The Biden administration in May plans to end national and public health emergencies tied to the coronavirus, signaling a new approach to how the federal government views Covid almost three years after the pandemic started. Existing emergency declarations would be extended until May 11 and then expire, the White House said in a statement Monday. The advance notice is designed to give states, health care providers and hospitals enough time to adjust to the changes. The move to wind down the emergency status, first implemented by the Trump administration on Jan. 27, 2020, was announced in response... Read More

The World Health Organization is urging China to keep releasing COVID-19 data after Beijing on Saturday reported nearly 60,000 coronavirus-related deaths since Dec. 8.  Beijing’s announcement was the first official death toll since the ruling Communist Party abruptly dropped antivirus restrictions in December despite a surge in infections that flooded hospitals. That left the WHO and other governments appealing for information, while the United States, South Korea and other countries imposed controls on Chinese visitors.  A woman and children wearing face masks walk by masked travelers... Read More

HONG KONG — Hong Kong is lifting a ban on the importing of hamsters for sale, a year after it ordered more than 2,000 hamsters and other small mammals to be culled in an effort to prevent pets from spreading Covid-19 to people. “According to the newest risk assessment and current situation, this department believes that the import ban for hamsters could be lifted,” the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said in an emailed statement on Thursday.  The department said it was preparing for commercial hamster imports to resume by the middle of this month, with all imported hamsters... Read More

“Everyone has accepted it quite openly,” said one resident of Wuhan, where coronavirus cases have exploded. “People are just desperate to move in a good direction now.” Dec. 30, 2022, 11:19 AM UTC By Jennifer Jett and Olivia Guan HONG KONG — Three years after it recorded the world’s first cases of the coronavirus, the central Chinese city of Wuhan is once again besieged by Covid-19. The Chinese government’s abrupt lifting of its “zero-Covid” measures following mass protests has unleashed the virus on the world’s most populous nation, which experts say is undervaccinated and... Read More

No more monoclonal antibody treatments for Covid are available in the U.S.: The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday rescinded its authorization of bebtelovimab, a drug previously given to patients who faced a high risk of severe disease. Over the last two years, the FDA authorized six monoclonal antibody treatments for Covid, but omicron’s many subvariants rendered the drugs less effective so the FDA gradually revoked each of those authorizations. Bebtelovimab, made by Eli Lilly, was the last one standing. According to the FDA’s announcement, the drug was “not expected to neutralize... Read More

By Tuesday, streets that had swelled with protests were walled off and guarded by security personnel, some of whom searched pedestrians’ phones for images or messaging apps that could link them to the demonstrations, according to Reuters. In Beijing, police guarded the site of a protest on Sunday where people sang the Chinese national anthem, including the lyrics “Rise, people who do not wish to be slaves” and “Arise, arise, arise.” Many of the weekend protests took place on university campuses, which have historically been the birthplace of China’s political movements. Tsinghua University... Read More

TOKYO — Global shares gained Thursday, although optimism about the Federal Reserve holding back on aggressive interest rate raises was countered by some uncertainty about coronavirus restrictions in China. France’s CAC 40 edged up 0.1% in early trading to 6,685.49, while Germany’s DAX gained 0.3% to 14,474.23. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.1% to 7,475.55. The future for the Dow industrials edged 0.2% higher. The future for the S&P 500 added 0.3%. Trading has been unsteady during the holiday-shortened week. U.S. markets are closed Thursday for Thanksgiving and... Read More

TOKYO — Asian shares gained Thursday, although optimism about the Federal Reserve holding back on aggressive interest rate raises was countered by some uncertainty about coronavirus restrictions in China. Trading was relatively muted in Asia ahead of U.S. markets being closed for Thanksgiving. Benchmarks rose in early trading in Japan, Australia and South Korea, but fell in Shanghai. Oil prices fell. “A headwind for Asian markets is the COVID situation in China, where investors seem to be avoiding local assets and commodities as the country is seeing near-record numbers of COVID... Read More

BEIJING — Migrant workers in central China are fleeing one of the world’s largest iPhone factories amid a coronavirus outbreak in the surrounding city of Zhengzhou, leading local officials to hastily draw up plans to isolate them once they return to their hometowns. Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province, reported 167 locally transmitted Covid-19 cases in the seven days to Oct. 29, up from 97 infections in the prior seven-day period. Apple supplier Foxconn, based in Taiwan, currently has about 200,000 workers at its Zhengzhou complex and has not disclosed the number of infected workers, but... Read More

CAPE SOUNION, Greece — When Stelios Zompanakis quit his job at Greece’s central bank to try his luck at boat racing, friends and family pleaded with him to reconsider. Nine years later, he spends summers on the “Ikigai,” a 53-foot yacht he named after the Japanese concept of finding happiness through a life of meaning. Weeklong holiday trips on his yacht around some of the lesser-known Greek islands — Milos, Sifnos, Serifos, Kythnos and many others — were booked up through October. “The demand is insane,” said Zompanakis, who recently paced barefoot around the teak-paneled... Read More