Tag: health

Xi praises China’s virus handling as Shanghai prepares 130,000 Covid beds

SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — China’s President Xi Jinping praised the country’s “tested” zero-Covid strategy on Friday, even as Shanghai authorities prepared nearly 130,000 beds for Covid-19 patients amid surging cases and mounting public anger. Until March, China had kept cases low with localized lockdowns, mass testing, and strict restrictions on international travel. But the country has reported thousands of daily cases in recent weeks, with economic hub and outbreak epicenter Shanghai placed under lockdown over […]

Continue Reading →

Shanghai lockdown snarls world’s busiest port and China supply chains

  by Beiyi Seow © Agence France-Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — Shanghai’s grinding coronavirus lockdown is slowly clogging China’s supply chains, as delays hit the world’s busiest container port where staff are tangled in a morass of Covid controls. Beijing has refused to tack away from its strict zero-Covid strategy that has protected its public health system through the pandemic but at a mounting economic cost. China’s financial hub Shanghai — home to multinational firms […]

Continue Reading →

Taiwan to move away from zero-Covid strategy: minister

  TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan will move away from a zero-Covid policy and instead focus on tackling the most severe infections in an effort to live with the coronavirus, its health minister said Thursday. The decision leaves China — and its financial hub Hong Kong — as the only major economy still sticking to the strategy even as Omicron breaks through those defences. Taiwan has largely closed its borders and implemented strict quarantine rules […]

Continue Reading →

Bolsonaro vetoes Covid aid for Brazil culture sector

BRASÍLIA, Brazil | AFP Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have provided aid funds to artists and cultural programs hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, triggering an outcry from opposition lawmakers, who vowed to override him. Named for a widely beloved comedian and actor who died of Covid-19 last year, the Paulo Gustavo Bill aimed to provide 3.86 billion reais ($820 million) in federal funds to local and state governments to […]

Continue Reading →

DOH urges public to get booster shots as protection against new Covid-19 variant, Omicron XE

Over 12.2 million Filipinos have received booster shots as of April 5   (Eagle News) – The Department of Health (DOH) urged the public to get booster shots against Covid-19 amid the threat of another Covid-19 variant, Omicron XE, that has been detected in Thailand. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that getting boosted against Covid would greatly help prevent from contracting the disease, even the new variant Omicrom XE. “Bagama’t naririnig po natin ang […]

Continue Reading →

Shanghai defends policy of separating Covid-positive kids from parents

SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Shanghai health officials on Monday defended a policy of separating babies and young children from their parents if they test positive for Covid-19, as frustration at the city’s tough virus controls builds. Around 25 million people in Shanghai, China’s largest city and financial centre, remain locked down as authorities try to snuff out the country’s most severe virus outbreak since the end of the first pandemic wave in early 2020. Under […]

Continue Reading →

Shanghai residents frustrated by food shortages, prolonged lockdowns

  SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Shanghai residents voiced growing frustration on Friday at confusion over a week of snap Covid lockdowns, taking to social media to complain about food shortages and bewildering stay-at-home orders. After initially vowing they would avoid a city-wide lockdown, officials changed tack this week and announced a phased shutdown which divided China’s financial centre in two so authorities can test its 25 million residents. A four-day lockdown of the Pudong area […]

Continue Reading →

Empty shelves and anxiety as Shanghai Covid-19 cases surge

SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Shanghai recorded a steep climb in Covid-19 cases Tuesday as spreading anxiety in the Chinese city of about 25 million prompted panic-buying at supermarkets. Millions endured a second day of lockdown after authorities effectively split the country’s biggest urban area in two, with residents of the city’s eastern half confined to their homes for four days and subjected to mandatory testing.  China reported 6,886 domestic Covid cases nationwide on Tuesday, with more […]

Continue Reading →

Shanghai warns against ‘panic’ as Covid cases mount

by Dan Martin SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Shanghai authorities on Wednesday called for calm as worried citizens swamped online grocery platforms to stock up on food over fears of impending lockdowns in a city struggling to halt a Covid spike. China is experiencing its worst Covid-19 outbreak since the start of the pandemic more than two years ago, with Shanghai posting record-high case counts as the highly transmissible Omicron variant frustrates authorities. China’s biggest city […]

Continue Reading →

Australia to give fourth Covid-19 jab to over 65s

  SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia is offering a fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccines to over 65s from next month, federal health authorities announced Friday, as a new Omicron strain races through the population. The top advisory group on vaccines approved the fourth shot for vulnerable groups: those aged over 65, indigenous people over 50, people who are immunocompromised and care home residents. In the past six weeks, other countries, including France, Germany and Sweden […]

Continue Reading →

Chemists cook up way to remove microplastics using okra

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – Extracts of okra and other slimy plants commonly used in cooking can help remove dangerous microplastics from wastewater, scientists said Tuesday. The new research was presented at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society, and offers an alternative to the synthetic chemicals currently used in treatment plants that can themselves pose risks to health. “In order to go ahead and remove microplastic or any other type of materials, […]

Continue Reading →

Several European countries lifted Covid measures too ‘brutally’: WHO

Several European countries, including Germany, France, Italy and Britain, lifted their Covid curbs too “brutally” and are now seeing a rise in cases likely due to the more transmissible BA2 variant, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. WHO Europe director Hans Kluge told a press conference in Moldova that he was “optimistic but vigilant” about the pandemic’s development in Europe. Covid is on the rise in 18 out of 53 countries in the WHO European […]

Continue Reading →
1 … 28 29 30 31 32 … 370