Pope addresses fewer than 200 people in St Peter’s; South Korea reports more than 1,200 daily cases; China joins ban on UK arrivals
- Staff at UK coronavirus testing lab hit by outbreak
- Johnson refuses to rule out national lockdown as UK death toll rises by 574
- Trump claims to be ‘working tirelessly’ but leaves Covid relief in disarray
The coronavirus pandemic cast a pall over Christmas celebrations worldwide, with South Korea reporting record daily cases, the pope holding a reduced Christmas eve mass, and China halting UK flight arrivals indefinitely.
Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said China had decided to follow the example of dozens of countries that introduced bans following the emergence of a new, apparently more transmissible, variant of the virus. There are currently eight weekly flights between mainland China and Britain, including two by British Airways.
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