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Added on the 17/02/2021 13:00:00 - Copyright : EFE Inglés
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrives to give evidence at Britain's Covid-19 inquiry. During the pandemic he was Britain's Finance Minister, and has faced criticism for his implementation of a scheme called 'Eat Out To Help Out'. Designed to revive demand for restaurants after they were closed in Covid lockdowns, the scheme has been criticised for potentially helping spread the disease, with senior scientists saying they weren't consulted. IMAGES
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen says the world is in a "race against time" to understand the new Covid variant, calling for precautions to give scientists time to analyse the Omicron strain. She speaks during a visit to Latvia with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg IMAGES
Passengers walk in a terminal at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands after authorities test whether 61 passengers who tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving from South Africa have the new Omicron strain. IMAGES
Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's technical lead on the Covid-19 crisis, declares the recently-discovered B.1.1.529 strain of Covid-19 to be a variant of concern, renaming it Omicron. SOUNDBITE
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, says that travel to countries in southern Africa should be suspended immediately to slow the spread of the the new Covid-19 variant of concern. She also recommends the implementation of strict quarantine for travelers from affected countries and notes that the EU's contracts with the manufacturers of coronavirus vaccines requires the vaccines to be adapted to new variants 'immediately'. SOUNDBITE