New restrictions and travel bans in Europe come into force as of today, 29 January.

Portugal, which is struggling with a new spike in coronavirus infection rate, is restricting out-of-country travel for the next two weeks and closes its border with Spain. Authorities also suspended all flights to and from Brazil, bTV reported.

Germany is also expected today to announce tougher travel rules and ban all trips to and from the UK, Portugal, Brazil and South Africa because of new strains of the coronavirus detected there.

On the same grounds, Britain banned flights to and from Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.

The Czech government has adopted a decision to tighten the preventive measures, TASS reported. 

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Jan Hamacek announced that the government is ordering hotels and boarding houses to accommodate only people on business trips. They must show to the administration a document saying why they were sent on a business trip. The document will be kept for a long time and may be required by the authorities if necessary.

In addition, vacations are allowed only in private country houses, and only members of one family can gather in one place. Contacts with others should be limited to a minimum.

The new measures take effect from tomorrow to Saturday.

EC decides whether to authorize AstraZeneca vaccine

The European Medicines Agency is expected to decide whether to approve AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine. The decision comes amid a dispute between the European Commission and the producer company over the quantities and delivery deadlines.

A week ago, AstraZeneca said it could not provide 60% of the promised quantities by the end of March. The company announced yesterday that it will present the contract with Brussels.

Meanwhile, scientists in Brazil have documented cases of simultaneous infection with two strains of coronavirus, the EFE agency reported, quoted by BGNES.

According to data of the National Laboratory of Computer Science, different genealogical lines of SARS-CoV-2 were found in the test samples of two patients.

Despite infection simultaneously with two strains, the disease in patients was in mild or moderate form. They recovered as early as November without hospitalization, the scientists said.

The first cases of the mutant variant of the coronavirus in the US have been recorded.  The mutation was originally detected in South Africa.

The South African variant has been detected on two occasions in South Carolina. According to medical officials, it is almost certain that there are other cases that have not yet been established. They are concerned that this strain is spreading more easily, while at the same time it is possible that vaccines are less effective against it, the Associated Press agency reported.

The two cases are of adults in different parts of the state, and there appears to be no connection between them. None of them have traveled lately, South Carolina's Department of Health and Environment Control announced Thursday.

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