Covid-19: Top developments worldwide March 28
China recorded a small increase in reported Covid-19 cases Monday as compared to the previous day even as Shanghai, one of its largest cities, went into lockdown mode in an attempt to get ahead of the spread of infections.
Here are the latest updates from around the world.
Shanghai to lock down in two stages for testing as Covid cases spike
China’s financial hub of Shanghai said on Sunday it would lock down the city in two stages to carry out Covid-19 testing over a nine-day period, after it reported a new daily record for asymptomatic infections. Authorities said they would divide Shanghai into two for the exercise, using the Huangpu River that passes through the city as a guide. Dricts to the east of the river, and some to its west, will be locked down and tested between March 28 and April 1. The remaining areas will be locked down and tested between April 1 and 5.
Israeli PM Bennett tests positive for Covid-19
Israeli Prime Miner Naftali Bennett has tested positive for Covid-19 but feels well and will continue to work while self-isolating at home, his office said on Monday.
Second vaccine booster significantly lowers Covid death rate: Israeli study
Senior citizens who received a second booster of the Pfizer–BioNTech Covid-19 vaccination had a 78% lower mortality rate from the disease than those who got one only, a study from Israel showed on Sunday. The country’s largest healthcare provider, Clalit Health Services, said the 40-day study included more than half a million people aged 60 to 100.
Hong Kong health authorities report 8,037 new Covid cases
Hong Kong reported 8,037 new Covid-19 infections on Sunday and 151 deaths, the second day in a row below 10,000 cases, as the global financial hub gradually starts to open up, with the government announcing an easing of restrictions from April.
Medicago’s tobacco ties jeopardize growth of its Covid shot
Canadian vaccine maker Medicago’s Covid-19 vaccine, approved last month in Canada, is facing limited growth in the near-term after the World Health Organization said it would not review the vaccine because the company is partly owned US-Swiss tobacco company Philip Morris, health experts say. The WHO said at a briefing this month and in a follow-up statement to Reuters that it has not accepted an application for the vaccine because of its 2005 public health treaty requiring no involvement with any company that produces or promotes tobacco-based products.
FDA says current dose of GSK-Vir Covid therapy unlikely to work against BA.2 variant
The U health regulator said on Friday the current authorised dose of GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology’s Covid-19 antibody therapy is unlikely to be effective against the Omicron BA.2 variant. The agency pulled its authorisation for the therapy, sotrovimab, in much of the US northeast where the subvariant is dominant. The extremely contagious BA.2 causes about one-in-three Covid-19 cases in the United States now, according to government data earlier this week.
(Compiled from Reuters and Associated Press updates)
