Current Affairs in Short: 21 December 2020

US President-Elect Joe Biden, wife Jill Biden to receive Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

•US President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, soon-to-be First Lady Jill Biden will be receiving the first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on December 21, 2020. 
•Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff, will also receive their vaccines in the following week.
•Biden and Harris will be getting the vaccine on different days on the recommendation of medical experts, so that both do not experience the side-effects such as headache or fever on the same day. 

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu receives Covid-19 vaccine 

•Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on December 19, 2020 became the first Israeli to receive the coronavirus vaccine, kick-starting the COVID-19 vaccination drive in the country.
•Netanyahu hailed the beginning of the vaccination process as a great day for Israel. He was speaking from the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, where he received the vaccine. 
•Netanyahu pledged that millions of doses will arrive by the end of the month and urged all Israelis to be vaccinated.

India may begin COVID-19 vaccination in January 

•India may begin COVID-19 vaccination drive in January 2020, informed Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan. The Minister assured that the government’s first priority has been safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
•The minister said that the vaccines including those who have applied for emergency use authorisation are being analysed by the regulator. He assured that the government will not comprise on the safety of the vaccine. 
•The minister had said that the country's scientists and health experts have worked on the development of an indigenous vaccine and in the upcoming 6-7 months India will have the capacity to vaccinate about 30 crore people.

Petroleum Minister dedicates West Bengal's first oil and gas reserve to nation

•Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan dedicated West Bengal's first oil and gas reserve - the Bengal Basin - to the nation on December 20, 2020. 
•The Bengal Basin is situated at Ashoknagar in North 24 Parganas district. It is the eighth oil and gas producing basin of India, which has been dedicated to the nation.
•The discovery would play an important role in India's energy security. It will be line with PM Narendra Modi’s clarion call for reducing oil import dependence. 

All passengers arriving from UK to undergo RT-PCR tests

•All passengers arriving in India from the United Kingdom on December 21st and 22nd will have to undergo RT-PCR Tests. This announcement was made just few minutes after the Civil Aviation Ministry suspended all flights to and from the UK from 11:59 pm on December 22, 2020 till December 31, 2020. 
•Further, the airlines operating to and from India will not be allowed to board any passenger from the UK to India.
The airlines will also have to ensure no passenger from the UK is boarding the flight for any destination in India either directly or indirectly. 
•This is to reduce the risk of spread of the new mutated variant of coronavirus, which was detected recently in the United Kingdom.