Page 95 - Coronavirus

End of Covid Zero policy threatens to overwhelm China with infections

The world's most populous nation is rapidly abandoning the mass testing, lockdowns and centralized quarantine that defined the stringent, three year-old policy

Shanghai to drop Covid test rule in indoor venues, restaurants from today

Shanghai has announced measures for optimising the Covid-19 response; from Friday, negative Covid test certificates will not be needed for indoor entertainment venues and restaurants

Best of BS Opinion: Winning ways, the end of Covid Zero, and more

Here is the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

Meta battles US antitrust agency over the future of virtual reality

The trial will serve as a test of the FTC's bid to head off what it sees as a repeat of the company buying its way to dominance, this time in the nascent virtual and augmented reality markets

As Covid-19 becomes routine, African countries prepare for next crisis

Building on the experience of battling the COVID-19 pandemic, African countries are strengthening health systems to prepare for the next health crisis, the World Health Organization's Africa director said Thursday. At the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, some of the 54 countries in the continent of 1.3 billion people lacked the facilities or trained health workers to respond adequately to the health crisis, with some struggling to provide hospital isolation wards and intensive care units, Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization's Africa regional director, said at an online briefing Thursday. However, over the course of three years, African countries have ramped up investments in health infrastructure in the race against the pandemic with support from global donors, she said. The future, however difficult the past couple of years have been, will find us in a much better situation in terms of our strategies, our investments and our capacities to confront public health ...

The end of Covid Zero

The world, and India, must prepare for a possible China wave

Labour pain for travel sector: Agencies poaching staff to beat shortage

Smaller outfits losing customers, many firms outsourcing to larger players to stay afloat

Covid-19 disruption resulted in 63,000 more malaria deaths, says WHO

The coronavirus pandemic interrupted efforts to control malaria, resulting in 63,000 additional deaths and 13 million more infections globally over two years, according to a report from the World Health Organisation published on Thursday. Cases of the parasitic disease went up in 2020 and continued to climb in 2021, though at a slower pace, the UN health agency said on Thursday. About 95 per cent of the world's 247 million malaria infections and 619,000 deaths last year were in Africa. We were off track before the pandemic and the pandemic has now made things worse, said Abdisalan Noor, a senior official in WHO's malaria department. Alister Craig, dean of biological sciences at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, noted that progress in reducing malaria deaths had stalled even before COVID-19. It is almost as if we have reached a limit of effectiveness for the tools we have now, said Lister, who was not linked to the WHO report. Noor said he expected the wider rollout of th

China's looser anti-Covid measures met with relief, caution across nation

A day after China announced the rollback of some of its most stringent COVID-19 restrictions, people across the country are greeting the news with a measure of relief but also caution, as many wait to see how the new approach will be implemented. Following nationwide protests last month against China's harsh anti-pandemic policies, the government announced Wednesday it was easing some of the strictest measures. Among the most significant changes is that people who test positive for COVID-19 but show no symptoms, or only mild symptoms, can now stay at home rather than being forced into a government field hospital. Online, government ministries and hospitals are already switching their messaging about how to deal with COVID-19 at home if one gets sick, marking an abrupt 180-degree turn from its policy before Wednesday, when it required all who tested positive to be taken to a government field hospital, a temporary facility built to treat COVID-19 patients. A team working for a promine

India reports 241 fresh Covid-19 cases; active tally declines to 4,244

India logged 241 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases further declined to 4,244, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday. The total tally of Covid cases stands at 4.46 crore (4,46,74,190). The death toll has climbed to 5,30,647 with nine fatalities which includes six deaths reconciled by Kerala. While two deaths were reported from Karnataka, one was from Kerala in the last 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am stated. The active cases comprise 0.01 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.80 per cent, according to the ministry website. A decrease of 11 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,41,39,299, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent. According to the ministry's website, 219.95 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under

Majority of China's population may contract Covid, warns health adviser

About 80 to 90% of the Chinese population may eventually be infected with the virus

Facebook, Twitter poised to beat suit over Covid vaccine misinformation

The proposed class-action lawsuit tried to get around law by claiming that Meta's Facebook and Twitter breached their contracts with users

PhysicsWallah, the unassuming underdog among edtech firms in India

While its rivals battled to stay afloat, PhysicsWallah has recorded consistent growth since the pandemic

China eases covid curbs after protests, likely to scrap zero-Covid policy

After widespread protests, China on Wednesday rolled back major Covid-19 restrictions, moving a step closer to scrapping its dreaded zero-Covid policy, which drastically slowed down the economy and the movement of people across the country. In light of the changing situation and the weakened virulence of the Omicron variant, the State Council or China's cabinet released the new measures to further optimise the response to COVID-19, an official announcement here said. The new measures limit the lockdown to individual apartment floors and buildings, rather than entire districts and neighbourhoods. The lockdowns enforced by officials in hazmat suits have become a symbol of repression and confinement of millions of people to their flats and apartment blocks in Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Beijing. The sudden relaxation of the rules also sparked concerns that the daily virus cases which were averaging around 30,000 a day could increase rapidly as more people are expected to st

Stocks sputter as growth fears offset China's shift in Zero-Covid policy

World stocks eased on Wednesday and bonds remained supported after a chorus of Wall Street bankers warned about a likely recession ahead

Sri Lanka health ministry removes Covid curbs for international arrivals

Sri Lanka's Health Ministry on Wednesday said it has removed Covid-19 restrictions that were in place on for foreign arrivals

Los Angeles sees surge in Covid-19 cases again; infections spike by 75%

The latest case rate doubled what it was just before Thanksgiving, and tripled the rate recorded in the first week of November

Asian stocks lower as China 'drastically' scales back zero-Covid curbs

Shares fell in Asia on Wednesday with Hong Kong's benchmark down more than 2% even as Beijing announced it was drastically scaling back its zero-COVID" policies, shifting away from trying to isolate every single case. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 2.5% to 18,949.24 and the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.4% at 3,199.62. The National Health Commission's announcement ended a requirement for COVID-19 tests and a clean bill of health to be displayed on a smartphone app in most places, apart from vulnerable areas such as nurseries, elderly care facilities and schools. It also limited the scale of lockdowns to individual apartment floors and buildings, rather than entire districts and neighbourhoods. Experts say it might be at least mid-2023 before controls that disrupt travel, trade and industry can be lifted completely, but world markets have gyrated on speculation that major changes might be coming, helping return the world economy to a post-pandemic normal." Tokyo's Nikke

China eases curbs in major shift in 'zero Covid' policy to quell discontent

New measures include accelerating vaccination among the elderly and forbidding local officials to designate large areas, like entire housing compounds, as high-risk

India reports 166 fresh Covid-19 cases; active tally dips to 4,255

India recorded 166 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases declined to 4,255, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday. The total tally of Covid cases stands at 4.46 crore (4,46,73,949). The death toll climbed to 5,30,638 with five fatalities which includes three deaths reconciled by Kerala. One death each has been reported from Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh in the last 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am stated. The active cases comprise 0.01 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate increased to 98.80 per cent, the ministry said. A decrease of 90 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,41,39,056 while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent. According to the ministry's website, 219.94 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination .