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A30 world news
Diasabra 8 Mei 2021

UK to ease holiday travel ban yet keeps most quarantines

LONDON (AP) — Brit- the British government's month it gave the same ad-
ain announced a "first ten- roadmap out of lockdown. vice for people under 30.
tative step" Friday toward Pubs and restaurants in Eng-
resuming international land can reopen indoor areas England's deputy chief medi-
travel, saying U.K. citi- that day, and venues includ- cal officer, Jonathan Van-
zens will be able to travel ing theaters and cinemas can Tam, said the government
to countries including welcome limited audiences. expects to follow the new ad-
Portugal, Iceland and Is- vice and still meet its target of
rael later this month with- Britain has recorded more giving everyone 18 and over a
out having to quarantine than 127,500 coronavirus vaccine jab by July 31.
upon their return. deaths, the highest toll in Eu-
rope. But recent infections Britain is also using vaccines
Transport Secretary Grant and deaths have plummeted made by Pfizer-BioNTech
Shapps said the country's cur- thanks to extensive lock- and Moderna.
rent blanket ban on overseas downs and a rapid vaccina-
vacations will be replaced on tion program. Two-thirds of British health officials say
May 17 by a traffic-light sys- U.K. adults have received at the risk from COVID-19
tem classifying countries as least one vaccine jab and al- far exceeds any risk from
low, medium or high risk. most a third have had both the AstraZeneca vaccine for
doses. the vast majority of people,
The "green list" of 12 low- but the calculation is "more
risk territories also includes The campaign has relied finely balanced" for younger
Gibraltar, the Faroe Islands heavily on the Oxford-Astra- groups, who tend not to suf-
and the Falkland Islands — Zeneca vaccine, whose use fer serious illness from coro-
but not major vacation des- has been restricted in some navirus infections.
tinations for Britons such islands of Saint Helena, As- European countries because
as France, Italy, Spain and cension Island and Tristan da Turkey's addition, which of a potential link to extreme- Up to April 28, Britain's
Greece, which are on the Cunha. takes effect Wednesday, ly rare blood clots. medicines regulator had re-
"amber" list. Britons traveling throws into doubt the ability ceived 242 reports of blood
to those countries, and many He said the list would be re- of players and fans to travel In a change of advice, British clots accompanied by low
others including the United viewed regularly and would to the Champions League authorities said Friday that platelet count in people who
States and Canada, will have likely be expanded. soccer final between two people under 40 will not be had received the AstraZeneca
to self-isolate for 10 days English teams — Manchester given the AstraZeneca vac- vaccine, out of 28.5 million
when they return. All but essential travel from City and Chelsea — which is cine if another shot was avail- doses given. There were 49
Britain remains barred to due to be played in Istanbul able. deaths.
Britons hoping for an over- "red list" countries with se- on May 29.
seas vacation this summer vere outbreaks, including The Joint Committee on The AstraZeneca vaccine,
without a quarantine do not India and South Africa, and Shapps said the government Vaccination and Immuniza- which is cheaper and easier to
have a lot to choose from. people returning from them was "very open" to holding tion said people aged 30 to store than Pfizer or Moderna,
Several countries on the face 10 days of mandatory the game in Britain, but that 39 without underlying health is critical to global immuni-
green list are still closed to quarantine in a supervised it was a decision for soccer's conditions should receive an zation campaigns. It is a pillar
British visitors, including hotel. On Friday the British European governing body, alternative vaccine, "where of the U.N.-backed program
Australia, New Zealand and government added Nepal, UEFA. available and only if this does known as COVAX that aims
Singapore. Others are little- the Maldives and Turkey to not cause substantial delays to get vaccines to some of the
visited, such as the remote that list. May 17 is the next date on in being vaccinated." Last world's poorest countries.

Taiwan rations water, drills extra wells amid record drought

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — popular tourist lake. ment has allocated money to have been hit hard.
Some households in Tai- extract drinkable water from "Our business is 90% less
wan are going without Authorities are drilling ex- the sea. "The lotus flowers and seeds than last year," said Wang
running water two days a tra wells and using military I planted don't produce Ying-shen, chairman of a
week after a months-long planes to dump cloud-seed- Farmers who need to flood well," said Chen Chiu-lang, group for businesspeople
drought dried up the is- ing chemicals in hopes of paddies to raise rice, lotus a farmer in the southern city who rent boats to visitors.
land's reservoirs and a triggering rain. The govern- root and other thirsty crops of Tainan, standing in a dry
paddy field. Light rain fell in some ar-
eas this week, but Econom-
Rainfall in the seven months ics Minister Wang Mei-hua
through February was less warned Thursday restrictions
than half the historic average might be tightened.
after no typhoons hit Taiwan
in 2020 for the first time in Other cities are restrict-
56 years, according to the ing total water supplies for
government. each customer. They include
Hsinchu, one of the biggest
Households in areas un- global enters for semicon-
der top-level restrictions go ductor manufacturing, and
without running water two Tainan and Kaohsiung in the
days per week. They include south.
Taiwan's second-biggest
city, Taichung, with 2.8 mil- The economy ministry al-
lion people, and Miaoli and located 2.5 billion New Tai-
Changhua counties. wan dollars ($88 million) in
March for well drilling and
Parts of Sun Moon Lake, a emergency sea water desali-
popular tourist spot, have nation facilities.
dried up.