In Chinese financial hub of Shanghai, which has been struggling to tackle the spread of coronavirus, neighbourhood committees in the city are now imposing strict and arbitrary curbs on movement of residents, including restrictions and time-limit on who can leave their apartment blocks and for how long – even as the authorities are lifting the lockdown as cases dip, a report by Bloomberg highlighted. Meanwhile, in Beijing, officials are batting for work-from-home for most of its residents “to reduce the flow of people” and curb the spread. Elsewhere in North Korea, the government claims that “the virus situation is under control” even as 1.34 Lakh new ‘fever’ cases were reported on Tuesday, state media reported.
Here are top updates on global Covid-19 situation
1. While officials in the city of Shanghai have been gradually easing the lockdown imposed on their 25 million residents, several neighbourhood volunteers have been still preventing people from going outside of their homes – fearing resurgence in cases, Bloomberg reported.
2.Shanghai reported 480 cases on Monday, down from 558 on Sunday. No new infections were found outside of government quarantine in the financial hub, said Bloomberg report.
3. China’s capital Beijing recorded 41 new symptomatic coronavirus cases for May 23, down from 83 a day earlier, state broadcaster CCTV said on Tuesday, citing official data. Asymptomatic cases fell to 7 from 16 the previous day, it said as per news agency Reuters. The country logs symptomatic and asymptomatic cases separately.
4. Beijing has extended its work-from-home requirement for many of its 22 million residents. “(We) should fully implement the requirement of working from home in key areas, further lower the rate of working from the office to reduce the flow of people,” Beijing municipal government spokesperson was quoted as saying by Reuters. Beijing had already curtailed public transport, asked some shopping malls and other stores and venues to close and sealed buildings where new cases were detected.
5. North Korea said on Tuesday it was witnessing a “stable” downward trend in its first confirmed Cobid-19 outbreak, and the situation in the country is “under control” as the country ‘fever symptoms’ in 134,510 more people. It did not report how many of those people had tested positive for the coronavirus.
6. “The nation-wide morbidity and mortality rates have drastically decreased and the number of recovered persons increased, resulting in effectively curbing and controlling the spread,” North Korea’s official news agency KCNA said.
7. Meanwhile, South Korea’s daily new coronavirus infections dropped to below 10,000 for the first time in nearly four months on Monday, as the highly contagious Omicron variant recedes despite eased pandemic restrictions. The figure of 9,975 is the lowest since South Korea reported 8,570 cases in late January, Reuters reported citing the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency data.
8. India on Monday once again raised concerns over the WHO’s report claiming 47.4 lakh Covid deaths in India, in the 75th session of the World Health Assembly held at the global body’s Geneva headquarters. “It is with a sense of dismay and concern that India notes WHO’s recent exercise on all-cause excess mortality where our Country specific authentic data published by the statutory authority has not been taken into account,” Union Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
9. On the vaccine front, the US drug regulator body FDA will hold a review on June 15 to decide if Moderna vaccine can be given an emergency nod for use in children aged 6 months to 5 years. The use of Pfizer’s vaccine for those aged 6 months through 4 years will also be discussed in the meeting. Meanwhile, the FDA on Monday lifted the hold on clinical trials of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin,Vaccine maker Ocugen said. Ocugen has partnered with Bharat Biotech for Covaxin trials in the US.
10. AstraZeneca said on Monday its vaccine, Vaxzevria, has been approved in the European Union by the bloc’s drugs regulator as a third-dose booster in adults following a committee endorsement last week. The vaccine can now be used as a booster following the two-dose Vaxzevria schedule or by those who have been previously vaccinated by an mRNA vaccine, such as the ones made by Pfizer and BioNTech or Moderna.
With inputs from Reuters and Bloomberg