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New York’s Manhattan Chinatown still reeling from Covid-19 pandemic 2 years on | South China Morning Post
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.
Holidaymakers pack Shanghai railway station as Lunar New Year travel rush gets under way in China | South China Morning Post
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…
Trending in China: Kind little boy comforts girl with leukaemia | South China Morning Post
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…
Global Covid caseload exceeds 356 million as infections climb in areas with low vaccination rates | South China Morning Post
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 …
Water cooling at ultra-high temperatures made possible by Hong Kong-led scientific breakthrough | South China Morning Post
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 …
Beijing hit by thick smog as it struggles to improve air quality for ‘green’ Winter Olympics | South China Morning Post
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…
From Furry to Scaly: South Africans Embrace Pandemic Pets
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Violent protests break out in Brussels over Covid-19 restrictions amid record infections | South China Morning Post
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…
Thousands March in Washington Against Mask, Vaccine Mandates
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Health Workers Hike Snowy Peaks to Vaccinate Indian Kashmir Villagers
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Coronavirus: ‘exponential’ outbreak of Omicron triggers lockdowns in Hong Kong housing blocks | South China Morning Post
Hong Kong health authorities have ordered a five-day lockdown for a second block of flats in a public housing estate building where at least 105 Covid-19 cases were found during mass testing that continued late on January 22, 2022. The outbreak involved at least four buildings of the Kwai Chung Estate in the city’s …
China’s Omicron outbreaks dampening Lunar New Year travels | South China Morning Post
Typically the world's largest annual human migration, China’s Lunar New Year holiday is expecting traffic to be well below pre-pandemic numbers. Chinese residents made 3 billion trips around the Spring Festival season in 2019.Travellers are expected to make an estimated 1.18 billion trips over the 40-day period, a 3…
Brave 3-year-old boy with leukaemia in China encourages girl in next bed | South China Morning Post
A three-year-old boy in China 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…
Former Olympic stars employed as gym teachers as China pushes more physical education in schools | South China Morning Post
A new programme in China designed to reduce rising rates of childhood obesity and the stress of excess study is bringing some star power to school gymnasiums by employing former Olympic Games athletes. The new push for less study and at least two hours a day of physical exercise has offered former Olympic stars like…
Trending in China: Disabled son takes care of paralysed father | South China Morning Post
Description: Despite limited physical abilities, Zhang Xiaodong can take care of his father, who had a stroke several years ago. Zhang was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis in 2008. Since then, he has only been able to move his arms and hands. He recently started sharing videos of their daily life on social medi…
Hong Kong pledges improvements at Penny’s Bay after lawmakers slam quarantine facility | South China Morning Post
The Hong Kong government has pledged improvements at its quarantine facility at Penny’s Bay. The changes were promised after several Beijing loyalist lawmakers and senior government officials slammed a lack of services there after they were sent into quarantine following potential exposure to the coronavirus at a bi…
Global Health Experts Weigh In on Biden’s Pandemic Performance
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Shanghai remains optimistic amid China's recent Covid-19 outbreak | South China Morning Post
Compared with most countries in the world, China has had a very low death rate during the Covid-19 pandemic, a record authorities attribute to the nation’s “zero-tolerance” approach to fighting the disease. It adopted strict quarantine policies for foreign travellers and sometimes locked down whole cities to stem th…
Hong Kong to kill 2,000 hamsters after Covid-19 found in rodents at pet shop | South China Morning Post
After a worker at a pet shop in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay district was confirmed to have Covid-19, health authorities discovered 11 hamsters at the store were infected with the same Delta variant of the coronavirus on January 18, 2022. The outbreak at the Little Boss pet shop is reportedly the first known case of the…
South African University Students Fight COVID Vaccine Mandates
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Beijing records first local case of Omicron ahead of Winter Olympics and Lunar New Year | South China Morning Post
Beijing has recorded its first case involving the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The Chinese capital’s first locally transmitted case of the new strain of the virus that causes Covid-19 was reported on January 15, 2022, as a throng of local transmission chains was being found throughout the country with only we…
Disabled son in China takes care of paralysed father | South China Morning Post
Despite his limited physical abilities, Zhang Xiaodong can take care of his father, who had a stroke several years ago. The 36-year-old was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis in 2008. Since then, he has only been able to move his arms and hands. He recently started sharing videos of their daily life on social med…
Vietnam’s incense village gears up for Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year | South China Morning Post
Workers in Vietnam’s “incense village” have been busy preparing fragrant sticks for Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year holiday, which starts February 1, 2022. Sales have dropped so far by 30 per cent in 2022, compared to the same period last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The country’s ongoing measures to cu…
Hong Kong-Shenzhen border reopening on hold again as both sides grapple with Covid-19 resurgence | South China Morning Post
Hopes that the Hong Kong-Shenzhen border would reopen have been dashed yet again as both sides battle resurgent waves of Covid-19 infections. Shenzhen has imposed tough restrictions after two people contracted the Delta variant on January 7, 2022. Since then, restrictions on movement have been implemented, and all 1…
Japan holds annual ‘Coming of Age Day’ celebrations as Covid-19 cases climb | South China Morning Post
Japan celebrates Seijin-no-hi, or Coming of Age Day, on the second Monday of January every year. Young people dressed in traditional kimonos take part in the ceremony to celebrate turning 20, signalling their passage into adulthood. This year’s celebrations marked a small step towards normalcy in cities like Tokyo, …
Streets and trains empty in central Chinese city of Anyang as Covid-19 lockdown begins | South China Morning Post
Over 5 million residents of the Chinese city of Anyang have been placed under lockdown to fight the spread of Covid-19. The measures were taken after two cases involving the Omicron variant were confirmed on January 10, 2022. Residents of the city in China’s central province of Henan were ordered to stay home and tr…
WHO: Omicron still dangerous especially for unvaccinated though it causes less severe disease | South China Morning Post
While the Omicron variant of the coronavirus causes less severe disease than the Delta strain, it remains dangerous particularly for the unvaccinated, the World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on January 12, 2022. The worldwide number of infections increased by 55 per cent …
Terminally ill heart patient gets genetically modified pig’s heart in first-of-its-kind transplant | South China Morning Post
Terminally ill David Bennett is recovering after receiving a heart transplant from a pig on January 7, 2022. The organ used on the 57-year-old had been genetically modified to prevent immediate rejection, a groundbreaking procedure that could transform the prospects of the tens of thousands of transplant patients aw…
Djokovic training on tennis court in Melbourne despite deportation threat | South China Morning Post
Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic was seen training at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park, Australia on January 11, 2022. The previous day the world No 1 player was released from detention after a court overturned his visa cancellation. Djokovic’s visa to enter Australia was cancelled following questions over th…
More than half of the European population will be infected with Omicron within weeks, WHO says | South China Morning Post
More than 50 per cent of the European population are expected to be infected with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in the next six to eight weeks, said Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Europe on January 11, 2022. The WHO’s European region comprises 53 countries and territor…
‘Lunchtime facelift’: the latest beauty trend in image-conscious China | South China Morning Post
As the Chinese government targets cosmetic surgery as part of a campaign to “purify” social values, so-called micro-procedures such as fillers, laser skin treatments and “thread lifts” are growing in popularity. Costing a fraction of traditional plastic surgery, the cosmetic procedures are also seen as less invasive…
Weekend curfew in New Delhi in bid to curb Covid-19 infections | South China Morning Post
As Covid-19 infections in India continue rising rapidly, the capital New Delhi has imposed a weekend curfew to curb the further spread of the virus. Only essential activities, for food, groceries and medicine, are allowed as most other shops have been ordered to close. Driven by the highly transmissible Omicron vari…
South African Companies Introduce Vaccine Mandates as Uptake Slows
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Tennis star Novak Djokovic wins Australian court fight after judge overturns visa cancellation | South China Morning Post
Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic has been released from detention and his visa cancellation overturned by a Melbourne court on January 10, 2022. Djokovic was appealing against being barred from entering Australia because he did not get vaccinated. The tennis world No 1 claimed he was granted a medical exemption be…
McDonald’s Japan restricts fries orders to small size amid potato shipping snags | South China Morning Post
McDonald’s Japan has suspended sales of medium and large French fries since January 9, 2022, allowing customers to only buy small portions. The fast-food chain said the sales restriction is because of delays in potato imports and expected to last for about a month. Global shipping operations continue to be severely …
2 Omicron cases spark citywide testing in Chinese city of Tianjin near Beijing | South China Morning Post
Coronavirus tests were ordered for 14 million people in China’s northern port city of Tianjin on January 9, 2022, after 20 local infections were detected. Two of the Covid-19 cases were identified as being caused by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the virus. Tianjin is about 112km (70 miles) from Beijing…
Chinese Woman loses baby outside hospital over strict Covid rules | South China Morning Post
An eight months’ pregnant woman in northwestern China’s Shaanxi province lost her unborn baby after being refused immediate entry by a hospital for not providing a valid Covid-19 test result. She was seen sitting outside the hospital for two hours with blood running down her legs.
‘Disappointed’ Carrie Lam slams Hong Kong officials for attending party with possible Covid case | South China Morning Post
A top Hong Kong official has been sent into quarantine after attending a birthday party attended by over 100 guests, including a suspected Covid-19 patient. The city’s chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said she was “very disappointed” that 10 of her top officials attended the gathering, possibly exposing th…
Hong Kong reimposes tough Covid-19 restrictions in bid to ward off fifth pandemic wave | South China Morning Post
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced a raft of fresh Covid-19 restrictions on January 5, 2022, as the city rushed to curb the spread of several Omicron variant clusters. The latest measures include reinstating a 6pm curfew on in-person dining, closing bars, clubs and karaoke establishments,…
India imposes curfews as Covid-19 cases surge and New Delhi chief minister tests positive | South China Morning Post
India has recorded 37,379 new Covid-19 cases over a 24-hour period, the nation’s health ministry said on January 4, 2022. The one-day figure was the highest reported since early September 2021. Authorities in some of India’s largest cities including the capital New Delhi have imposed curfews and other restrictions t…
Hong Kong leader on delay of vaccine passport and border reopening with mainland China | South China Morning Post
Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced on January 4, 2022, that the introduction of the city’s coronavirus vaccine passport plan would be delayed. The scheme will prohibit those who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19 from entering all restaurants, leisure venues and schools. At her w…
Israel rushes to contain severe outbreak of bird flu that has killed thousands of migratory cranes | South China Morning Post
A severe outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus has killed thousands of wild migratory cranes in northern Israel, and prompted widespread culls of infected poultry at farms in the area. In what was described as “the most serious damage to wildlife in the history of the country”, Israeli officials said more than 5,000 m…
North Korea fights Covid-19 with dancing ‘hand sanitiser kids’ and economy-crushing closures | South China Morning Post
As the world enters a third year of the global Covid-19 pandemic, North Korea claims to remain free of the coronavirus because of its strict border closures and travel restrictions that have reportedly worsened food shortages. As the reclusive state rang in the new year, supreme leader Kim Jong-un called on North Ko…
The world welcomes 2022 with muted celebrations due to Covid-19 | South China Morning Post
Fireworks burst over Sydney, Dubai, Pyongyang, Bangkok, Goa, Taipei, Berlin, Madrid, Copenhagen and Moscow as the clock struck midnight and the world welcomed 2022 after another tumultuous and pandemic-ridden year capped by new restrictions and soaring case numbers.
South Africa lifts coronavirus curfew as Omicron wave peaks without rise in death rate | South China Morning Post
South Africa lifted its Covid-19 curfew on December 30, 2021, after government health officials reported a rapid drop in new infections. Case involving the Omicron strain of the coronavirus, which has driven the nation’s fourth wave, had risen rapidly for four weeks before numbers dropped by nearly 30 per cent as of…
‘We can’t shut down our city again,’ says incoming New York City mayor as Covid-19 cases climb | South China Morning Post
Incoming New York mayor Eric Adams has reiterated his pledge not to shut the city down despite a surge in daily Covid-19 infection rates. Speaking on December 30, 2021, the day before he took office, Adams promised a new city plan to tackle the pandemic, including greater access to in-home and in-school testing and …
Bali islanders swap plastic waste for rice under green scheme to help tourism sector amid pandemic | South China Morning Post
A plastics-for-rice exchange programme in Bali is tackling two problems at once by offering residents a way to feed their families by clearing waste from the Indonesian resort island. The scheme set up by a non-profit group in May 2020 has so far resulted in the collection of over 540 tonnes of plastic waste at the …
Omicron variant driving record-breaking Covid-19 infection rates in the US and Europe | South China Morning Post
The Omicron coronavirus variant has driven Covid-19 daily case figures to record high levels in the United States and several European countries. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 440,000 infections on December 27, 2021 – the highest daily number yet during the pandemic. France, It…