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NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga (AFP) – The Omicron variant coronavirus entered Tonga for the first time in the wake of last month’s volcanic eruption, officials confirmed Thursday, as the number of Covid-19 cases in the kingdom almost doubled to 64. Health Minister Saia Piukala said 31 new cases had been detected in the previous 24 hours, a record for the island nation which was virus-free until last month’s blast. Piukala said samples sent to Australia confirmed the […]
NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga (AFP) – Volcano-devastated Tonga will close its borders Wednesday after Covid-19 was detected in the previously virus-free Pacific kingdom as it struggles to recover from last month’s deadly disaster, officials said. Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni said two men tested positive this week in the capital Nuku’alofa and were in isolation. He said the men had been working in the city’s port, where humanitarian aid has been pouring in from around the globe since the […]
NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga (AFP) – A Covid-19 outbreak on an Australian warship threatened to disrupt Tonga eruption aid efforts Tuesday, as survivors of the deadly volcanic blast described how they fled with only the clothes on their backs. The January 15 eruption generated huge tsunami waves and blanketed the Pacific kingdom in toxic ash when it obliterated an uninhabited island with explosive forces more powerful than a nuclear bomb. Australia has led international relief efforts, rushing […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) – Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi urged his US counterpart Thursday to consider restricting American troop movement in the country after a surge in Covid cases on bases and surrounding communities. The request to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken comes as virus cases surge in Okinawa, which hosts most of the US forces in Japan and is now seeing a rise in community infections. The region’s governor has blamed the rise […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) – More than one million people in a city in central China were being confined to their homes on Tuesday after three asymptomatic coronavirus cases were recorded in the country’s latest mass lockdown. Beijing has pursued a “zero Covid” approach with tight border restrictions and targeted lockdowns since the virus first emerged. But the strategy has come under pressure with a series of recent local outbreaks and with just a month to […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to hospital on Monday for more medical checks, a government spokesman said, a week after a first visit that fuelled growing speculation about his health. “I’ve been told today he will receive additional testing after a check-up” last week, government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters at a regular briefing. “I see him every day and I don’t see any change in him,” Suga said, in […]
