June 8, 2020 British Airways passenger planes are pictured at the
apron at London Heathrow Airport in west London. Adrian DENNIS /
AFP
Countries worldwide banned arrivals from the UK on
Sunday over a new highly infectious coronavirus strain Britain said
was “out of control”, as the WHO called for stronger containment
measures.
But there was positive news across the Atlantic where US
lawmakers reached a deal for a nearly $900 billion Covid-19
financial package to help struggling Americans.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was to chair the COBR
emergencies committee on Monday, his office said, after a slew of
nations from Turkey to Canada blocked arrivals from Britain by
air.
Crucial transit country France moved to block people and goods
crossing the Channel, while the Netherlands said passengers
arriving by ferry would be denied entry.
The emergency committee would “discuss the situation regarding
international travel, in particular the steady flow of freight into
and out of the UK,” a spokesman said.
The ban on all but unaccompanied freight crossing to France
comes as companies scramble to shift merchandise with days to
go until Britain finally quits European Union trade structures in
the wake of Brexit.
Late Sunday, Britain’s critical south coast port at Dover said
it was closing to all accompanied freight and passengers due to the
French border restrictions “until further notice”.
Alarm bells were ringing across Europe — which last week became
the first region in the world to pass 500,000 deaths from Covid-19
since the pandemic broke out a year ago — as the new, even more
infectious strain of the virus appeared to be raging in parts of
Britain.
A WHO spokeswoman told AFP that “across Europe, where
transmission is intense and widespread, countries need to redouble
their control and prevention approaches.”
A German government source said restrictions on air travel from
Britain could be adopted by the entire 27-member EU and
that countries were also discussing a joint response over sea, road
and rail links.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela
Merkel, and EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles
Michel held a conference call on Sunday about the matter, Macron’s
office said.
Later Sunday, bans on flights from Britain were being
implemented in the Americas, including by Canada, Chile and
Argentina.
US officials however signalled they were holding off on the move
for now.
Despite growing concerns about the new
strain, EU experts believe it will not impact the
effectiveness of existing vaccines, Germany’s health minister Jens
Spahn said.
The assessment was shared by Britain’s chief medical officer
Chris Whitty.
UK U-turn
Johnson said the infectiousness of the new strain had forced him
into locking down much of England over the Christmas period.
“Unfortunately the new strain was out of control. We have got to
get it under control,” UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky
News after Johnson abandoned plans to ease containment measures
over the festive season.
released by the UK Parliament shows Britain’s Prime Minister Boris
Johnson during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in the House of
Commons in London on July 15, 2020. JESSICA TAYLOR / AFP / UK
PARLIAMENT
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Scientists first discovered the new variant — which they believe
is 70 percent more transmissible — in a patient in September. And
Public Health England notified the government on Friday when
modelling revealed its full seriousness.
The novel coronavirus has killed more than 1.68 million people
since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a
tally from official sources compiled by AFP.
And with the onset of colder winter weather in the northern
hemisphere, when respiratory diseases flourish, countries are
bracing for new waves of Covid-19 with tighter restrictions,
despite the economic damage such lockdowns wrought earlier this
year.
The Netherlands is under a five-week lockdown until mid-January
with schools and all non-essential shops closed.
Italy also announced a new regime of restrictions until January
6 that included limits on people leaving their homes more than once
a day, closing non-essential shops, bars and restaurants and curbs
on regional travel.
Vaccination rollout
In the US, the $900 billion package agreed Sunday is expected to
include aid for vaccine distribution and logistics, extra jobless
benefits of $300 per week, and a new round of $600 stimulus
checks.
Congress is expected to soon approve the measure as the country
copes with the world’s highest death toll from the virus.
Schumer (D-NY) listens as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
speaks during a press conference on Capitol Hill on December 20,
2020 in Washington, DC. Tasos Katopodis/Getty
Images/AFP
“With the horrifying acceleration of daily infections and
deaths, there is no time to waste,” Democratic House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint
statement.
Around the world, the rapid rollout of vaccinations is now seen
as the only effective way to end the crisis and the economically
devastating shutdowns used to halt its spread.
Europe is expected to start a massive vaccination campaign after
Christmas following the United States and Britain, which have begun
giving jabs with an approved Pfizer-BioNTech shot, one of several
leading candidates.
A US expert panel recommended Sunday that those aged 75 and
older should be the next vaccinated against the virus, along with
30 million “frontline essential workers,” including teachers,
grocery store employees and police.
Initial doses have focused on frontline health-care workers and
the elderly in nursing homes.
Russia and China have also started giving out jabs with their
own domestically produced vaccines.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would receive the
vaccine publicly when his age group’s turn comes.
And Algeria’s President Abdelmajid Tebboune said the country
would launch vaccinations in January — although the North African
nation has yet to pick which of the shots on offer it will
deploy.
AFP
*Senate moves to throw Commission’s chair open
![image](/2020/12/lawbreedad.jpg")
![image](/2020/12/Law-Pavilion-PRIME1.png")
Few weeks after Ayo Salami-led panel of inquiry submitted a
comprehensive report to President Muhammadu Buhari on alleged
diversion of assets by a suspended acting chairman of the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, the Senate
has initiated moves to reform the anti-graft body.
![image](/2020/10/NWLRland.jpg")
According to a bill sponsored by a senator from Cross River
State, Professor Sandy Onor, the chairmanship of the EFCC would no
longer be restricted to serving or retired senior police officers
or security agents.
The Bill also seeks to amend the EFCC Act to include other
criteria for the selection of a Chairman for the Commission.
The Bill, which is titled Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2020, has already passed first reading
on the floor of the upper legislative chamber. It specifically
targets Section 2(1a)(ii) of the EFCC Act, 2004.
The current Section reads: “The Commission shall consist of a
Chairman who shall be a serving or retired member of any government
security or law enforcement agency, not below the rank of Assistant
Commissioner of Police or equivalent.”
In the proposed amendment, the Senate said professionals from
other disciplines outside the security circle can now head the
country’s leading anti-graft body.
It said a lawyer, criminologist or Nigerians from any security
agencies can now head the body, so long as the person has about 15
years of cognitive experience.
The proposed amendment reads: “The Commission shall consist of a
Chairman, who either be a lawyer, criminologist or serving or
retired member of any government security or law enforcement agency
not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police or
equivalent.”
This is the first time the Senate will be attempting to effect a
major shift in the running of the EFCC, since the Commission was
created in 2003-2004, through an Act of the National Assembly.
It is not also clear if the current moves to amend the Act is
related to claims that president Buhari was already planning to
initiate major reforms in the ongoing anti-graft
administration.
Already, President Buhari has commenced a gradual unbundling of
the Commission, by sending a Bill on Proceeds of Crime (Recovery
and Management) Agency to the Senate for passage into law.
Buhari had noted that the proposed bill, tagged: “Proceeds of
Crime Bill”, will address the problem of lack of transparency and
accountability associated with the management of recovered funds by
anti-corruption agencies in the country.
According to the letter dated October 6, 2020, the agency will
be critical in sustaining the fight against corruption, money
laundering and illicit movement of stolen funds through the banking
system and across Nigerian borders.
The bill is expected to strip the EFCC and six other agencies of
powers to seize assets or invoke the forfeiture clause. If signed
into law, the bill will stop the EFCC and six other anti-corruption
agencies from securing freezing orders on suspicious bank accounts
under investigation.