, COVID-19 cases in the U.S. are at their lowest since last summer. Meanwhile, cases in the U.K. are rising again as restrictions are lifted and the Omicron subvariant BA.2 spreads. But the case numbers are nowhere near their Omicron peak, and former FDA commissioner and current Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb told “Face the Nation” on Sunday that there is evidence the U.K. has already seen the peak of BA.2 infections.

“I think we’re going to continue to see low levels of infection through the summer,” Gottlieb predicted. “But before we get there, we’re probably going to see some tick-up of infection like the Europeans are seeing right now, maybe not as pronounced.”

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/airlines-ask-biden-to-drop-mask-mandate-testing-requirement/

The post Airlines ask Biden to drop mask mandate and testing requirements for travelers first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The number of patients hospitalized in Israel in serious condition as a result of COVID-19 rose to 1,229 on Saturday, the highest number since the onset of the pandemic, according to new Health Ministry data.

The last time the number of serious patients was close to that figure was in late January 2021, with 1,193 serious COVID-19 cases.

The ministry reported 37,985 new cases identified Friday, with a test positivity rate of 25.48%. Another 15,304 cases had been identified as of 9 p.m. Saturday.

The transmission rate (measuring the average number of people each infected person spreads the virus to) continued to fall, reaching a value of 0.88. The transmission rate is based on data from 10 days earlier and any value below 1 shows that the pandemic is shrinking.

With Israel’s COVID-19 death toll at 9,135, Prof. Eran Segal, a computational biologist at the Weizmann Institute and a top government adviser, noted on Channel 12 that 1 in every 1,000 Israelis had now died of COVID.

That puts Israel 47th in the world for deaths per capita, he said. In the US, the per capita death rate is almost three times as bad.

Recent days have seen daily deaths hovering at around 50.

Some 2 million Israelis have tested positive in the current Omicron wave, Segal said. About 900 people have died during the wave — which underlines that Omicron is less deadly than previous waves, with 1 fatality per 2,000 confirmed cases.

Segal predicted that within a week, serious cases would stand at 1,050-1,250, with daily infections hovering at 30,000-40,000.

Also on Saturday, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked tested positive for COVID-19. Shaked had taken a personal antigen test just before a planned interview with Channel 12 news, when she tested positive.

“The minister is feeling well,” her office said, adding that she would conduct an additional test at an official testing station, according to Health Ministry guidelines.

On Friday, the cabinet voted to approve a rollback in requirements for the Green Pass, further easing COVID restrictions alongside a slowdown in the Omicron-led wave.

Starting on Monday, Israelis will no longer have to flash their Green Passes — which show proof of vaccination, recovery or a recent negative COVID-19 test — to enter restaurants, movie theaters, gyms and hotels.

The new Green Pass is valid for all those who have either recovered or received two doses of the vaccine in the past four months, and anyone who has received three or four doses at any time.

Proof of a valid Green Pass will still be required upon entry to indoor sites where there is a higher risk for infection, such as event halls and dance clubs.

The cabinet also approved the removal of “Purple Pass” requirements at commercial sites that required businesses to limit capacity at stores, and the removal of the requirement to keep a 1.5-meter (5-foot) space between tables at restaurants.

The new rules will remain in place until March 1.

As health officials worry over the possible dangers posed by the new highly contagious Omicron sub-variant BA.2, Channel 12 news reported that Dr. Dorit Nitzan, emergency manager to the World Health Organization in Europe, had shared data showing that the new strain was three times more contagious than the original BA.1 variant, which itself was previously the most contagious variant.

While she did say that according to the latest data, vaccines are still effective in protecting against serious illness, she also noted that “caution must still be maintained” and that there was still a risk in lifting certain restrictions.

On Wednesday, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, who serves as head of public health services at the Health Ministry, said during a meeting of the Knesset Health Committee that about 300 cases of the new variant have been detected in Israel so far, primarily among people returning from abroad.

Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-serious-covid-19-cases-hit-all-time-high-of-1213/

The post Israel’s serious COVID-19 cases hit all-time high of 1,229 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Argentina’s Health Ministry reported 88,503 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, with 317 deaths over the last 24 hours.

The rise in fatalities means that the overall death since the start of the coronavirus pandemic has now surpassed 120,000. A total of 8,130,023 infections have been confirmed over the same period.

Over the last 24 hours, 140,157 tests were carried out nationwide in Argentina, with a positivity rate of 63.14 percent, well above the 10 percent ceiling set by the World Health Organization.

As of today, 847,423 patients are suffering from the disease across the country, with the number of recovered patients at 7,162,581, according to official data.

The number of people hospitalized due to the coronavirus pandemic in Intensive Care Units (ICU) throughout the country is currently 2,755.

The percentage of occupancy in adult ICU wards in all national jurisdictions for different pathologies amounts to 49 percent nationwide, and 47.7 percent in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA).

Buenos Aires Province reported 39,111 new cases. Since the start of the pandemic, the region has recorded 3,145,753 cases, while the City of Buenos Aires reported 10,495 new infections, lifting its cumulative total to 914,755.

Catamarca confirmed 892 infections (77,762); Chaco, 2,023 (152,889); Chubut, 955 (106,542); Corrientes, 444 (118,349); Córdoba, 8,729 (880,266); Entre Ríos, 1,756 (182,592); Formosa, 1,582 (93,369); and Jujuy, 1,741 (98,379).

La Pampa reported 984 cases (93,574); La Rioja, 431 (41,547); Mendoza, 2,673 (249,050); Misiones, 323 (46,872); Neuquén, 1,505 (156,961); Río Negro, 1,117 (133,890); Salta, 1,053 (147,406); San Juan, 1. 932 (134,429); San Luis, 919 (126,733); Santa Cruz, 360 (82,691); Santa Fe, 6,009 (675,867); Santiago del Estero, 531 (121,794); Tierra del Fuego, 727 (41,974); and Tucumán, 2,211 (306,579).

– TIMES/AFP

Source: https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/argentina/argentina-surpasses-120000-deaths-from-coronavirus.phtml

The post Argentina surpasses 120,000 deaths from coronavirus first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

United Kingdom
Thousands of protesters gathered in central London last Saturday to protest government COVID-19 mandates. The London demonstration, part of a global movement against severe coronavirus restrictions known as the Worldwide Rally For Freedom, saw an enormous crowd forming in the city’s Trafalgar Square to protest mask mandates, business restrictions, and vaccines passports, among other government restrictions.

In attendance was David Icke, media personality Katie Hopkins, and Piers Corbyn, whose brother is former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Speakers at the rally compared the government measures to the Holocaust. Referencing the military tribunals for prominent leaders in Nazi Germany known as the Nuremberg trials, Kate Shemirani, a former nurse who was removed from the Nursing and Midwifery Council in June after being accused of spreading misinformation about COVID-19, said at the rally, “Get their names [of doctors and nurses]. Email them to me. With a group of lawyers, we are collecting all that. At the Nuremberg trials, the doctors and nurses stood trial, and they hung. If you are a doctor or a nurse, now is the time to get off that bus … and stand with us, the people.”

Italy
Thousands of protesters peacefully gathered in Rome, Milan, Verona, and other Italian cities over the past several days following the Italian parliament’s decision to impose “green pass” restrictions on unvaccinated people in the country, including tourists.

The protesters included families with young children, medical doctors who said they are risking their jobs not to get vaccinated, and people who likened the Green Pass decision to decisions by fascist dictatorships.

The pass, which is a digital or paper certificate, will be available to those who have had at least one vaccine dose. The pass will also be available to anyone who presents proof of a negative test taken within 48 hours before accessing any of the activities under restriction, as well as those who have recently recovered from Covid-19. Beginning Aug. 6th, the pass will be required to go to sports stadiums, gyms, swimming pools, museums, spas, casinos, and cinemas. Eating in indoor restaurants will also require a pass.

France
Hundreds of thousands of people in France are protesting against President Emmanuel Macron and the nation’s parliament mandating COVID-19 vaccines for all health care workers and against a bill taking effect in August requiring everyone to have a special COVID-19 pass to enter restaurants. The demonstrators chanted “Freedom, freedom,” while carrying placards denouncing “Macron, Tyrant,” “Big Pharma shackles freedom” or saying “No to the pass of shame.”

The law declares all workers in the health care sector must start getting vaccinated by Sept. 15th or risk suspension. Currently, visitors going to museums, cinemas, or swimming pools in the country 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 go clubbing.

Huge protests broke out in central Paris against COVID-19 curbs and vaccination

Source: https://uncoverdc.com/2021/07/30/massive-protests-worldwide-against-vaccine-passports/

The post Massive Protests Worldwide Against Vaccine Passports first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The World Health Organization is holding a meeting Friday to discuss the dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases in South Africa that has been blamed on a new variant of the virus.

Joe Phaahla, South Africa’s minister of health, identified the new variant as B.1.1.529, and said it seems highly contagious among young people.

The BBC reported that the new variant seems to be the most heavily mutated so far in the outbreak. James Gallagher, the health correspondent, wrote that one scientist described the variant as “horrific.” He said the meeting of the WHO will likely result in the variant receiving a Greek code-name, like the delta variant.

“This variant did surprise us,” Tulio de Oliveira, the director of the Center for South Africa’s Epidemic Response and Innovation, told the news outlet. “It has a big jump on evolution [and] many more mutations that we expected.”

GET THE LATEST ON THE CORONAVIRUS
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Nature magazine reported that the variant was first reported in Botswana earlier this month. The report said scientists are trying to determine if the variant can somehow evade the immune response. One researcher in Johannesburg said, “We’re flying at warp speed.”

FOX BUSINESS: ASIAN MARKET HIT OVER FEARS OF NEW VARIANT
https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/asian-stock-markets-sink-traders-watch-europe-virus-cases

Aris Katzourakis, an expert at virus evolution at the University of Oxford, said, “A burning question is does it reduce vaccine effectiveness because it has so many changes.”

STL HEALTH OFFICIAL CRITICIZED FOR CALLING COVID-19 MANDATE OPPONENTS ‘LUNATIC FRINGE’
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/st-louis-health-director-tells-staff-to-ignore-covid-19-lunatic-fringe-in-email-report

The British government announced that it was banning flights from South Africa and five other southern African countries effective at noon (1200GMT) on Friday, and that anyone who had recently arrived from those countries would be asked to take a coronavirus test.

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U.K. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said there were concerns the new variant “may be more transmissible” than the dominant delta strain, and “the vaccines that we currently have may be less effective” against it.

Grant Shapps, the British transportation secretary, called the move essential, according to Reuters. He said the spike protein was “dramatically different” from the virus that the vaccines were designed to counter.

The Israeli Health Ministry says it has detected the country’s first case of a new coronavirus variant in a traveler who returned from Malawi. Naftali Bennett, the prime minister, said the country is close to declaring a state of emergency over the variant.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/health/who-meets-to-discuss-new-heavily-mutated-covid-19-variant

The post WHO meets to discuss new, ‘heavily mutated’ COVID-19 variant first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Nations took swift action Friday to halt air travel from southern Africa in reaction to news of a new, transmissible COVID-19 variant.

Although the World Health Organization (WHO) cautioned against hastily imposing travel restrictions linked to the B.1.1.529 variant, warning officials to avoid “knee-jerk responses,” the 27-nation European Union said it would propose stopping air travel from southern Africa.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that flights “should be suspended until we have a clear understanding about the danger posed by this new variant, and travelers returning from this region should respect strict quarantine rules.”

She insisted on extreme caution, warning that “mutations could lead to the emergence and spread of even more concerning variants of the virus that could spread worldwide within a few months.

The EU joined Israel and the United Kingdom, who are likewise imposing a travel ban.

Will the U.S. also impose a ban? Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN that it’s a possibility but that scientists need to first determine whether the variant can evade antibodies created by vaccines and viral infection.

“Well, I mean, obviously as soon as we find out more information we’ll make a decision as quickly as we possibly can,” the White House chief medical adviser on COVID-19 told “New Day” co-host Brianna Keilar. “You always put these things on the table but you don’t want to say you’re going to do it until you have some scientific reason to do it. That’s the reason why we’re rushing now to get that scientific data to try and make an informed decision about something like that.”

Yonat Friling (Frühling)@Foxyonat
#UPDATE Amid the new COVID19 variant, Israel declares most of the African states as “Red countries” and will impose further no-travel restrictions.

Yonat Friling (Frühling)@Foxyonat
At least one person tested positive in Israel for the new COVID19 variant B.1.1.529 . Israeli authorities are concerned.

Israel announced Friday that it had detected the country’s first case of the new variant in a traveler who returned from Malawi. The traveler and two other suspected cases have been placed in isolation. It said all three are vaccinated but that it is currently looking into their exact vaccination status.

“We are currently on the verge of a state of emergency,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, according to Reuters.

Belgium became the first European Union country to announce a case of the variant, involving a person who came from abroad.

WHO MEETS TO DISCUSS NEW, ‘HEAVILY MUTATED’ COVID-19 VARIANT
https://www.foxnews.com/health/who-meets-to-discuss-new-heavily-mutated-covid-19-variant

The U.K. announced that it was banning flights from South Africa and five other southern African countries effective at noon on Friday. Anyone who had recently arrived from those countries would be asked to take a coronavirus test.

The South African government called the U.K.’s decision to temporarily ban South Africans from entering “seems to have been rushed,” citing the fact that the WHO has yet to recommend next steps.

Germany, an EU nation that has seen new record daily case numbers in recent days, said its flight ban could be enacted as soon as Friday night.

Ursula von der Leyen@vonderleyen
The @EU_Commission will propose, in close coordination with Member States, to activate the emergency brake to stop air travel from the southern African region due to the variant of concern B.1.1.529.

“The last thing we need is to bring in a new variant that will cause even more problems,” said German Health Minister Jens Spahn.

Italy’s health ministry also announced measures to ban entry into Italy of anyone who has been in seven southern African nations. The Netherlands and the Czech Republic planned similar measures.

The Japanese government announced that from Friday, Japanese nationals traveling from Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Lesotho will have to quarantine at government-dedicated accommodation for 10 days and do a COVID test on Day 3, Day 6 and Day 10. Japan has not yet opened up to foreign nationals.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Julia Musto is a reporter for Fox News Digital. You can find her on Twitter at @JuliaElenaMusto.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/health/new-covid-variant-southern-africa-nations-travel-ban?test=38861ea43380e1402f1c90f21546ad4b

The post EU, UK, Israel to halt air travel to southern Africa over new COVID-19 variant first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.