World
UK tightens travel testing rules amid omicron concerns
Britain's government tightened travel restrictions Saturday amid concerns about the spread of the omicron coronavirus variant, saying all travelers arriving in England will need to take a COVID-19 test before they board their flight.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the new rules will apply from 4 a.m. London time Tuesday.
“In light of the most recent data, we are taking further action to slow the incursion of the omicron variant," he said in a tweet.
Also read: Omicron unravels travel industry's plans for a comeback
Javid also added Nigeria to the U.K.'s travel “red list," which means that arrivals from there will be banned except for U.K. and Irish residents, and those travellers must isolate in designated quarantine facilities. He said there was a “significant number” of omicron cases linked to travel with Nigeria, with 27 cases recorded in England.
Karen Dee, the chief executive of the Airport Operators Association, said the new measures will be a “major deterrent” to travel, just as airports and the travel industry were hoping for a small uplift over the festive season.
“This is a devastating blow for aviation and tourism,” she said.
Also read: With Omicron on the doorstep, Bangladesh announces new travel rules
Authorities recorded another 42,848 confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.K. as of Saturday, with 127 more deaths. With over 145,000 COVID-19 deaths in the pandemic, Britain has the second-highest virus death toll in Europe after Russia.
3 feared dead as Myanmar army truck runs down protesters
An army vehicle barreled into a peaceful march of anti-government protesters in military-ruled Myanmar’s biggest city on Sunday, reportedly killing at least three people, witnesses and a protest organizer said.
Sunday’s march was one of at least three held in Yangon, and similar rallies were reported in other parts of the country a day ahead of an expected verdict in the first of about a dozen criminal cases against Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was toppled in a military takeover Feb. 1.
A video posted on social media showed a speeding small army truck heading into the marchers from behind. Voices can be heard, saying: “The car is coming ... Please help! It hit the children ... Oh! ... Dead! ... Run, ... run!” The video shows about a dozen people running from the spot.
A witness told The Associated Press that the protesters had been on his street for just two minutes when the military truck hit them, leaving three people without any sign of movement lying on the road.
Also read: Myanmar court readies verdict for ousted leader Suu Kyi
“About five armed soldiers got out of the vehicle and chased after the protesters,” said the witness, who insisted on anonymity for fear of arrest. “They opened fire and also arrested young people who had been hit by the car. At least 10 people were arrested.”
Security forces have previously used cars to attack protesters since the army took power. They have also freely used live ammunition, killing about 1,300 civilians, according to a detailed list compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
The use of lethal force by the army and police has led to less large-scale street protests, which have been replaced by small, quickly organized marches that usually break up at the first sight of the authorities.
Sunday’s deaths in Yangon’s Kyeemyindaing neighborhood could not be immediately confirmed.
Another witness said that when several people came to gather their items, three more military vehicles arrived and arrested several of them.
Also read: US journalist jailed in Myanmar for nearly 6 months is freed
“At least four people, including two young girls who were crying near the shoes, were arrested,” he said. “The soldiers told us to go inside or they would shoot us.”
About 30 people took part in the march, according to a member of Yangon People’s Strike, the local resistance group that organized it. Media posted online showed the protesters carrying placards with Suu Kyi’s image, and calling for the immediate release of the country’s detained civilian leaders.
The organizer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the threat of arrest, said the group held such protests to keep the residents involved in the struggle against the military-installed government.
At the same time, militant urban guerrilla groups have attacked officials and planted bombs, while open armed conflict had engulfed rural areas, leading to a warning the country may slide into civil war.
Since she was detained by the military, Suu Kyi has faced charges from breaching coronavirus regulations to corruption. They're seen as contrived in order to discredit her and justify the military takeover.
The army claims it acted because last November’s election was marked by widespread electoral fraud. Independent observers of the polls, won by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, say have seen no evidence justifying the army’s claim.
Indian Army kills 13 civilians in botched anti-insurgency operation
Thirteen civilians and a soldier were killed in the northeastern state of Nagaland after Indian security forces ambushed a truck carrying locals, in a botched counter-insurgency operation.
The tragic incident occurred in the remote village of Oting near the Myanmar border in Mon district of Nagaland Saturday evening, prompting the Indian government to order a high-level probe Sunday.
Read:India reports first two Covid cases of Omicron variant
Highly placed sources told UNB that acting on a tip-off about the possible movement of insurgents through the village, the Indian Army opened fire on the truck carrying local daily wagers, killing eight people.
"Five more villagers were killed an hour later after the Indian Army jawans opened fire to control an angry mob that torched several vehicles in protest against the ambush. A soldier also died," the sources said.
In a statement on Sunday, the Indian Army described the botched operation as a case of "mistaken identity".
"Based on credible intelligence of likely movement of insurgents, a specific operation was planned to be conducted in the area of Tiru, Mon District, Nagaland. The incident and its aftermath is deeply regretted," it said.
Read: India defers resumption of international flights
Indian Home Minister Amit Shah also tweeted to say that a special investigation team (SIT) will probe the deaths.
"Anguished over an unfortunate incident in Nagaland's Oting, Mon. I express my deepest condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives. A high-level SIT constituted by the State govt will thoroughly probe this incident to ensure justice to the bereaved families," he wrote.
However, India's main opposition Congress was quick to condemn the killings. "What exactly is the home ministry doing when neither civilians nor security personnel are safe in our own land?" Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted.
Israeli police questioned on Palestinian attacker's shooting
Israel's Justice Ministry said Sunday that two police officers were brought in for questioning following the shooting death of a Palestinian who had stabbed an Israeli man in east Jerusalem.
Israeli police released surveillance video in which the attacker can be seen Saturday stabbing the ultra-Orthodox Jewish man and then trying to stab a Border Police officer before being shot and falling to the ground. Police identified the attacker as a 25-year-old from Salfit, in the occupied West Bank. Police could later be seen carrying the body away on a stretcher.
A widely circulated video shot by a bystander appeared to show an officer from Israel’s paramilitary Border Police shooting the attacker when he was already lying on the ground, and another appeared to show police with guns drawn preventing medics from reaching him, prompting calls for an investigation into possible excessive use of force.
The shooting drew comparisons to a 2016 incident in which an Israeli soldier was caught on camera shooting a wounded Palestinian attacker who was lying on the ground.
The Justice Ministry’s police investigations unit said the police officers were questioned shortly after the incident and released without conditions.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett released a statement in support of the officers. Other leaders also defended their actions.
“It's not clear if the terrorist maybe has an explosive belt. All sorts of things could happen,” Public Security Minister Omer Barlev, who oversees the police, told Israeli Army Radio Sunday. “They acted correctly.”
The incident happened near Damascus Gate just outside Jerusalem’s Old City, a tense and crowded area that is often the scene of demonstrations and clashes.
The Old City is in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 war along with the West Bank and Gaza. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally and considers the entire city its capital. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state, to include the West Bank and Gaza.
There have been dozens of attacks in recent years in and around the Old City, nearly all carried out by individual Palestinians with no known links to armed groups.
Palestinians and Israeli rights groups say security forces sometimes use excessive force in response to attacks, killing suspected assailants who could have been arrested or who posed no immediate threat to security forces.
Rights groups also say Israel rarely holds members of its security forces accountable for the deadly shootings of Palestinians. Investigations often end with no charges or lenient sentences, and in many cases witnesses are not summoned for questioning.
Israel says its security forces make every effort to avoid harming civilians and that it investigates alleged abuses.
In the widely publicized 2016 case, Israeli soldier Elor Azaria was caught on camera shooting a wounded Palestinian attacker who was lying on the ground. Azaria later served two-thirds of a 14-month sentence after being convicted of reckless manslaughter.
His case sharply divided Israelis. The military pushed for his prosecution, saying he violated its code of ethics, while many Israelis, particularly on the nationalist right, defended his actions.
In a more recent case, a Border Police officer was charged with reckless manslaughter in the deadly shooting of an autistic Palestinian man in Jerusalem’s Old City last year.
The indictment came just over a year after the shooting of Eyad Hallaq, whose family has criticized Israel’s investigation into the killing and called for much tougher charges. The shooting has drawn comparisons to the police killing of George Floyd in the United States.
Death toll rises to 13 in Indonesia volcano eruption
The death toll following the eruption of the highest volcano on Indonesia’s most densely populated island of Java has risen to 13, with seven people still missing, officials said Sunday as smoldering debris and thick mud hampered search efforts.
Mount Semeru in Lumajang district in East Java province spewed thick columns of ash more than 12,000 meters (40,000 feet) into the sky, and searing gas and lava flowed down its slopes after a sudden eruption Saturday triggered by heavy rains. Several villages were blanketed with falling ash.
A thunderstorm and days of rain, which eroded and finally collapsed the lava dome atop the 3,676-meter (12,060-foot) Semeru, triggered the eruption, said Eko Budi Lelono, who heads the geological survey center.
READ: Visit Boga Lake, Bandarban: Natural pool from fairy tales or sleeping volcano
He said flows of searing gas and lava traveled up to 800 meters (2,624 feet) to a nearby river at least twice on Saturday. People were advised to stay 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from the crater’s mouth, the agency said.
“Thick columns of ash have turned several villages to darkness,” said Lumajang district head Thoriqul Haq. Several hundred people were moved to temporary shelters or left for other safe areas, he said, adding that a power blackout hampered the evacuation.
The debris and lava mixed with rainfall formed thick mud that destroyed the main bridge connecting Lumajang and the neighboring district of Malang, as well as a smaller bridge, Haq said.
Despite an increase in activity since Wednesday, Semeru’s alert status had remained at the third highest of four levels since it began erupting last year, and Indonesia’s Volcanology Center for Geological Hazard Mitigation did not raise it this week, Lelono said.
National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said at least 13 villagers died from severe burns and 57 were hospitalized, including 16 in critical condition with burn injuries. He said rescuers were still searching for seven residents and sand miners along a river in Curah Kobokan village who were reported missing.
Entire houses in the village were damaged by volcanic debris and more than 900 people fled to temporary government shelters, Muhari said.
Liswanto, the head of Semeru’s monitoring post, said his office had informed the community and the miners that hot ash could tumble down from Semeru’s crater at any time, after sensors picked up increased activity in the past week.
But some residents who fled to a government shelter near Lumajang district's head office said authorities did not convey any information to them about the volcano's activities.
“Suddenly everything went dark, the bright afternoon turned into night. A rumbling sound and heat forced us to run to the mosque,” said Fatmah, a resident who fled to the shelter from Curah Kobokan, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the crater. “It was a far stronger eruption than in January."
Transportation Ministry spokesperson Adita Irawati said her office issued a notice Saturday for all airlines to avoid routes near the volcano. She said flight operations are still running as scheduled and that authorities will continue to monitor the situation. The Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre said the spread of volcanic ash from Mount Semeru was detected to the southwest moving at a speed of 50 knots.
READ: Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, lava fountains form in park
Television reports showed people screaming and running under a huge ash cloud, their faces wet from rain mixed with volcanic dust. The last time Semeru erupted, in January, there were no casualties.
Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 270 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because it sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of fault lines.
Indonesia’s volcano spews ash, gas; 1 dead, dozens hurt
The highest volcano on Indonesia’s most densely populated island of Java spewed thick columns of ash, searing gas and lava down its slopes in a sudden eruption triggered by heavy rains on Saturday. At least one villager died from burns and dozens were hospitalized.
Mount Semeru’s eruption in Lumajang district in East Java province left several villages blanketed with falling ash.
A thunderstorm and days of rain, which had eroded and finally collapsed the lava dome atop the 3,676-meter (12,060-foot) Semeru, triggered an eruption, said Eko Budi Lelono, who heads the geological survey center.
He said flows of searing gas and lava traveled up to 800 meters (2,624 feet) to a nearby river at least twice on Saturday. People were advised to stay 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from the crater’s mouth, the agency said.
“Thick columns of ash have turned several villages to darkness,” said Lumajang district head Thoriqul Haq. Several hundred people were moved to temporary shelters or left for other safe areas, he said, adding that power blackout hampered the evacuation.
The debris and lava mixed with the rainfall formed thick mud that destroyed the main bridge connecting Lumajang and the neighboring district of Malang, as well as a smaller bridge, Haq said.
Despite an increase in activity since Wednesday, Semeru’s alert status has remained at the third highest of four levels since it began erupting last year, and Indonesia’s Volcanology Center for Geological Hazard Mitigation did not raise it this week, Lelono said.
READ: Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, lava fountains form in park
One man died from severe burns, and 41 others were hospitalized with burn injuries, said Indah Masdar, the deputy district head. She said two villagers were reported missing and several sand miners were trapped in isolated areas along the village river.
Entire houses in Curah Kobokan village were damaged by volcanic debris, Masdar said.
Television reports showed people screaming and running under a huge ash cloud, their faces wet from rain mixed with volcanic dust. The last time Semeru erupted in January, there were no casualties.
READ: Visit Boga Lake, Bandarban: Natural pool from fairy tales or sleeping volcano
Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 270 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because it sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of fault lines.
Biden, Putin set video call Tuesday as Ukraine tensions grow
Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin will speak in a video call Tuesday, the White House and Kremlin said, as tensions between the United States and Russia escalate over a Russian troop buildup on the Ukrainian border that's seen as a sign of a potential invasion.
Biden will press U.S. concerns about Russian military activities on the border and “reaffirm the United States’ support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Saturday, confirming the planned call after first word came from Moscow.
Putin will come to the call with concerns of his own and intends to express Russia's opposition to any move to admit Ukraine into the NATO military alliance. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "the presidents will decide themselves” how long their talk will last.
The last known call between the leaders was in July, when Biden pressed Putin to rein in Russia-based criminal hacking gangs launching ransomware attacks against the United States. Biden said the U.S. would take any necessary steps to protect critical infrastructure from such attacks.
Ransomware attacks have continued since then, though perhaps none has been as alarming as the one from May that targeted a major fuel pipeline and resulted in days of gas shortages in parts of the U.S.
Russia is more adamant than ever that the U.S. guarantees that Ukraine will not be admitted to the NATO military alliance. But NATO's secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, said this past week that Russia has no say in expansion plans by other countries or the alliance. Numerous former U.S. and NATO diplomats say any such Russian demand to Biden would be a nonstarter.
U.S. intelligence officials, meanwhile, have determined that Russia has massed about 70,000 troops near its border with Ukraine and has begun planning for a possible invasion as soon as early next year, according to a Biden administration official who was not authorized to discuss that finding publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The risks for Putin of going through with such an invasion would be enormous.
U.S. officials and former American diplomats say while the Russian president is clearly laying the groundwork for a possible invasion, Ukraine’s military is better armed and prepared today than in the past, and that sanctions threatened by the West would do serious damage to the Russian economy.
“What I am doing is putting together what I believe to be, will be, the most comprehensive and meaningful set of initiatives to make it very, very difficult for Mr. Putin to go ahead and do what people are worried he may do,” Biden said Friday.
Ukrainian officials have said Russia could invade next month. Ukraine’s defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said the number of Russian troops near Ukraine and in Russia-annexed Crimea is estimated at 94,300, and warned that a “large-scale escalation” is possible in January.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, recently charged that a group of Russians and Ukrainians planned to attempt a coup in his country and that the plotters tried to enlist the help of Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov.
Russia and Akhmetov have denied that any plot is underway, but the Russians have become more explicit recently in their warnings to Ukraine and the United States.
Biden is also expected to speak with Zelenskyy in the coming week, according to a person close to the Ukrainian leader. This person was not authorized to comment publicly before the announcement of the call and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The Kremlin said Friday that Putin, during his call with Biden, would seek binding guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine. Biden tried to head off the demand in comments to reporters Friday before leaving for a weekend stay at Camp David.
“I don’t accept anyone’s red line,” Biden said.
Psaki said in a brief statement Saturday that Biden and Putin will discuss a range of topics in the U.S.-Russia relationship, “including strategic stability, cyber, and regional issues.”
She said Friday that the administration would coordinate with European allies if it moved forward with sanctions. She alluded to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that had been under Ukraine’s control since 1954. Russia has also backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in a 7-year conflict that has cost over 14,000 lives.
“We know what President Putin has done in the past,” Psaki said. “We see that he is putting in place the capacity to take action in short order.”
U.S.-Russia relations have been rocky since Biden took office.
His administration has imposed sanctions against Russian targets and called out Putin for the Kremlin’s interference in U.S. elections, cyberactivity against American companies and the treatment of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who was poisoned last year and later imprisoned.
When Putin and Biden met in Geneva in June, Biden warned that if Russia crossed certain red lines — including going after major American infrastructure — his administration would respond and “the consequences of that would be devastating.”
More omicron detected as hospitals strain under delta surge in USA
New York announced three more cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus Saturday, bringing the number of state cases linked to the new variant to eight.“The omicron variant is here, and as anticipated we are seeing the beginning of community spread," state Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said in a news release.The number of states finding the variant is growing as well, with Massachusetts and Washington state announcing their first cases Saturday, a day after New Jersey, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Maryland reported their first confirmed cases. Missouri reported its first presumed case Friday.The variant also has been detected in Nebraska, Minnesota, California, Hawaii, Colorado and Utah.In New York, seven of the cases have been found in New York City, once a global epicenter of the pandemic, and the other in Suffolk County.The arrival of omicron comes as hospitals statewide continue to strain under a surge in coronavirus cases, most traced to the delta variant, along with staffing shortages.The number of people testing positive statewide each day for the virus has doubled in the last 30 days.
READ: Bangladesh’s Peace Conf: Ban Ki-moon seeks quicker action against Omicron
Gov. Kathy Hochul in recent days has authorized the Health Department to limit nonessential, non-urgent procedures at hospitals close to running out of beds and deployed National Guard teams to relieve healthcare workers at facilities dealing with staffing issues and surging caseloads.Fifteen members of the National Guard arrived at Monroe Community Hospital in Rochester on Saturday, WROC reported. Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin said Wednesday the state would send 13 National Guard teams to the western New York county, where County Executive Adam Bello has declared a state of emergency.New York’s omicron cases so far appear to be unrelated, Hochul said. One of the known cases involved a man from Minnesota who was among 50,000 people who attended a three-day anime festival in New York City in November. Authorities have urged anyone who attended the conference to get tested for COVID-19 and wear a mask in public.Much remains unknown about omicron, including whether it is more contagious, as some health authorities suspect, whether it can thwart vaccines and whether it makes people as sick as the original strain.In Washington state, three cases of the omicron variant were confirmed Saturday — one each in Thurston, Pierce and King counties, state health officials said. They noted the investigation is still early, and details were not yet known on the travel histories of the patients, two men and a woman who range from 20 to 39 years old.A Massachusetts woman in her 20s who had traveled out of state is the first known case of the variant detected in her state, the Department of Public Health announced Saturday. The unidentified woman — a resident of Middlesex County — is fully vaccinated and has experienced mild symptoms.A woman who recently traveled from South Africa became both New Jersey and Georgia’s first confirmed case after seeking care for moderate symptoms at an emergency room. The fully vaccinated Georgia resident was in her home state for two days between arriving from South Africa and traveling onward to New Jersey, health officials in both states said.Maryland's first three cases of the omicron variant were found in the Baltimore metropolitan region and include two people from the same household, authorities said. One of the two is a vaccinated person who recently traveled to South Africa. The third case, detected in a vaccinated person with no recent travel history, is unrelated.In Pennsylvania, a man in his 30s from Philadelphia became that state's first case. The Philadelphia Department of Public Health did not immediately say whether the man was vaccinated against COVID-19 or if he had been traveling.Missouri’s presumed first case involves someone who recently traveled within the U.S., according to state health officials, who did not provide additional details about the St. Louis resident. The St. Louis Health Department said it was awaiting confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Case counts in California, Nebraska and Colorado grew Friday.
READ: WHO says measures used against delta should work for omicron
Five cases in Northern California were linked to a wedding in Wisconsin late last month, public health officials said. One of the individuals had recently returned from traveling internationally, according to the Alameda County Department of Public Health.Health officials confirmed six new cases of the variant in southeastern Nebraska. State health officials said the state’s first case likely stemmed from one of the six who recently traveled to Nigeria and returned on Nov. 23.Colorado detected the state’s second case of the omicron variant just a day after the state’s first confirmed case, officials said Friday.“We knew the omicron variant was coming and we expect to see more cases. But let me be clear: We are not defenseless,” Hochul said. “We have the tools to help prevent the spread of this deadly virus: Get your vaccine, get your booster, and wear your mask."
US drugstores squeezed by vaccine demand, staff shortages
A rush of vaccine-seeking customers and staff shortages are squeezing drugstores around the U.S., leading to frazzled workers and temporary pharmacy closures.
Drugstores are normally busy this time of year with flu shots and other vaccines, but now pharmacists are doling out a growing number of COVID-19 shots and giving coronavirus tests.
The push for shots is expected to grow more intense as President Joe Biden urges vaccinated Americans to get booster shots to combat the emerging omicron variant. The White House said Thursday that more than two in three COVID-19 vaccinations are happening at local pharmacies.
And pharmacists worry another job might soon be added to their to-do list: If regulators approve antiviral pills from drugmakers Merck and Pfizer to treat COVID-19, pharmacists may be able to diagnose infections and then prescribe pills to customers.
"There's crazy increased demand on pharmacies right now," said Theresa Tolle, an independent pharmacist who has seen COVID-19 vaccine demand quadruple since the summer at her Sebastian, Florida, store.
Pharmacists say demand for COVID-19 vaccines started picking up over the summer as the delta variant spread rapidly. Booster shots and the expansion of vaccine eligibility to include children have since stoked it.
On top of that workload and routine prescriptions, many drugstores also have been asking pharmacists to counsel patients more generally on their health or about chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure.
Pharmacies also have been handling more phone calls from customers with questions about vaccines or COVID-19 tests, noted Justin Wilson, who owns three independent pharmacies in Oklahoma.
"We're all working a lot harder than we did before, but we're doing everything we can to take care of people," Wilson said, adding that he has not had to temporarily close any of his pharmacies or limit hours so far.
Tolle said she was lucky to hire a pharmacy resident just before the delta surge arrived. The new employee was supposed to focus mostly on diabetes programs but has largely been relegated to vaccine duty.
Tolle said her Bay Street Pharmacy is now giving about 80 COVID-19 vaccines a day, up from 20 before the delta wave.
"God's timing worked out well for me," she said. "We would not have gotten through without having that additional person here."
Others haven't been as fortunate. A CVS Health store on the northeast side of Indianapolis shuttered its pharmacy in the middle of the afternoon Thursday due to staffing issues. A sign taped to the metal gate over the closed pharmacy counter also told customers that the pharmacy will soon start closing for a half hour each afternoon so the pharmacist can have a lunch break.
Such temporary closures have ebbed and flowed in pockets around the country throughout the pandemic, but they have grown more acute in recent months, said Anne Burns, a vice president with the American Pharmacists Association.
Pharmacies all need minimum staffing to operate safely, and they sometimes have to close temporarily if they fall below those levels.
Burns said many pharmacies already had relatively thin staffing levels heading into the pandemic, and a wave of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians left after the virus hit.
"There is a lot of stress and burnout for individuals who have been going at this since March of 2020," she said.
CVS Health spokesman T.J. Crawford said he couldn't comment on the circumstances for one store. But he said his company continues "to manage through a workforce shortage that isn't unique to CVS Health."
Rival drugstore chain Walgreens also has adjusted pharmacy hours "in a limited number of stores," spokesman Fraser Engerman said.
Both companies are hiring. CVS Health says it has hired 23,000 employees from a push it started in September. About half of that total was pharmacy technicians, who can deliver vaccines.
As companies scramble to hire or keep staff, Burns and Tolle worry about adding even more responsibilities like diagnosing and treating COVID-19.
Tolle noted that it is not clear yet how pharmacists will be reimbursed for the time they take to diagnose and prescribe. That will have to be clarified, especially if cases surge again and drugstores need to add even more workers to help.
"We want to be able to help our communities," she said. "I don't know how pharmacies are going to manage it."
Sherri Brown, a city employee in Omaha, Nebraska, was searching for a vaccine booster dose, but two nearby pharmacies didn't have appointments available and a third didn't have the brand she wanted. She wound up getting a shot at a county-run clinic on Friday.
"I just wanted to protect myself," said Brown, who suffered through two weeks of coughing, headaches and fatigue when she caught the virus in January, before she was vaccinated. "I guess I'm encouraged to see that people are taking this more seriously."
India gave 200 emergency e-visas to Afghan citizens, says Rajya Sabha
Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, India has granted 200 emergency e-visas to that country’s citizens, the government told Parliament on Wednesday, reported The Indian Express.
“In view of the prevailing situation in Afghanistan, the Government of India has started an ‘e-Emergency X-Misc visa’ for a period of 6 months for Afghan nationals. …As on 24.11.2021, 200 e-Emergency X-Misc visas have been issued,” Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.
“Further, Stay visa is granted to Afghan nationals staying in India keeping in view present situation in that country. Presently, 4,557 Afghan nationals are staying in India on Stay Visa after extension of their visas,” he added.
The Stay Visa/ Residential Permit is granted for a year at a time by authorities on a case-to-case basis after Home Ministry approval.
The ministry had been asked questions related to Afghan refugees living in India.
Also read: Thousands of Afghans seek temporary US entry, few approved
“India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol thereon. All foreign nationals (including Asylum seekers) are governed by the provisions contained in the Foreigners Act, 1946, The Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939, The Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and The Citizenship Act, 1955 and rules and orders made there under. The data of foreign nationals who enter into the country without valid travel documents in a surreptitious and clandestine manner, claiming to be refugees or asylum seekers is not maintained centrally,” the minister said.
In the wake of a humanitarian crisis unfolding in Afghanistan following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, with thousands scrambling to leave the country after the takeover, India had in August introduced an emergency e-visa category for Afghan nationals to “fast-track” their applications. These visas are valid for six months and granted only after security clearance, sources said.
In a statement issued then, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had said that after a review of provisions “in view of the current situation in Afghanistan”, a “new category of electronic visa called e-Emergency X-Misc Visa” has been started for Afghan nationals.
“India already provides X-Miscellaneous (X-Misc) category visas to foreigners whose purpose of entry does not match any prescribed category. In the case of Afghanistan, the e-visa facility was not extended to nationals of that country until then. However, since our mission is now shut in Afghanistan, people were allowed to get online visas,” an MHA official said.
The MHA policy document on X-Misc visa states that they “may be granted only with single entry and for the specific duration taking into account the purpose of visit”.
Also read: US spl envoy discusses Afghanistan with top Indian officials
“If the visa is granted for a period of stay exceeding 180 days, the foreigner will have to register himself/ herself with the FRRO/ FRO concerned within 14 days of arrival. This visa will be non-extendable and non-convertible to any other type of visa,” it states.
India has in the past granted long-duration visas to Afghan nationals facing persecution in their country, including a large number that fled after the first Taliban takeover and during the two decades of conflict that followed.
In these cases, the Stay Visa/ Residential Permit is granted for a year at a time by authorities on a case-to-case basis after MHA approval. These permits are location-specific with movement of beneficiaries restricted to the state/UT where they are permitted to stay. Any relaxation in this norm requires prior permission.
These visas are not granted to economic immigrants, and are subject to police reporting every year at the place where the Afghan national is allowed to stay.
Notably, Afghanistan falls under the Prior Reference Category (PRC) of countries for grant of visa, which means Afghan nationals have to be cleared by MHA for any visit. Others in this category include nationals of Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan, foreigners of Pakistani origin and stateless persons.