Greece reports a record for the fourth consecutive day of 35,580 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 1,170,293.
(Ekathimerini)
Italy reports a record for the third consecutive day of 126,888 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 5.98 million.
(ANSA)
Ireland reduces the mandatory
quarantine for those who received the booster dose or completed their primary vaccination course and had COVID-19 within the previous three months, to seven days despite a record 20,554 new cases being reported.
(The Irish Times)
Portugal reports a record for the third consecutive day of 28,659 new cases of COVID-19. The country also reduces the mandatory
quarantine for asymptomatic people who test positive from COVID-19 and high-risk contacts to seven days due to concerns about the spread of the Omicron variant.
(Reuters)
Turkey begins to roll-out its domestically-developed
Turkovac inactive vaccine as part of its COVID-19 vaccination program. This comes after the
health ministry issued an emergency use authorization for the vaccine.
(Daily Sabah)
Premier of QuebecFrançois Legault announces a curfew between 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. on
New Year's Eve, bans private gatherings involving more than one household bubble, and closing dine-in restaurants amid the spread of COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant.
(Global News)
South Africa lifts its midnight curfew, allowing alcohol sales to return to normal hours in certain premises, and also allowing gatherings of up to 1,000 people indoors and 2,000 people outdoors, due to a decrease in the number of new COVID-19 cases.
(Business Insider South Africa)
A 16-year-old boy is stabbed to death in
Hillingdon, west
London, making him the 30th teenage homicide in the
British capital in 2021. It is now the deadliest year on record for killings of teenagers, surpassing a previous peak of 29 homicides in 2008.
(BBC News)