Covid

Austria Becomes First Country in Western Europe to Re-enter a Full COVID Lockdown

By Steven I. Green 6 days ago
People walk through the soon to be closed Naschmarkt market in Vienna, Austria on November 19, 2021.

People walk through the soon to be closed Naschmarkt market in Vienna, Austria on November 19, 2021.

JOE KLAMAR/AFP via Getty Images Austria will impose a lockdown for all and make vaccinations mandatory, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg announced on November 18, 2021, making the country the first in the EU to take such stringent measures as coronavirus cases spiral.

Austria on Friday said it will implement a full lockdown in the country, the first Western European nation to re-impose such strict measures amid rising COVID-19 cases, and said it will require its entire population to get vaccinated by early next year.

The lockdown will go into effect on Monday and remain in place for up to 20 days, Reuters reported. The decision comes amid rising cases throughout the country, which has seen a seven-day rate of more than 1,000 infections per 100,000 people.

“Too many among us have not shown

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U.S. Adds 4 New Countries to Highest COVID Travel Warning Level

By Steven I. Green 3 months ago

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the State Department lowered their COVID-19 travel warnings for India and raised them for several other countries this week.

As the federal government continues to assess the risk of the virus’ transmission around the world, the CDC and State Department each lowered their travel advisory for India to a “Level 2,” indicating a “moderate” level of COVID-19 transmission and warning Americans to “exercise increased caution” when traveling there.

Cases in India have dropped significantly since their peak in May when more than 2 million cases were recorded on a weekly basis, according to the World Health Organization. Since July, weekly cases have hovered in the 200,000-range.

In April, the United States started restricting travel from India, adding the country to the list of nations from which non-essential travel for non-U.S. citizens is limited. The list includes several destinations

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Canada’s COVID rules on leisure travel weighing on business, say industry officials

By Steven I. Green 10 months ago

By Allison Lampert and Rod Nickel

MONTREAL (Reuters) – Canada’s move to limit inbound flights to four major airports as it seeks to curb the spread of COVID-19 from leisure travel is spilling over to business trips and fueling uncertainty which could delay economic recovery, industry executives said.

Canada, which already has some of the world’s toughest travel and quarantine rules, plans to introduce restrictions such as mandatory airport COVID-19 tests and hotel quarantines for up to three days.

Directing flights to four airports — Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver — which started Thursday, has created headaches for some companies in smaller cities.

Separately, the hotel quarantines, which were announced last week but await the drafting of formal rules, are creating uncertainty among essential business travelers who normally do not have to self-isolate.

“This kind of approach with business travel is going to hamper our efforts to rebound,” said Anthony

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United makes Hawaii travel easier with expanded COVID testing, pre-clearance program

By Steven I. Green 10 months ago

The new pre-clearance process will be in place for customers traveling on 110 of United’s weekly flights to Hawaii

Beginning February 1, United customers traveling to Hawaii who have a valid negative COVID-19 test can show their results before boarding to save time and skip document screening lines upon arrival. The new pre-clearance process will be in place for customers traveling on 110 of United’s weekly flights to Hawaii.

United is also making it easier to get the right tests to avoid Hawaii’s 14-day quarantine by making approved COVID-19 tests available to all customers traveling to the islands no matter where in the U.S. their travel begins.

“We’re making it easier for customers traveling to Hawaii to spend more time enjoying their trip and less time waiting in lines,” said Toby Enqvist, chief customer officer at United. “Testing is the key to opening domestic and international travel so we’ll continue

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