country and sense of freedom and strength. unites mind. on al-jazeera. think. the u.s. congress approves a $900000000000.00 coronavirus relief package as the country's total number of infections passes $18000000.00. i know that i missed this as alj was there at live from doha also coming up increasingly isolated more countries shut their borders to the u.k. of a fears of a mutation strain of the corona virus. and another variant of the growing of our surges in south africa leading many countries to also suspend flights from that.

and ending extreme poverty we take a look at whether china's multi-billion dollar plan is working. corona virus infections surge in different parts of the world there is some hope for millions of people living in the west technician following months of political gridlock now americans could start receiving 1000 relief checks as early as next week both the house of representatives and the senate have now approved a $900000000000.00 stimulus package aimed at helping businesses and families but the virus is still spreading across the u.s. with california's governor now warning that there are no more intensive care beds of 2 major regions including los angeles county that's home to more than 10000000 people now more than 40 countries have imposed travel bans with bresson after the discovery of a mutated strain of the corona virus there british prime minister bars johnson says food and medical supplies will not be affected as he continues talks to try to lift

a border closures on resume freight travel it's very can 1st to stress these delays which are only occurring at dover only affect human handled freight which means the vast majority of food medicines and other supplies are coming and going as knowing it's very very important. not just for the peoples of the role but it's also totally realistic we have every reason to be extremely hopeful about this country's ability to bounce back next year from cape it. well another country facing isolation is south africa but seeing a resurgence of infections there health officials say it's being driven by different coronavirus variant from the one that's emerged in the u.k. and the situation is also getting west across asia with taiwan reporting its 1st locally transmitted case an 8 months that ends what's thought to be the world's

longest period without a domestic infection and a new cluster of cases at a market in thailand has prompted authorities there to start testing 40000 people how does a caster begins our coverage now from washington d.c. . majority leader after months of partisan stalemate congress finally passed a coburn $1000.00 relief bill totaling $900000000000.00 it includes direct payment of $600.00 to most americans unemployment benefits into march and food and rental assistance it's far from perfect met perfect legislation just coming to washington i wish we could have done even more but i'm pleased we've done as well as we could have done people like 79 year old harold valentine can expect to see government checks as early as next week he says you could use it for groceries but it's not enough for the christmas gifts he'd like to send his grandkids i'm not going to have that much pride to say i don't want it i need it. this is a definite

a lot of need here. it is worse it is getting worse. more than $20000000.00 americans are receiving unemployment benefits with an additional $885000.00 applying for aid during the 1st week of december and then there are the $3.00 to $7000000.00 americans who lost jobs but never got unemployment benefits because of problems processing their applications researchers say some 8000000 people when they do u.s. have fallen into poverty since may and half of all small business owners say if things continue as they are they'll be forced to close permanently within a year and general you know it's been very difficult to get a you know for us for our business as well as for our staff definitely starting to feel like there's no light at the end of the tunnel this food pantry in washington has been delivering up to a 1000 bags of groceries

a day to struggling families every little bit helps the communities we serve and so you know a $600.00 stimulus payment. for something and these people who go in this pandemic have actually lost relatives and they've had to use some of their own money for some of the barrel expenses as the number of kobe 900 cases in the u.s. surpasses 18000000 the government is racing to deliver 20000000 doses of vaccine by the 1st week of january to save lives and the economy about to receive its own injection of stimulus to save livelihoods. castro al-jazeera washington now restrictions particularly those imposed by france have brought some of the u.k.'s cargo movements to a complete halt trucks carrying essential goods and produce to and from france are now stranded at close to ferry ports and tunnels where a challenge sent us this report from dover. the cold waters of the english channel

have rarely seems more of a barrier diver is usually one of the busiest ports in the world but the u.k. is now cut off for much of its country scared by the u.k.'s infectious new coded strain have imposed travel bans france has also banned the transport of accompanied freight this is the result kilometer after kilometer of stranded lorries and drivers not knowing when they'll make it home i have 3 children wife. and they may need me to cram for christmas christmas in poland is a very special holiday that's a bind to the religion and. for the chanel. for polish people it's very hard to be away on christmas. so this situation. cost me. very hard on

the deva see front line of vans with rumanians not knowing when they'll make it home we've been waiting on and we don't have the no one need to spend money on things like that we want because we waiting we sleeping in the car you know we want everybody to be war right for the british this compounds the sense of unease already brought on by tough new coronavirus restrictions and the effect of cancellation of family christmas celebrations for millions in recent memory the u.k. has never felt so isolated sided lonely so atomized with people cut off from each other and now with a new travel ban people cut off from much of the rest of the world and this is perhaps just a small force a star of what might be coming if the united kingdom cannot reach a deal with its european partners by the end of the year the government says food and medicine supplies are sufficient for now but there are warnings from the food

industry that some fresh products might run out in days of good stone start moving again soon rory chalons al-jazeera dover well for now let's go back to london for us there are these talks going on to try to sort out the chaos at the border how are they. well the home secretary here pretty much tells been speaking this morning c she says that they are talks taking place that some of those discussions are around the testing of those truck drivers now we're not sure what stage those talks are at and where the they will work out but we are expecting something from the government today but regardless of what happens those delays will still happen even if they decide to test those truck drivers that will cause some level of destruction and just to give you an idea of how uncoordinated top of the message is currently yesterday we had the transport secretary at that press conference alongside prime minister barres johnson talk about how many truck drivers actually

then he gave a figure of around $190.00 only to be corrected by the highway agency later to say that they were actually $900.00 on the motorway so we have that motorway that's going to open now for normal traffic those truck drivers are being moved away some of being put in a nearby airfield but currently the chaos continues and if you open the morning papers here in the u.k. it's all talk about the mutual virus and the chaos that's actually taking place here and that dove a porch during christmas time usually it's around $10000.00 trucks that pass through so it's a very very busy porch and although the government is trying to reassure people and trying to say business as usual people should not panic it's difficult to see how normal british people will be saying this because we still have those warnings from the supermarkets if this continues the food supplies could be affected fresh projects particularly and the increasing list of countries as it stands is over 40

countries that have banned u.k. arrivals and handstands situation there and it has a bag with all the latest from london thank us and let's now get the view from the other side of the channel bennett smith now has more from paris on the impacts of that travel ban. and the french were hoping that that be some way of having a europe wide agreement on how to deal with this new strain of the coronavirus that's been discovered in the u.k. before the 48 hours is up there are people in london in the u.k. who want to come to france for christmas now the health minister said previously that if those people who want to come over after 48 hours is up they will they should now be getting themselves a p.c.r. test because that will probably be one of the requirements when the 40 hours is up so i think there's been a rush of people in the u.k. trying to do that. and there's also this question about freight coming over from

the u.k. to france most of it is not driven over most of it is the truck the freight has dropped on the ferry and picked up on this side so most of it's not a problem it's stuff that needs to be driven over from one side to the other of us the challenge but the challenge is all those drivers on the u.k. side waiting to come to the french side what he'd do with them do you must test all the drivers before they get on the ferry this may be one of the considerations that looking out but we haven't any indication yet as to what the european wide response will be and actually in terms of other coronavirus issues most european countries have sort of gone their own way there are different restrictions on entering european countries depending on which countries some have some demand p.c.r. test now violence someone quarantine so it varies a hasn't really been a coordinated european response to travel into coming into the e.u. . speaking of isolation south africa is another country that's struggling to

contain a surge in new cases and health officials say it's being driven by a different kind of a 1000 variant from that mutated strain that's emerged in the u.k. still the virus is now spreading faster than it had when the pandemic 1st began and several countries have now also halted air travel to and from south africa. has the latest now from johannesburg scientists say they still studying this new strain of the data collected so far suggests that it's spreading fast and they also say it could be responsible for the 2nd wave of the countries currently experiencing in the countries getting on average just under 10000 new infections a day's been identified in. the eastern cape province and the garden that's where you get the cape town area for example where lots of tourists usually flock to at this time of year this is another blow to the tourism industry you've got this new strain and then the flight bans and so that because tourism industry to survive is pretty much a time of the year and people coming in from the u.k. europe middle east asia and other parts of the world so now these businesses are

now feeling another pressure as well for example you go to province you find in a place called st lucia a very popular tourist resort is saying that they have had more than 50 percent of cancellations because of this you go to durban a lot of hospitals all of the hotels are closed. near the big hotel chains are also shut lots of people are losing out of work as well and this is the time of the year when people are in the face of mood many people come to south africa for tourism and now they're saying that people would who are hoping to make some kind of money this time around those hopes have not been dashed. still ahead here on al-jazeera thailand is to be en mass testing after its largest single outbreak yet was. last year. and as latin america prepares for its vaccination program there are concerns over logistics behind delivering it.

hello every few days there we've had this tropical depression it's been no more than that wandering around the south china sea heading west was towards the end nam it's produced a lot of rain but not for many people so this is the spratly islands and southwest we've had probably the month's worth in the last 4 days as this is the influence of so that's what you could expect to fall on its way through any sudden vietnam that gets it 1st the circulation is not strong enough to really keep the name and follow it by this time it's heading this direction so for sudden thailand it looks pretty wet but how to get to certain others is unusual for this time of the year the rainy season the size lycee spread out thunderstorms rather fear i think than of late in australia the opposite we've had the wettest day in 8 years in new south wales significant rain in the northwest down through northern territory there's more rain

to come in northern territories you can see this representative but it's much drive much sun you're in new south wales and queensland still has what it was either thames up in sydney coming up in melbourne but it is disappointing we are talking about some here talk about 90 degrees in melbourne the rain continues in the 4 showers through queensland and all this time perth is probably about the hottest place that's $39.00. an award winning investigation i mean a worker's room right behind it has been factory when we operate for less and we buy for less we can pass those savings all your customers into the supply chains that produce cheap clothing. with little regard for workers' lives the remains of the fire still everywhere rewind made in bangladesh on al-jazeera.

hello again i'm a star let's remind you of our top stories here the salah the us congress has passed a 900000000000 dollars stimulus package to help american businesses and families struggling touring this pandemic and comes as the number of recorded coronavirus cases exceeds 18000000. health officials in south africa say a resurgence of cases there is being driven by a different kind of a 1000 variant from the strain that's emerged in the u.k. several countries have halted air travel to and from south africa. and now at last count will than 40 countries have close their borders to flights and travelers from

the u.k. due to concerns over that mutated strain of the virus the w.h.o. says it will meet to discuss ways to counter this more fictious strain. hong kong is one of the global transport hubs imposing restrictions on flights from the u.k. people have spent more than just 2 hours in britain in the past fortnight will be banned from boarding flights to hong kong and that includes the city's residents to figure pollen has more now from hong kong. this time last year this airport's arrivals hall was packed with people trying to get home ahead of the holidays this year a very different scene hong kong is the 1st city in asia to impose such a flight ban on the u.k. now from the board behind me a couple of flights have managed to slip through before the deadline people from those flights will now have to quarantine for 3 weeks instead of the customary 2 weeks despite the pandemic travel between the u.k.

and hong kong has been relatively robust in fact 5000 people a ride from the u.k. this month alone and many of them are students who are studying in the u.k. hong kong is experiencing its 4th and what sienna ass its most severe way b.s. and soda. government has imposed some of its strictest social distancing measures including only 2 people allowed to gather at any time everyone has to wear face moscow they will be have to leave fine and nightlife during this holiday season has come to virtual standstill with all guiding and entertainment venues having to shut by 6 in the evening now businesses and hong kong's economy have been struggling over the past year and the light of this song from government has pastas latest concert relief founding amounting to about a $1000000000.00. in jena chill a colombia ecuador and el salvador also banning flights coming from the u.k. and this comes as health care experts and that's in america say that scene roll out

there could be a logistical nightmare they are concerned about the region's underfunded health care systems and the use of different vaccines to reason has more from the argentinian capital one is very. well the vaccine and the concern of new strain that was detected in the united kingdom but also the possibility of starting a vaccination campaign as soon as possible as generated lots of anxiety not only among the population but also among governments here in the region we know the value presidents who are camping it out from chile an ounce the chiller will start vaccine vaccinating at least 20000 people next week they will start vaccinating with the feister vaccine and they have bought doses for on 30000000 people argentina is awaiting anxiously sputnik from russia vaccine the government says that they are awaiting the vaccine in the next 2 to 3 days probably before christmas and that they will start vaccinating as soon as possible the argentina

has had to deal with but for now it's been put on hold because there's been a disagreement over the contract a contract that argentina says they wanted a new law passed in congress that would give the company immunity and then brazil for example there's already a vaccination plan in place vaccination has not started just yet and precedent for an adult said that he was not going to get vaccinated in fact he said the fighter contract is very clear we're not responsible for any side effects if you turn it into a crocodile it's not your problem so wolf and i don't says he won't be vaccinated we know that he has diminished the effects of coronavirus calling it a little flu one that's why the supreme court in the country is saskin his government to set a date of when the vaccination will begin in brazil. on the other side of the world south korea is banning gatherings of more than 5 people starting from christmas eve

those restrictions will be increased for at least 10 days as the country tries to contain a surge in infections there about a 1000 new cases are being reported daily and ski resorts and other major tourist spots will also be shot from the bride reports now from seoul. it was only monday that the authorities in the greater seoul area announced tougher restrictions home to around half of south korea's population and choose day these tougher restrictions are going to be put in place across south korea and it comes as we've seen this bill let 3rd wave produce around up to a 1000 new cases a day we've also had another grim milestone of setting a record for the number of deaths from covert 924 now these numbers might not seem large by comparison to other parts of the world but when you consider where south korea was even up to just a few weeks ago it seemed to be have this under control to have it beat so it is very concerning for the authorities there the worry is that when we get into this

holiday period that they really want to try to deter people from having large gatherings so we are seeing a strong recommendation from the government that people do not meet in groups of private gatherings of 5 or more people now it's only a recommendation but it is a very strong one and in fact restaurants have been told they're not allowed to take any bookings of groups of 5 or more also we're seeing restrictions on for example hotels are only allowed to have 50 percent occupancy possibly a bigger measure with a closure of ski resorts ski resorts are normally very busy at this time of year just getting into the winter season they have now been told to close again and we've also had to announce the national parks will also be closed at this time of year it is normal for families to go out and see sunsets and sunrises over the new year period well those 2 will be closed and all these measures in place through to the 1st week of january as you had earlier thailand is now set to begin testing

some 40000 people after its single largest outbreak tony chang has more from the capital bangkok. incorporating mass testing we've also seen in this market here health officials going through speaking to the market traders particularly the seafood traders are checking whether they've been down to some of the current kind of contact they've had they're also doing more testing they're targeting migrant worker communities the places where they work the places where they live they're very keen to get ahold of this we've just heard from the health authorities half the marigot the latest increase in daily transmissions up to 427 now that might sound relatively small but if you consider here in thailand we've been going for months and months with 0 local transmission it's a very big jump and it means the cluster centered on the seafood market is more than a 1000 cases now most of those local transmissions do seem to originate from that

market but i think what's disturbing you dorothy is is that they are seeing more and more you know the places in a year to in bank or even a couple of pinching my and that's a real concern so they want to get on top of what we heard the prime minister yesterday saying he's waiting to assess the situation over the next week but if things do continue to worsen he might even consider putting the country back into lockdown. on cattle so fast shipment of the pfizer biotech vaccine has arrived in the capital doha maybe for distribution the elderly those with chronic disease chronic illnesses and frontline back as will be the fasting line once that moment that begins and being described as the largest and that's a nation program the country has ever launched. now moving on and the u.a.e. is defector roula and a private bank and luxemburg have been accused of trying to plot cattle economic downfall bloomberg news says it's seen correspondence between mohamed bin saeed and

bank have a lunch that indicates a plan to attack financial markets and depreciates foreign exchange reserves the idea was reportedly hatched soon after the u.a.e. and others imposed a blockade of council back in 2017 having owned denies the allegations more and cullen is the director of policy analysis at the arab center for research and policy studies he says there had already been signs that the u.a.e. was trying to sabotage cattles economy. we all know that by 4th 2017 actually then i thought him minutes was trying actually to put more pressure on cut off an order to borrow a tool. that the 15 demands that had been put forward by the blockading countries when actually resisted at the very beginning so the plan was to try and undermine katanas economy and by also. and undermined the cause he that caused in fact 1000000000 of does thank the sub or. the cut out of the

un so as i said it's not a big surprise for most of us here. that we have now been apps more like evidence by then heating the buy that they need is it leaked actually. and reported by bloomberg and at that time they were willing to use all sorts of actions in order to force got the tucson data including method action and fact i was surprised to hear at the time that a meal of kuwait that it and middle of kuwait during the famous. conference with president drum in september of 2017 he said that we managed to actually took that event that military action against against got out of so when the news came after that that the book at the country's many they not out of a mist was like actually to put more pressure on the economy i mean it was in 3 d. a big big big big surprise for anybody here. now the indian government says it's

ready for more talks with striking famines protestors of blockaded highways into new delhi now for weeks and they're demanding the repeal of new agricultural pricing rules that they say will hurt their livelihoods and benefit large corporations. or china's leaders say their country has eradicated extreme poverty over the past 5 years the communist party has spent billions of dollars and dispatched thousands of officials to help rural households but critics question the sustainability of that program and say millions are at risk of falling back into hardship katrina you reports from real change county in the province. lawton county in china's south is known for its mountains its rivers and its poverty. it was among those one struggling to get by living in this dilapidated house she struggled to raise enough money to send her 2 children to school. but she says thanks to the chinese government her life has been transformed she's been

given a new harmon town and left this old farmhouse behind this is how. to live in crumbling buildings built about 50 years ago without any water or electricity this area is also deep in the mountains and far away for many essential services including hospitals during the past 5 years millions of people in rural china have been relocated to apartment buildings in upgraded townships here almost everything is new including the roads and schools. in 2018. that he doesn't want to go back to the old house again it was dark and dirty and had many rats they say our new home is clean and bright beijing has spent more than 20000000000 dollars this year to meet president xi didn't pings deadline of eradicating extreme poverty nationwide by the end of 2020 communist party officials

say they've succeeded so. people used to have a few options. it was hard to find jobs. good health care and education. now they basically live in the same conditions as people in the quality of life has a really improved but not everyone has benefited some have been able to adjust to life in the towns others say they've been forced to relocate analysts have also questioned the sustainability of the program saying no use risk falling back into poverty poverty line. many people is trans it's temporary it's short term spells and those kinds of people have very very different kinds of needs others for whom are already it's a chronic strains a policy implement the policy response to those different states needs to be different. his life is better but not easier when you told that

a nearby factory involves working 12 hours a day with only 2 days off to live but the sacrifice she says is worth it she's making the most of the new opportunities in the heart her children might have special ones katrina new al-jazeera lawton county china. that is out of there these are the headlines the u.s. congress has passed a 900000000000 dollars stimulus package to help american businesses and families struggling touring this pandemic and comes as the number of recorded coronavirus cases that exceeds $18000000.00 caster has more from washington this is the 2nd biggest economic stimulus ever passed by the u.s. government $900000000000.00 just for the coded element and this is much needed money in the form of.