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Travellers wait for their luggage at Changi Airport in Singapore. (File photo: iStock) - 

Singapore has lifted its ban on passengers from 10 African countries from entering or transiting in the country, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said late on Sunday (Dec 26).

The countries are: Botswana, Eswatini, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

From 11.59pm on Sunday, passengers arriving in Singapore with travel history to these countries within the past 14 days will come under the country's Category IV border measures.

This means they must take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within two days before departure to Singapore, as well as an on-arrival PCR test. They will also have to serve a 10-day stay-home notice at a dedicated facility. Another PCR test will be administered at the end of their quarantine period. 

Previously, long-term pass holders and short-term visitors with recent travel history to these African countries were not allowed to enter or transit following initial reports on Omicron cases there. Singapore citizens and permanent residents returning from these countries would have to serve a 10-day stay-home notice at a dedicated facility.

MOH said it initially addoped a "more cautious risk containment approach" to reduce the spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant into Singapore. 

"The Omicron variant has since spread widely around the world," it said, adding that Singapore is updating its travel restrictions accordingly. 

"As the global situation evolves, we will continue to adjust our border measures in tandem with our roadmap to becoming a COVID-resilient nation."//CNA

The Russian flag is seen through barbed wire as it flies on the roof of the Russian embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, on Mar 26, 2018. (Photo: REUTERS/Gleb Garanich) - 

Russia has received a NATO proposal to commence talks on Moscow's security concerns on Jan. 12 and is considering it, TASS news agency quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying on Sunday (Dec 26).

Russia, which has unnerved the West with a troop buildup near Ukraine, last week unveiled a wish list of security proposals it wants to negotiate, including a promise NATO would give up any military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine.

"We have already received this (NATO) offer, and we are considering it," TASS quoted the foreign ministry as saying.

The United States and Ukraine say Russia may be preparing an invasion of its ex-Soviet neighbour. Russia denies that and says it is Ukraine's growing relationship with NATO that has caused the standoff to escalate. It has compared it to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when the world came to the brink of nuclear war.

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia wanted to avoid conflict but needed an "immediate" response from the United States and its allies to its demands for security guarantees. Moscow has said it expects talks with US officials on the subject to start in January in Geneva.

US President Joe Biden's administration has said some of Russia's security proposals are obviously unacceptable, but that Washington will respond with more concrete ideas on the format of any talks.

In an interview on CBS' Face The Nation television show, Vice President Kamala Harris said Washington has been in direct conversations with Moscow about the issue and reiterated the US commitment to Ukraine's territorial integrity.

"We've been very clear that we are prepared to issue sanctions like you've not seen before," Harris said, but declined to elaborate on the specifics of the sanctions.

The United States, the European Union and the Group of Seven have all warned Putin that he will face "massive consequences" including tough economic sanctions in the event of any new Russian aggression.

The Kremlin's demands contain elements - such as an effective Russian veto on future NATO membership for Ukraine - that the West has already ruled out.

Others would imply the removal of US nuclear weapons from Europe and the withdrawal of multinational NATO battalions from Poland and from the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania that were once in the Soviet Union.

A Biden administration official in a call with reporters on Friday said Washington has taken note of the concerns that Moscow has raised and was ready to engage with Russia as soon as early January but a specific date and location were yet to be set//CNA

A health officials check the body temperature of worshippers during Tehran's first Friday prayer after a nearly two-year break due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Tehran, Iran, on Oct 22, 2021. (Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS) - 

Iran has banned the entry of travellers from Britain, France, Denmark and Norway for 15 days as part of curbs following the discovery of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19 in the Middle East's worst-hit country.

State television said on Sunday a similar ban imposed in late November on travellers from South Africa and seven neighbouring countries was also extended for 15 days.

Health authorities also indefinitely halted land travel to neighbouring Turkey, a popular tourist destination, the broadcaster said.

Iran, the pandemic's epicentre in the Middle East, has reported just 14 confirmed Omicron cases so far but media reports said detection kits were not widely available and officials have warned of a possible rapid spread within weeks.

The country has suffered 131,400 deaths in five waves of COVID-19 infections since February 2020.

Nearly 51.3 million of Iran's population of about 85 million have received two doses of coronavirus vaccine//CNA

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks at the weekly cabinet meeting in Kibbutz Mevo Hama in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, on Dec 26, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Nir Elias) - 

A major Israeli hospital will begin administering a fourth COVID-19 vaccine shot to 150 staff on Monday (Dec 27) in a trial aimed at gauging whether a second booster is necessary nationwide, the facility said on Sunday.

Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv said its trial would shed light on the efficacy of a fourth dose and help decision-makers set health policy in Israel and abroad.

Israel has reported 1,118 confirmed cases of the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant, with the number of people infected by it doubling every two days.

A Health Ministry panel of experts has recommended offering a fourth dose of the Pfizer /BioNTech vaccine to Israelis aged 60 and over who received a booster shot at least four months ago.

But final approval by the ministry's director-general is still pending amid public debate as to whether sufficient scientific information is available to justify a new booster drive.

Sheba Medical Center did not say how long its trial would last.

"We will examine the fourth dose's effect on the level of antibodies and morbidity and we will gauge its safety," it quoted Gili Regev-Yochay, the study's director, as saying. "We will understand whether it is worthwhile to administer a fourth shot, and to whom."

The 150 Sheba medical workers taking part in the trial, which the hospital said had received Health Ministry approval, got booster shots no later than Aug 20.

Separately, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's office said he tested negative on Sunday for COVID-19 after his 14-year-old daughter was infected. It said he would self-isolate//CNA