A coronavirus outbreak is ravaging a hospital in Shanghai for older adults, underscoring the difficulties officials have had in containing infections even as the city imposed a 10-day staggered lockdown. Two orderlies at the Shanghai Donghai Elderly Care Hospital said in interviews that the coronavirus was spreading widely among the mostly older patients in the facility, and that people had died on each of the past three days. The two, who declined to be named for fear of losing their jobs, said that on a recent night they had been…
Tag: Disease Rates
Shanghai Imposes Staggered Lockdown, District by District
As coronavirus outbreaks spread across China, Shanghai is introducing new rounds of lockdowns to be rolled out sequentially across the city’s neighborhoods, the city government announced on Sunday night, as part of an effort to test its entire population of 26 million. The restrictions and mass testing will start Monday morning in areas east of the Huangpu River, with those lasting until April 1. Restrictions and testing in districts west of the river will begin on April 1 and continue until April 5. According to the announcement, all citizens, except…
Sinovac Booster Gives Elderly Stronger Protection Against Omicron, Study Finds
Two doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine offered older people only a moderately high level of protection against severe disease and death from Covid-19, but a third dose significantly bolstered their defenses, according to a new study by scientists in Hong Kong. The study, based on patients infected during the current devastating Omicron wave in Hong Kong, serves as a cautionary note for mainland China, where Sinovac is a pillar of the country’s vaccination program. Many older people there have yet to receive booster shots. For people 60 and older, two…
Confusion and Chaos in Hong Kong as Leaders Fumble Virus Response
HONG KONG — From week to week as infections barreled through the city, residents in Hong Kong watched the government’s coronavirus policies change. First, officials said they didn’t have plans for social distancing in January, then promptly shut down bars and gyms and banned flights from eight countries. In February, the officials vowed to test every resident, then appeared to abandon those plans this month. And on Thursday, public beaches were closed just three days after Carrie Lam, the city’s leader, raised the possibility of relaxing Covid-19 restrictions. As Hong…
China’s Covid-Era Controls May Outlast the Coronavirus
The police had warned Xie Yang, a human rights lawyer, not to go to Shanghai to visit the mother of a dissident. He went to the airport anyway. His phone’s health code app — a digital pass indicating possible exposure to the coronavirus — was green, which meant he could travel. His home city, Changsha, had no Covid-19 cases, and he had not left in weeks. Then his app turned red, flagging him as high risk. Airport security tried to put him in quarantine, but he resisted. Mr. Xie accused…
In Wuhan, China, Anniversary of First Covid Lockdown Passes Quietly
Wuhan, the Chinese city where Covid-19 first emerged in late 2019, began the world’s first coronavirus lockdown two years ago Sunday, shutting down public transportation and restricting departures for what proved to be 76 days. Since that move — stunning at the time — lockdowns of varying sizes and strictness have been carried out around the world. Now China, which has largely kept the virus at bay since quashing that first wave in Wuhan and other cities, is battling the far more contagious Omicron variant, shortly before the Winter Olympics…
China Keeps 13 Million in Xi’an Under Strict Lockdown
China, racing to control one of its worst outbreaks in a single city since the beginning of the pandemic, has put in place a sweeping lockdown and mass testing drives, making clear that the country has no intention of abandoning its “zero Covid” policy. Even as a growing number of countries turn away from hard lockdowns, believing their economic and human costs to be too great, the Chinese government has continued to implement harsh restrictions. The city of Xi’an, in northwestern China, recorded 1,117 infections between Dec. 9 and Dec.…
Most of the World’s Vaccines Likely Won’t Prevent Infection From Omicron
A growing body of preliminary research suggests the Covid vaccines used in most of the world offer almost no defense against becoming infected by the highly contagious Omicron variant. All vaccines still seem to provide a significant degree of protection against serious illness from Omicron, which is the most crucial goal. But only the Pfizer and Moderna shots, when reinforced by a booster, appear to have initial success at stopping infections, and these vaccines are unavailable in most of the world. The other shots — including those from AstraZeneca, Johnson…
Most of the World’s Vaccines Likely Won’t Prevent Infection From Omicron
A growing body of preliminary research suggests the Covid vaccines used in most of the world offer almost no defense against becoming infected by the highly contagious Omicron variant. All vaccines still seem to provide a significant degree of protection against serious illness from Omicron, which is the most crucial goal. But only the Pfizer and Moderna shots, when reinforced by a booster, appear to have initial success at stopping infections, and these vaccines are unavailable in most of the world. The other shots — including those from AstraZeneca, Johnson…
Your Friday Briefing
Good morning. We’re covering booster shots in France, Peng Shuai’s piercing accusations in China and the Pakistani madrasa that has educated many Taliban leaders. A French rush for boosters Thousands rushed to book appointments for coronavirus booster shots on Thursday after the French government said that health passes would soon no longer be valid without them. Amid a surge in new cases and rising hospitalizations, the government made all adults eligible for booster shots starting this weekend. The health minister, Olivier Véran, said that over 400,000 vaccination appointments had been…