Pilgrims gather to pray next to Saudi Arabia’s Mount Arafat, a key ritual in the hajj pilgrimage. Access to climb the mountain is forbidden this year due to Covid-19, with the pilgrimage taking place in downsized form for the second year running.
England lifted most pandemic restrictions Monday despite surging infections and dire warnings from experts, as the Delta variant swept parts of Europe and Asia and new cases in the Olympic Village threatened to mar the upcoming Tokyo Games.
As England celebrated so-called “freedom day”, Vietnam locked down much of its population, while Indonesia clocked daily record deaths and the French cabinet moved to toughen vaccine rules.
In Britain, daily infections have climbed, averaging more than 50,000 since last week, with Delta taking hold in many areas.
– ‘Moral emptiness’ –
But Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that nightclubbers will have to prove they are fully vaccinated against coronavirus.
“I thought, well, we missed New Year’s, so why not come out and celebrate?” she said. “It’s like a new chapter.”
Johnson — who is self-isolating after his health minister was infected — has defended the move, dubbed “freedom day” by some media, but urged people to remain prudent.
But the approach is marked by “moral emptiness and epidemiological stupidity”, said University of Bristol public health expert Gabriel Scally.
But bookings of flights to Spain from the United Kingdom have risen sharply since London lifted quarantine for vaccinated Britons returning home, according to Javier Gandara, who chairs the Airlines Association (ALA).
Due to go before parliament at the end of the week, the draft law is designed to massively extend a “health pass” system that will require people to produce evidence of vaccination or a negative test when they visit public venues such as restaurants, bars or shopping centres.
The coronavirus is known to have claimed more than four million lives since it emerged in late 2019 but, for some nations in the Asia-Pacific region, the worst is still ahead.
There are fears people travelling for the Eid al-Adha festivities could spread the virus further, and authorities in the vast Muslim-majority country strengthened roadblocks on Monday for the start of the holidays.
Vietnam ordered about a third of its 100 million people to stay at home in several provinces as it battles new outbreaks — with a record 6,000 new daily infections reported.
Melbourne extended a lockdown, meaning roughly 12 million people will remain under some form of stay-at-home order.
– Olympics dampened –
The latest Asahi Shimbun newspaper poll found a majority of respondents, 55 percent, were against holding the Games this summer, with 33 percent in favour.
“Toyota officials will not attend the opening ceremony, and the chief reason behind it is there will be no spectators,” Toyota spokeswoman Shiori Hashimoto told AFP.
Canada said it will then reopen its borders to all vaccinated foreign travellers from September 7.
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