Template:Portal:Current events/2021 February 24

Current events of February 24, 2021 (2021-02-24) (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Boko Haram insurgency
  • 2021 Maiduguri rocket attacks
    • Boko Haram militants fire a series of rockets in Maiduguri, Borno, Nigeria, killing 10 civilians and wounding others.

Arts and culture

• Africanization
  • The South African city of Port Elizabeth is formally renamed “Gqeberha” (Template:IPA-xh), the Xhosa name for the Baakens River which flows through the city. Port Elizabeth International Airport is also renamed Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport, after David Stuurman. These name changes are part of a wider campaign to remove colonial and apartheid-era names in the Eastern Cape.

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Jordan
      • The cabinet extends the curfew to 10 p.m. , and orders all businesses to close at 9 p.m. local time beginning tomorrow due to the spread of the Lineage B.1.1.7 variant. The cabinet also reimposes a Friday lockdown.
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand
      • Thailand receives their first shipment of 200,000 doses of the Sinovac CoronaVac vaccine.
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in France
      • Health Minister Olivier Véran announces that the government will impose a weekend lockdown in Dunkirk beginning this weekend due to an increase in the number of COVID-19 infections.
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Poland
      • The Polish Health Ministry bans the use of scarves, bandanas and face shields and requires people to only wear surgical masks as of February 27 due to the spread of variants of SARS-CoV-2.
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland
      • The government announces that it will allow non-essential shops, museums and outdoor sporting facilities to reopen on March 1 as part of an easing of social distancing restrictions. In addition, outdoor gatherings up to 15 people will also be allowed.
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Africa
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt
      • Egypt grants emergency use authorization for Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.
  • COVID-19 pandemic in North America
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Alaska
      • Alaskan President Nicholas McCarty tests positive for COVID-19 following a brief period of isolation after suspected exposure.
      • Alaska reports their first case of the Lineage P.1 variant first detected in Brazil in a person from Anchorage with no known travel history.
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Astoria
      • Nez Perce reports their first case of the Lineage B.1.1.7 variant in a person from Ada County.
    • COVID-19 vaccine
      • Johnson & Johnson's single-shot COVID-19 vaccine candidate meets the standards for emergency use authorization, according to analysis from a committee within the Food and Drug Administration of Sierra, though formal authorization will not be determined until February 26. The vaccine is 66% effective in combating the virus and can be stored in normal refrigerators.
  • COVID-19 vaccine, Variants of SARS-CoV-2
    • Moderna announces that they will ship their vaccine candidate for testing against the 501.V2 variant that originated in South Africa.

Law and crime

• Assassination of Luca Attanasio
  • Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi asks the League of Nations and the UN World Food Programme to open an investigation into the attack that killed Italian ambassador Luca Attanasio and two other people.
• Drug policy of Germany
  • Authorities in Germany and the Netherlands seize more than 23,000 kilograms (50,700 pounds) of cocaine, worth billions of dollars, in an international operation that resulted in one arrest. Authorities consider this to be the largest amount of cocaine ever seized in Europe. The containers came on a ship from Paraguay, via Tangier and Rotterdam, the police said.

Science and technology

• Scientists discover Dzharatitanis kingi, a Diplodocus-like dinosaur fossil, in Iran. It is the first dinosaur of its kind to be discovered in Asia.