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BEIJING, China (AFP) — China locked down an industrial city of nine million people overnight and reported more than 4,000 virus cases on Tuesday, as the nation’s “zero-Covid” strategy is confronted by an Omicron wave. Health authorities reported 4,770 new infections across the country, the bulk in the northeastern province of Jilin, as the city of Shenyang in neighboring Liaoning province was ordered to lockdown late Monday. China has moved fast in recent weeks to […]
(Eagle News) — Around 1.8 million people were vaccinated during Part 4 of the country’s last national vaccination campaign, Bayanihan, Bakunahan” that ended on March 18. The phase 4 of the nationwide vaccination campaign became a one-week event with the extension of the “Bayanihan, Bakunanahan.” The event which started on March 10 was supposed to end on March 12, but was extended until Friday, March 18. Dr. Kezia Rosario, co-lead ng National Vaccination Operations […]
by Su Xinqi HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong is set to resume international flights from the United States, Britain and seven other countries, the government said Monday as it announced a loosening of some of the world’s toughest Covid-19 restrictions. The finance hub has struggled to maintain China’s zero-Covid policy during an Omicron-fuelled outbreak. After the highly transmissible variant fuelled a fresh wave of cases in January, authorities quickly put in place flight […]
APIA, Samoa (AFP) — The Pacific island nation of Samoa sealed its borders Friday as it prepares to enter a nationwide lockdown after recording its first case of Covid-19 in the community. The government issued an emergency order suspending all international travel by air and sea in the wake of the positive case, which was detected Thursday on the main island of Upolu. The nation of about 200,000 has been one of the few places […]
WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – The United States has given more than 500 million coronavirus vaccines to other countries since the jabs were developed, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday in a statement obtained by AFP. “The United States has now shared over 500 million safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine doses, free of cost, to more than 110 countries and economies around the world — for the sole purpose of saving lives,” Blinken said. Washington aims […]
WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – Pfizer and BioNTech announced Tuesday they had formally asked the United States drug regulator for emergency approval of a second booster shot of their Covid vaccine for people aged 65 and older. The companies said in a press statement that their request is based off two Israeli studies that show “an additional mRNA booster increases immunogenicity and lowers rates of confirmed infections and severe illness.” Most countries’ case-levels have […]
HANOI, Vietnam (AFP) — Vietnam announced an end to quarantine for international travellers on Wednesday, as it seeks to restart its tourism industry after two years of strict Covid-19 restrictions. The only virus requirement for visitors will be a negative Covid test, the country’s ministry of health said in a statement. The communist state’s tourism sector was worth up to $32 billion a year before the pandemic, but it ground to a standstill during […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea reported more than 400,000 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, a new record, as the country continues to ease restrictions despite the Omicron-fuelled wave of infections. Health authorities said 400,741 cases were recorded, the country’s highest daily figure since the pandemic began two years ago. The latest spike in cases is the “last biggest challenge” facing the country, Sohn Young-rae, a senior health official, told a press briefing. The […]
SHANGHAI, China (AFP) – A Shanghai pedestrian swarmed by hazmat-clad health officials, police tape wrapped around entire blocks, and panic buying at a Shenzhen shopping centre: China is returning to virus controls many hoped it had long left behind. The country is facing its worst Covid-19 outbreak since the first wave of the pandemic emerged in Wuhan in late 2019. While the daily caseload is comparatively small, around 5,300 were recorded on Tuesday, the Omicron […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Nearly 30 million people were under lockdown across China on Tuesday, as surging virus cases returned mass tests and hazmat suited health officials to city streets on a scale not seen since the start of the pandemic. China reported 5,280 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, more than double the previous day’s tally as the highly-transmissible Omicron variant spreads across a country that has tethered tightly to a ‘zero-Covid’ strategy. That approach, […]
by Laurie CHEN BEIJING, China (AFP) — Seventeen million people in the Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen began their first full day under lockdown Monday, as a key factory making iPhones closed and restrictions spread across Shanghai and other major cities in an effort to extinguish the biggest-ever threat to the nation’s zero-tolerance Covid strategy. The southern city of Shenzhen took the measures on Sunday as authorities battled an Omicron flare-up in factories and neighborhoods […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Barack Obama has tested positive for a mild case of Covid-19, the former US president said on his Twitter account Sunday. “I’ve had a scratchy throat for a couple days, but am feeling fine otherwise,” Obama tweeted, adding that his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, has so far tested negative. “Michelle and I are grateful to be vaccinated and boosted,” he wrote. Obama, plus fellow former presidents Jimmy Carter, […]
