Tunisia extends state of emergency for 6 months

22:44, December 25, 2020

• 

  US sees more COVID-19 deaths in December than before

  Healthcare workers roll a patient into the emergency room at Maimonides Medical Center during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Brooklyn borough of New York, United States, Dec.The United States has witnessed more COVID-19 deaths in December than in any other month since the outbreak of the pandemic, acc

• 

  Japanese PM: no need for state of emergency amid surge of COVID-19 cases

  TOKYO, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday said it was not needed to declare a national state of emergency, as COVID-19 infections continued to surge in the capital Tokyo and other areas.Japans Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga speaks during a press conference on the COVID-19 coronavirus in Tokyo on December 25, 2020. (Photo: AFP)Speaking at his final press conference of the year, Suga said that the head of the governments expert panel on the COVID-19 pandemic had told him that it was not necessary to declare a state of emergency at the moment.The Japanese prime minister urged Japanese people to spend the New Year holidays "quietly" and avoid large gatherings among family and friends in an effort to contain the recent surge in coronavirus cases."Please cooperate by refraining from gatherings as much as possible, so that we can stop infections from spreading" during the holidays, he said.Suga also said he mulls enacting legislation that would allow the government to compensate restaurants, bars and other eateries asked to shorten business hours and penalize those that do not comply with the restriction.According to Suga, Japan will bar entry of foreign nationals who have recently traveled to South Africa, where a new variant of COVID-19 believed to spread faster was discovered. The Japanese government has made a similar decision concerning Britain.Japans COVID-19 cases continued to surge recently, with Tokyo reporting a daily record of 888 cases on Thursday. According to the latest figures from the health ministry and local authorities, the confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country increased by 3,792 to 214,514 as of Friday evening.

• 

  HK's Court of Final Appeal upholds 2019 anti-mask law

  In this Oct 6, 2019 photo, masked protesters use umbrellas to hold frontline as they clash with police in Hong Kong.Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal on Monday ruled in favor of the government which invoked the Emergency Regulations Ordinance to bring into force the anti-mask law in early October, 2