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January
FILE PHOTO: People queue to take a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test at a pharmacy as COVID-19 infections rise in Rome, Italy, December 31, 2021. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane -
Italy reported 180,426 COVID-19 related cases on Saturday (Jan 15), after 186,253 the day before, the health ministry said, while the number of deaths fell to 308 from 360.
Italy has registered 140,856 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth highest in the world. The country has reported 8.55 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 18,370 on Saturday, up from 18,019 a day earlier.
There were 141 new admissions to intensive care units, up from 136 on Friday. The total number of intensive care patients dropped slightly to 1,677 from a previous 1,679.
Some 1.22 million tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with 1.13 million previously, the health ministry said//CNA
January
FILE PHOTO: Doctor Eva Raunig vaccinates a person with a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine inside a special container to use for general practitioners, called 'vaccination box' in Vienna, Austria April 26, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner -
Thousands of people took to the streets of Austria's capital on Saturday (Jan 15) to protest against government plans to introduce mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for all next month.
"The government must go!" crowds chanted at one rally in central Vienna in what has become a routine Saturday event.
Parliament is scheduled to vote next week on the issue, which has polarised the country as coronavirus cases surge.
In November, the government announced a fourth national lockdown and said it would make vaccinations compulsory for all Austrians, the first European Union country to do so.
A poll for Profil magazine found 51 per cent of those surveyed oppose making jabs mandatory from February, of whom 34 per cent were against compulsory vaccination in general and 17 per cent wanted to wait. The survey found 45 per cent of Austrians favoured compulsory vaccination starting in February.
The poll showed Chancellor Karl Nehammer's conservatives and the opposition Social Democrats in a dead heat for first place at 25 per cent, followed by the right-wing Freedom Party, a strident critic of government policy, at 20 per cent.
The Greens, junior partner in the coalition, were even with the liberal Neos on 11 per cent, while the vaccine-sceptical MFG party scored 6per cent.
Health authorities have reported more than 1.4 million infections and nearly 14,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic broke out in early 2020//CNA
January
FILE PHOTO: Doctor Eva Raunig vaccinates a person with a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine inside a special container to use for general practitioners, called 'vaccination box' in Vienna, Austria April 26, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner -
Thousands of people took to the streets of Austria's capital on Saturday (Jan 15) to protest against government plans to introduce mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for all next month.
"The government must go!" crowds chanted at one rally in central Vienna in what has become a routine Saturday event.
Parliament is scheduled to vote next week on the issue, which has polarised the country as coronavirus cases surge.
In November, the government announced a fourth national lockdown and said it would make vaccinations compulsory for all Austrians, the first European Union country to do so.
A poll for Profil magazine found 51 per cent of those surveyed oppose making jabs mandatory from February, of whom 34 per cent were against compulsory vaccination in general and 17 per cent wanted to wait. The survey found 45 per cent of Austrians favoured compulsory vaccination starting in February.
The poll showed Chancellor Karl Nehammer's conservatives and the opposition Social Democrats in a dead heat for first place at 25 per cent, followed by the right-wing Freedom Party, a strident critic of government policy, at 20 per cent.
The Greens, junior partner in the coalition, were even with the liberal Neos on 11 per cent, while the vaccine-sceptical MFG party scored 6per cent.
Health authorities have reported more than 1.4 million infections and nearly 14,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic broke out in early 2020//CNA
January
Tsunami warning in Tonga, US West Coast after powerful volcanic eruption
In this satellite image taken by Himawari-8, a Japanese weather satellite, and released by the agency, shows an unde the Pacific nation of Tonga Saturday, Jan 15, 2022. (Japan Meteorology Agency via AP) -
Frightened Tongans fled to higher ground Saturday (Jan 15) after a massive volcanic eruption that triggered tsunami warnings across the South Pacific, including the entire US West Coast, as well as Japan.
The latest eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano came just a few hours after a separate Friday tsunami warning was lifted due to the eruption.
Dramatic images from space showed the moment the eruption sent a mushroom of smoke and ash into the air and a shockwave across the surrounding sea.
Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said a tsunami wave measuring 1.2m had been observed at Tonga's capital Nuku'alofa.
Mere Taufa said she was in her house getting ready for dinner when the volcano erupted.
"It was massive, the ground shook, our house was shaking. It came in waves. My younger brother thought bombs were exploding nearby," Taufa told the Stuff news website.
She said water filled their home minutes later and she saw the wall of a neighbouring house collapse.
"We just knew straight away it was a tsunami. Just water gushing into our home.
"You could just hear screams everywhere, people screaming for safety, for everyone to get to higher ground."
Tonga's King Tupou VI was reported to have been evacuated from the Royal Palace in Nuku'alofa and taken by a police convoy to a villa well away from the coastline.
The initial eruption lasted at least eight minutes and sent plumes of gas, ash and smoke several kilometres into the air.
Residents in coastal areas were urged to head for higher ground.
The eruption was so intense it was heard as "loud thunder sounds" in Fiji more than 800km away, officials in Suva said.
Fijian officials warned residents to cover water collection tanks in case of acidic rain fall.
Victorina Kioa of the Tonga Public Service Commission said Friday that people should "keep away from areas of warning which are low-lying coastal areas, reefs and beaches".
The head of Tonga Geological Services Taaniela Kula urged people to stay indoors, wear a mask if they were outside and cover rainwater reservoirs and rainwater harvesting systems.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a "tsunami advisory" for American Samoa, saying there was a threat of "sea level fluctuations and strong ocean currents that could be a hazard along beaches".
Similar warnings were issued by authorities in New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu and Australia - where authorities said a swathe of coastline including Sydney could be hit by tsunami waves.
People in surrounding New South Wales state were "advised to get out of the water and move away from the immediate water's edge".
Tsunami warnings were also issued for the entire US West Coast, and waves triggered low-level flooding in Hawaii.
The US National Weather Service issued tsunami advisories from California to Alaska, predicting waves of up to two feet, strong rip currents and coastal flooding.
"Move off the beach and out of harbours and marinas in these areas," it advised.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said "a tsunami is currently being observed" in Hawaii, but said there was "no reported damage and only minor flooding throughout the islands".
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano sits on an uninhabited island about 65km north of the Tongan capital Nuku'alofa//CNA