BEIJING: Fears of a hard Covid lockdown sparked panic buying in Beijing today, as long queues for compulsory mass testing formed in a large central district of the Chinese capital. China is already trying to contain a wave of infections in its largest city Shanghai, which has been almost entirely […]
Healthcare
SHANGHAI: The tensions of lockdown have exposed divisions among Shanghai residents, pitting young against old, locals against outsiders, and above all, Covid-negative against Covid-positive people. Shanghai’s 25 million people, most of whom live in apartment blocks, have forged new communal bonds during the city’s coronavirus outbreak, through barter and group […]
SHANGHAI: The Chinese city of Shanghai warned today that anyone who violates strict Covid-19 lockdown rules will be dealt with strictly, while also rallying people to defend their city as its tally of new cases rebounded to more than 25,000. The city police department spelled out the restrictions that most […]
BAYBAY (Philippines): The death toll from landslides and floods in the Philippines rose to 58 today, official tallies showed, as rescuers dug up more bodies with their bare hands in villages crushed by rain-induced avalanches of mud and earth. Most of the deaths from tropical storm Megi ― the strongest […]
WELLINGTON: Australians started arriving in New Zealand today after it opened its borders to travellers from its neighbouring nation for the first time since mid-2021. New Zealand had some of the toughest curbs in the world during the pandemic and its borders have been closed for most of the time […]
BEIJING: China reported 1,335 confirmed coronavirus cases for March 25, the country’s national health authority said today, compared with 1,366 a day earlier. Of the new cases, 1,280 were locally transmitted, the National Health Commission said, versus 1,301 a day earlier. The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does […]
SHANGHAI: Mainland China reported its first COVID-19 deaths in more than a year on Saturday (Mar 19), said a post on the National Health Commission’s website. The two deaths happened in China’s northeastern region of Jilin that borders North Korea and Russia, where case numbers make up over two-thirds of […]
TOKYO: Japan is set to loosen border controls to allow more people to enter the country, especially students, while extending infection control measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus in several areas, including Tokyo. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will raise the number of people who can enter Japan to […]
HONG KONG: Hong Kong residents braced for a city-wide lockdown, emptying supermarkets and pharmacies today, even as leader Carrie Lam called for calm and appealed for the public not to worry over a compulsory mass Covid-19 testing plan. Mass testing for the city’s 7.4 million residents is set to take […]
CAPE TOWN: The head of the World Health Organization said Friday the acute phase of the pandemic could end this year, if around 70 per cent of the world gets vaccinated. “Our expectation is that the acute phase of this pandemic will end this year, of course with one condition, […]