Covid-19 cases surge

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.

Surge in PNG COVID cases

That compares to five new cases and one death in the previous 24 hours.

Morobe province recorded the largest numbers of new cases with 49.

The death toll in PNG remains at 192.

     

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France enters third national lockdown amid ICU surge

All schools and non-essential shops will shut for four weeks, and a curfew will be in place from 19:00 to 06:00.

On Friday, the number of seriously ill Covid patients in intensive care units (ICU) increased by 145 - the biggest jump in five months.

President Emmanuel Macron has promised more hospital beds for Covid patients.

France is currently battling a peak of about 5,000 Covid patients in ICUs. On Friday, the country recorded 46,677 new cases and 304 deaths.

Most of California faces strict new lockdown as cases surge

More than half of the state's 40 million people will be subject to a stay-at-home order, as announced by Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday.

Many businesses will be closed, and people will be banned from meeting anyone outside their household.

The order was triggered by intensive care capacity in hospitals shrinking.

The southern part of the state and its central valley will be the first areas to come under the new restrictions, at 23:59 local time on Sunday (07:59 GMT on Monday).

US cases reach record high amid new wave of infections

Citing data from local state health authorities, the Covid Tracking Project reported 83,010 new cases on Friday.

US Surgeon General Jerome Adams has warned that hospital admission numbers are growing, but mortality rates are falling due to better patient care.

It comes as pharma giants AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson resume US vaccine trials after approval from regulators.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has also warned that countries in the Northern Hemisphere are at a "critical juncture".