SYDNEY: Australia is offering a fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccines to over 65s from next month, federal health authorities announced Friday, as a new Omicron strain races through the population. The top advisory group on vaccines approved the fourth shot for vulnerable groups: those aged over 65, indigenous people over 50, people who are immunocompromised and care … Read more
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has reported 329 new Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said on Friday. According to the NCOC, the department in charge of the government’s pandemic response, the overall number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the Asian country has increased to 1,523,401. Statistics 25 Mar 22Total … Read more
LISBON – The Portuguese government announced on Wednesday the extension of the COVID-19 pandemic “alert situation” until April 18, according to a statement from the Council of Ministers. This is the lowest level of alert for disaster situations, according to the Portuguese Basic Law for Civil Protection, and was scheduled to renew on March 30. … Read more
HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s top scientists urged the government on Tuesday to transition from China’s zero-Covid strategy before the next outbreak unless the financial hub wants to be a “closed port forever”. Hong Kong used strict travel curbs to keep the virus at bay for two years, leaving the city increasingly isolated, and a deadly … Read more
ULAN BATOR – Mongolia’s COVID-19 tally rose to 468,700 after 46 new local infections were recorded over the past 24 hours, the country’s health ministry said on Tuesday. Meanwhile, no new deaths were reported in the past day, and the country’s COVID-19 death toll remains at 2,108, the ministry said. So far, 66.8 percent of … Read more
NEW DELHI – India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 43,010,971 on Tuesday with 1,581 new cases registered in the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry’s latest data. Another 33 deaths due to the pandemic were recorded since Monday morning, taking the death toll to 516,543. Currently there are 23,913 active COVID-19 … Read more
WELLINGTON – New Zealand reported 20,907 new community cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, said the Ministry of Health in a statement. Among the new community infections, 4,291 were in the largest city Auckland. The rest of the cases were identified across the nation, including 3,488 in Canterbury, according to the ministry. In addition, there were … Read more
SEOUL – South Korea recorded 353,980 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Monday compared to 24 hours ago, bringing the total number of infections to 9,936,540, the health authorities said Tuesday. The daily caseload was sharply up from 209,165 in the previous day, marking the first rebound in five days, according to the Korea Disease … Read more
BEIJING – The Chinese mainland on Monday reported 2,281 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, the National Health Commission’s Tuesday report showed. Of the new local infections, 1,902 were reported in Jilin, 110 in Fujian, 67 in Liaoning, 43 in Heilongjiang, 31 in Shanghai, 25 each in Shandong and Guangdong, 14 in Jiangxi and 11 in Hebei. … Read more
BEIJING: China locked down an industrial city of nine million people overnight and reported more than 4,000 virus cases on Tuesday, as the nation’s “zero-Covid” strategy is confronted by an Omicron wave. Health authorities reported 4,770 new infections across the country, the bulk in the northeastern province of Jilin, as the city of Shenyang in neighbouring … Read more
BEIJING: China on Sunday imposed stay-at-home orders on millions more people in the country’s northeast as it battles its biggest Covid-19 outbreak in two years. The country has largely kept the virus at bay since it brought to heel its initial outbreak in 2020 using targeted lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions. But the Omicron strain has … Read more
HONG KONG: Hong Kong is set to resume international flights from the United States, Britain and seven other countries, the government said Monday as it announced a loosening of some of the world’s toughest Covid-19 restrictions. The finance hub has struggled to maintain China’s zero-Covid policy during an Omicron-fuelled outbreak. After the highly transmissible variant fuelled … Read more
ULAN BATOR – Mongolia recorded 77 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, the lowest since March 7, 2021, when 67 daily cases were reported, the country’s health ministry said on Friday. With the new infections, the national tally increased to 468,495, the ministry said in a statement. Meanwhile, the country’s COVID-19 death toll … Read more
VIENTIANE – Laos registered 1,508 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, exceeding the 1,000 mark for the first time since Jan. 19, bringing the national tally to 150,639. Latsamy Vongkhamsao, deputy director general of the Department of Communicable Disease Control under the Lao Ministry of Health, told a press conference in the Lao … Read more
SEOUL – South Korea reported 407,017 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Thursday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 8,657,609, the health authorities said Friday. The daily caseload was sharply down from a record high of 621,328 in the previous day, but it marked the second-highest number, according to … Read more
KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia reported 27,004 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Thursday, bringing the national total to 3,927,437, according to the health ministry. There are 719 new imported cases, with 26,285 being local transmissions, data released on the ministry’s website showed. A further 86 deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 34,185. … Read more
NEW DELHI – India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 43,004,005 on Friday as 2,528 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry’s latest data. Besides, 149 deaths due to the pandemic since Thursday morning took the total death toll to 516,281. There are still 29,181 active COVID-19 … Read more
BEIJING – The Chinese mainland on Thursday reported 2,388 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, up from 1,226 on Wednesday, the National Health Commission said Friday. Of the new local infections, 1,834 were reported in the province of Jilin, 113 in Fujian, 74 in Guangdong, and 61 in Tianjin and Shandong respectively. The rest of the cases … Read more
HANOI – Vietnam has switched its target in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic from controlling infections to controlling serious cases and deaths only, while heading to remove the disease from its “especially dangerous” list. The approach has been specified in a government resolution issued Thursday about COVID-19 prevention and control work in 2022 and 2023. … Read more
WELLINGTON – New Zealand reported 14,128 new community cases of COVID-19 on Friday, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. The ministry also reported five deaths with COVID-19. The total number of publicly reported COVID-19-related deaths is 156 in the country, it said. Among the infections reported on Friday, 3,498 cases were in the … Read more
WASHINGTON: A fourth dose of existing mRNA Covid-19 vaccines may have only “marginal benefits” for younger, healthy adults, according to a new Israeli study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The research assessed 270 health care workers at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv who received a second booster shot of … Read more
WASHINGTON: The United States has given more than 500 million coronavirus vaccines to other countries since the jabs were developed, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday in a statement obtained by AFP. “The United States has now shared over 500 million safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine doses, free of cost, to more than 110 … Read more
HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s leader said Thursday she was mulling easing some of the city’s coronavirus restrictions due to waning public tolerance, but could not provide a roadmap out of the current Omicron-fuelled crisis. Carrie Lam’s administration has been pummelled by all sides over its unclear public messaging and handling of Hong Kong’s fifth wave, which … Read more
BRASILIA – Brazil has confirmed two cases of infection with the new Deltacron variant of the coronavirus, which combines genetic characteristics of the Delta and Omicron variants, Brazilian Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said Tuesday. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been monitoring the spread of Deltacron since early March, after it was first identified in … Read more
SANTIAGO – COVID-19 cases in Chile dropped 37 percent in 14 days, the Health Ministry said Tuesday, reporting 8,716 new infections and 34 deaths in 24 hours, raising the total caseload to 3,323,324 and the pandemic death toll to 44,039. In its daily pandemic report, the ministry said there were currently 62,281 active cases in … Read more
BEIJING: Nearly 30 million people were under lockdown across China on Tuesday, as surging virus cases prompted the return of 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, … Read more
SEOUL – South Korea reported 362,338 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Monday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 7,228,550, the health authorities said Tuesday. The daily caseload was sharply up from 309,784 in the previous day, hovering above 300,000 for four straight days, according to the Korea Disease … Read more
SEOUL – South Korea reported a record high of 383,665 daily COVID-19 cases as of midnight Friday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 6,206,277, the health authorities said Saturday. The daily caseload was sharply up from 282,983 in the previous day, surpassing the previous high of 342,433 tallied on … Read more
