The European Union said Friday it’s planning to stop air travel from southern Africa to counter the spread of a new COVID-19 variant as the 27-nation block battles a massive spike in cases.
A lockdown imposed on the three coastal towns on the Spanish island of La Palma was ended on Wednesday, as officials announced that toxic fumes had partially dissipated amid the ongoing eruption from the Cumbre Vieja volcano.
Several days ago, officials mandated a lockdown for the coastal towns, telling residents to remain inside as lava reaching the ocean sent clouds of thick fumes into the air, threatening the health of citizens.
Miguel Angel Morcuende, the technical director of the Canary Islands Volcanic Emergency Plan, said the decision to end the restriction came after the cloud dissipated. However, he warned that individuals in coastal areas should still wear masks to “stay protected” and “prevent any problem.”
Despite the stay-at-home order being lifted, La Palma’s airport will remain closed, as workers attempt to remove tons of black volcanic ash that has covered parts of the runway.
Carmen Lopez, from the National Geographic Institute’s geophysical monitoring program, warned that, unless the eruption begins to diminish, “it is most likely to keep affecting” the area’s ability to operate effectively.
La Palma is currently experiencing its longest eruption in 375 years, with lava flowing from the volcano for the past 67 days, with concerns that it is not showing signs of abating.
Since the Cumbre Vieja volcano began erupting on September 19, it has covered over 1,000 hectares of land on the island, damaging or destroying around 2,700 properties and forcing thousands to flee from the territory.
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 26 (IPS) – When Fidelis Adele, the CEO of Freetown-based Solid Graphics, a printing and communications company, needed to order some printing equipment from Nigeria in September, he paid an extra $165 on top of a $10,000 bank transfer to the seller. Yet it took three days for the money transferred in Sierra Leone to be credited to the beneficiary’s account in Nigeria.
The World Health Organization is holding an emergency meeting on Friday to review the variant. While it’s too soon to tell exactly how the new variant functions, virologists are rushing to learn more.
