Partial lockdown imposed on Italy during Christmas season after surge in cases

Dec 19 2020

The Italian Government has ordered a partial lockdown for the whole country during most of the Christmas holidays to control the recent increase of COVID-19 cases, especially in the Lombardy, Veneto and Lazio regions.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte stated that while it was a difficult decision, it was necessary, with Italy registering the highest number of deaths during the pandemic with a death toll 67,900 up until 18 December.

Measures include the closure of restaurants and restricting the travelling between regions, amongst others.

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Sergio Perez to join Max Verstappen at Red Bull Racing

Dec 19 2020

After a seven-year stint at Racing Point, Mexican racer Sergio Perez is set to join Max Verstappen at the Red Bull Formula 1 team in hopes of taking the team to the next level.

Red Bull’s recruitment of Perez comes at what he calls ‘the peak of his career’ and the racer had previously stated that he would take a sabbatical if he did not secure a spot with Red Bull Racing in 2021.

It is unclear what plans are for Red Bull’s Alex Albon, but Christian Horner had clarify that he will not be demoted to the AlphaTauri team.

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52 COVID-19 cases registered overnight with 101 recoveries

67 COVID-19 cases registered overnight with 323 recoveries

Dec 19 2020

Malta has registered 52 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours from 2,612 swab tests, while 101 patients have recovered. This information was announced by the official Facebook page of Malta’s Ministry for Health.

From yesterday’s cases; 20 cases were family members of previously known cases 13 cases were contact of positive work colleagues, 7 cases were direct contacts with other positive cases and 3 cases were from social gatherings with other positive cases.

To date, Malta has registered 11,621 COVID-19 cases in total, of which: 9,881 have recovered, 187 died and 1,553 are still active.

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Hospital health workers will be the first to be vaccinated

Dec 19 2020

Hospital health workers will be the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccination upon its arrival to Malta, as confirmed by the health authorities.

Vaccines will be given on a staggered basis, not one department at a time, so that if any side effects occur, the department would not collapse completely. The same approach would be taken for elderly homes, those second-in-line for the vaccine.

Malta’s approach to administration of the COVID-19 is similar to that being taken in the United States, rather than the approach taken by the United Kingdom.

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