The Latest: Italy joins other EU nations to ban UK flights

“So, we want to be optimistic, but we want to be cautious as well.”Murthy, who also served as surgeon general in the Obama administration, said Biden’s promise of 100 million vaccines during his first 100 days in office is realistic and that the Biden team has seen more cooperation from Trump administration officials.———WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s surgeon general is defending Trump’s not getting a coronavirus vaccine, saying there are medical reasons for it.U.S. Surgeon General and Vice Admiral Jerome Adams, speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, noted that Trump both contracted COVID-19 in October and was treated with monoclonal antibodies.“And that is actually one scenario where we tell people maybe you should hold off on getting the vaccine, talk to your health provider to find out the right time,” Adams said.Asked about Trump doing a public-service announcement for the vaccine to encourage his supporters to get it, Adams noted that both he and Vice President Mike Pence got vaccinated.Adams, who is Black, said he understands that mistrust of the medical community and the vaccine among Blacks “comes from a real place,” the mistreatment of communities of color.———JERUSALEM —— Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the country is banning flights from Britain, Denmark or South Africa due to fears about the new strain of coronavirus.“Those are the countries where the mutation is found,” he said.He also said Sunday that anyone returning from those countries would have to go into mandatory 14-day quarantine in state-run hotels.Netanyahu spoke a day after he was vaccinated against the coronavirus – the first Israeli to do so in what he said was an attempt to encourage the public to follow suit. Eurostar said they’re awaiting further details from relevant governments on how travel restrictions will be enforced.European countries including the Netherlands, Austria and Italy said Sunday they would halt flights from the U.K., hours after Britain’s government imposed tough new coronavirus restrictions on large areas of southern England to curb what officials described as a fast-moving new strain of the virus.———MILAN — Both the number of COVID deaths and new positives were significantly lower on Sunday, a day when typically many fewer tests are carried out.Deaths rose by 352, down by several hundred from recent days, and bringing Italy’s known coronavirus dead to 68,799, the highest in Europe.Another 15,104 people tested positive, down by over 1,000 from a day earlier as the number of tests dropped by nearly a quarter. On Saturday, the department reported 548 cases, Thailand’s biggest daily spike.———PRAGUE — The Czech Republic is imposing restrictions on travels from Britain following a discovery of a new, allegedly highly contagious strain of coronavirus in southern England.The Czech Health Ministry says that given the risk linked to the new variant that was confirmed in Britain all people arriving in the country who spent at least 24 hours on British territory in last two weeks have to isolate.The ministry says they have to stay isolated for 10 days unless they are tested negative by a PCR test five to seven days into their self-isolation.It says it measure whose goal is to increase public safety becomes effective on Sunday.Belgium and the Netherlands started banning flights from the U.K. in reaction to tougher measures imposed in London and surrounding areas on Saturday by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Germany, The Czech Republic’s neighbor, is considering doing the same.———ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s minister for planning who also heads the national body for control of Coronavirus tested positive and went in isolation at home as authorities reported another 80 deaths and 3297 cases of COVID-19 during the last 24 hours Sunday.Asad Umar on Saturday announced his isolation because of the virus.