yes, my ali re explore is one of the global pandemic speakers side effects loneliness. every one who lives alone has been forced to be socially isolated for the 1st time ever highlighting its effect on physical and mental health and discovering unique ways of coping. controlling, being alone together, episode to of all hail the locked down on al jazeera o. the global surge of coven cases continues governments around the world trying to strike a balance between restrictions and managing the spread of omicron. ah, i'm money inside this is out. is there a life from dough or so coming up, thousands more. people flee across the board into thailand is fighting rages on

between mammals, military and ethnic groups. stranded in indonesian woo says over a 100 were hang refugees face an uncertain future while the ship gets for pad and from trash to treasure. how one company in chile is doing it's paul to help recycle mountains of plastic. ah, the spread of omicron has united many countries in a fight against rising covered 19 cases, but they are divided on how they react, despite facing an average of nearly a quarter of a 1000000 new cases. in the past week, the united states has hall, the isolation period for some people with no symptoms from 10 to just 5 days. the u . k. seen an average of more than a 100000 new cases in the past 7 days. yet the government that house promised no

new restrictions in england before the new year. but a slew of measures will return in france next week in a bid to bring down case numbers which rose on tuesday to a record, 880000 in just 24 hours. and in australia, which is $9000.00 new cases on average, travel in and out of some states is once again subject to strict controls with the picture across europe. his journal, how the christmas and new year holiday period was always likely to speed the advance of the micron variant. and so it is proofing in the u. k. a record 129000 new infections were reported on tuesday. but the government's decision not to disrupt new year's celebrations, and instead to emphasize vaccine booster shots reflects positive signs that hospital admissions and death numbers aren't rising with the same intensity. we're

looking at the data and we wouldn't hesitate to act if we saw that the data told us that we needed to introduce further measures. but so far that's not what the data is telling us. the cautious optimism that on the chrome may be less of a threat than the previous delta variant isn't being embraced everywhere. countries like the netherlands, austria and denmark are under varying degrees of locked down and in spain, a wave of new infections has provoked such public concern that free covert 19th tests are running out. prompts though, is holding its nerve also promoting vaccine booster shots as the 1st line of defense. it reduce the required delay before getting a booster from 4 months to 3. we on the morphic, i think the government is doing what they can with what they know about the virus that is spreading throughout the world. it's not only here, we just hope that they won't be fit 7th or 8th, but they're doing what they must. germany is taking a hybrid approach, buying time,

the government says for boosters to work with a range of restrictions including restaurant curfews night club closures, and limits on sports and other public gatherings. it's expected that all micro will become the dominant karone of our strain in germany within days. just last, almost something has to be done to bring the infection figures down. but i also understand that we have to look ahead to the next few weeks. looking ahead is made easier by watching what's happening in the u. k. currency the on the chrome epicenter, the u. k. governments like touch booster driven gamble based on data that still evolving will either be proven right to everyone's relief or wrong. perhaps giving other countries just enough time to change. course jona whole al jazeera will many countries in latin america only now recording the 1st on the call cases. but the continent as well prepared with some of the wells leading vaccination rates was on

the ram his he is in columbia council ball guitar. just to give you an idea. if you think about it, mike has just 8 percent of the world population by, by mid 2021 had already accounted for a 3rd of all corona virus related that globally, that just gives you an idea of how difficult things have been here. how difficult has been for government to reorganize the day, often apache health services that many of the countries in south america have at least for the majority of their population at the beginning of the vaccination campaigns most come through with maybe the exception of sheila, most countries and south america had a very hard time finding vaccines to start those campaigns in earnest. but that has changed throughout 2021. in particular, in the last 6 to 8 months, we've seen the number of jobs just picking up across this region. and we can

now see the difference with south america being the most vaccinated region anywhere in the world. why has that happened? if you ask you, if you still tell you that there are a number of reasons, but they all have that. they all point to at least to one is the fact that most people here tend to trust their government, especially when it has to do with health. because in the past many countries fear of had major vaccination campaigns, for example against this is like a yellow fevers that have been extremely successful. and in general, i think people are more obedient. here there have been less anti vax groups are going against the government recommendations. so this has helped even in the case of brief exceptions like the president of brazil jazz here. both scenario, who has been a very vocal against the vaccine, against the restrictions in place. that said, governments across the region are looking very closely of what's happening in

europe and the, and the us because there is a fear of a possible search in the coming months. in particular. in the february prevents a lawrence guston is the director of the o'neill inter chief and national global health floor at georgetown university joins us now from washington. d. c. many. thanks for your time. let's start with the cdc recommendation to cut the recommended isolation time for people infected with cove it from from 10 to 5 days . do you think that's a good idea? i do, i mean, let's be clear. we're still virtually flying blind in terms of the science. i don't think c, d c has strong scientific grounds for doing that. but there are very strong, you know, social and economic grounds because throughout america, in fact, throughout the world, no airlines are using staff health care workers are

out sick, grocery store clerks, it everyone. and if, if everyone who test positive had to isolate for 10 days, or if you had 10 days quarantine, if you were in close contact with someone, it would literally shudder the economy. so i think it's wise to cut it to 5 days. and after that you should mask, i would have been more comfortable had the cdc recommended, at least a rapid test after the 5 days to make sure that that the person was negative. but america, is it a mess in terms of availability of these kinds of rapid tests? so just to be clear, does it mean that off to 5 days you are no longer infectious, even though you could still be testing positive. ok, the 19 well, you know, if you, if you continue to be testing positive or you continue to have symptoms,

well then the 5 day rule should not apply. what c c is suggesting is, is that for the vast majority of people after 5 days it's you no longer symptomatic and you're not testing positive for corona virus, that the chances are that you're going to be really safe and you're not going to transmit a virus particularly if you put a mask on i think it's the wise thing to do. most public health professionals in the united states think that on balance just for the functioning of our society and our economy, that the 5 day will make. it makes good sense. reports they seem to suggest that on the chrome is resulting in less hospitalizations, fewer patients in critical conditions, even asymptomatic cases. if everyone gets that, is that such a bad thing? when to result in mass her immunity?

well, not necessarily. we've heard that before. remember, and you know what all my crime is doing is it's not just infecting people who have not been infected before and not been vaccinated. it's, it's re infecting people have already been infected with delta. and there are breaks or infections. quite a lot of them. we think with respect to vaccinated populations, and so you know, so, so i'm cautiously optimistic, although it's not been confirmed that i'm a con might be a less severe disease. but the sheer number of cases will mean that you're going to have an uptick. and maybe a surge in hospitalizations and debts. and so right now, we're actually back to the idea that we want to make sure that we go over when,

well, more health system. and so we're trying to prevent transmissions is as much as we can. but i think it's probably true to say that over the long term, most people are going to get the arm across very, it's actually probably the most infectious agent on the planet and one of the most in the history of our, of so this is something that we're not going to be able to prevent spread over the long term, but what we absolutely must do in order to get back to a semblance of normalcy is to prevent serious disease hospitalizations and deaths. we're going to have to start thinking about the best ways to do that, and we can with vaccinations, boosters and also therapy mix. for example, antiviral medications by pfizer. professor lawrence gust in really good to have your time at director of the o'neill and the chief national global health floor at

georgetown university interview with you. thanks for having me. palestinian president mahmoud abbas has had his 1st formal meeting with an israeli official in more than a decade. he was hosted by the israeli minister of defense spending guns and says they discussed security coordination on economic issues amongst all this. harry forces has more i think there are a couple of things prompting this american pressure almost certainly to see progress or at least some indication of willingness to talk by the israelis with the palestinians at the same time as the prime minister, natalie bennett is still rejecting the idea of the u. s. reopening, it's palestinian focused consulate in jerusalem. also the security situation in the occupied west bank and inside east jerusalem as well in recent weeks has deteriorated. and so there is some imperative there for the 2 sides to talk each

side, giving a slightly different appraisal of exactly what was spoken about the israeli side. saying that it was both the civil and economic message that it had been providing in the previous such meeting in august between the 2 men in ramallah, but also focus on what it called terrorism and security issues in the occupied west bank as far as the palestinian side is concerned, they say there was discussion of a political horizon settlement to be conflicts along un resolution lines. also saying that my one of us had raised the settler violence issue and also had called for the ending we'll be reversing of the banning of 6 human rights organizations defined as terrorist organizations by been against recently some opposition to orders from hamas. a cartoon tweeted out showing what about washing

the feet of many guns and also from views ready right from the could. which is saying that the ready government is dangerously putting the palestinian issue back on the agenda. still add on al jazeera, conflicting messages out of the iran nuclear deal talk sounds to whether any progress is actually been made for to shine a light on the former soviet union's crimes. but now a human rights group is a victim of modern brushes, cracked ah, ah, look forward to brighter skies the with sponsored play cattle at ways. hello, once again, welcome to another look at the international forecast and say we have more snow with the forecast for japan as we go one through the next couple is a particular cross northern areas of japan. you can see, you know,

the north westley wind to starting to west set up in the flow here. initially we'll see some wet weather sliding in across the sea of japan, some snow flurries coming into western areas of honshu or the more wide spread there across hall kado. and then it does become a little more expansive as we go on into thursday. we'll see that could where eventually pushing over the mountains into the rest of the country. cooling off in sol, thursday temperatures around minus one celsius. much of china will be try and settle with a good deal of sunshine. meanwhile, is sunshine as showers, as usual across sir se, asia online a cloud there just a straddling the philippines, pushing into the south china sea, easing back over to ward. so southern paths of, of vietnam, southern areas of thailand and that wet weather will intensify as we go one through thursday system heavy a showers we back into the malay peninsula, could see some heavy showers, which, whether to just sliding across or india is wesley disturbance. just pushing its way

through. clear skies come back in with some fog. we'll also see showers gathering to the southeast. lou whether sponsored by katara always. i have always been fascinated by space. but the story to space raised isn't just about the men who wish their lives to travel the unknown. but the ones who held those lives in their hands. grandfather and his colleagues worked on the space suits they designing space suits, polo. aladdin was his triumph around the policy design space. see what his legacy putting man on the moon on al jazeera. ah oh

you watching out a 0 mind fall top stories list our countries across the world is struggling to deal with the on the chrome outbreak with some reporting the highest infection. right. since the pandemic began many all romping up testing and vaccination, while several including france have introduced restrictions. palestinian president mahmoud abbas has had his 1st formal meeting with an israeli official in israel in more than a decade. it was hosted by the israeli minister of defense bunny gaps the policies to the iran nuclear talk saw putting out conflicting messages about where the progress is being made. the 8th round of negotiations kicked off again on monday. the statements made a day later agreed on only one thing movement is needed soon. those efforts have been complicated by a 5 day military exercise by iran's revolutionary god, aimed at israel dawson,

jabar reports from vienna. this is the revolutionary guards message to israel. war games in iran, including foreign bliss, sit and cruise missiles. one of the targets resembles israel's demona nuclear reactor. the head of iran's armed forces staff major general mohammed bovary says 16 ballistic missiles of varying classes were fired simultaneously. darren has one of the biggest missile programs in the middle east regarding such weapons as an important deterrent and retaliatory force against the united states and other adversaries in the event of war. just days after those drills, world powers are back in vienna trying to salvage what is left of the 2015 nuclear deal. the joint comprehensive plan of action has been unraveling since the us

withdrew from it in 2018 and impose the series of new sanctions on her on record. and that prompted raining officials to reduce their compliance with the deal, which means their nuclear program has progressed. robert kelly is a former director of the international atomic energy agency. and a nuclear engineer. he says aaron's been backed into a corner. we saw him. there's a sabotage event that was of some of the facilities or the u. s. as more sanctions, they've tended to push back and do something provocative. and i think they've gone past the point of more provocations. there now on that have gone too far. not well, powers have been insisting veterans, ballistic missile program needs to be part of that deal. and notion that's continuously dismiss byron as the 8th round of talks continue here in the austrian capital. israel opposes these efforts and has long threatened military action if

diplomacy fails. and that is just one of the many reasons. time is of the essence. there is a sense of urgency in old indications that this negotiation refreshed to be finish in the relative ritual movie period of time. and then i would boot limits. but we're talking about which not about the head of around atomic energy organisation. mohammed islam you recently told a russian media outlet that iran does not intend to go beyond its current enrichment levels of 60 percent. a move all western powers have warned wood cross and red line. iran says it's nuclear program has always win for civilian use, a statement, some don't believe while it continues to stop by a highly enriched uranium officials, your safe retention to ease and for iran to limit its nuclear program. the talk fear must succeed, and failure will have far reaching consequences. door such

a very al jazeera vienna. you as x, you say anthony blinkin has condemned an attack by me on mas ministry which killed at least 35 people in kaya state on christmas eve. women children and to saw from a group save the children, were among the dead blink, and urge countries to stop selling weapons to the military to prevent more atrocities. it comes as the military, which sees power in a coup in february, continues on offensive against om groups in the southeast, thousands of people to fled into neighboring thailand. tony chang has more from the ty bought a town of may salt. the law quanch's day, we have had a few little clashes. we heard her, some bangs inside ma'am. um, but the fighting seems to have moved in from the immediate border area. that's what the time military were telling us. they seemed a lot more relaxed, very different from yesterday when we saw her fighting, really right up to the river. moy, that's the,

the border itself and villages pouring across. we even saw an attack helicopter operating along the border. a lot of villages said that that was the thing. they were really most scared about. the air strikes that had been coming in at the places they lived there. still on the ty side, there are more than 5000 people who came across in the last couple of weeks. and we spoke to a couple of them who said they still don't want to go home. the still concern, but they want to monitor what's going on across the board. so they want to make sure that everything is secure. nonetheless, it does seem to be a little bit quieter today. so i think everything in the border area seemed a little more settled in the town and me a wadi and there was border trade going across. so some semblance of normality. returning more than 100 ringo refugees are stranded in indonesian waters. authorities. an odd shape. province, se they'll help to repair the boat, but will not allow them to disembark. indonesian government is yet to comment.

jessica washington reports from to cancer in indonesian waters off the coast of the island of sumatra. these fishermen are trying to do whatever they can to help people in desperate need is vessel carrying more than a 100 were hang of refugees. was spotted near arching province on sunday. local fishermen said they felt sorry for those on board, particularly the young children and a good dog only got the la la la d o. according to our radio communication, they a week. some one died, some, a sick, including many children and the elderly, a getting weaker according char information that been at sea for $28.00 days broke up on the la, but another underwater ariano fishermen told al jazeera they had been providing food medicine and water to those on board that have not been allowed to help them get to shore local authorities in archie say they will assist the ringer and give them essential supplies but won't allow them into the country. for gallagher,

nathan garcia got unload adela. i'm left on a gun to job of the navy is to secure our border. daryl hunger are not indonesian citizens cannot bring them in, even as they are for geez. is in line with government policy. that while it was publican police say the ringo we're trying to reach malaysia. thousands of for him to have fled me and mar to neighboring bangladesh in recent years, escaping and military crackdown that the u. n says amounts to genocide, facing poverty and crowded refugee camps. many tried to reach safety in southeast asian countries. last year, a group of for hanger, refugees, was saved by fishermen and brought ashore after their boat broke down near archie. with some fisherman told al jazeera, they were afraid of repercussions if they attempted a risky this time. denisia is not a signatory to view in convention on refugees, and is seen as a transit country for refugees making dangerous journeys at soon. still,

human rights groups saying indonesia must do more as a regional power in southeast asia. the post, the bowed back or is, is a violation of international obligations of indonesia. i think international law clearly imposes obligations on states, including indonesia, to protect human rights, off refugees arriving on their shores. the indonesian government has not responded to on to 0 requests for comment. and after so many days and to see these desperate people still face an uncertain future. jessica washington out to theora jakarta, one of russia's most prominent human rights crepes has been ordered to shut down by the supreme court. memorial international has been documenting abuses committed by the former soviet union for more than 30 years. prosecutor say it's distorting history, which the group denies. and it smith reports. over the past 12 months,

this has become a familiar scene for human rights groups and activists in russia. this time, the axes calling on an organisation made famous for identifying the millions of victims of starlings perches. as the judge finished reading the order to liquidate memorial shouts of shame came from a public gallery. ah, that is killing to worse than russia is moving from the ordinary variance in system for some kind of forced more than totally theory assistance in russia, which would be kind over linkage with the soldier or you don't even partly do the story. so it's very dangerous. more recently, memorial has spoken out against the discretion of critics under president vladimir

putin one 0, outside court. as elsewhere, there's little room for that. in today's russian, prosecutors accused memorial of organizing large scale media campaigns aimed at discrediting the russian or forty's china. what happened today was very sad, although it will be untrue to say we weren't ready for it. it was one of the unfortunately predictable outcomes of the present judicial system. of course, nothing is over with us. we will appeal and the maria will live on with the people because it's the people behind it serving this great cause. first and foremost, the work will continue the move against memorial caps a year that has seen authorities jail or outlaw individuals or groups. the criticize vladimir putin. but the ban against memorial international stands out even in the current climate and would have been unthinkable. just a few years ago. bernard smith al jazeera, there are companies and chileya turning plastic into products that have the same

look and quality as would the recycling methodist. so advanced at even uses types of plastic that don't usually get reused. alas, in america and a salisia, newman reports from santiago and need to fight finally gave up her job as an executive secretary to become what she calls a transformer. making these mountains of plastic waste disappear is impossible. but at this small factory on the outskirts of santiago for fun and her partners transform it into wood, except that it only looks like it or the are. but i've also miter recyclable plastic is everywhere, and it's properties even better than those of food. for example, can you believe that this plastic wood is more resistant? it doesn't chip or bend or allow micro organisms to contamination and it won't swell because this waterproof aspect appears on no one. i believe it out. we tested for shells. we're gonna see how strong this stuff is.

not a scratch, no marks. the plastic waste is minced into minute particles and then melted avoids turned it into. these would like slabs. they're being used by n g o z for rollerball boardwalks or furniture. let's see what we've got here. this is a motor oil container fabric softener chlorine. there's lots of that more and lots of little yogurt, liquid yogurt jars, tons of detergent, shampoo, hair conditioner, the sort of things people use every single day. but the problem is there's no way to make a disappear. i want to put in for him, for what plastic doesn't disintegrate. not even in hundreds of years. i've been looking at my the only put him put the little did his plastic number 7, because it has polyethylene and aluminum. nobody recycles, does it go straight to the rubbish dumps or the ocean the river?

laura foundation produces echo wood out of waste. no one wants. they can picnic tables, desks, flower pots, while teaching children at schools all over chile, the value of recycling thought is look, muscle man approval. so this is more or less what a single person chose out a week and sylvian by children to put it in the box. what chris it in and we could have it there schools and we transform it into this which recall eco vote. collection centers are being set up everywhere, but critic say this type of circular economy has a fundamental flaw, noble and it doesn't have remote, a fundamental change in our consumption happens if we continue generating the same amount of waste without changing the productive model that generates it we're just kicking the ball forward perhaps, but there's one important advantage to the still fledgling industry made from waste

. it should help reduce the need to cut down more trees yet another environmental casualty of our times.