HONG KONG — In their relentless drive to eliminate the coronavirus, authorities in China and Hong Kong have zeroed in on new targets: international mail and hamsters. Faced with persistent outbreaks that have threatened to undermine Beijing’s strict Covid-19 strategy and overshadow next month’s Winter Olympics, officials turned to new measures this week that have drawn doubts and dismay from local residents and experts alike.Residents in Beijing and other cities have been urged to beware of items sent from abroad, after officials said the capital’s first case of the more transmissible... Read More

Only “selected” spectators will be permitted at next month’s Beijing Olympics because of the coronavirus pandemic, organizers said Monday.Beijing had already announced that no fans from outside the country would be permitted at the events, and had not offered tickets to the general public.Monday’s announcement posted on the organizing committee’s website confirmed expectations that the Winter Games would have few onlookers at the venues, under even more strict conditions than imposed during last year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo.China has largely avoided major virus outbreaks with a regimen... Read More

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s president announced Monday he has come down with Covid-19 a second time, as coronavirus infections spike in Mexico and virus tests become scarce.President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wrote that he tested positive, after he had sounded hoarse at a morning news briefing. He contracted Covid and recovered from it the first time in early 2021.“Even though the symptoms are light, I will remain isolated and only work from the office and hold on-line meetings until further notice,” the president wrote in his social media accounts. “In the meantime, Interior Secretary... Read More

Officials in Xi’an have been punished after reports emerged of people being denied lifesaving medical treatment and running low on food amid a strict coronavirus lockdown in the Chinese city of 13 million. Xi’an, an ancient capital and now major center of industry 600 miles southwest of Beijing, was locked down late last month amid China’s worst outbreak of the coronavirus since it was first detected in Wuhan in late 2019. Residents have been told to stay home except to get tested for Covid. In recent days, outrage over the lockdown conditions has swelled as people shared personal stories... Read More

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Friday that it would skip next month’s Beijing Olympics because of the coronavirus pandemic and actions by “hostile forces,” a largely redundant statement since the country has already been barred from the Games by the International Olympic Committee.In September, the committee suspended North Korea through 2022 for refusing to send a team to the Tokyo Summer Games, citing the pandemic. IOC President Thomas Bach said at the time that individual athletes from North Korea who qualify to compete in Beijing could still be accepted. There is no word of that... Read More

As the United States prepared to ring in 2022, the nation has set yet another record for daily coronavirus cases, New Year’s Eve celebrations were scaled back and travel plans were disrupted because of the pandemic. The U.S. marked a record 584,545 new coronavirus cases Thursday in a week when the country broke new case records for three days straight, according to an NBC News data analysis. On Thursday, the 7-day rolling average of new daily coronavirus cases was a record 342,768, the third day in a row of a record seven-day average. Before this week, the highest 7-day average was Jan. 11,... Read More

JERUSALEM — Israel has begun delivering a fourth vaccine dose for people most vulnerable to coronavirus, becoming one of the first countries to do so as it prepares for a wave of infections driven by the omicron variant.Israel, which led a world beating vaccination program in 2020, will administer a fourth dose of the vaccine to individuals with weakened immune systems along with elderly residents and employees in care homes.The rollout of the fourth dose began at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center Friday morning and was administered to heart and lung transplant patients.The country is currently... Read More

HONK KONG — Another year, another variant.Much like last year, 2021 is ending with the emergence of a new form of the coronavirus, dashing hopes that the end of the pandemic might be in sight.And although so far the new variant, omicron, seems to have milder symptoms and lower rates of hospitalization and death, many countries around the world are erring on the side of caution and scaling back plans to ring in the New Year.There will be no traditional displays above most of the world’s landmarks, with fireworks cancelled over Paris’s Arc de Triomphe, London’s Big Ben and the Petronas Towers... Read More

The United States, Britain, France, Australia and other countries are shattering records for daily reported coronavirus cases as the highly transmissible omicron upended hopes of a return to some version of normality in parts of the world.The “overall risk related to the new variant … remains very high,” the World Health Organization said in its weekly epidemiological report Tuesday, citing “consistent evidence” that omicron has a growth advantage over the delta variant, which remains dominant in parts of the world.It came as the U.S. hit a record 7-day case average of 262,034 cases on... Read More

ROME — Pope Francis prayed Saturday for an end to the coronavirus pandemic, using his Christmas Day address to urge health care for all, vaccines for the poor and for dialogue to prevail in resolving the world’s conflicts.Amid a record-setting rise in Covid-19 cases in Italy this week, only a few thousand people flocked to a rain-soaked St. Peter’s Square for Francis’ annual Christmas address. Normally, the square would be packed with tens of thousands of holiday well-wishers.At least they could gather this year. Italy’s 2020 holiday lockdown forced Francis to deliver a televised address... Read More