Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:Germany Plans 'Freedom Day' Germany will start rolling back most of its coronavirus restrictions in three stages as falling infection rates suggest the Omicron-fuelled wave has peaked, Chancellor Olaf Scholz says.
Pfizer has had an exceptionally good pandemic. The company announced that its COVID-19 vaccine brought in US$37 billion last year, making it easily the most lucrative medicine in any given year in history.That isn’t all. For a company that was until recently the least trusted company in the least trusted industrial sector in the United States (US), COVID-19 has been a PR coup.
Indonesia reported a record number of new coronavirus cases on Tuesday as the Omicron variant spreads across the Southeast Asian archipelago.The number of daily infections topped 57,000, according to the government's COVID-19 taskforce, surpassing the previous peak of 56,757 cases recorded in July last year during the country's Delta wave."The national figure for positive cases in this third wave increased sharply and faster compared to the second wave," taskforce spokesma
Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:Scholz Declines Kremlin Test German Chancellor Olaf Scholz refuses a Kremlin COVID test on a visit to Moscow just like French leader Emmanuel Macron, opting instead for a swab from one of Berlin's own doctors.No Hard Lockdown For Hong Kong Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam says said she would not impose a mainland China-style hard lockdown as the city faces its worst virus wave to date.Omicron Tidal Wave To Hit
The United Kingdom’s (UK) pledge to scrap legally enforced isolation for people in England with COVID-19 flies in the face of basic infectious disease management, which tells us to avoid infecting other people when you are infectious. It is a basic public health protection, like others we have in daily life: speed limits on roads, the banning of smoking indoors, and laws against drink driving.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) continues to be a global threat. Millions of lives have been lost to the illness and many continue to suffer ongoing symptoms long after they have cleared their initial infection.
Asia's biggest airshow takes place in Singapore this week with the aviation sector hoping 2022 marks a turning point in a region where tough curbs have left coronavirus-battered airlines struggling to recover.The event, which takes place every two years and kicks off on Tuesday, brings together hundreds of airlines, plane manufacturers and other industry players to display their latest equipment, network, and strike deals.But the pandemic – which has been the biggest crisis to ever strik
Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:Canada Bridge Reopens A key United States (US)-Canada border crossing, the Ambassador Bridge linking Ontario with Detroit, reopens almost one week after it was shut by truck driver-led protests against COVID-19 restrictions.Convoy Tries To Block Brussels Up to 500 cars, campervans and trucks from Belgium and the Netherlands taking part in a Canada-style protest prepare to block Brussels despite the convoy being banne
A China-style internet gateway scheduled to be imposed in Cambodia this week would grant the government far greater powers to conduct mass surveillance, censor and control the country’s internet, rights groups have warned.Human rights experts and media advocates fear the gateway could be a step towards the kind of censorship enforced through China’s Great Firewall – though some question what technical capacity Cambodia’s systems currently have, and say the process has lacked transparency.Unde
United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Japanese and South Korean counterparts declared their unity on confronting security threats in the Asia-Pacific Saturday, even as Washington was intensely occupied by the possibility of war in Eastern Europe.Blinken, South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa met in Honolulu for a day of talks focused on North Korea's nuclear threat as well as the China challenge.Washington org
Hundreds of headbanging metalheads rock out to the roaring guitars and thundering drums of Thai band Defying Decay, chanting along to their latest politically charged tune.The group's single "The Law 112: Secrecy and Renegades" is a raucous, defiant anthem with a taboo-defying message – challenging Thailand's draconian lese majeste laws.Criticising the royal family is punishable by up to 15 years in jail, but calls for royal reform – once completely off-limits – spilled in
For athletes at the Beijing Winter Olympics, testing positive for COVID is one of their worst nightmares, and it can begin with a knock on the door in the middle of the night."It was insane, it was a rollercoaster," said Kim Meylemans, a skeleton racer from Belgium.The 25-year-old posted a tearful video on Instagram last week from isolation which highlighted the perils of competing in the middle of a pandemic.Meylemans said she tested positive about a month ago, before arriving in t
