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After a nearly two-year closure, Australia reopened its international borders to fully vaccinated visa holders on February 21, 2022. But unvaccinated travellers still need to apply for a travel exemption and must pay for their own hotel quarantine. Travellers were greeted with items representing Australia, such as k…
Stemirna Therapeutics has built a Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing plant in the Chinese city of Shanghai. The company said the facility is capable of producing 200 million doses of its in-house mRNA Covid-19 vaccine annually. The vaccine is currently undergoing clinical trials before the company can start mass product…
According to several migrant workers rights groups, at least 30 foreign domestic workers were forced to sleep on the streets or were denied treatment after testing positive for Covid-19 amid a surge in infections in Hong Kong. HELP for Domestic Workers, one of the local NGOs, has supported over 60 migrant domestic w…
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The election to decide the next leader of Hong Kong has been delayed until May to focus all efforts on fighting the pandemic. The current chief executive, Carrie Lam, cited the use of the Emergency Ordinance to trigger the postponement. This as authorities confirmed on February 17, 2022, that they were considering a…
An injured, rare snow leopard was rescued by police and locals at the Feicui Lake scenic area in China’s northwest Qinghai Province on January 30, 2022. The big cat was motionless when it was found. It is suspected to have been drinking salty water. After a six-hour ordeal, rescuers took the animal to the larger, ne…
A taxi service to transport Covid-19 patients with mild symptoms to seven designated treatment clinics in Hong Kong began operating on February 18, 2022. About 300 taxis have been mobilised to ferry patients, despite the risk of exposure to drivers. It's hoped the treatment clinics will ease the strain on the city's…
Hong Kong reported a record of more than 6,100 confirmed coronavirus cases and over 6,300 suspected infections on February 17, 2022, as officials relaxed discharge criteria for patients to relieve pressure on the health care system amid the worsening fifth wave of the pandemic. (Photo: SCMP / Sam Tsang)
Despite surging numbers of coronavirus infections, Indonesia reopened the resort island of Bali on February 16, 2022. The island province had been closed to foreign travellers for more than a year during the pandemic. It resulted in a massive slowdown in Bali’s tourism industry compared to 2019, when it hosted 6.2 m…
Muzaffer Kayasan is Turkey's longest running Covid-19 patient, recording a continuous coronavirus infection for more than a year. The 56-year-old, who has a weakened immune system from leukaemia, has spent nine months in hospital and 5 months mostly alone in his flat. Kayasan is not allowed to be vaccinated while he…
Chinese President Xi Jinping said Hong Kong authorities “must mobilise all forces and resources that can be mobilised, take all necessary measures and protect Hong Kong people's lives and health”, to control the fifth wave of Covid-19 infections in the city. Xi's comments, published by local pro-Beijing media on Feb…
Hong Kong hospitals began to buckle under the strain of rising coronavirus infections as the city recorded 1,619 new Covid-19 cases and 5,400 suspected cases on February 15, 2022. Hong Kong treats all of its Covid-19 patients in dedicated isolation wards to control the airflow in the room and reduce the amount of ai…
Candidates hoping to become South Korea’s next president started campaigning on February 15, 2022. Already locked in a tight race are Lee Jae-myung of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea and conservative People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk-yeol. Weighed down by high disapproval ratings and smear campaigns, they …
Hong Kong resumed Covid-19 testing operations at the Huo-Yan Laboratory in Ma On Shan on February 15, 2022, as the city scrambles to trace and curb the spread of coronavirus infections. The latest wave of cases in recent weeks has grown with daily infections spiking to 1,600. The temporary lab consists of 16 air-inf…
Hong Kong started administering Covid-19 vaccines to children as young as three on February 15, 2022. Parents were seen taking their children to vaccination centres to get their first dose of the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine. This as health authorities announced 1,619 confirmed new infections, and about 5,400 prelim…
Explainer | Why is there a global shipping container crisis?The world’s dependence on China for goods comes into sharp focus as the coronavirus pandemic lays bare vulnerabilities in the global supply chain.
Hong Kong's Covid-19 isolation beds are at 90 percent capacity, the Hospital Authority said on February 14, 2022, as the city recorded another record high of 2,071 new cases. It also announced around 4,500 preliminary positive cases. The city is looking for other places that can serve as isolation facilities, such a…
Protests against Covid-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions inspired by Canada’s “Freedom Convoy” are taking place around the world. The movement, kick-started by truckers against cross-border vaccine mandates on January 22, 2022, has now spread as far as New Zealand and Europe.
Family and friends of Chinese speed skater Gao Tingyu watched him sprint to the finish line to secure a gold medal on February 13, 2022, for China’s fourth gold medal. The Olympic host country has claimed nine medals so far at the Beijing Winter Olympics, ranking eighth among the participating countries as of Februa…
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Described as airborne hospitals, China’s helicopter ambulance service has been put into action to handle an emergency rescue during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. China set up the emergency medical transport system to quickly get help to injured or sick competitors during the Games. On February 7, 2022, the …
A Russian figure skater has tested positive for a banned substance, according to Russian media. Kamila Valieva, 15, was part of the ensemble that won the figure skating team’s event on February 7, 2022. However the medal ceremony was postponed because of a “legal consultation”, according to the International Olympic…
Hundreds of protesters have been forcibly removed from the grounds of New Zealand’s parliament following days of demonstrations against vaccine mandates, with more than 50 arrested after clashes with police on February 10, 2022. The protest, inspired by anti-vaccine trucker demonstrations in Canada, came into its th…
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Hong Kong’s daily Covid-19 case numbers have hit quadruple digits for the first time since the pandemic began two years ago, recording 1,161 cases on February 9, 2022. Starting February 10, the city will impose its toughest social-distancing measures yet, including banning private gatherings of more than two househo…
Truckers opposed to Canada’s vaccination requirements have gridlocked the nation’s capital of Ottawa for 11 days, in what started as a protest against vaccine mandates for cross-border drivers on January 28, 2022. The so-called “freedom convoy” consisting of trucks and other vehicles that have been moved into the ci…
The city of Baise in southwestern China has put 3.6 million residents under strict lockdown as mass testing was conducted for more than 207,000 people in the community in Debao county where the first infected patient lives. The city in China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region reported 72 of the total 73 cases confir…
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has defended the city’s move to ramp-up Covid-19 restrictions, including lowering a cap on public gatherings to only two people and expansion of a “vaccine pass” scheme to cover shopping centres, supermarkets and hair salons. Lam stressed the need to put public he…
In a press conference on February 8, 2022, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced the strictest social-distancing measures to tackle the city’s exponential growth in Covid-19 caseloads. The news came as the city recorded a new high in daily cases for the third straight day. In addition to bar…
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Hong Kong recorded 614 new Covid-19 cases on February 7, 2022, almost double the number from the previous day. In a press conference, Centre for Health Protection controller Dr Edwin Tsui Lok-kin said more cases were expected in the coming days because of the Lunar New Year holiday. The government is expected to tig…
Bollywood superstar Lata Mangeshkar, also known as the “Nightingale of India”, died in a Mumbai hospital on February 6, 2022. She died at the age of 92 after being admitted to intensive care on January 11 with Covid-19 symptoms. Songs by the renowned artist appeared in more than 1,000 films, from Bollywood to Hollyw…
Hong Kong reported 342 local Covid-19 cases on February 6, 2022, with the city’s fifth wave of infections yet to hit its peak. Since late January, at least 320 undetected transmission chains have emerged in the community. The city’s health minister Sophia Chan said the current Covid-19 outbreak had become “extremely…
For the 500 or so residents of Antarctica’s King George Island, the coronavirus pandemic has only deepened a sense of isolation that comes with living in one of the most remote places on Earth. The island hosts one of the world’s highest concentrations of international research centres, and normally the cluster is a…
The final rehearsal for the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games was held at Beijing’s National Stadium also known as the Bird’s Nest on February 3, 2022. Cold weather and coronavirus pandemic rules forced organisers to shorten the event to about 100 minutes. Officials said the opening ceremony has been…
Two years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Tonga has entered its first full lockdown as it reels from the aftermath of a volcanic eruption. Beginning on February 3, 2022, the lockdown was prompted by two dock workers who tested positive for coronavirus. The island nation was previously virus-free, reporting…
New York’s Manhattan Chinatown is still reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic after two years. Rose Wu, the manager of the restaurant New Shanghai Deluxe, said her business had been slightly improving last summer, until the Omicron variant hit. Now, she expects fewer sales during the upcoming Lunar New Year.
Crowds of travellers packed Shanghai’s Hongqiao railway station to travel home in time for the Lunar New Year celebration, which starts on February 1, 2022. The festival is celebrated across China with family reunions and dinners and typically brings the biggest annual human migration on Earth. But until this year m…
A three-year-old boy encouraged a girl who had to shave her head before chemotherapy. Nuoyi was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in October 2021 and has been undergoing treatment in hospital since. Although he also cried when he had his hair shaved off three months ago, he has become more mature and even…
The head of the UN health body has warned the world that it is “dangerous to assume that Omicron will be the last variant or that we are in the endgame”. World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus the consequences of a worldwide vaccine gap increases the possibility of the emergence …
A Hong Kong-led research team has cracked a centuries-old problem that has made it impossible to use water for cooling extremely hot surfaces, from rocket engines to frying pans. A new low-cost, thin and flexible film developed by scientists at the City University of Hong Kong with researchers in mainland China and …
Ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese capital has been enveloped in thick smog. Concentrations of the hazardous airborne particle PM2.5 were measured at 205 micrograms per cubic metre on January 24. This exceeds the recommended levels of no more than 5 by the World Health Organization. But Beijing and it…
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Police deployed water cannons and fired tear gas as a protest turned violent in the Belgian capital Brussels on January 23, 2022. Authorities estimate some 50,000 people marched through the streets to protest against new Covid-19 restrictions and the implementation of a vaccine pass limiting access to certain activi…
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