Covid-19 has infected more than 432M people and killed over 5.9M worldwide. Here are some of the latest coronavirus-related developments:
Friday, February 25, 2022
Hong Kong reports over 10,000 Covid-19 cases for first time
Hong Kong has reported another sharp jump in new cases to more than 10,000 in the latest 24-hour period as it battles its worst outbreak of the pandemic.
The new daily case count reached 10,010, health officials said, after topping 6,000 last week and 8,000 earlier this week in a spiralling outbreak.
The city has been reporting about 50 deaths a day, many among the unvaccinated elderly.
The government has announced plans to test everyone in the semi-autonomous Chinese city of 7.4 million people next month as it tries to adhere to a zero-Covid policy modelled on the strict mainland China approach.
German daily infections still high, pandemic ‘not over’
Germany does not have leeway to ease restrictions more quickly, and Germans should not think that the pandemic is over as the number of new daily infections is still very high, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said.
“We have absolutely no scope for an accelerated opening,” Lauterbach said, adding that it was an unacceptable situation that Covid-19 deaths were between 200 and 300 every day.
Germany reported 210,743 new infections on Friday, with the 7-day incidence rate slightly dropping to around 1,259 infections per 100,000 people, from 1,265 a day earlier.
China posts highest imported cases in nearly two years
China has reported the highest daily count of cases arriving from outside the mainland in nearly two years, with infections mostly from Hong Kong as the financial hub grapples with a wave of infections.
The mainland detected a total of 142 imported cases with confirmed symptoms for Thursday, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Friday.
That marks the highest imported caseload since the authority began classifying domestically transmitted cases and infected travellers from outside the mainland separately, in March 2020.
CDC to significantly ease pandemic mask guidelines
The Biden administration will significantly loosen federal mask-wearing guidelines to protect against Covid-19 transmission, meaning most Americans will no longer be advised to wear masks in indoor public settings.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday will announce a change to the metrics it uses to determine whether to recommend face coverings, shifting from looking at case counts to a more holistic view of risk from the coronavirus to a community.
Under current guidelines, masks are recommended for people residing in communities of substantial or high transmission — roughly 95 percent of US counties, according to the latest data.
Brazil’s Covid death toll rises by hundreds
Brazil has recorded 93,757 new coronavirus cases and 971 Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry said.
Brazil has registered 28,578,647 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 647,390, according to ministry data.
Mexico reports more cases and fatalities
Mexico has recorded 18,252 new coronavirus cases and 362 additional deaths, according to Health Ministry data, bringing the total confirmed number of cases to 5,473,489 and the death toll to 317,303 since the pandemic started.
China to step in to steer Hong Kong’s crisis
As Covid-19 rages across Hong Kong at the start of a sensitive political year for China and President Xi Jinping, Beijing is determined not to be embarrassed and undermined as it was by the often-violent protests that rocked the city in 2019.
In the past week, since Xi told the city its “overriding mission” was to control the worsening crisis, Hong Kong has stepped up anti-Covid measures, including plans for mass testing buttressed by equipment, testing vehicles and personnel from the mainland.
‘World to face climate crisis after pandemic’
Although the world is already facing a climate crisis, its effects will be felt more after the pandemic ends, a top official from the Union of Municipalities of Türkiye said.
Speaking at a panel regarding the key roles of local administrations to combat climate crisis at the Climate Council, Birol Ekici, secretary-general of Union of Municipalities of Türkiye, said that the country had a huge need to organise such an international climate council.
Referring to the motto of “think globally, act locally”, Ekici stated that traditional development models brutally consume nature and it has become clear that local administrations must be more active if they want to protect the earth, climate and environment.
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
Hong Kong’s daily Covid-19 cases top 10,000 in new record – latest updates
Source: Pinay Pop Showbiz
