China will “suspend the issuance” of visas to Japanese citizens from Tuesday, its embassy in Tokyo said, in an apparent response to Japan’s restrictions on Chinese travellers over a surge in Covid cases. Beijing earlier on Tuesday suspended issuing short-term visas to South Koreans in a similar tit-for-tat reaction toContinue Reading
Anglo-Swedish pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca on Monday agreed to buy US biotech company CinCor for $1.8 billion, expanding further into the field of heart and kidney drugs. The takeover marks the latest push by Astra chief executive Pascal Soriot to bolster the Covid vaccine maker’s pipeline of new products. Massachusetts-based CinCorContinue Reading
UK medical bodies on Monday said patients were dying due to inadequate care and urged the government to act as Britain’s health service grapples with a winter crisis of strikes and soaring demand. The public National Health Service (NHS) faced budget constraints for more than a decade before the Covid-19Continue Reading
European Union nations will try again on Wednesday to mold a coordinated approach on if and how authorities should check incoming airline passengers from China for any new COVID-19 variants after several member nations announced individual efforts over the past week. Belgium said late Monday it would be checking wastewaterContinue Reading
China said Monday it would scrap mandatory quarantine on arrival, further unwinding years of strict virus controls as the country battles a surge in cases. Having mostly cut itself off from the rest of the world during the pandemic, China is now experiencing an unprecedented surge in infections after abruptlyContinue Reading
Canada’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement for domestic and outbound travelers, as well as federal bureaucrats and transportation workers, will be suspended starting next week, officials said Tuesday. Masking, however, will still be required on planes and trains. “I’m pleased to announce that on June 20 our government will suspend the requirementContinue Reading
China’s flagship zero-Covid strategy to defeat the pandemic is unsustainable, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, adding that it had told Beijing so and called for a policy shift. China has imposed draconian measures, trapping most of Shanghai’s 25 million people at home for weeks as the country combats its worstContinue Reading
The Covid-19 pandemic killed around 15 million people worldwide in 2020 and 2021, the World Health Organization estimated on Thursday – nearly triple the number of deaths officially attributed to the disease. The WHO’s long-awaited estimate of the total number of deaths caused by the pandemic – including lives lostContinue Reading
The streets of Beijing’s business district were deserted on Thursday as the government called for people to return to work remotely, with scores of subway stations shut after a national holiday muted by coronavirus curbs. Chinese authorities have stuck to their zero-Covid policy of lockdowns and mass testing as theyContinue Reading
Beijing closed dozens of subway stations on Wednesday as Covid restrictions constrict movement around the Chinese capital despite it recording only dozens of cases daily. China has been battling its worst coronavirus flare-up since the early days of the pandemic, with most cases found in the business hub of Shanghai.Continue Reading
