How Hong Kong went from ‘zero-COVID’ to the world’s highest death rate
HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s worst outbreak of the pandemic didn’t come until 2022, but the scenes are right out of 2020. Hospitals and morgues are overflowing, with bodies left unattended in hallways and in rooms with living patients. Health care workers report burnout and low morale as they work 80 hours a week. And […]
Fully vaccinated will need fourth dose later this year, and new variant dubbed ‘deltacron’ detected in Europe
Fully vaccinated people will need a fourth shot later in 2022, according to the head of Pfizer Inc., who said that COVID-19 is not going to just go away in the coming years. Albert Bourla told CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” that people are going to have to learn to live […]
Sweden decides against recommending COVID vaccines for kids aged 5-11
STOCKHOLM, Jan 27 (Reuters) – (This Jan. 27 story corrects headline to kids aged 5-11 from 5-12) Sweden has decided against recommending COVID vaccines for kids aged 5-11, the Health Agency said on Thursday, arguing that the benefits did not outweigh the risks. “With the knowledge we have today, with a low risk for serious […]
Japan widens virus restrictions as omicron surges in cities
TOKYO (AP) — Restaurants and bars will close early in Tokyo and a dozen other areas across Japan beginning Friday as the country widens COVID-19 restrictions due to the omicron variant, which has caused cases to surge to new highs in metropolitan areas. The restraint, which is something of a pre-state of emergency, is the […]
Israel world #1 in daily COVID cases per capita; exposed schoolkids won’t quarantine
Israel is leading the world in new daily COVID-19 cases per capita, data showed Thursday. Speaking to Channel 12 news, a top health expert advising the government cited figures from Our World in Data showing 0.6 percent of the population was testing positive per day. The numbers comparing each country’s seven-day running average put Israel […]
COVID-19 in Europe: Austria’s parliament approves vaccine mandate for adults
Several countries in Europe have registered a record number of COVID-19 infections this week — here is our summary of the situation across the continent. The number of new coronavirus cases globally rose by 20 percent last week to more than 18 million, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus […]
Mexico Covid Cases Rise by Record That Doubles Previous Wave
Mexico Covid Cases Rise by Record That Doubles Previous Wave (Bloomberg) — Mexico registered a record number of new Covid-19 cases Wednesday — more than double the amount seen in previous waves — as the omicron variant extends its spread through the country. The country recorded 60,552 new coronavirus cases, pushing total cases up to […]
Japan shortens interval for COVID booster by a month amid omicron’s spread
Seemingly alarmed by the unprecedented speed with which the omicron variant is spreading across the country, the government has been forced to make another revision to its COVID-19 policies, including shortening the isolation period for close contacts and the timetable for administering booster shots. Amid reports that the highly contagious variant is now estimated to […]
COVID-19: Nigeria records eight fatalities, 420 new infections Monday
As Nigeria, like other countries, continues to battle theCOVID-19 pandemic, the country continues to record daily fatalities from the disease. On Monday, Nigeria recorded eight deaths from the virus, the country’s disease control centre, NCDC, said. The NCDC disclosed this in an update on its official Facebook page, adding that 420 new infections were reported across […]
Polish scientists find gene that doubles risk of serious COVID-19
WARSAW — Polish scientists have found a gene that they say more than doubles the risk of becoming severely ill with COVID-19, a discovery they hope could help doctors identify people who are most at risk from the disease. With vaccine hesitancy a major factor behind high coronavirus death rates in central and eastern Europe, […]
