Private services offering Chinese travellers access to mRNA vaccines are attracting droves of mainlanders to Hong Kong and Macau seeking a booster shot that their government has refused to approve. As part of its dismantling of the country’s zero-Covid policy last month, China’s government also lifted quarantine and other border restrictions. It prompted a wave of interest in overseas travel, particularly for the upcoming lunar new year holiday later this month. However, there also appears to be a large contingent chasing the mRNA bivalent vaccines. Throughout the pandemic the Chinese…
Tag: Vaccines and immunisation
China bridles as EU states prepare to scale up Covid monitoring
European countries are preparing to scale up the monitoring of potential new coronavirus variants from China, as Spain becomes the second EU state to bring back mandatory testing at airports in response to Beijing’s rapid rollback of anti-infection measures. Spain on Friday followed Italy’s lead by requiring arrivals from China to show a negative test result, though unlike Rome it makes exceptions for those who can prove they are fully vaccinated. At a press conference announcing the new measures, the Spanish health minister Carolina Darias also said she was pushing…
Vaccines are key to China’s zero-Covid exit but scepticism poses challenge
China’s government looks to be starting to roll back its zero-Covid policy. But after three years of saying the resource-intensive, economically damaging elimination strategy is the only way to go, experts say it will be a medical and political challenge to end it. Much of China’s exit strategy is riding on vaccinations, but this is where Beijing has great challenges. China’s elderly population is disproportionately unvaccinated, leaving tens of millions of vulnerable people at far greater risk from the ravages of Covid-19. About 90% of China’s population is vaccinated, but…
China targets older people in Covid-19 vaccination drive
Chinese health officials have announced a drive to accelerate vaccinations of older people against Covid-19, as police patrolled major cities to stamp out protests against the country’s strict zero-Covid policy. The low vaccination rate among older people is one of the major hurdles to easing the zero-Covid policy, which has eroded economic growth, disrupted the lives of millions, and sparked three days of unprecedented protests. At a regular press conference on Tuesday, officials said just 76.6% of people over 80 had received two vaccine doses, compared with more than 90%…
Xi’s iron grip on his country is stopping the Covid U-turn it so desperately needs | Isabel Hilton
Last week, Covid-related images provoked outrage on Chinese social media: one showed a young woman kneeling on the ground with her hands tied behind her back after she and a friend had picked up a takeaway meal without first donning masks. Neither had Covid, neither was even a close contact, but both had been detained by the increasingly resented “big whites”, the hazmat-suited zero-Covid enforcers who bound the women’s hands and left them kneeling in the street, an exercise in humiliation that provoked indignation among China’s netizens. Meanwhile, Tianxiacheng community,…
Australia news live: NSW flood warnings; Sydney train strike delays; at least 27 Covid deaths recorded
From 5h ago NSW rail union pushes ahead with industrial action Sydney commuters are in for a “very messy day” as the NSW rail union pushes ahead with industrial action that will take out 70% of the train fleet, AAP reports. The Rail, Tram and Bus Union has been locked in long-running stoush with the Perrottet government over a new Korean-made Intercity fleet, which it says is unsafe. While the government has signalled it could be prepared to spend $264m to modify the fleet, the union says it has refused…
With 37 million in lockdown and Covid plans under fire, Chinese ask: what comes next?
When nearby neighbourhoods went into lockdown, Liu Li started stocking up. The 42-year-old Chinese magazine worker bought vegetables, fruit, medicine and other supplies, adding to stores of basics she had maintained since the pandemic began. Last Sunday a resident in the community where Liu lives with her mother, in Changchun city, Jilin, tested positive. Everyone was ordered inside. The fresh lockdown has, so far, been OK. “I live a normal life,” she says. “I work when there are tasks for me. If there aren’t any, I talk to my mother,…
Covid news live: infections hit record highs across Europe; South Africa reinstates contact tracing and isolation
Infectious disease epidemiologist and World Health Organization Covid-19 Technical Lead, Maria Van Kerkhove, has cautioned against becoming “numb” to rising case numbers. Do not become numb to these numbers. Each one is a person, a family, a friend, a loved one… Do not become complacent. Even if Omicron is less severe. Many places are seeing record numbers of cases and hospitalisation rates… We can do more. We need to end this pandemic.” Maria Van Kerkhove (@mvankerkhove) Do not become numb to these numbers. Each one is a person, a family,…
Covid news live: New York scales back New Year’s Eve celebrations; AstraZeneca booster protects against Omicron, study finds
China is reporting 87 new confirmed coronavirus cases for Thursday, 23 December. The figure is a slight decrease from 100 reported a day earlier, its health authority said on Friday. Of the new infections, 55 were locally transmitted, including 49 in the northern city of Xi’an currently under lockdown, according to a statement by the National Health Commission, compared with 71 from a day earlier. China reported 26 new asymptomatic cases, which it classifies separately from confirmed cases, up from 19 a day earlier. There were no new deaths, leaving…
Covid live: France confirms 130 Omicron cases; South Korea has deadliest day of pandemic
At the Commons science committee, Dr Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association has accused the UK of a “knee jerk response” in bringing in a travel ban within 24 hours of Omicron being announced in South Africa last month. It would have been better to get people to wear masks, socially distance and keep away from large gatherings, she added. While proof of vaccination or a negative lateral flow test for certain events could help reduce the spread of the virus, Dr Coetzee said lockdowns were too…