カテゴリー: Omicron variant
After three years of lockdowns, the country was ill prepared for its abrupt ‘freedom’. Now, with some estimating 1m deaths, public anger is growingWhen Sunny* thinks back to March last year, she laughs ruefully at the ordeal. The 19-year-old Shanghai s…
Reported death toll surges to 72,000 after zero-Covid restrictions lifted; some experts estimate 1m deathsAbout 80% of China’s population has been infected with Covid-19 since restrictions were lifted in early December, Chinese health authorities have …
Despite public bullishness, overflowing hospitals across the country suggest its leader may have made a huge miscalculationChina’s leader Xi Jinping told his country it stands on “the right side of history” in a new year address on Saturday, but exper…
Many city workers heading home for holiday in late January are likely to take disease with themChina is preparing for another wave of Covid to hit its more vulnerable countryside in early 2023, as the current wave of infections overwhelms hospitals and…
Italy urges action at European level as more than 50% of recent arrivals from China test positive at Milan airportMember states of the European Union have resisted pressure from Italy to immediately impose mandatory anti-Covid checks on travellers ente…
Dramatic U-turn following widespread unrest leaves country ill-prepared for OmicronThe portable PCR testing booth dangled in the air over a dark Beijing street, captured on camera as it was winched away by a crane in the middle of the night. The image …
More people will also be eligible for antiviral drugs as Covid cases, hospitalisations and deaths riseNew Zealand will make medical masks and rapid antigen tests free to access, the government has announced, as the country fights a growing wave of Omic…
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus calls for shift in approach as scores of Chinese cities remain in strictly enforced lockdownThe head of the World Health Organization has voiced concerns over China’s effort to eliminate the Covid virus, in a rare rebuke t…
Beijing residents have rushed to buy food, emptying supermarket shelves, as Covid-19 cases rise and fears grow that a strict lockdown could be imposed. China reported 3,266 symptomatic cases on Monday and 20,454 asymptomatic cases, with Beijing re…
Residents hope to avoid Shanghai-style shortages as Chinese authorities rush to stamp out outbreak in the capitalFollow all our coronavirus coverageBeijingers were flooding supermarkets to stock up on food on Monday, hoping to avoid Shanghai-style shor…
Patients sick with non-Covid related illnesses are being kept away from hospitals as anger grows over failure to control OmicronSee all our coronavirus coverageJia Ruiling’s* father has been enduring severe pain since 17 March. He has late-stage stomac…
Covid-19 cases in China’s most populous city of Shanghai have risen again as millions remain isolated at home under a sweeping lockdown. Drone footage shows the usually bustling city empty of people and traffic. Almost all 26 million residents are unde…
Elderly residents are wary of the jab even as Omicron spreads, and critics say zero-Covid policy is not sustainableWhen nearby neighbourhoods went into lockdown, Liu Li started stocking up. The 42-year-old Chinese magazine worker bought vegetables, fru…
Sound system on parliament grounds plays vaccine messages, Macarena and the crooner’s 1970s hitsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageNew Zealand authorities have deployed Barry Manilow against protesters at its parliament, playin…
Omicron’s ‘close cousin’ has mutations that could alter how it behaves and has begun to surpass Covid’s most common variety in parts of Europe and AsiaSee all our coronavirus coverageThe highly transmissible Omicron variant of the Sars-CoV-2 virus – th…