Occupational safety and health

Whatever one thinks of the management of the coronavirus pandemic so far, whatever one's party affiliation dictates, everyone's goal should be the same: Of all the businesses and institutions whose activities have been suspended, the first to reopen must be schools, which represent a vital social need.

Everything else comes after.

Proliferation of the highly contagious novel coronavirus strain, first detected in Britain, has now been confirmed in 41 countries and territories, the World Health Organization said in its COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update on Tuesday evening.

The Executive Bureau of the Solidaritatea Sanitara Federation on Tuesday decided to initiate the procedure regarding the organisation of large-scale protests and established the calendar of the first actions of this type, according to a press release sent to AGERPRES.

Ljubljana – As many as 2,501 people tested positive for coronavirus in Slovenia on Monday, the second highest daily increase to date, as almost 23,500 PCR and antigen tests were performed, the largest number yet, following scaled-down testing over the extended holiday weekend. Another 30 patients with Covid-19 lost their lives, government data show.

Ghebreyesus, who rarely criticizes Beijing, said that members of the international team of scientists started leaving their countries for China in the last 24 hours, based on the agreement between the World Health Organization and the Chinese government, according to the Associated Press.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally put Britain into lockdown as the battle against coronavirus enters a new phase.

The PM took to national television at 8.30pm to announce strict new measures to control the spread of Covid-19 and stop the national health service being overwhelmed.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Jan. 4 a new national lockdown for England until at least mid-February to combat a fast-spreading new variant of the coronavirus, even as Britain ramped up its vaccination program by becoming the first nation to start using the shot developed by Oxford University and drugmaker AstraZeneca.

Cyprus' Health Ministry says that a new variant of Covid-19 has been detected among confirmed coronavirus infections on the island nation.

The ministry said on Monday the country's Institute of Neurology and Genetics identified the variant VOC 202012/01 in one of 24 samples collected from individuals who had contracted Covid-19 in the last week of December.

After an inspection ordered by the Supreme Administrative Prosecutor's Office 5092 breaches of construction safety regulations were found in the country only in December. The inspection was provoked by an incident at a construction site in near the Dimitar Petkov market  in Sofia, where one worker died and several others were injured.

The loss of sense of smell is forecast for a mild course of the novel coronavirus infection, Prof. Todor Kantardzhiev, Director of the National Center for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, said as quoted by Focus Agency.

He explained that usually COVID infection develops more slowly and its incubation period is longer.