200 years in quarantine
Crew and staff of Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airlinesspent more than 73,000 nights in quarantine hotels and the city’s Penny’s Bay Covid-19 isolation facility in 2021, the airline said on Wednesday. That adds up to the equivalent of 200 years. Aircrew spent more than 62,000 nights in quarantine hotels, while another 1,000 staff — from pilots to head office teams — were put into Penny’s Bay for more than 11,000 nights.
Hong Kong delays mass testing plan
Hong Kong authorities will focus on a vaccination drive for elderly people living at care facilities, and increase the number of hospital beds to treat patients, Lam said.
This follows suggestions from Liang Wannian, the leader of China’s National Health Commission’s Covid-19 response team who is visiting Hong Kong. It also shows the strain on the city’s healthcare facilities, with hospitals overwhelmed and morgues unable to keep up with the growing number of deaths.
Hong Kong Outbreak Peaked March 4: Professor
About 1.8-million people had become infected by March 7 during Hong Kong’s current wave of Covid-19, according to Gabriel Leung, the dean of medicine and a professor of public health at the University of Hong Kong. The city’s outbreak peaked on March 4 and daily infection numbers should drop below 1,000 by the end of April, he wrote on Twitter on March 8. About 4.3-million people will have been infected by the time the wave ends and about 5,000 people will have died, according to Leung.
China reports more than 500 cases
China’s domestic Covid-19 infections topped 500 for a third day as outbreaks widened across the country and penetrated into mega cities such as Shanghai and Beijing as well as manufacturing hubs in the southern province of Guangdong.
While cases reach levels unseen since the initial outbreak in Wuhan two years ago, health authorities in major cities have largely avoided lockdowns and mass testing. Shanghai, which saw several dozen new cases, has largely adhered to targeted restrictions, such as locking down buildings that detected cases for two days for testing. Nearly 90% of China’s 1.4-billion people have been fully vaccinated and more than one third have received booster shots.
Ontario to drop most mask mandates
Ontario in Canada is set to drop most mask mandates, including in shops, restaurants, elementary and secondary schools on March 21, the Toronto Star reported. An announcement is expected on Wednesday from Ontario’s chief medical officer of health Kieran Moore.
Malaysia reopening
Malaysia will allow quarantine-free entry for fully vaccinated travellers from April 1, ending almost two years of stringent border controls introduced to contain the Covid-19 outbreak. The reopening marks the final step in the lifting of virus curbs as Malaysia joins other southeast Asian nations in transiting to the endemic phase of the outbreak. A high vaccination rate — 64% of adults have had booster shots — has allowed the government to roll back restrictions that battered the tourism sector and pushed the economy into contraction for two quarters in 2021.
Record numbers in South Korea
South Korea had a daily record 342,446 infections on Wednesday. Critical cases also rose to a record high of 1,087. The country reported 158 coronavirus-related deaths, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The mortality rate declined to 0.18%.
Japan’s economic momentum
Japan’s economy expanded at a slower pace than first estimated last quarter, suggesting the recovery already had less momentum when the country was hit by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. GDP grew an annualised 4.6% in the three months through December, revised figures from the Cabinet Office showed on Wednesday. Economists had expected a 5.6% increase, compared with the government’s initial 5.4% estimate.
NZ cuts self-isolation period
New Zealand will reduce the isolation period for Covid-19 cases and their household contacts to seven days to get more people back to work. The period will reduce from 10 days effective on March 11 minister for Covid Response Chris Hipkins saidt.
New Zealand is facing the reality of the pandemic as Omicron takes hold, with reported daily cases exceeding 20,000 and the likelihood of thousands more unreported. City streets are quiet and many businesses are closed as staff self-isolate and people work from home.
Nursing homes requirement
The Biden administration is set on a plan to impose minimum staffing requirements on nursing homes, according to a top health official, even as industry groups said it won’t work without more funding. The staffing proposal is part of a broad agenda President Joe Biden released last week to bring greater scrutiny to a US nursing-home industry whose patients and workers have been devastated by Covid-19. More than 201,000 residents and staffers have died from Covid-19 in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Hawaii drops mask mandate
Hawaii on Tuesday became the 50th and final state to announce it will drop its universal indoor mask mandate, the New York Times reported. Masks are required indoors at schools in Hawaii, even though the state’s education department on Tuesday lifted the outdoor mask mandate on school campuses. The end of the blanket mandate marked an abrupt reversal from a week ago.
Hong Kong cases at nursing homes
Almost 70% of nursing homes have 10 or more infections, government officials said in their daily briefing Tuesday.
The virus is also roaring through disabled-care facilities, with more than 68% experiencing outbreaks. Among those who have died are a 25-year-old home resident with cerebral palsy and a person, 36, with Down Syndrome, also living in a care facility.
Despite evidence from early in the outbreak that the elderly and those in residential care environments were particularly vulnerable to the virus, Hong Kong failed to prioritise vaccination for these groups since shots became available. Fatalities in the city’s worst wave of the pandemic have been concentrated among the elderly — who had been advised to be cautious about getting the Covid-19 vaccine — with the death rate for older people who aren’t double vaccinated more than 10%.
Authorities said vaccinating the elderly is a priority.
San Francisco workers get flexibility
San Francisco employers would have to grant more flexible work arrangements to employees, including remote workers, under amendments to the Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed on Tuesday.
Employers with 20 or more workers would have to provide the flexibility if requested in writing unless it would cause undue hardship. This could include modified hours, job sharing, and a change in work location to allow more leeway in child or elder care.
Pfizer’s data
Pfizer will soon submit data to UA regulators on a fourth dose of its Covid-19 vaccine, said CEO Albert Bourla.
Bourla said he spent Tuesday morning reviewing new data from Covid-19 vaccine studies, including one looking at the effects of a fourth dose of the currently available vaccine, as well as a new formulation that will protect against multiple coronavirus variants.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
Hong Kong indefinitely postpones mass testing plan: virus update
Image: Bloomberg
Hong Kong’s plan to test the entire population for the coronavirus this month has been indefinitely postponed as the city prioritises vaccinating the elderly.
The city is making plans for the mandatory citywide test, including the timing, chief executive Carrie Lam said Wednesday in her first major briefing in two weeks.
US pushes payments
The Pentagon is reviewing whether to end increased progress payments to defence contractors, a policy started two years ago to buffer the impact of Covid-19 on subcontractors. Under the programme, $6.7bn was expedited through December.
A combined $5.3bn has been paid to the biggest contractors: Lockheed Martin , Boeing, Raytheon Technologies, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics , defence department spokesperson Jessica Maxwell said.
Adidas sees strong growth
Adidas forecast strong sales growth for the year as demand remains robust for sneakers and sports apparel in Europe and the Americas with the pandemic easing. Sales will grow by 11% to 13% on a currency-neutral basis, the German company forecast on Wednesday. That comes even as sales in Russia and former Soviet countries are expected to be cut in half due to the war in Ukraine.
Malaysia to get antiviral pill
Malaysia will receive Pfizer’s coronavirus oral antiviral pill Paxlovid at month-end as the nation seeks to expand its treatment options, health minister Khairy Jamaluddin said on Wednesday. Malaysia has procured Paxlovid to treat 110,000 Covid-19 patients, he said at an event on the weekend.
200 years in quarantine
Crew and staff of Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airlinesspent more than 73,000 nights in quarantine hotels and the city’s Penny’s Bay Covid-19 isolation facility in 2021, the airline said on Wednesday. That adds up to the equivalent of 200 years. Aircrew spent more than 62,000 nights in quarantine hotels, while another 1,000 staff — from pilots to head office teams — were put into Penny’s Bay for more than 11,000 nights.
Hong Kong delays mass testing plan
Hong Kong authorities will focus on a vaccination drive for elderly people living at care facilities, and increase the number of hospital beds to treat patients, Lam said.
This follows suggestions from Liang Wannian, the leader of China’s National Health Commission’s Covid-19 response team who is visiting Hong Kong. It also shows the strain on the city’s healthcare facilities, with hospitals overwhelmed and morgues unable to keep up with the growing number of deaths.
Hong Kong Outbreak Peaked March 4: Professor
About 1.8-million people had become infected by March 7 during Hong Kong’s current wave of Covid-19, according to Gabriel Leung, the dean of medicine and a professor of public health at the University of Hong Kong. The city’s outbreak peaked on March 4 and daily infection numbers should drop below 1,000 by the end of April, he wrote on Twitter on March 8. About 4.3-million people will have been infected by the time the wave ends and about 5,000 people will have died, according to Leung.
China reports more than 500 cases
China’s domestic Covid-19 infections topped 500 for a third day as outbreaks widened across the country and penetrated into mega cities such as Shanghai and Beijing as well as manufacturing hubs in the southern province of Guangdong.
While cases reach levels unseen since the initial outbreak in Wuhan two years ago, health authorities in major cities have largely avoided lockdowns and mass testing. Shanghai, which saw several dozen new cases, has largely adhered to targeted restrictions, such as locking down buildings that detected cases for two days for testing. Nearly 90% of China’s 1.4-billion people have been fully vaccinated and more than one third have received booster shots.
Ontario to drop most mask mandates
Ontario in Canada is set to drop most mask mandates, including in shops, restaurants, elementary and secondary schools on March 21, the Toronto Star reported. An announcement is expected on Wednesday from Ontario’s chief medical officer of health Kieran Moore.
Malaysia reopening
Malaysia will allow quarantine-free entry for fully vaccinated travellers from April 1, ending almost two years of stringent border controls introduced to contain the Covid-19 outbreak. The reopening marks the final step in the lifting of virus curbs as Malaysia joins other southeast Asian nations in transiting to the endemic phase of the outbreak. A high vaccination rate — 64% of adults have had booster shots — has allowed the government to roll back restrictions that battered the tourism sector and pushed the economy into contraction for two quarters in 2021.
Record numbers in South Korea
South Korea had a daily record 342,446 infections on Wednesday. Critical cases also rose to a record high of 1,087. The country reported 158 coronavirus-related deaths, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The mortality rate declined to 0.18%.
Japan’s economic momentum
Japan’s economy expanded at a slower pace than first estimated last quarter, suggesting the recovery already had less momentum when the country was hit by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. GDP grew an annualised 4.6% in the three months through December, revised figures from the Cabinet Office showed on Wednesday. Economists had expected a 5.6% increase, compared with the government’s initial 5.4% estimate.
NZ cuts self-isolation period
New Zealand will reduce the isolation period for Covid-19 cases and their household contacts to seven days to get more people back to work. The period will reduce from 10 days effective on March 11 minister for Covid Response Chris Hipkins saidt.
New Zealand is facing the reality of the pandemic as Omicron takes hold, with reported daily cases exceeding 20,000 and the likelihood of thousands more unreported. City streets are quiet and many businesses are closed as staff self-isolate and people work from home.
Nursing homes requirement
The Biden administration is set on a plan to impose minimum staffing requirements on nursing homes, according to a top health official, even as industry groups said it won’t work without more funding. The staffing proposal is part of a broad agenda President Joe Biden released last week to bring greater scrutiny to a US nursing-home industry whose patients and workers have been devastated by Covid-19. More than 201,000 residents and staffers have died from Covid-19 in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Hawaii drops mask mandate
Hawaii on Tuesday became the 50th and final state to announce it will drop its universal indoor mask mandate, the New York Times reported. Masks are required indoors at schools in Hawaii, even though the state’s education department on Tuesday lifted the outdoor mask mandate on school campuses. The end of the blanket mandate marked an abrupt reversal from a week ago.
Hong Kong cases at nursing homes
Almost 70% of nursing homes have 10 or more infections, government officials said in their daily briefing Tuesday.
The virus is also roaring through disabled-care facilities, with more than 68% experiencing outbreaks. Among those who have died are a 25-year-old home resident with cerebral palsy and a person, 36, with Down Syndrome, also living in a care facility.
Despite evidence from early in the outbreak that the elderly and those in residential care environments were particularly vulnerable to the virus, Hong Kong failed to prioritise vaccination for these groups since shots became available. Fatalities in the city’s worst wave of the pandemic have been concentrated among the elderly — who had been advised to be cautious about getting the Covid-19 vaccine — with the death rate for older people who aren’t double vaccinated more than 10%.
Authorities said vaccinating the elderly is a priority.
San Francisco workers get flexibility
San Francisco employers would have to grant more flexible work arrangements to employees, including remote workers, under amendments to the Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed on Tuesday.
Employers with 20 or more workers would have to provide the flexibility if requested in writing unless it would cause undue hardship. This could include modified hours, job sharing, and a change in work location to allow more leeway in child or elder care.
Pfizer’s data
Pfizer will soon submit data to UA regulators on a fourth dose of its Covid-19 vaccine, said CEO Albert Bourla.
Bourla said he spent Tuesday morning reviewing new data from Covid-19 vaccine studies, including one looking at the effects of a fourth dose of the currently available vaccine, as well as a new formulation that will protect against multiple coronavirus variants.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
READ MORE:
SA records zero Covid-19 deaths in the past 24-48 hours: NICD
Covid-19 can cause brain shrinkage, memory loss — study
China cases climb; Hong Kong exodus continues
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most read
Latest Videos