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Health authorities are warning of surges in Covid-19 infections as the winter holiday season approaches in the northern hemisphere and case numbers in many areas reach record daily highs. Some countries and regions have managed to successfully contain the spread of the coronavirus that causes the disease. Here is a …
Indian doctors have found a potential cause behind a mysterious illness that sickened hundreds in the southern Indian city of Eluru. Lead and nickel were detected in blood samples collected from patients, who experienced symptoms including seizures, unconsciousness and nausea. The cluster of illnesses, which was fir…
A coronavirus case has forced the cruise ship Quantum of the Seas to return to the Marina Bay Cruise Center in Singapore. All 1,680 guests on board the vessel had cleared a mandatory Covid-19 test before the four-day cruise began. But after departure, an 83-year-old man, who had reported to the ship’s medical centre…
The United Arab Emirates approved China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine on December 9, 2020, saying the vaccine is 86 per cent effective. Its approval came after Morocco decided on December 8, to use the Chinese vaccine as part of its ambitious plan to vaccinate 80 per cent of its adults starting in December. Morocco, …
Seven new local coronavirus cases were reported on December 7 and 8, 2020 in the Chinese city of Chengdu in Sichuan province. This is the first time since March that the city has seen local transmissions. Local authorities are conducting a massive round of tests in the community. A 20-year-old patient was doxxed onl…
Born with a disability, Muhammad Sidek Osman is just 108 centimetres (3.5ft) tall. The Malaysian man's physical condition meant that he was rejected by many prospective employers. But eventually, Sidek found work as a self-employed delivery rider after the country imposed a coronavirus lockdown in March 2020. Throug…
Protective suits worn by health workers around the world have received a great deal of media exposure over the past year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, personal protective equipment (PPE) has even taken a turn on the catwalk after some of the latest in essential gear was featured at China-Dandong Fash…
Harlan Tsai’s Christmas tree factory has been quiet this holiday season. Dubbed Taiwan’s ‘King of Christmas Trees’ by local media, Tsai is the island’s biggest manufacturer of Christmas decorations. The coronavirus pandemic has slashed over 50 per cent of overseas orders from his company and forced him to cut back s…
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced a new raft of tougher coronavirus measures as the city faces its fourth wave of infections. During a press conference on December 8, 2020, she said all restaurants will be ordered to shut after 6pm. All gyms, beauty and massage parlours will also be aske…
A 90-year-old grandmother in the UK has become the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine outside of the testing phase for the Covid-19 shot. Margaret Keenan from Coventry was the first in Britain to get the jab as the country started inoculations on December 8, 2020, on what is being refer…
UK grandmother Margaret Keenan encouraged others to follow her lead and get a Covid-19 vaccination after she became the first person in the world outside those in clinical trials to get the shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. Keenan received the injection on December 8, 2020, just a week before her 91st birthday,…
One person has reportedly died and hundreds more have been taken to hospital after they fell victim to an unidentified illness in southern India. Video filmed on December 6 and 7, 2020, showed several adults and children from Eluru, a city in the state of Andhra Pradesh, as they were transported to medical facilitie…
An Indian couple decided to go ahead with their wedding decked in personal protection equipment (PPE), after the bride was found to be Covid-19 positive on her big day. The wedding took place under strict supervision of medical staff at a Covid-19 care centre in India’s western state of Rajasthan on December 6, 2020…
Nearly 80 dogs rescued in China by animal rights activists arrived in New York on November 27 and 28, 2020. They were brought to the United States by a group called No Dogs Left Behind. The group’s founder Jeff Beri said the dogs were rescued from several regions in China, and that “some were heading to slaughterhou…
Malaysian goldsmiths and businesses enjoy an unexpected boom as demand for gold soars under the pandemic as buyers seek to invest in what is considered one of the safest commodities.
As the year 2020 comes to an end, Wuhan artists pay homage to a city that suffered in the first reported coronavirus outbreak almost one year ago. A synth-rock band put together an album with songs written while bandmates were separated during the punishing 76-day lockdown. A team of graffiti artists created a piece…
Croydon University Hospital in south London has received one of the first batches of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine as mass vaccinations were set to begin on December 8, 2020. Top priority will be given to those aged 80 and above, frontline healthcare workers and care home staff. Meanwhile, in Russia a mass in…
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Relatives of Wuhan residents who died during the world’s first reported outbreak of Covid-19 were struggling to cope with their loss as the first anniversary of the epidemic approached. The former epicentre of what is now a global pandemic went into a two-month lockdown during 2020 Lunar New Year festivities to curb…
A Chinese father has trained his three children, between the ages of 8 and 12, into local kung Fu champions. Liu Long says his children started copying his moves as he practised the martial art. He's been training them since 2017 and leading them to victory at local competitions. Li also says kung fu has improved hi…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the start of a "large-scale" Covid-19 vaccination by late in the second week of December, with doctors and teachers to be the first in line to receive Russia’s own Sputnik V jabs. The Sputnik vaccine has still not undergone complete advanced studies to ensure its effectiv…
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The United Kingdom became the world’s first country to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for use on December 2, 2020. The jab, which has been shown to offer up to 95 per cent efficacy against Covid-19 disease, will be rolled out from early next week. The country’s vaccine committee will decide which pr…
Invasive species are plants and animals which governments around the world limit because the organisms can damage local environments, import disease and cause economic loss to local industries. In China, customs officers have intercepted 3,948 different species of living organisms during more than 400,000 seizures d…
A train station in central Japan with a platform that doubles as a vineyard is celebrating after producing grapes for “Shiojiri Station Merlot” that went on sale for the first time in November 2020. The unique operation was started by the city of Shiojiri in 1988 to promote its wine culture. Visitors have been bravi…
The Cambodian government has ordered a two-week closure of all private schools, museums and the capital’s Phnom Penh Hotel following a cluster of cases related to a woman was confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus on November 28, 2020. Officials said the 56-year-old was linked to 17 of the country’s first loc…
Sikhs celebrated the annual Guru Nanak Jayanti festival on November 30, 2020. Many pilgrims from India and Pakistan gathered in Pakistan’s Punjab province to pay tribute to the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As of December 1, Pakistan had confirmed 400,482 Covid-19 infections …
As US drug company Moderna filed for an emergency authorisation of its Covid-19 vaccine on November 30, 2020, joining Pfizer and BioNTech which were already waiting for green lights, companies and governments around the world are preparing to distribute the jabs as soon as they are available. But who and what will b…
The Olympic rings returned to Tokyo Bay on December 1, 2020, after being removed in August for maintenance. Officials of the Tokyo metropolitan government said they wanted the rings to remind people that the Summer Games, postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, would definitely be held in 2021.
Japan’s capsule hotels have long been a convenient shelter for commuters and even an intriguing option for budget tourists. But the Covid-19 pandemic has delivered a knockout blow to many of the cosy room providers. Hoping to revive some business, one hotel in Tokyo has converted its capsule accommodation into offic…
Shanghai’s annual marathon went ahead as scheduled on November 29, 2020, but because of the coronavirus pandemic the field was capped at 9,000 runners, 29,000 fewer than the number who took part in the 2019 edition. The 10km and 5.5km races were also cancelled to reduce the chances of a local outbreak. Shanghai repo…
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US first lady Melania Trump unveiled the White House Christmas decorations on November 30, 2020, with the theme “America the Beautiful”. Highlights include a tribute to essential workers during the Covid-19 pandemic with ornaments celebrating frontline workers. More than 125 volunteers decorated the White House with…
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Hong Kong faces a surge in coronavirus infections driven by an outbreak at dance clubs across the city and what authorities call untraceable silent transmissions. Japan and South Korea are also experiencing some of their highest single-day Covid-19 case tallies since the pandemic began. The latest spikes of Covid-19…
‘Elves’ working in a post office in Libourne in southwestern France that has been handling Santa’s mail since 1962 are finding Christmas mail this year that is dominated by messages from children who are worried about the coronavirus pandemic. Postal workers said tens of thousands of “Dear Santa” letters that have b…
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Mahmoud el-Komy, a 26-year-old mechatronics engineer from Egypt, has invented a robot health care worker to reduce the chance of infection among frontline hospital workers. The robot named Cira-03 can be remote-controlled and can reportedly take blood tests, perform cardiac ultrasounds and take X-rays.
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Tens of thousands of fans of Diego Maradona gathered in Buenos Aires on November 26, 2020, as the football legend's cortege moved from the Casa Rosada presidential palace to the Bella Vista cemetery. Maradona died at home at the age of 60 from a heart attack on November 25. Not all in the crowd were wearing masks, d…
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Three-month-old Yemeni twins, Al-Hasan and AI-Hussein, are suffering from acute malnutrition and are among the more than 20 such cases admitted each day to the hospital where they are now being treated. Yemen is in “imminent danger of the worst famine the world has seen for decades”, United Nations Secretary General…
The coronavirus pandemic brings a halt to most anti-government protests, and Beijing is determined not to allow a repeat of the past year’s chaos. It imposes a far-reaching national security law on Hong Kong, banning acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces. The new legal regime is …
