Page 102 - Coronavirus

After a year, omicron still driving Covid-19 surges and worries in US

A year after omicron began its assault on humanity, the ever-morphing coronavirus mutant drove COVID-19 case counts higher in many places just as Americans gathered for Thanksgiving. It was a prelude to a wave that experts expect to soon wash over the US. Phoenix-area emergency physician Dr Nicholas Vasquez said his hospital admitted a growing number of chronically ill people and nursing home residents with severe COVID-19 this month. It's been quite a while since we needed to have COVID wards," he said. It's making a clear comeback. Nationally, new COVID cases averaged around 39,300 a day as of Tuesday far lower than last winter but a vast undercount because of reduced testing and reporting. About 28,000 people with COVID were hospitalized daily and about 340 died. Cases and deaths were up from two weeks earlier. Yet a fifth of the US population hasn't been vaccinated, most Americans haven't gotten the latest boosters and many have stopped wearing masks. Meanwhile, the virus kee

Panic-buying witnessed in Beijing as city adds new Covid quarantine centres

Residents of China's capital were emptying supermarket shelves and overwhelming delivery apps Friday as the city government ordered accelerated construction of COVID-19 quarantine centres and field hospitals. Uncertainty and scattered, unconfirmed reports of a lockdown on at least some Beijing districts have fuelled the demand for food and other supplies, something not seen in the city for months. Daily cases of COVID-19 across the country are hitting records, with 32,695 reported Friday. Of those, 1,860 were in Beijing, the majority of them asymptomatic. Improvised quarantine centres and field hospitals hastily thrown up in gymnasiums, exhibition centres and other large, open indoor spaces have become notorious for overcrowding, poor sanitation, scarce food supplies and lights that stay on 24 hours. Most residents of the city have already been advised not to leave their compounds, some of which are being fenced in. At entrances, workers clad head to toe in white hazmat suits stop

Fewer women were employed in 2021 than in 2020 due to Covid : Oxfam report

Fewer women were employed in 2021 than in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic and governments worldwide are putting women in danger of unprecedented poverty and overwork to tame inflation and help their economies recover, a new report has claimed. The new Oxfam report -- 'The Assault of Austerity' -- stated that the road to post-pandemic recovery is being built upon the lives, sweated labour and security of women and girls, it said. The report said many governments planned cuts to public services like water which meant that women and girls around the world would continue to spend at least 200 million hours. The report said governments around the world are putting women and girls in danger of unprecedented new levels of poverty, peril, overwork and premature death as a result of near-universal "slash-and-burn" efforts to recover their economies from the pandemic and tame inflation. "Women were less employed in 2021 than in 2020 as a result of the pandemic," it said. "Women carry most of

China frees up $70 bn for banks to underpin economy hit by Covid lockdowns

The central bank hopes to spur more lending into the economy but analysts are sceptical it could achieve quick results, as new COVID outbreaks throw factories and households into lockdown

Bharat Biotech's Intranasal Covid booster gets DCGI nod for restricted use

As per the vaccine manufacturer, the nasal route has excellent potential for vaccination due to the organised immune systems of the nasal mucosa

Global shares mixed as investors eye China covid crisis, Japan inflation

Global shares were mixed Friday as worries deepened about the regional economy and Japan reported higher-than-expected inflation. France's CAC 40 was little changed, inching down less than 0.1 per cent to 6,704.00. Germany's DAX slipped 0.1 per cent to 14,524.48. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.1 per cent to 7,473.46. The future for the S&P 500 gained 0.2 per cent while that for the Dow industrials was up 0.1 per cent. Investors have their eyes on China's lockdowns and restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus infections, as the direction China takes will have great impact on the rest of Asia. China has been expanding pandemic lockdowns, including in a city where factory workers making Apple's iPhone clashed with police this week, as its number of COVID-19 cases hits a daily record. Across China, the number of new cases reported Thursday was 31,444, the highest since the virus was first detected in late 2019. Reopening policies have pivoted in China, which will be a gradual ...

European Union's medicines regulator warns of Covid spike in winter

"This virus is maintaining a fast pace in its evolution and new subvariants of Omicron such as BQ.1.1 and its offsprings are on the rise and replacing Omicron BA.5"

Australia reports an uptick in Covid cases as it nears peak of current wave

According to the Department data, there were an average of 11,953 new cases recorded daily in the week to Friday, reports Xinhua news agency

Korea thought it was ready for Covid, now it's eyeing the next threat

South Korea had one of the world's lowest Covid fatality rates, with the third-fewest deaths per 100,000 people out of the 38 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

US yields sink amid dovish Fed signals; HK stocks slip on Covid concerns

The 10-year Treasury yield dipped to 3.659%, the lowest since Oct. 5 in Tokyo trading, after Thursday's US Thanksgiving holiday; the two-year yield slipped to a one-week bottom at 4.44%

Delayed reopening may hit China's GDP growth rate by 1 point: Oxford report

If China pushes back its economic reopening to the first half of 2024, an anticipated recovery in private consumption will be delayed, says the report

Poland to receive European Union post-Covid recovery fund in 1.5 yrs: PM

Poland will receive support from the European Union (EU) post-pandemic recovery fund within a year and a half, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said

Data story: India records 347 new Covid cases; active tally at 5,516

With 3 new deaths, its Covid-19 death toll reached 530,604

China's daily Covid-19 cases hit record high at 32,695; curbs tightened

China on Friday reported another record high of daily Covid-19 infections, as cities across the country enforce measures and curbs to control outbreaks

Covid surge in Beijing triggers panic buying, lockdown-like restrictions

The case increase, which has escalated from under 100 infections a day a fortnight ago, is leading to stepped-up controls in Beijing, a city of 22 million

Top Headlines: Air travel recovery stalls, India's iPhone exports & more

The post-Covid recovery in air travel in India has stalled, putting a question mark over the stretched finances of airlines

China's single-day Covid tally hits record high with 31,444 new cases

That number broke China's previous record set on April 13, when local cases hit 29,317

Foxconn apologises for pay dispute at China factory in Zhengzhou

The company that assembles Apple Inc.'s iPhones apologised on Thursday for what it said was a technical error that led to protests by employees over payment of wages offered to attract them to a factory that is under anti-virus restrictions. Protests erupted on Tuesday in the central city of Zhengzhou after employees complained Foxconn Technology Group required they do extra work to receive the higher pay promised by recruiters. Foxconn is trying to rebuild its workforce after thousands of employees walked out last month over complaints about unsafe conditions. Videos on social media showed police in white protective suits kicking and clubbing protesting workers. Foxconn, the biggest contract assembler of smartphones and other electronics for Apple and other global brands, blamed the dispute on a technical error in the process of adding new employees. It promised they would receive the wages they were promised. "We apologise for an input error in the computer system and guarantee

China expands lockdown as Covid cases hit record high, mass testing ordered

China is expanding lockdowns, including in a cental city where factory workers clashed this week with police, as its number of COVID-19 cases hit a daily record. People in eight districts of Zhengzhou with a total of 6.6 million residents were told to stay home for five days beginning on Thursday, except to buy food or get medical treatment. Daily mass testing was ordered in what the city government called a war of annihilation against the virus. During clashes on Tuesday and Wednesday, Zhengzhou police beat workers protesting over a pay dispute at the biggest factory for Apple's iPhone. Across China, the number of new cases reported in the past 24 hours was 31,444, the National Health Commission said Thursday. That is the highest daily figure since the coronavirus was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. The daily average of reported cases is steadily increasing. This week, authorities reported China's first COVID-19 deaths in six months, bringing the

Vaccinated people now make majority of Covid deaths in US: Report

"In September 2021, vaccinated people made up just 23 per cent of coronavirus fatalities. In January and February this year, it was up to 42 per cent," the report mentioned