Monday, December 21, 2020 Headlines
Burc Oran
December 21, 2020
Trump's Defense Veto; Ant Group; UK's free trade deal with Turkey
  1. USA reaches agreement on the stimulus package
  2. British Health Minister: Covid-19 mutation is out of control
  3. German Health Minister’s announcement about the effectiveness of the vaccine

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USA Reaches Agreement on the Stimulus Package

In the USA, after long negotiations between the Republican and Democratic Party, an agreement was reached on a stimulus package of approximately $ 900 billion for the economic effects of the pandemic.

US Senate Majority Leader Republican Mitch McConnell announced that an agreement was reached on the bill, which will be helpful to boost an American health-care system and economy buckling under the weight of the pandemic.

“We have finally achieved the bipartisan breakthrough that the country needed,” Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate majority leader, said on Sunday evening.

“We can finally report what our nation has needed to hear for a very long time. More help is on the way,” he added.

With the stimulus package for the economic effects of the Covid-19 outbreak, the budget draft is expected to be voted in the US House of Representatives and the Senate before midnight, US local time. The package and budget in question are expected to be submitted for the signature of the US President Donald Trump after being approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate.

In the economic support package, it is stated that there are arrangements such as $600 to most adults and $600 per child, $ 300 billion for small businesses, $ 25 billion for rent assistance and $ 300 for unemployment benefits, $82 billion into schools and colleges, $45 billion for transportation, including $15 billion for airline payroll assistance.

In a statement, Biden said the $900 billion plan “provides critical temporary support” but “is just the beginning.”

“Immediately, starting in the new year, Congress will need to get to work on support for our Covid-19 plan, for support to struggling families, and investments in jobs and economic recovery,” Biden stated. “There will be no time to waste,’’ he added.

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British Health Minister: Covid-19 Mutation is out of Control

British Health Minister Matt Hancock said a new coronavirus mutation is out of control and some parts of the UK will remain under restrictions until the vaccine becomes widespread.

With restrictions imposed on Sunday in London and the southeast of England, 16 million UK citizens were restricted from going out to the streets. The British government, on the other hand, abandoned its plan to relax the rules with Christmas.

With the new restrictions, called the fourth level, home visits and out-of-town travels are banned.

While drawing attention to the rapid increase in the number of cases, Hancock told Sky News:

“We have a long way to go. Until the vaccine becomes widespread, it will be very difficult to control the epidemic. “Those who are in the new, fourth-level restriction zone must pretend to be infected.”

Boris Johnson called an urgent meeting of his Cabinet on Saturday after a rise in cases of coronavirus. Johnson’s government’s previous plan was to soften the restrictions for the five days on the Christmas break. But Johnson, who convened the cabinet urgently over the weekend, opted for tougher restrictions.

Hancock stated that it was understood that the new mutated Covid-19 virus could spread much faster and that this factor was behind the rapid increase in cases in the recent period. According to Hancock, a similar mutation was found in Australia and Continental Europe.

“We didn’t know about the new mutation when we created our previous relaxation plan,” said Hancock, saying that there is no evidence that the new type of virus, called VUI-202012/01, is milder than the old one.

It was determined that the 70 percent more contagious species is seen not only in and around London but throughout the country.

The European Union (EU) announced that a crisis meeting will be held at 11:00 on Monday to determine how to act.

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German Health Minister’s Announcement About the Effectiveness of the Vaccine

While many countries in Europe tightened precautions due to the mutated Covid-19 strain discovered in England, the debate on whether vaccines would be effective against the new type of virus began. In a statement to the press, German Health Minister Jens Spahn stated that the new mutated Covid-19 strain, which was discovered in England and started to spread very rapidly, had no effect on the vaccine.

The BNT162b2 vaccine against the coronavirus infection Covid-19 produced by Pfizer and BioNTech will be effective against the new strain of coronavirus. This opinion was expressed on the air of ZDF on December 20 by the Minister of Health of Germany Jens Spahn.

He noted that, according to the available information, the new virus does not affect the vaccine and its effectiveness.

The vaccine, according to the minister, remains “just as effective.”

The BNT162b2 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech (estimated to be 95% effective) has already been approved for use in a number of countries, including the UK, Canada, USA, Sweden, and Bahrain.

The detection of a new type of coronavirus was announced by the Minister of Health of Great Britain Matt Hancock on December 15. By that time, more than 1,000 cases of infection with a new type of virus in 60 regions of the country had been confirmed in the country. Due to this type of coronavirus, the rate of spread of the disease has skyrocketed in parts of the UK.

After Britain, infection with the new mutated coronavirus was confirmed in the Netherlands, Australia, Denmark, and Italy.

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