COVID-19

Canada and India joined European states in blocking flights from the UK while Europe-bound train services via the Channel Tunnel have been halted.

The new variant is said to be up to 70% more transmissible, but there is no evidence that it is more deadly.

There is also no proof to suggest that it reacts differently to vaccines.

Two meetings are taking place in Brussels on Monday - one involving health ministers and another with the EU's crisis response team. But no decision is expected until Tuesday, when EU ambassadors meet.

Beijing has been reluctant to agree to an independent inquiry and it has taken many months of negotiations for the WHO to be allowed access to the city.

The virus is thought to have come from a market in the city selling animals.

But the search for the source has led to tensions, notably with the US.

President Donald Trump's administration has accused China of trying to conceal the initial outbreak.

What is the aim of the investigation?

Fiji's Health Ministry said the MV Island Chief arrived in the country from Tonga on 2 December to unload cargo in Lautoka and headed to Suva.

Health Minister Ifereimi Waqainabete said prior to that the vessel was in New Zealand and the crew underwent Covid-19 tests there.

"They were tested before they left Néw Zealand," he said.

"So far they have been tested in Fiji and they have been found not to have Covid-19 and they are currently at the quarantine area of the Suva bay and are undergoing the normal processes of quarantine.

Prime Minister Jean Castex said the infection rates were not falling as fast as the government had hoped after a lockdown was imposed in late October.

A stay-at-home order will be lifted as planned on 15 December, when the daily 20:00-06:00 curfew will begin.

The measure will not be waived on New Year's Eve, to prevent big gatherings.

The government had conditioned the easing of restrictions on the number of new cases falling to around 5,000 a day. But that number remains well above 10,000 - on Thursday, there were 13,750 infections.

Three females named Zala, Nima and Run Run and one male called Kiumbe were tested after displaying mild symptoms.

Two staff members also tested positive for the virus, the zoo said.

An investigation is under way to establish how the animals became infected, but it is thought they may have been in contact with an asymptomatic member of staff.

Zookeepers reportedly carried out a standard PCR swab test on the four lions - the same method used on humans - because they are comfortable having close contact with staff.

The Flying Fijians ended a difficult six week tour with a commanding 38-24 victory over Georgia in Edinburgh, with eight players making their test debut and returning veteran Nemani Nadolo bagging a hat-trick in what proved to be their only match of the tournament following a Covid-19 outbreak within the squad.

Fiji Rugby CEO John O'Connor said it was just reward after a trying period for the players, who spent two week in isolation in their hotel rooms while tests against Portugal, France, Italy and Scotland were called off.

"We are a community-based society," he said.

Lower incomes and unemployment caused by the Covid-19 pandemic have forced garment workers across the world further into poverty and imperilled their access to food, a new study has found.

A survey of almost 400 workers making clothes for big-name brands including Adidas, GAP, H&M, Nike and Gildan found that "declining incomes are leading to widespread hunger among workers and their families".

Giscard's foundation said he died in his family home in the Loir-et-Cher region of central France. He had been admitted to hospital in September with respiratory complications, and was hospitalised again in mid-November.

His funeral will be an intimate family affair, the Valery Giscard d'Estaing Foundation said on Twitter.

Giscard was elected president in 1974 at the age of 48, becoming France's youngest postwar leader.

“I have seen the amnesia that seems to descend upon the world after a traumatic event, and that’s understandable,” Mike Ryan told a briefing in Geneva.

“But if we do this again like we did after SARS, like we did after H5N1, like we did after H1N1 pandemic, if we continue to ignore the realities of what emerging and dangerous pathogens can do to our civilization, then we are likely to experience the same or worse again within our lifetimes,” he said.

New Zealand's Ministry of Health has given the entire touring party a final warning after some of them breached isolation conditions at their quarantine hotel in Christchurch.

Six of the team have now tested positive for Covid-19.

Shoaib was upset by the inference that New Zealand Cricket is considering the tour could be called off.