Worldwide spread of the coronavirus

Several countries across the globe banned passenger flights from the United Kingdom, alarmed by the detection of a new, fast-spreading coronavirus strain in the country that prompted authorities to lock down more than 16 million people.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will chair an emergency response meeting on Monday to discuss international travel, in particular the flow of freight in and out of Britain.

Italy has detected a patient infected with the new strain of the coronavirus also found in Britain, the health ministry said.

An advisory panel recommended U.S. frontline essential workers and people 75 and older should be next in line to get inoculated as the distribution of Moderna Inc’s vaccine, the second approved coronavirus vaccine, began across the country.

The United States is monitoring the new strain of COVID-19 emerging in the United Kingdom, multiple U.S. officials said, adding that it was unclear whether the mutated variant had made its way to America.

Australia’s most populous state reported its lowest one-day rise in new COVID-19 cases in three days, stoking cautious optimism that authorities have contained an outbreak in Sydney’s northern beachside suburbs.

Israel kicked off a coronavirus vaccination drive with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invoking the Bible and the 1969 lunar landing as he got the country’s first injection.