Template:Portal:Current events/2021 February 17

Current events of February 17, 2021 (2021-02-17) (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Kagara kidnapping
  • A school pupil is murdered and another 27 students are kidnapped in Kagara, Niger State, Nigeria. Three staff members and 12 of their relatives were also abducted. No party has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
      • Japan begins a vaccination campaign against COVID-19 starting with vaccinating 40,000 healthcare workers.
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the State of Palestine
      • Palestine recieves their first shipments of the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia with 1,000 doses arriving in the Gaza Strip.
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Uzbekistan
      • Uzbekistan approves the usage of the Sputnik V vaccine in the country for mass vaccination.
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark
      • Denmark reports the first community transmission of the 501.V2 variant.
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
      • Spain's Health Ministry introduces a ten-day quarantine mandate for all travelers arriving in from Brazil and South Africa.
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
      • The British clinical trials ethics body approves the first human challenge study for COVID-19 in the world, which will begin in the next few weeks where volunteers ages 18 to 30 will be exposed to the virus in clinical trials.
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Africa
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Somalia
      • Somalia orders all government employees in ministries and departments, with the exception of directors and senior staff, to work from home in response to an increase in COVID-19 cases nationwide.
    • COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa
      • South Africa begins a nationwide vaccination campaign using the vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson, which has not yet been authorized worldwide. Government officials and healthcare workers are the first to recieve the vaccine.