New York raises Covid-19 level, Hong Kong eases restrictions: 10 points | World News

More than two years after the novel coronavirus triggered a pandemic, the world is still dealing with variants and waves of the deadly virus. China – widely believed to be ‘ground zero’ for Covid-19 – has seen yet another spikes in cases and Beijing has launched another round of mass testing. Over in the United States, New York has raised its alert level from low to medium. Hong Kong, though, is easing curbs and India on Tuesday witnessed a slight drop. Increasing caseloads in several nations is due not only to the spread of the infectious omicron variant but also recombinant strains, like the XE, which has been causing concern.

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Here are the top 10 global updates:

1. New York City adjusted its Covid-19 alert level from low to medium – indicating a medium-sized community spread of the coronavirus. Official data shows accumulated new cases per 100,000 residents (over the past seven days_ moved up to 209.02, surpassing the threshold of 200 to enter the medium level.
2. China on Tuesday reported 368 new locally-transmitted Covid-19 cases – out of which 274 were reported in Shanghai and 15 in Beijing. The rest were reported from 11 other provincial-level regions on the mainland, including 13 in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang.
3. China’s Beijing has embarked on another round of mass testing.
4. Taiwan has cut the 10 day mandatory quarantine requirement for all arrivals to seven.
5. India’s daily Covid-19 count fell below the 3,000-mark with 2,568 cases in 24 hours. With this, the total number of infections have been recorded at 4,30,84,913.
6. Italy’s health ministry has scrapped the Passenger Locator Form for entering the country, while remaining entry restrictions have been extended till the end of the month.
7. A European Commission official said Poland has no “coherent rationale” to invoke force majeure in an existing contract in order to stop paying for more Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer, reported Reuters.
8. The Aurangabad district disaster management authority has decided to make the RT-PCR test for Covid-19 detection mandatory for patients before undergoing any surgery.
9. India’s advisory panel – NTAGI is to discuss whether or not to allow early administration of the precaution dose of vaccines to those travelling abroad for education, employment, sporting events, and business commitments, on Wednesday.
10. Africa’s first Covid-19 vaccination plant is risking shutting down after not receiving any orders, reported Reuters. The plant was touted last year as a trailblazer for an under-vaccinated continent frustrated by sluggish Western handouts, it further reported.

(With inputs from agencies)