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Covid live news: democracies on wanes, says report; NZ sees record cases amid protests

Link [2022-02-10 11:53:15]

Democratic standards fell again in 2021, due partly to Covid pressures; New Zealand has 306 new cases in the community

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The Paris police authority said it has decided to ban the so-called motorists’ “freedom convoy” from holding protests in the French capital, due to begin tomorrow and last four days, Reuters reports.

Protesters had set out from southern France yesterday with plans to converge on Paris and Brussels to demand an end to Covid-19 restrictions, inspired by demonstrators who have blocked a Canadian border crossing.

Health minister Saia Piukala told reporters that 31 more people had tested positive for the virus, nearly doubling Tonga’s active cases for the second day in a row to a total of 64, the online Matangi Tonga news portal and other media reported.

While the number may seem small, the nation of 105,000 had managed to escape thus far without any infections aside from a single case brought in from a missionary returning to Tonga from Africa last October, which was successfully isolated.

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