As Beijing outbreak persists, China hits back at “zero COVID” doubters
Beijng/Shanghai, China Reuters Beijing residents fretted on Friday over tightening COVID curbs in its biggest district and dozens of new cases reported daily as China’s leaders reiterated their resolve to battle the virus and threatened action against critics of their strict measures. Incurring a heavy economic cost and facing rare public criticism on its tightly-policed […]
Essay: Disabled people are being left out of COVID recovery. Here are five ways to change that
UK-based researcher VERA KUBENZ, in an article first published on The Conversation, outlines how people with disabilities can be helped to participate in the post-COVID recovery…
Shanghai widens COVID testing as other Chinese cities impose curbs
Shanghai, ChinaReuters Shanghai on Friday announced a record 21,000 new cases and a third consecutive day of COVID testing as a lockdown of its 26 million people showed no sign of easing and other Chinese cities tightened curbs – even in places with no recent infections. Beijing authorities intervened in Shanghai after its failure to […]
Shanghai scrambles to secure food supplies as COVID lockdown hits
Shanghai, ChinaReuters Residents in the major Chinese financial centre of Shanghai, with 26 million under lockdown, scrambled to secure food on Wednesday, with supermarkets shut and deliveries restricted amid another citywide COVID-19 testing program. The government of the city, which is in the grips of its biggest-ever COVID-19 outbreak, said on Wednesday it would not […]
Explainer: Will COVID-19 vaccines protect us? Does efficacy equal effectiveness?
Reuters The frontrunners in the COVID-19 vaccine race have emerged with different success rates for their shots in clinical trials, but what does that mean for the global fight against the pandemic? US drugmakers Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna have each said their coronavirus vaccines have an efficacy rate of around 95 per cent and a Russian […]
WHO warns of “accelerating” pandemic
Geneva, Switzeraland/London, UKReuters The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating, the World Health Organization said on Monday, with more than 300,000 cases now recorded and infections reported from nearly every country. Dr Mike Ryan, the WHO’s top emergencies expert, said it had advised Olympic and Japanese officials about public health risks and expected a decision “very soon” […]
Stunned world grapples with “once-in-100-year” coronavirus battle
Madrid, Spain/Beijing, ChinaReuters Hundreds of millions of people faced a world turned upside down on Wednesday by unprecedented emergency measures against the coronavirus pandemic that is killing the old and vulnerable and threatening prolonged economic misery. “This is a once-in-a-hundred-year type event,” said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, warning the crisis could last six months […]
Coronavirus causes historic market drop, global scramble to contain “invisible enemy”
Reuters Coronavirus fears led to a historic drop in US stocks, shut borders and disrupted daily life around the world, as governments took increasingly drastic measures to try to reduce the severity of the global outbreak. Financial markets had their worst day in 30 years despite emergency action by global central banks to try to […]