Today, Saturday, several countries imposed restrictions to contain the outbreak of the Corona epidemic, amid a worrying spread of mutated strains of the virus around the world, and while the Chinese city of Wuhan commemorates the first anniversary of imposing a general lockdown in it, a "magic solution" in Sri Lanka did not prevent some of its officials from contracting the disease.

The Netherlands begins today to implement the first curfew since World War II.

In Norway, the government announced that, from today, it will impose restrictions in the capital, Oslo, and 9 other municipalities, to counter the outbreak of the British strain of the virus.

Earlier, French Prime Minister Jean Castex did not rule out imposing a general closure for the third time, at a time when pressure is mounting on hospitals due to the large numbers of people infected with the disease, and France recorded yesterday more than 23 thousand new cases of the virus and 649 additional deaths.

In Britain, which records record injuries and deaths, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said yesterday that the closure procedures will continue for a long time, warning in the meantime of the danger of the strain that was discovered in his country for the first time months ago before it spread to dozens of countries.

In Brazil, the state of Sao Paulo announced the closure of bars and restaurants, starting at eight at night, local time, all days of the week, to reduce the increase in deaths and infections due to the Corona virus.

The measures that will be applied Monday come for a period of two weeks, and while the state governor described the situation as very worrying, the Corona Control Cell Coordinator confirmed that the epidemic causes one death every 6 minutes in Sao Paulo.

Los Angeles city sign warns of coronavirus (French)

Simultaneous procedures


In the Chinese Hong Kong region, local authorities imposed a partial curfew for two days in the first measure of its kind since the emergence of the Corona virus, and under this measure, any resident of buildings located within a specific geographical area, which includes some of the poorest and most crowded neighborhoods, is prohibited from leaving His home if he does not show a negative Corona test result.

Hong Kong took this step at a time when China, which today counted 107 new infections with the virus, is trying to contain the risk of an epidemic in Shanghai through measures including mass checks, amid fears of the spread of the British strain of the virus that was recently detected in the capital, Beijing.

In the Arab world, while Lebanon extended the general closure due to the increase in injuries and deaths and the severe pressure on health facilities, the Tunisian Minister of Health announced that the Scientific Committee had proposed imposing a general closure at the end of every week to limit the spread of the epidemic, and this comes at a time when the authorities counted 103 deaths in one day yesterday, As well as about 2,400 new cases of the virus.

In Iran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned today about the possibility of the new strain of Corona virus spreading in his country, and said during a meeting of the Coronavirus Control Committee that the committee decided to strengthen precautionary measures regarding flights coming from European and African countries to prevent the arrival of the new strain in Iran.

Mounting numbers


With the continuation of the second wave of the epidemic, the numbers of HIV infections and deaths are increasing, and the health systems in rich and poor countries alike are under mounting pressure that threatens to collapse.

Yesterday, US President Joe Biden warned that the number of deaths in his country as a result of the epidemic will soon jump to 600 thousand from the current 424 thousand, and he had previously warned of a difficult winter in the United States, which counted 25 million injuries, including more than 3 million in the state of California most affected by Virus.

In the last 24 hours, a high number of injuries and deaths were recorded in European countries, including France, Britain and Germany.

Globally, the number of people infected with the virus increased to about 99 million, of whom about 2.2 million died, while the number of people recovered exceeded 71 million.

This comes despite the vaccination campaigns that many countries of the world are witnessing, especially the rich ones, amid complaints of slow vaccination processes, and delays in some companies in delivering the agreed upon shipments of vaccines.

In the latest developments in this regard, Morocco has received two million doses of the British company AstraZeneca, and Brazil is waiting to receive two million doses of the same vaccine, while the Hungarian authorities announced that they will acquire two million doses of the Russian “Sputnik V” vaccine despite the fact that The European Union has yet to approve it.

The World Health Organization and the American "Pfizer" group have talked about securing 40 million initial doses of their joint vaccine with the German "BionTech" group through the global vaccination platform "COVAX".

The city of Wuhan has regained its normal life a year after the outbreak of the epidemic in it (Getty Images)

Wuhan


, China, today marks the passage of a year of imposing strict isolation measures that lasted 76 days to curb the Corona virus.

The streets of Wuhan were crowded with cars and public transport vehicles, and the sidewalks crowded, indicating the size of the recovery in the city of 11 million people, in which the first cases of the virus were detected before it invaded the world.

"Magic solution"


in Sri Lanka, the

authorities announced today that the

Minister of

Health Pavthera and Anyarache, which has

publicly expressed its support for the

use of

"magical solution" to stop the

corona virus outbreak on the

island, hit by the

disease and isolate themselves.

Waniarache had publicly consumed what was called a "magic solution" consisting of honey and nutmeg, produced by a wizard who claims that it provides life-long immunity to the virus.

Last November, she poured a volume of "blessed" water into a river after a self-styled "god" told her that this would end the epidemic.

And a young Sri Lankan minister had taken the same solution that the Minister of Health promoted, and he in turn contracted the Corona virus this week.

Earlier, officials on the island, which has a population of 21 million, announced approval for the rapid use of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, just hours after the health minister's test result.