January 30, 2021

Only a few weeks ago, Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca was being applauded for the speed with which it developed its COVID-19 vaccine.

Experts heralded the launch of the jab as a turning point in the pandemic, not least because it can be transported and stored more easily than its Pfizer/BioNTech counterpart.

The Anglo-Swedish firm also won plaudits for promising to provide the vaccine on a non-profit basis to lower- and middle-income countries.

Now the vaccine has become a headache, with questions about its

Germany will from Saturday ban most travellers from countries hit by new, more contagious coronavirus variants to prevent a surge in infection numbers, the government said Friday.

The move, set to last until February 17, is necessary “to protect the people of Germany and to limit the entry and rapid spread of the new virus variants”, according to a government decree seen by AFP.

The affected countries are Britain, Ireland, Portugal, Brazil and South Africa, as well as the southern African kingdoms of Lesotho and Eswatini.

The entry restrictions cover arrivals by air, bus, rail