Latest Covid-19 Wave Expands to More of U.S.
“We’ve got to do what we can to prevent infections,” said Ashish Jha, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator. “We’ve got to do what we can to ensure that infections Continue Reading
China diverts anti-poverty funds to Covid testing as crisis deepens
China’s cash-strapped local governments have been forced to divert funds from poverty alleviation and infrastructure to finance mass coronavirus testing as President Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid policy causes growing financial strains. Continue Reading
N.Korea mobilises army, steps up tracing amid COVID wave
North Korea has mobilized its military to distribute COVID medications and deployed more than 10,000 health workers to help trace potential patients, as it fights a sweeping coronavirus wave, state Continue Reading
Shanghai aims for June 1 return to normal as COVID lockdown batters economy
Shanghai set out plans on Monday for the end of a painful COVID-19 lockdown that has lasted more than six weeks, heavily bruising China’s economy, and for the return of Continue Reading
North Korea’s Kim says COVID ‘great turmoil’, 21 new deaths reported
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Saturday that the spread of COVID-19 had thrust his country into “great turmoil” and called for an all-out battle to overcome the Continue Reading
Global Covid-19 Summit upstaged by Ukraine war, inflation
When the United States brought world leaders together last year to discuss how to end the pandemic, President Biden emphasized the historic scale of the problem. “This is an all-hands-on-deck crisis,” Continue Reading
North Korea confirms 1st COVID outbreak, Kim orders lockdown
North Korea imposed a nationwide lockdown Thursday to control its first acknowledged COVID-19 outbreak after holding for more than two years to a widely doubted claim of a perfect record-keeping Continue Reading
WHO chief says China’s zero-COVID policy not ‘sustainable’
The head of the World Health Organization said on Tuesday China’s zero-tolerance COVID-19 policy is not sustainable given what is now known of the virus, in rare public comments by Continue Reading
Half of Shanghai achieves ‘zero COVID’; city presses on with ‘unsustainable’ fight
Shanghai officials said on Wednesday that half the city had achieved “zero COVID” status, but uncompromising restrictions had to remain in place under a national policy that the head of Continue Reading
WHO chief’s remarks on China’s COVID policy blocked on country’s social media
A United Nations Weibo post on the World Health Organization chief’s comments that China’s zero-tolerance COVID-19 policy is not sustainable was removed from the Chinese social media platform on Wednesday Continue Reading
Shanghai disinfects homes, closes all subways in COVID fight
Teams in white protective suits are entering the homes of coronavirus-infected people to spray disinfectant as Shanghai tries to root out an omicron outbreak under China’s strict “zero-COVID” strategy. City Continue Reading
Shanghai tightens lockdown despite falling COVID cases
Authorities in Shanghai have again tightened anti-virus restrictions, just as the city was emerging from a month of strict lockdown due to a COVID-19 outbreak. Notices issued in several districts Continue Reading
‘Go home!’ COVID-hit Shanghai, Beijing tell residents to avoid social contacts
China’s two biggest cities tightened COVID-19 curbs on their residents on Monday, raising new frustration and even questions about the legality of its uncompromising battle with the virus. As authorities Continue Reading
Analysis: Shanghai COVID crisis puts political spotlight on key Xi ally
If Shanghai Communist Party chief Li Qiang has been politically bruised by the city’s struggle to tame a COVID-19 outbreak that has infuriated residents and caused severe economic damage, there Continue Reading
‘Stop asking why’: Shanghai tightens COVID lockdown, Beijing keeps testing
Shanghai authorities were tightening the city-wide COVID lockdown they imposed more than a month ago, prolonging into late May an ordeal that China’s capital Beijing was desperate to avoid by Continue Reading
China builds permanent COVID testing stations for life after lockdown
China is setting up thousands of permanent PCR testing stations, with 9,000 already completed in Shanghai alone, as authorities seek to “normalise” tough pandemic controls even after the current round Continue Reading
Coronavirus pandemic far deadlier than official count, WHO estimate suggests
The number of people who died as a result of the coronavirus pandemic by the end of last year may be nearly three times higher than thought, according to estimates Continue Reading
COVID led to 15 million deaths globally, not the 5 million reported – WHO
Almost three times as many people have died as a result of COVID-19 as official data show, according to a new World Health Organization (WHO) report, the most comprehensive look Continue Reading
India releases 2020 death data ahead of WHO COVID mortality study it objects
India registered about 475,000 more total deaths in 2020 than the previous year, government data released months ahead of schedule on Tuesday showed, as the World Health Organization readies its Continue Reading
Beijing curbs public transport as COVID spreads in China
The Chinese capital Beijing shut dozens of metro stations and bus routes on Wednesday in its campaign to stop the spread of COVID-19 and avoid the fate of Shanghai where Continue Reading
North Korea mobilises office workers to fight drought amid food shortages
North Korea’s office workers and factory laborers have been dispatched to farming areas around the country to join a fight against drought, state media reported on Wednesday, amid concerns over Continue Reading
Beijing teeters on edge of Covid lockdown
The coronavirus pandemic is creeping closer to the halls of power in Beijing as authorities rush to avoid an uncontrolled Shanghai-style Omicron outbreak in China’s capital. Beijing is tightening coronavirus Continue Reading
Covid-19 Live Updates: Beijing News and More
Coronavirus cases are surging again in South Africa, and public health experts are monitoring the situation, eager to know what’s driving the spike, what it says about immunity from previous Continue Reading
Beijing Reopens Mass Isolation Center In Attempt to Avoid Broad Lockdown
The authorities in Beijing on Monday said that they had reopened a mass coronavirus isolation center, the latest in a raft of measures to try to stave off a citywide Continue Reading
Covid-19 Cases Rise in the U.S., With Limited Impact
As new Omicron variants further infiltrate the U.S., a jumble of signals suggest the latest increase in Covid-19 infections hasn’t sparked a commensurate surge in severe illness even as risks Continue Reading
Cases are rising in nearly every corner of the United States.
Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are rising in a majority of American states, in what appears to be the first widespread increase since the peak of the Omicron surge in January. Reports Continue Reading
Fauci says U.S. is out of coronavirus ‘pandemic phase’
The United States is finally “out of the full-blown explosive pandemic phase” that has led to nearly 1 million deaths from covid-19 and more than two years of suffering and Continue Reading
China’s capital in race to detect COVID cases, avoid Shanghai’s distress
Millions of people in Beijing took their second COVID-19 tests of the week on Wednesday as the Chinese capital tried to keep an outbreak numbering in the dozens from spiralling Continue Reading
More Than Half of People in U.S. Likely Had Covid-19, CDC Says
As fourth doses of Covid vaccines roll out, some are questioning whether the general population needs them. At the center of this debate are mysterious T-cells. WSJ’s Daniela Hernandez explains Continue Reading
Covid Live Updates: Testing, Lockdowns, and More News
Families in Beijing rushed to stock up on food. Supermarkets stayed open late. Residents endured long lines for mandatory testing. China’s stock markets plunged.A fresh coronavirus outbreak in China’s capital Continue Reading
Panic buying in Beijing as district starts mass COVID testing
Beijing kicks off first of three rounds of mass testing in populous district Mass testing fuels concerns of shortages of food, supplies Chinese stock market down on fears Beijing may Continue Reading
Shanghai fences up COVID-hit areas, fuelling fresh outcry
Shanghai authorities battling an outbreak of COVID-19 have erected fences outside residential buildings, sparking a fresh public outcry over a lockdown that has forced much of the city’s 25 million Continue Reading
The Drive to Vaccinate the World Against Covid Is Losing Steam
Rates are stalling in most low-income countries well short of the W.H.O.’s goal to immunize 70 percent of people in every nation. Some public health experts believe the momentum is Continue Reading
Anger mounts among locked-down Shanghai residents as city reports more COVID deaths
China’s major financial hub of Shanghai reported more new COVID-19 related deaths on April 22, as residents vented their anger over a harsh lockdown and strict censorship online. Shanghai’s full-city Continue Reading
Nerves fray, frustration grows in Shanghai’s lockdown purgatory
Stiffening resolve after three weeks of strict lockdown, authorities warned Shanghai’s 25 million frazzled residents on Friday that their purgatory would go on until the COVID-19 virus was eradicated neighborhood Continue Reading
Shanghai escalates Covid lockdown restrictions
The latest round of measures includes mass disinfection of homes and preventing those infected from leaving their residences Authorities in Shanghai have said they will tighten the enforcement of lockdown Continue Reading
Shanghai people ‘not free to fly’ out of homes as COVID cases tick back up
Shanghai authorities said on Thursday that tough restrictions would remain in place for now even in districts that managed to cut COVID-19 transmission to zero, prolonging the agony for many Continue Reading
Surprisingly low Shanghai COVID death count spurs questions
Lu Muying died on April 1 in a government quarantine facility in Shanghai, with her family on the phone as doctors tried to resuscitate her. She had tested positive for Continue Reading
Shanghai hopes COVID tide turning, with fewer cases outside quarantine areas
China’s commercial capital of Shanghai reported no new COVID-19 infections outside quarantine areas in two districts on Wednesday, fanning hopes that the tide is turning in its pandemic battle, as Continue Reading
Shanghai allows 4 million out of homes as virus rules ease
Shanghai allowed 4 million more people out of their homes Wednesday as anti-virus controls that shut down China’s biggest city eased, while the International Monetary Fund cut its forecast of Continue Reading
China’s Covid death data obscure real impact of Omicron, experts say
The way China classifies coronavirus cases and reports deaths is obscuring the true impact of the Omicron wave and complicating its public health response more than two years into the Continue Reading
The pandemic statistics from China are too good to be true
Judging by the numbers, China appears to be experiencing a far different pandemic than the rest of the world. In the latest surge in Shanghai, its largest city with a population of Continue Reading
More Chinese cities impose COVID curbs as Shanghai cases rise
Shanghai reported a record number of symptomatic COVID-19 cases on Saturday and other areas across China imposed restrictions as the country kept up its “dynamic clearance” approach that aims to Continue Reading
India Is Stalling the W.H.O.’s Efforts to Make Global Covid Death Toll Public
The agency has calculated that 15 million people have died as a result of the pandemic, far more than earlier estimates, but has yet to release those numbers. A mass Continue Reading
Anti-virus shutdowns in China spread as infections rise
Anti-virus controls that have shut down some of China’s biggest cities and fueled public irritation are spreading as infections rise, hurting a weak economy and prompting warnings of possible global Continue Reading
Shanghai’s Lockdown Knocks Out E-Commerce, Leaving Group Buying and Bartering
As grocery delivery is thrown into disarray, one neighbor gets three oranges in return for lending out his cat One man in Shanghai said he worked out a deal for Continue Reading
Covid China: Elderly deaths contradict Shanghai figures
Viral videos show anger and desperation in Shanghai Dozens of elderly patients at a hospital in Shanghai have died after contracting Covid-19, but official government figures claim no deaths in Continue Reading
Shanghai cases hit record as Xi reiterates urgency of COVID curbs
China’s financial hub Shanghai reported over 27,000 coronavirus cases on Thursday, a new high, a day after President Xi Jinping said that the country must continue with its strict “dynamic Continue Reading
Shanghai vows punishment for COVID lockdown violators as cases hit 25,000
The Chinese commercial capital of Shanghai warned on Wednesday that anyone who violates COVID-19 lockdown rules will be dealt with strictly, while also rallying citizens to defend their city as Continue Reading
China’s ‘Zero-Covid’ Mess Proves Autocracy Hurts Everyone
Long before the “zero Covid” policy, China had a “zero sparrow” policy. In the spring of 1958, the Chinese government mobilized the entire nation to exterminate sparrows, which Mao declared Continue Reading