ah ah ah a new world wide high of cove at 19 cases in a single week as the army cron variance spreads rapidly. ah, i'm sammy's a band. this is al jazeera alive from dar hall. so coming up in denisia agrees to accept thousands of ra hanger, migrants stranded at sea, a pro democracy, hong kong news website shuts down after its editor is arrested. and the legendary american football coach and broadcaster,

john madden dies. we look at his legacy now, some breaking news coming in france is just broken. another national and european records are the number of daily covey 19 cases. the health minister says 2 people have tested positive every 2nd. jonah hall is live for us in our european broadcast center. jonah, this must be setting off the alarm bells, not just in france, but i, i guess, right across the continent. i france's no outlier in this is on the con, continues it sweep across your records a tumbling all the time. this is just the latest one, brand new records set by france, 200000 new infections reported. and that, i mean, you know, the u. k. came up with a 129000. yes. everybody thought that was bad. so this is

a pretty i watery number. no doubt about that, livia, around the french health minister answering questions in parliament. he mentioned that figure it hasn't yet been made public in fact. and he said that france was battling to epidemic civil tediously. as far as co is cove, its concern concern both delta and on the cross. as far as the french are concerned, delta has not been overwritten by on the card by any means. and he's still out there delivering more severe if we believe the data coming from south africa and elsewhere, more severe forms of disease than all macro. and he said the health service situation was worrying still because of highest hospitalization. numbers from the delta variant, the macro and buried, he said, hadn't yet made an impact, but that is sure to follow. so yes, the situation in france particularly worrying, but this is a situation that is increasingly mirrored across europe. records being set in

germany in greece, in portugal, in italy, in the u. k as well as i said, the netherlands in switzerland confirming that on the colonies now the dominant variant there germany says it will be in just a few days time, finland and sweden becoming the latest countries to add to restrictions, introducing travel restrictions there. thanks so much john hall there the w h o is warning the alma com very and still poses a very high risk. kind of virus case is searched by 11 percent worldwide over the past week. the us reported a rec, hold hi, of more than 440000 new infections. on monday, the centers for disease control says both delta and alma kron behind the surge. my can joins us now from all this from washington, d. c and migrate 3rd fronting, talk of change for travel regulations will,

can you tell us indeed, yes. well, president biden has raised the possibility that a vaccine mandate will be introduced and domestic traveled and cropped. although he says that he is going to be advised by his health advisors in terms of whether to institute such a mandate. certainly that would be politically a very damaging move, perhaps, however, health experts insisting that the massive spread the virus, particularly driven by on the chrome of area and needs really hard measures in terms of containing it. so that is something that president biden told reporters within the past 24. something that he is considering. he is on vacation at the, at present be returning to the white house in the next few days, but constantly being updated on the ravages being caused by particularly the barrier within the united states. as you heard the close to half

a 1000000 new cases being recorded, just like around the rest of the world. infection rates reaching a record high. and mike, why are then, are they talking about reducing isolation times? while all these cases are surging and rising? are they giving any more of an explanation? well, yes, there has been lots of pressure on the administration to reduce quarantine time this because of the vast amount of people that are being taken out of work. because of particularly the cranberry and flights of being delayed flights, canceled businesses have been losing employees because people have been taking time off. also, of course, one must remember that a large number of employees within the united states do not get paid time off. so they may still be going to work while suffering from the virus. so there are

various reasons that the cdc has looked to. now it has announced that the quarantine time will be cut to 5 days rather than 10, saying that on one level that is following the signs. because it has established at this particular point, that the highest period of infection is within the purse 5 days. but certainly as well, there is an economic content to this. this is what the director of the cdc at to say. many people are a symptomatic or only mildly symptomatic, especially those who have been vaccinated or boosted. and so they may very well not be able to or willing to comply with 10 days worth of isolation. so this was really a way to tell people, make sure you isolate in those 1st 5 days when you're maximally infectious. and then of course, where in math for those last 5 days to make sure that you don't spread anything that might be left over to others. well,

you hear the cdc director insisting that mosque wearing is absolutely essential as a virus. does the infection rates continue to mount in it states like who would districts like washington dc where i am mosque wearing is now mandate re, again indoors. but in many other states that in the united states, there is no mandate on the wearing of masks, particularly in republican controlled states where what mosque wearing is regarded as a political no, no. so this is an issue that is driving the infraction rates, people refusing to wear marks in many states, no mosque mandate in many states. so these are issues that health experts in a way despairing about, along with the fact that the vaccination rates in many states is still very low. some 35 percent of americans are not vaccinated. and this is something as well that is driving this massive increase in infection rates. i think so much mike, hannah or the indonesian government has agreed to give shelter to more than 100

rang refugees were stranded at sea. mostly women and children were left to drift off the coast of a province while attempting to reach malaysia and any his government says the refugees were facing emergency conditions. hundreds of the most of the minority who fled men mar, have reached in denisia over the years. after a perilous journey, often last month, jessica washington has more from jakarta. these people will be towed to shore and they will be allowed to disembark in indonesia. what we have heard from local sources on the ground is that the process of towing the vessel to the coastline could take around 3 to 4 hours. the vessel as it stands is around 80 nautical mile 80 kilometer, sorry, from the coast of b. it in answer prov out a province. and so it could take around 3 to 4 hours and that's without factoring

in some of the difficult weather conditions. we understand that right now, there are heavy winds and heavy waves as well, which could complicate the effort to bring this vessel to shore. but what we can say with certainty is that they will be allowed to disembarked in our province after so many days of uncertainty. we heard a short while ago from a representative of the government explaining the process behind the governments thinking, well what are you, alicia? or the non asian government today has decided in the name of humanity to accommodate growing a refugee shop, currently floating on a boat in the ocean near our check seattle. this decision was made after considering doing emergency conditions experienced by refugees on the ship. it's not altogether a surprising outcome in the past. indonesia has in fact, accepted ringo refugees that have arrived in waters near archie. but it is worth noting that in tenicia is not a signatory to the un convention on refugees. and so as

a result is not really seen as a destination for permanent re settlement. these refugees will now join the hundreds of other refugees from many other countries on the long wait to be re settled into a 3rd country lily. and finally, as chair of the rank, a working group of the asia pacific refugee writes network, she says, unlike other countries in the region, indonesia has a national legal framework to protect refugees. it's quite complex in the region when it comes to finding humane response to rank refugees because of the lack of legal frameworks, number one. and number 2, the concern that actually taking in a rank about could just could use a basic, a way that could create a pull factor for other refugees to come. and one of the good things about indonesia, though, is it's actually one of the only countries in the region that does have a domestic legal framework to at least allow for disembarkation. which is the

presidential regulation one to 5 of 2016. and that actually does have provisions for disembarkation of refugees who are particularly those who are in distress at c, as well as coordination of government agencies and and g o z and you and agencies of coast to respond in an emergency response to support refugees. the problem though, is that there are lots of different ways of interpreting this regulation, and this usually happens whenever there's a rank about the comes to indonesia, into indonesian waters and is in distress. there's a debate that takes place about what the best response is. media freedom in hong kong has been dealt another blow as police radio, one of the last remaining pro democracy websites stand. news says it's shutting down officers. assets were frozen, and senior staff arrested their accused of publishing articles, inciting, hatred against the authorities for its climate reports. hundreds of hong kong place

rated the stand news office in the early hours of wednesday morning, using a warrant under the much criticized national security law to collect boxes of what were described as journalistic materials. on how 6 people linked to the independent media outlets were arrested under separate law on sedition from the british colonial era. by wednesday afternoon stand, news announced it was closing after 7 years. we are not talking to reporter, we are not talking the good of the media. we just targeted national security law. the all frances among those arrested was well known singer and activist, denise ho and former politician margaret on both former stand use board members. so i know want to police turned up at the home of stan, use deputy, a simon editor, ronson chan. office is telling him to stop recording as they arrived. chan who was chairman of the hong kong journalist association, stood by the now disbanded news organisation. officers amana johan ohio stern uses,

been doing professional reporting. there's no doubt about it. the whole world sees, it doesn't matter what charges have been made. i nothing can change. that fact, the hong kong journalist association said it was deeply concerned by the arrests and urge the government to respect the media freedoms that a meant to be safeguarded under the cities. many constitution, the basic law, hong kong chief secretary, john lee shrugged off the criticism, saying journalism cannot be used as a tool against national security. they are the evil anemones that damage pres, rita chinese government in beijing says the security law in hong kong is necessary for stability following political unrest and mass pro democracy protests doesn't have been arrested, prosecuted and jailed since china imposed a legislation last year. 6 months ago, the last remaining pro democracy paper, apple daily was forced to shut down after its assets were frozen and its founder

jimmy lie arrested. the closure of the apple daily left stan uses one of the last pro democracy outlets in hong kong. now there are questions over whether smaller online outlets can survive the crackdown on media freedoms, brick planet, al jazeera, hong kong, cilla had an al, jazeera palestinian president visits. israel will hear from those who think that's a bad idea. tributes to anti apartheid hero desmond tutu. we'll have the latest from cape town. ah. hello there. let's start in south asia and we've had some unseasonably wet weather skirt across central parts of india. you can see the storm clouds there affecting places like muddy pradesh, but it is scooting across to the north east. places like

a some likely to see that rain in the days to come. it's also gonna pick up in the south, got showers blowing in from the bay of bengal across those se, in areas. and we are going to see thunderstorms once again in sri lanka from thursday. but for that west coast, it does remain largely fine and dry. a lot of wounds coming through here. it is cooler. however, up in the north west, we've got a cold air mass blowing down from afghanistan across pakistan. and into that northwest corner. it's gonna bring temperatures down slightly in the days to come, and that was we moved to east asia. we've also got a cold air mass affecting northern areas of china. we're going to see the temperature come down in beijing as well as the korean peninsula. it's going to get bitterly cold in places like so. we're dipping down to minus 4 by the time we get into friday. but for the real wintry weather we have to look once again to japan. we had heavy snow up into the north, and west and air is what it's going to scoot down to the south. we'll see the temperature sit net at nearly 10 degrees in tokyo with clear skies through the

weekend. ah, ah, mother nature's gift of cold full landscapes. but strong infrastructure governance arising were investments are waiting to flourish with even supplied by tradition noon where beautiful possibilities are offered. ah ah,

here watching al jazeera time to recap on headlines. now, the indonesian government has agreed to give shelter to more than a 100 wrangler refugees stranded at sea. the group of mostly women and children was stranded off the coast officer attempting to reach malaysia. police in hong kong of right is the office of stan, news and independent online media outlet. 7 current and former staff members were arrested for publishing articles, inciting, hatred against the authorities. frances, just broken another national and european rock hold to the number of de the covey. 9 team cases. health minister says 2 people have tested positive every 2nd. india is also seeing a sharp rise in code with 900 cases. fueled by the army. kron variant new restrictions on non essential activities have been imposed on the capital. and some are to get booster shots early in the new year. have them

a tall has more from new delhi. these factory workers are racing against time trying to finish that day's work before the coffee starts, so they don't lose their wages as the virus threatened to wipe out their livelihood . once again, i'm scared of the cough you, we eat as the on. i'm a person and migrated from a village to make a living. i'm scared of virus and the night go few as covered $900.00 cases. why? sharply, 7 states have imposed night curfews and strict testing goals for travelers. new delhi, which has the highest number of omi court cases in the country, has been put on yellow alert, cool, gyms and cinema have shot with new restrictions on restaurants and public transport . the capital is preparing cove in 1900, was and ramping up oxygen supply. as a 3rd wave of infections is threatened, despite that markets had been crowded. the chief minister has employed every one to

fall. let's take you now to the world health organization where we have a direct general speaking in a press conference. in dublin, joe tells the emergency system immediately swung into action. stablish in an incident management support team to run the emergency response and requesting more information about the reports of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown origin in china. although we had little information, we had enough experience and expertise to know that this look serious. early on, we worked out that beating this new health threat, a new quote on virus potentially kind of spreading quickly around the globe would require 3 things. signs towards understand the pathogen

and find solutions to getting it. and so the dot easy to share and deliver those tools wisely and equitably signs solutions solely dot eaten. and there were major successes. this includes the rapid development of a comprehensive package of technical guidance on how to ready countries to detect, treat, communicate, and prevent the spread within 2 weeks of the 1st report of the class of pneumonia of unknown coast. the sharing of the genome which triggered the development of diagnostics within the 1st 3 weeks of 2020 a multi organizational supply chain system was quickly set up, which included totally died. 2 flights that collectively delivered personal protective equipment for health workers and medical and oxygen supplies for patient

w jo. quickly convent scientists and researchers in january 2020, and regularly therefore, to develop a research roadmap for corporate 19 that accelerated the science around the bias and the creation of new health tools. this included global solidarity trials on new vaccines and treatments to speed up research and development processes and doubling joy and partners created the copay 19 tools. actually, later in april 2020, to accelerate the access to tests, treatments, and vaccines. we deployed emergency response teams to support governments in the times of greatest need working with clinicians and practitioners around the

world. w jo develop the comprehensive living guidance for the clinical management of corporate 19 a common courtesy. cars trade was found to be effective in cutting the risk of death in those with their business. in september 2020, the development of new vaccines proved so effective at cutting serious business and that the present the scientific muster class. the increased level of coordination between w jo and member states is exemplified by more than 3500 national regulatory authorizations. in 144 members states following the approval of luck since through the w 2 emergence use listing. however, while signs delivered politics too often times and other

solidarity wilder. well 1800000 because the deserts in 2020 there were 3500000 in 2021. and we know the actual number is much higher. this is not to mention to the millions of people dealing with the long term consequences from the virus. populism not on nationalism and hold being golf health tools, including mosques, therapeutics diagnostics, and vaccines by a small number of countries undermined equity and created the ideal conditions for the emergence of new variance, misinformation, and misinformation often spread by a small number of people. have been a constant distraction undermining signs and trust in life saving health stools

in the huge waves of cases currently seen in europe. and in many countries around the world, misinformation which has driven bucks and hesitancy, is anal translating to the unvaccinated disproportionately dying. it's vitally important to that the established scientific advisory group for the origin is of novel pato genius can develop a pathway for the scientific research search of pathogens, including for the origins of situs cove 2. and we hope to see progress quickly in the new year. but i still remain optimistic that this can be the year. we can not only end the acute stage of the pond on me, but we also chart applies to stronger health security building on the successes and failures. we must not only share vaccines faster and more equitably

was callbacks and i but we my support countries in manufacturing and rolling them out to everyone and access to new treatments must also follow this virus will continue to evolve and threaten our health system if we dont improve the collective response. right now, delta and o me crone are tween threats, but i'm driving up cases to record numbers, which again, is leading to spikes in must be dallas ations. and as i'm highly concerned, that omicron being more transmissible circulating at the same time as delta is leading to a soon army of cases. this is an we'll continue to put immense pressure on

exhausted health workers and health systems on the brink of collapse. and again, distributing lives and livelihoods. the pressure on health systems is not only because of new club, 19 patients requiring hospitalization. but also, and large number of health workers are getting seek themselves the on boxing, aided on many times more at risk of dying from either bottomed on we cronies. moving so quickly, in addition to vaccination publican, social measures are also needed to stem the wave of infection. protect health workers and systems. open up societies and keep children in school. i will come innovative solutions to reaching but not have been communities that have not received vaccination yet because the primary doses out of the most

important for people to develop immunity. bottom up micro planning, we strong community engagement and more by and vaccination teams, which have been highly effective in reading, most of the world of polio are another way to get vaccines to the how to, to reach w. joe will support countries access to covey. the army con variant is leading to a synonymy of cases. the warning there from the on the director general of the world health organization giving a press briefing 19 in geneva. let's bring in joan, how you 70 comes in live for us from london. and i guess in europe, those words and those warnings definitely not lost on the continent facing reco numbers of new infections. absolutely. records

being broken in many countries in europe, france recording 200000 cases in a single day. on wednesday, britain, a 129000 cases on tuesday, sky high infection rates here, most of them it appears now on chrome on the chrome is the dominant very in many countries. not all just yet. although the french health minister has just told them that they are battling both on the chrome and delta, and indeed dr. ted ross. they're the w h o making the point as well, that there is now a twin threat in this pandemic. both delta and all micron causing this surge. dr. tedra, they're giving what may well be the last w h o briefing of the year and using the opportunity to look back at the panoramic look back of the w. i chose roll in the pandemic and reflect a little on, not just where we've come from, but where we need to go. we talked about science leading to solutions,

leading to solidarity so that those solutions were shared around the world. and that being the absolute bedrock of the world's effort in tackling the pandemic thus far leading to successes like the vaccines. but of course, as he keeps reminding us, there is the result of vaccine inequality now where the rich world has vaccinated 2 thirds or more of their populations and now well into booster programs lost the developing world. particularly low income countries have barely begun africa. just 7 percent of the population of the whole of africa has received a vaccine so far. so he's warding, there is, look, we've got to deal with inequality. we've got to make treatments, widely available. we've got to make vaccines widely available, but rounding up by saying, i still remain optimistic that this can be the year as we end these, the active phase of the current of ours pandemic. all right, thanks so much jona haul from london that to work with us on

a camp. oh, that's take you through some of the headlines here now. jazeera now be director general of the world health organization says he's highly concerned the i'm a crime delta variance of cove at 19 leading to a santa army of cases. he made the statement just now what's likely to be the last w h o press conference and for 2021. me. while france has just broken another national and european record for the number of daily cove at 19 cases, the health minister says 2 people have tested positive every 2nd. jonah, how has more? frances no outlier in this is on the chrome continues. it's sweep across your records or tumbling all the time. this is just the latest one. i.