Coronavirus

Color: 

Covid-19 reveals gaps in Kiribati's health care system

Doctors Without Borders, an international humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation, is leading the initiative which is responding to the Omicron outbreak that started in February.

Kiribati has recorded more than 3000 cases and 13 Covid-related deaths.

Medical coordinator Alison Jones said they're identifying gaps in the health care system.

Seven deaths, 6636 new cases in New Zealand

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said 480 people were in hospital, including 12 in ICU.

Monday’s rolling seven day average of new Covid-19 cases is 7553. Last Monday it was 8355.

A second person who has travelled from overseas to New Zealand has been confirmed as having the BA.4 variant of Omicron.

Both identified cases were isolating at their homes, the ministry said.

BA.4 has also far been reported in southern Africa and Europe, and in New South Wales. The ministry said the arrival of the sub-variant in New Zealand was not unexpected.

New Zealand border reopens to international visitors tonight

On 19 March 2020 New Zealand snapped its border shut to anyone without citizenship or residency, before any Covid-19-related deaths were recorded.

It was the first time in our history such a move was made, with the ban also including those from the Pacific.

Today, the countdown is on to welcome back vaccinated visitors from visa waiver countries.

New Zealand's already reopened the border to vaccinated Australians and some international students.

9047 new community cases and a further 13 deaths reported in NZ

Thursday's seven-day rolling average of case numbers is 7705, down from 7935 last week.

There are 484 people in hospital with the virus - with 15 in ICU.

The 13 deaths reported yesterday included people who had died over the previous nine days, apart from two deaths on 4 April. The Ministry of Health said 723 people with Covid-19 had now died in New Zealand.

Covid-hit Beijing keeps up guard to avert Shanghai-like misery

As Beijing rolled out three rounds of mass testing this week across a number of districts, it locked down a number of residential compounds, office blocks and a university after infections were found while shutting some schools, entertainment venues and tourist sites.

Universal Studios in Beijing announced late on Wednesday it would require visitors to show negative test results before they could enter the theme park, starting on Friday.

Beijing kicks off mass testing after spike in Covid cases

The Chaoyang district reported 26 cases over the weekend - the highest number so far in Beijing's latest surge.

Long queues outside supermarkets and shops were seen despite government assurances there is sufficient food.

It comes amid fears that Beijing could face a similar situation to Shanghai, which has seen some 25 million people shut in their homes for weeks.

'All the meat was snatched up'

Cook Islands report first death

The 63-year-old woman died on the way to hospital on the island of Aitutaki, Prime Minister Mark Brown said in a statement.

"It is with great sadness that I announce that we have recorded our first in-country death attributed to Covid-19," Brown said.

"The deceased was a 63-year-old woman on the island of Aitutaki.

"She had had all three anti-Covid vaccinations, but also had several serious underlying health conditions."

"It is tragic, but not unexpected that we might lose someone to Covid.

Chinese censors try to block video about lockdown conditions

The rules are intended by officials to contain the city's latest Covid-19 surge - the most severe wave Shanghai has experienced to date.

Public criticism of government policies is rare in China, but in the past few weeks some Shanghai residents have posted complaints on social media sites about the poor conditions they were being kept in.

Some in locked-down areas of Shanghai have been struggling to access food supplies, and forced to wait for government drop-offs of vegetables, meat and eggs.

Australian opposition leader tests positive for Covid-19 amid election campaign

Albanese said he would continue campaigning from home in Sydney for the next week while he recovers from the virus.

The Labour leader spent Thursday campaigning on the defensive in the marginal seat of Gilmore, on the NSW south coast, after taking part in a leaders' debate in Brisbane last night.

He has been taking PCR tests regularly and unlike Prime Minister Scott Morrison, has not had Covid-19 before.

Shanghai lockdown: Whole communities relocated in anti-Covid drive

An official notice from local Communist Party officials in an area in the north of the city details orders to transfer residents to quarantine facilities more than 100 miles (160km) away.

The plan is to move people from their homes in Pingwang to the neighbouring province of Zhejiang, where they will stay for at least a week. Young children, the elderly and those with disabilities could be excluded, according to the notice.