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Keeping you up to date on the latest novel coronavirus (Covid-19) news from around the world.
FOLLOW LIVE | Covid-19 in SA: Cases rise by 2 334
Hong Kong to test everyone on island for Covid-19 three times over
Hong Kong has announced plans to roll out compulsory Covid-19 testing from next month, with each of the densely-populated territory’s 7.4 million residents required to submit to three rounds of tests.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced the testing regime at a briefing on Tuesday as she announced a stringent set of new restrictions to tackle a record surge in coronavirus cases that have left hospitals overwhelmed and patients left to wait outside on the street.
Officials from the mainland would be coming to help, she said.
"This quickly worsening epidemic has far exceeded the Hong Kong government’s ability to tackle it, so there is great need for the central government’s support in fighting the virus," she told reporters.
Hong Kong is home to some of the world’s most densely populated urban districts, with many families living in tiny apartments in high-rise tower blocks.
"The coming one to three months are crucial in fighting the pandemic," Lam said.
The territory has relied on punishing border controls, quarantines and effective test and trace systems to control the pandemic since it first emerged two years ago, following the Zero COVID playbook developed in China.
- Al-Jazeera
COVAX vaccine supply outstrips demand for the first time
BRUSSELS/LONDON – The global project to share Covid-19 vaccines is struggling to place more than 300 million doses in the latest sign the problem with vaccinating the world is now more about demand than supply.
Last year, wealthy nations snapped most of the available shots to inoculate their own citizens first, meaning less than a third of people in low-income countries have been vaccinated so far compared with more than 70% in richer nations.
As supply and donations have ramped up, however, poorer nations are facing hurdles such as gaps in cold-chain shortage, vaccine hesitancy and a lack of money to support distribution networks, public health officials told Reuters.
In January, COVAX, the global vaccine programme run by Gavi and the World Health Organisation (WHO), had 436 million vaccines to allocate to countries, according to a document published in mid-February.
But low-income nations only asked for 100 million doses for distribution by the end of May – the first time in 14 allocation rounds that supply has outstripped demand, the document from the COVAX Independent Allocation of Vaccines Group said.
Asked to comment, a Gavi spokesperson said COVAX was now in a situation where there was enough current supply to meet demand, but acknowledged that the roll-out of vaccines was an issue in several less developed nations.
- REUTERS
South Korea prime minister calls for calm as Covid-19 cases hit new record
SEOUL – South Korea's prime minister on Wednesday called on people not to panic about a major increase in coronavirus infections as new daily cases surged past 170 000 for the first time.
Serious cases and deaths are at manageable levels despite record cases caused by the highly infectious Omicron variant, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum told a pandemic response meeting.
"Although our awareness and implementation of anti-COVID rules should not be loosened, there is no reason at all to fear or panic about the numbers of new cases as in the past," he said, according to a transcript.
South Korea reported 171 452 new coronavirus cases
for Tuesday, another daily record and a sharp increase from 99 573 a day
before, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said on Wednesday.
Deaths have slowly ticked up, reaching a near-record high 99 on Tuesday, but South Korean authorities say real-world data shows people infected with the Omicron coronavirus variant are nearly 75% less likely to develop serious illness or die than those who contract the Delta variant.
A study by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) of some 67 200 infections confirmed since December showed the Omicron variant's severity and death rates averaged 0.38% and 0.18%, respectively, compared with 1.4% and 0.7% for the Delta cases.
- REUTERS
South Korea approves Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 5-11
SEOUL – South Korea has approved Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine for use with children aged 5-11, the country's food and drug ministry said on Wednesday.
Children should get one-third of the regular dose, twice, with a three-week interval, the ministry said in a statement. Children with significantly declined immunity can get a booster four weeks later.
- REUTERS
Cambodia vaccinates children aged three to five against Covid-19
PHNOM PENH – Cambodia started vaccinating children as young as three against Covid-19 on Wednesday, becoming one of the first countries to cover the age group of those below five.
The Southeast Asian nation has vaccinated more than 90% of its population of 16 million, for one of the highest rates in the region, official data show. In January, it started rolling out a fourth dose for high-risk groups.
The inoculation drive for toddlers began in the capital of Phnom Penh, with hundreds of people queueing outside clinics where medical staff in personal protection gear gave doses to teary-eyed or wailing children.
"I brought my kid with hope of stopping the spread of Covid-19, and I hope all parents would do so too," said Heng Davy, a 28-year-old mother, as she shuffled along in a fast-moving queue with her son in her arms.
Most countries have yet to start vaccinations for children under the age of five. This month, the United States postponed by at least two months consideration of Covid-19 vaccines for children under five.
- REUTERS
World should send 60 million Covid-19 vaccines to North Korea, UN investigator says
SEOUL – The international community should form a strategy to provide North Korea with at least 60 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to head off humanitarian disaster, an independent UN human rights investigator said on Wednesday.
The vaccines could be a way to persuade the country to ease lockdowns that have left some of its 26 million people on the verge of starvation, Tomas Ojea Quintana, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, told a briefing in Seoul.
"It is imperative that the population of North Korea start to be vaccinated... so that the government will have no excuse to maintain the closing of the borders," he said.
North Korea is not known to have imported any Covid-19 vaccines, and the COVAX global Covid-19 vaccine-sharing programme has scaled back the number of doses allocated for the country.
Last year, North Korea rejected planned shipments of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine that were being organised under COVAX due to concerns over side effects, a South Korean think-tank said at the time.
Pyongyang also turned down an offer of 3 million Covid-19 vaccine doses of China's Sinovac Biotech, UNICEF said last year.
- REUTERS
WHO plans second hub for training countries to make Covid-19 vaccines
The World Health Organisation (WHO) plans to set up a second hub for training countries to produce their own mRNA vaccines as part of its project to get Covid-19 shots made in low- and middle-income countries, its chief said on Wednesday.
In a speech at a vaccine conference, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus did not name the countries that would be involved in the expansion of the project.
He said more details would be announced later.
The ministers for health from South Korea, Serbia, Vietnam, Argentina and Indonesia's foreign affairs minister are scheduled to take part in a WHO briefing on the technology transfer hub later on Wednesday.
The news comes after the UN agency set up a technology transfer hub in Cape Town, South Africa, last year to give companies from poor and middle-income countries the know-how to produce Covid-19 vaccines based on mRNA technology.
- REUTERS
Slovakia to lift most Covid-19 restrictions over the coming month
PRAGUE – Slovakia will lift most Covid-19 restrictions over the next month, beginning with loosening measures for the unvaccinated before cancelling crowd limits in a later phase, according to plans approved by the government on Wednesday.
The first phase of the loosening will begin on 26 February, material on the government's website showed. A second phase will follow on 26 March to end limits on crowds and opening hours.
- REUTERS
Prime minister says Poland will remove most Covid-19 curbs
WARSAW – Poland will remove most Covid-19 restrictions from 1 March, while keeping the obligation to wear face masks in enclosed public spaces, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday.
"After medical consultations and watching what's happening in other countries we can introduce far-reaching changes in our restrictions policy. We can remove restrictions that have been with us for many months," Morawiecki told reporters.
While face masks will remain compulsory in public spaces including shops and transportation, limits on the number of people visiting stores, restaurants and cultural venues will be removed.
Clubs and discotheques will be allowed to reopen, and public institutions will cease to work remotely, the government said.
"More and more countries are removing restrictions, while encouraging people to vaccinate. We are removing most restrictions today, while leaving in place the most needed ones," Morawiecki said.
Poland registered 20 456 new infections on Wednesday and 360 Covid-19-related deaths.
Over 110 000 infected people have died since the start of the pandemic, according to health ministry data. Nearly 66% of the adult population has been fully vaccinated, one of the lowest vaccination rates among European Union countries.
- REUTERS
Singapore's daily Covid-19 cases hit record of more than 26 000
SINGAPORE – Singapore's health ministry reported a record 26 032 Covid-19 infections on Tuesday and said it may take a few weeks before the current transmission wave peaks and subsides.
"While the number of patients needing oxygen supplementation and intensive care unit (ICU) care is not high, there is a surge in demand for hospital beds, mostly for patients with underlying chronic illnesses to recover," the health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday evening.
It reiterated that people with mild or no symptoms who had tested positive should consider self-recovery at home to reduce the pressure on healthcare workers.
Of the nearly 294 000 cases over the last 28 days, 99.7% had mild or no symptoms.
About 91% of Singapore's 5.5 million population have been fully vaccinated, with a further 66% receiving a booster jab.
- REUTERS
Mexico reports 706 more Covid-19 deaths, toll reaches 316 492
MEXICO CITY – Mexico registered 18 309 new confirmed cases and 706 more deaths from Covid-19 on Tuesday, according to health ministry data, bringing the country's overall number of confirmed cases to 5 436 566 and the death toll to 316 492.
- REUTERS
Hong Kong reports record 8 674 new Covid-19 infections
Hong Kong reported a record 8 674 new Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, as the city prepares for compulsory testing of its residents after extending its most draconian social restrictions since the start of the pandemic two years ago.
- REUTERS
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