Kuwait will require incoming travellers who fully vaccinated against
COVID-19 more than nine months ago to receive
booster dose beginning from January 2 and also requires them to self-isolate for 10 days unless they received a negative
PCRtest within 72 hours of their arrival beginning from December 26.
(Al Arabiya)(Times of Oman)
Germany bans all travel from the
United Kingdom and imposes a mandatory 14-day
quarantine and proof of a negative
PCR test from the previous 48 hours for German residents and citizens returning from the UK, amid the spread of the Omicron variant in Britain.
(Euronews)
Quebec closes all bars, gyms, spas, cinemas, and concert halls as well as suspends in-person learning and mandates
remote working after the province reported a record 4,857 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.
(Global News)
The United States reports its first confirmed death related to the Omicron variant in an unvaccinated man in his 50s in
Harris County, Texas who had underlying health issues.
(U.S. News and World Report)
Colombia reports its first case of the Omicron variant in two Colombia people who travelled from the United States and a U.S. citizen who travelled from Spain.
(Reuters)
Poland and
Lithuania join
Ukraine in calling for stronger Western
sanctions on
Russia, with Polish President
Andrzej Duda saying that "everything must be done" to prevent a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, and that he was "absolutely against any policy of concessions to Russia".
(RFE/RL)
Egyptian blogger and activist
Alaa Abdel Fattah is sentenced to five years in prison by Egyptian authorities for spreading fake news. His family continues to protest the verdict.
(Al Jazeera)