Covid-19 has infected more than 424M people and killed over 5.9M worldwide. Here are some of the latest coronavirus-related developments:
Sunday, February 20, 2022
UK to scrap all remaining Covid restrictions next week
The British government has confirmed that people with Covid-19 won’t be legally required to self-isolate starting next week, as part of a plan for “living with Covid” that is also likely to see testing for the coronavirus scaled back.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said ending all of the legal restrictions brought in to curb the spread of the virus will let people in the UK “protect ourselves without restricting our freedoms.”
But some of the government’s scientific advisers said it was a risky move that could bring a surge in infections and weaken the country’s defences against more virulent future strains.
Hong Kong in “all-out combat” to contain Covid outbreak
Hong Kong is in “all-out combat” to contain a surge in coronavirus cases, with the ramping up of community isolation and treatment units helped by mainland Chinese construction teams.
Hong Kong health authorities reported 6,067 new cases and 14 deaths, after posting 6,063 confirmed cases on Saturday, with the city battling to contain an outbreak of coronavirus that has overwhelmed its healthcare system.
Health authorities say Covid-19 restrictions will be maintained or further tightened.
Australia to welcome tourists for first time under Covid
Australia will welcome international tourists on Monday after nearly two years of sealing its borders, relying on high Covid-19 vaccination rates to live with the pandemic as infections decline.
“The wait is over,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told a Sunday briefing at the Melbourne International Airport.
Australia’s opening to tourists is the clearest example yet of the government’s shift from a strict zero-Covid approach to living with the virus and vaccinating the public to minimise deaths and severe illness.
Russia records 745 deaths
Russia reports 745 deaths and 170,699 new Covid-19 cases in past 24 hours.
The infection number was 179,147 on previous day.
Germany records 118,032 further cases
Germany reports 118,032 Covid-19 cases and 73 mortalities, bringing the death toll to 121,275, Robert Koch Institute said.
Covid-related deaths in the country reached 121,275 people.
China logs 195 new Covid-19 cases
China reported 195 new Covid-19 cases in the mainland for Feb. 19, up from 137 cases a day earlier, the health authority has said.
Ninety-four of the new infections were imported, the National Health Commission said in a statement, while 101 were locally transmitted, compared with 80 a day earlier. There were no new deaths.
China also reported 39 new asymptomatic patients, compared with 37 a day earlier. China does not classify asymptomatic cases as confirmed Covid-19 cases.
As of Saturday, mainland China had 107,707 confirmed coronavirus infections, while the Covid-19 death toll remained at 4,636, it said.
Brazil records 108,725 pandemic cases
Brazil has registered 851 Covid-19 deaths and 108,725 additional cases, according to data released by the nation’s Health Ministry.
The South American country has now registered a total of 643,880 coronavirus deaths and 28,167,587 total confirmed cases.
Brazil has experienced a severe spike in Covid-19 cases in recent weeks due to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, though the lethality of the current wave is much lower than previous waves due to relatively high vaccination rates.
Covid kills 315,525 people in Mexico since beginning
Mexico’s health ministry has reported 470 new confirmed deaths from Covid-19, bringing the official death toll since the pandemic began to 315,525.
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
UK to lift all remaining Covid restrictions next week – latest updates
Source: Pinay Pop Showbiz
