– Coronavirus infections were already exploding before Beijing’s shift on its strict zero-Covid policy, emergencies director Mike Ryan said
– WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the same briefing he was hopeful the pandemic will no longer be considered a global emergency some time next year
– Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) says China’s existing policies have proved cost-effective by isolating affected communities
– China has maintained a zero-tolerance approach, but some analysts have forecast a decline in economic growth this year
What began in late June as a COVID-19 rebound in Tokyo has escalated within weeks into a nationwide surge, forcing the central government to enact the country’s strictest measures in more than a dozen of its largest prefectures.
Before the Olympics began, Japan had feared that the 2020 Games, with thousands of officials, media and athletes descending on Tokyo in the middle of a pandemic, might spread COVID-19, introduce new variants and overwhelm the medical system.
– Cabinet says conditions not met to totally lift level-three curbs but there is room for ‘reasonable adjustments’
– Island never went into full lockdown though borders effectively remain closed for all but citizens and residents
Japan’s daily rate of coronavirus vaccinations has reached a crucial milestone of 1 million, government data showed on Wednesday, as authorities scramble to recover lost time in inoculating the population.
A top Japanese virologist and government adviser has said there was a risk of spreading COVID-19 infections during the Tokyo Olympics, the Times of London reported on Tuesday, the latest high-profile warning about the global sporting showpiece.
Japan is set to expand a state of emergency to cover the southern island of Okinawa on Friday, just as it approved two more novel coronavirus vaccines to speed up its lagging inoculation campaign.
Technical problems derailed Japan’s coronavirus vaccination booking system on Wednesday, compounding frustration over the government’s handling of new outbreaks of infections and an inoculation drive that critics say has been woefully slow.
Eighteen people have died from the COVID-19 respiratory disease outside of hospitals in Japan’s Osaka Prefecture, officials said, amid calls for tougher restrictions on movement to halt a fourth wave of infections ahead of the Olympics.
Japanese business leaders and a Nobel-prizewinning biologist called upon the government to reform its vaccination programme, including allowing drive-through inoculations, as the nation struggles to contain a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highly infectious strain of coronavirus first identified in the U.K. — N501Y — now accounts for a third of new infections
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday approved stricter measures to stamp out soaring coronavirus cases for Tokyo, Okinawa and Kyoto — effective Monday — as variants pose a fresh threat to a public already frazzled by monthslong restrictions.
Surveys show wide interest among county’s residents in being inoculated
South Korea launched its COVID-19 inoculation campaign on Friday, with shots to be administered in some 200 nursing homes, in an effort that officials call the first step in returning the country to more normal life.
Thailand will start vaccinating priority groups including health workers against COVID-19 by the end of this week, its prime minister said on Tuesday, a day ahead of the arrival of the country’s first coronavirus vaccines.
– In the city where the pathogen was first detected, shoppers make last-minute purchases for family celebrations
– It is a contrast with last year when hospitals overflowed with the sick and dying
