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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, […]
China reported 3,393 new Covid-19 cases Sunday, the National Health Commission said, more than double the previous day, as the country faces its gravest virus outbreak in two years. A nationwide surge in cases has seen authorities close schools in Shanghai and lock down several northeastern cities, as almost 19 provinces battle local outbreaks of the Omicron and Delta variants. The city of Jilin has been partially locked down, with hundreds of neighbourhoods sealed up, […]
Airlines and airports called Friday for an end to pandemic measures for European domestic flights as most countries in the region begin to relax requirements to present proof of vaccination and wear masks. “Covid-19, and specifically the Omicron variant, is now pervasive throughout all of Europe, and population immunity is at such levels that the risk of hospitalisation or death has dramatically reduced, especially for vaccinated people,” said joint statement from ACI Europe and IATA. […]
SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — A northeastern Chinese city of nine million people was ordered to lock down on Friday, as authorities scramble to halt a fresh Covid-19 outbreak that has pushed nationwide case counts to their highest in two years. Changchun, the capital of Jilin province and an important industrial base, has ordered residents to work from home. One person will be allowed out every two days to buy “daily necessities”, and said it would […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia said Friday it is buying extra vaccines to fight the potentially deadly, mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis virus, which has spread down the flood-hit east coast for the first time. Previously confined to the tropical north, Japanese encephalitis has traveled as far south as South Australia since late February — infecting 17 people and leading to two confirmed deaths, according to state health authorities. More extreme rainfall events have brought greater numbers […]
by Holmes CHAN Agence France-Presse HONG KONG, China (AFP) – Nearly three-quarters of Hong Kong’s refugees are struggling to put food on the table, according to a survey released Friday, as fears over the city’s plans to control its worst-ever coronavirus outbreak spark bouts of panic-buying. Mixed messages from authorities about a planned lockdown and mass testing of all 7.4 million city residents have led to a frenzied stripping of supermarket shelves, sending food prices […]
(Eagle News) – The Department of Health is considering donating some of the Covid-19 vaccines that the Philippine government had received as it studied a decline in vaccination numbers. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said that one option they are considering is donating vaccine doses that are nearing their expiration dates. “Yung hindi magagamit at malapit nang magexpire, ang desisyon dyan ay i-donate sa mga bansang mababa ang vaccine coverage,” he said in a […]
4th national vaccination campaign set from March 10 to 12 to increase vaccination numbers (Eagle News) – Philippine officials observed that less Filipinos are now going to vaccination centers as they noted that country seemed to have reached its saturation point in terms of its vaccination. Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., said that this February, there were only 8.7 million people who had been vaccinated. Compare this to the numbers in November when […]
