Coronavirus LIVE Updates: India Reports 8,865 Covid Cases, Lowest in 287 Days; Singapore to Welcome Fully-vaccinated Travelers from India
An independent expert committee in the UK also advised that all 16 and 17 year-olds be given a second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
West Bengal reopens in-person classes for school students in class IX, X, XI and XII after a gap of nearly two years. The last time students went to school was in March 2020. Physical classes had started for a brief period for senior school students in mid-February this year to shut down again in April due to the second wave. Meanwhile, Singapore is planning to allow quarantine-free travel for fully-vaccinated passengers from India and Indonesia from November 29 and will add three more countries early next month as it hopes to reclaim and rebuild the country’s status as an international aviation hub with global connectivity, according to media reports on Monday.
The United Kingdom health authorities on Monday extended the rollout of the COVID-19 booster vaccine shots to all those aged 40 and over, from the current over-50s age cohort. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised the government that a third top-up dose should be offered to the wider age range six months after their second doses to to-up the immunity against the deadly virus.
The JCVI, an independent expert committee that advises ministers on immunisation, also advised that all 16 and 17 year olds be given a second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, at least 12 weeks after their first jabs. UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed that the National Health Service (NHS) in all four parts of the UK intend to follow the JCVI advice to help contain the spread of coronavirus.
India on Monday resumed quarantine-free entry for foreign travellers from 99 countries, which have agreed to a mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccination certificates with it, almost 20 months after restrictions were imposed due to COVID-19.
Travelers from these 99 countries, including the US, the UK, France, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands and Russia, which have been listed under “Category A”, have to submit a self-declaration form on the Air Suvidha portal (newdelhiairport.in) before the scheduled travel, apart from uploading a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR report, according to the revised Guidelines for International Arrivals released by the Union health ministry on November 11.
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