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BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s economically important Zhejiang province wrestled on Tuesday with a Covid outbreak that has left half a million people quarantined and some districts under business shutdown. Zhejiang, a major industrial and export hub on the country’s east coast, reported 44 of China’s 51 domestically transmitted coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing the total since late last week to nearly 200. Although Chinese case counts are miniscule compared to other major economies, […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Authorities in California said Monday they were reinstating mask mandates in all indoor public spaces to try to curb the resurgence of Covid-19 in recent weeks. The mask mandate, which will come into force Wednesday, applies to all individuals, whether vaccinated or not. Los Angeles, San Francisco and other counties in California reintroduced the mask-wearing rule locally several months ago. But other counties, such as Orange and San Diego, […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China has reported its first case of the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant, state media said Monday. Authorities in the northern city of Tianjin confirmed the case in an individual who entered the country from an undisclosed overseas location, according to the Tianjin Daily newspaper. The asymptomatic patient tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday before further tests “confirmed the detection of the… Omicron variant”, the report said, adding that the person was […]
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — Danish health authorities said Monday a third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine would be offered sooner to everyone over 40 to curb the spread of the Omicron variant. “Due to the new and more contagious Omicron variant the Danish Health Authority has decided to push the third jab for everyone aged 40 and above, so they get the vaccine four and half months after the second jab,” the health authority said […]
BRASILIA, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil on Monday began requiring a Covid-19 vaccination certificate for foreign travelers arriving in the country, a move initially blocked by President Jair Bolsonaro’s government. A Supreme Court justice ruled Saturday that proof of vaccination would be mandatory to enter Brazil, in an effort to slow the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant. The national health regulator Anvisa said it had “notified this Monday the border posts, especially at airports, about […]
by James PHEBY LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain on Monday confirmed what is thought to be the first confirmed death after infection with the Omicron variant, as the country launched an ambitious Covid booster shot programme to stop the virus spiralling out of control. On a visit to a vaccination centre in west London, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Omicron accounted for about 40 percent of the cases in the British capital, and hospital […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The UK has raised its Covid Alert Level due to the “rapid increase” in cases of the Omicron variant, the country’s four chief medical officers said on Sunday. The advisers said the public health risk assessment would move from level three to four — the second-highest level — which indicates “transmission is high and pressure on healthcare services is widespread and substantial or rising”. © Agence France-Presse
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday and is receiving treatment for mild symptoms, the presidency said in a statement. Ramaphosa, who is fully vaccinated, began feeling unwell after leaving a state memorial service for former deputy president F W de Klerk in Cape Town earlier in the day but was in good spirits and being monitored by doctors, it said. He would remain in self-isolation […]
402 new COVID cases added on Sunday, Dec. 12, but new COVID deaths reach 184 (Eagle News) – The total active COVID-19 cases in the Philippines went down further to just 11,255 even as 402 new virus cases were added on Sunday, December 12. This was because there were more recoveries reported at 509 compared to new cases. Total recoveries reached 2,775,057 or 97.8 percent of the 2,836,592 total COVID-19 cases recorded since the […]
Positivity rate down to just 1.1 percent as COVID deaths breach 50K (Eagle News) – The Philippines’ total active COVID-19 cases went further down to just 11,373 as only 356 new cases were reported on Saturday, December 11, with new recoveries reaching 878 or more than double the new cases. According to the Department of Health (DOH), the country’s positivity rate has also gone down to just 1.1 percent, a new record low. The […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan on Friday said it was investigating whether a mouse bite may have been responsible for a worker at a high-security laboratory testing positive for the coronavirus, the island’s first local infection in weeks. Health officials are scrambling to work out how a female employee at Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s top research institute, contracted the virus last month. Thanks to largely closed borders and strict quarantines, Taiwan has managed to stay […]
by Claire DOYEN JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — Access to the laboratory is strictly limited, for the risk of accidental infection is just too high. Here, technicians at whirring machines analyze 18,000 PCR tests a day, looking for signatures of coronavirus. Their work is so precise that just a handful of samples helped the team to discover Omicron — the new virus variant that has triggered global fears of yet another surge in the […]
