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 […]
Healthcare
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, […]
TOKYO: Japan reported 155 coronavirus deaths today, a daily record, Kyodo news agency said. It also recorded more than 100,000 new infections, a level it last hit on Saturday, Kyodo added.
TOKYO: Japan serious Covid-19 cases crossed 1,000 for the first time in four months, data showed on Friday, as the Omicron variant fuelled record infections and burdened the medical system. Seriously ill patients climbed by 131 to 1,042 cases from the day before, the health ministry said, the highest since […]
BEIJING: Daily Covid-19 infections among athletes and team officials at the Beijing Winter Olympics jumped to 19 yesterday from two a day earlier, as Games organisers warned of more cases in coming days. Including the athletes and officials, 36 Games-related personnel were found to be infected – 29 when they […]
ZURICH : Austria will begin easing Covid-19 related restrictions next week, Chancellor Karl Nehammer told a news conference today, allowing shops and restaurants to remain open longer and easing restriction on the unvaccinated. The moves come as the Omicron variant leads to reduced hospitalisations despite high infection numbers. From February […]
BERLIN: Germany reported another record number of daily new Covid-19 infections on Thursday, crossing the 200,000 threshold for the first time, as the country debates whether to impose compulsory vaccinations. The Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases reported 203,136 positive tests in the last 24 hours, 69,600 cases more […]
BEIJING: Beijing has limited the movement of people in more parts of the Chinese capital, even as it reported fewer Covid-19 cases on Thursday, in a bid to lower virus risk less than 10 days before its hosting of the Winter Olympics Games. Beijing’s Fengtai district said late on Wednesday […]
NUKU’ALOFA (Tonga): A coronavirus-hit Australian warship docked in Tonga today, delivering desperately needed aid to the volcano-and-tsunami-struck nation under strict “no-contact” protocols. Tongan Health Minister Saia Piukala said the crew of the HMAS Adelaide would follow drastic health protocols to ensure the remote Pacific kingdom remains one of the few […]