The provincial capital city of Haikou, with about 2.9 million residents, and two smaller towns, Ledong and Chengmai, locked down its residents on Monday, according to state media reports.At least eight cities and towns, with a combined population of about 7 million, said their residents must not leave where they live except for necessary reasons such as Covid tests, grocery shopping or essential job roles. They also suspended public transport services.The measures will stay in place for varying periods, with the shortest scheduled for a few hours, state media reports show.About 25,000 tourists... Read More

Two new studies provide more evidence that the coronavirus pandemic originated in a Wuhan, China market where live animals were sold — further bolstering the theory that the virus emerged in the wild rather than escaping from a Chinese lab.The research, published online Tuesday by the journal Science, shows that the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was likely the early epicenter of the scourge that has now killed nearly 6.4 million people around the world. Scientists conclude that the virus that causes Covid-19, SARS-CoV-2, likely spilled from animals into people two separate times.“All this... Read More

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Micronesia has most likely become the final nation in the world with a population of more than 100,000 to experience an outbreak of the coronavirus.For more than two and a half years, the Pacific archipelago managed to avoid any outbreaks thanks to its geographic isolation and border controls. Those people who flew into the country with the disease didn’t spread it because all new arrivals were required to quarantine.But as has been the case in several other Pacific nations this year, those defenses couldn’t keep out the more transmissible omicron variant forever.On... Read More

The chair of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Rep. Bennie Thompson, said Tuesday that has tested positive for the coronavirus and is experiencing “mild symptoms.””I am continuing to follow CDC guidelines and will be isolating for the next several days,” the 74-year-old Mississippi Democrat said in a statement he shared on Twitter. Thompson announced the positive result two days ahead of his panel’s final scheduled hearing, a prime-time event focusing on what former President Donald Trump was doing during the riot. The panel said... Read More

GENEVA — About 25 million children worldwide have missed out on routine immunizations against common diseases like diptheria, largely because the coronavirus pandemic disrupted regular health services or triggered misinformation about vaccines, according to the U.N.In a new report published Friday, the World Health Organization and UNICEF said their figures show 25 million children last year failed to get vaccinated against diptheria, tetanus and pertussis, a marker for childhood immunization coverage, continuing a downward trend that began in 2019.“This is a red alert for child health,”... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden twice tested negative for the coronavirus this week, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News, despite high-profile interactions with individuals who recently disclosed positive cases.The disclosure came after the top White House spokesperson, Karine Jean-Pierre, repeatedly refused to reveal the president’s testing status, a reversal from previous practice.In at times tense exchanges with reporters during the daily news briefing, Jean-Pierre said she did not have information about the president’s most recent test, but also would not commit to disclosing... Read More

WASHINGTON — After failing to get additional Covid funding from Congress, the White House will divert more than $10 billion it had planned to spend on testing and personal protective equipment to buy new vaccines and treatments it anticipates needing this fall. The redirected funds will enable the U.S. to start contract negotiations with vaccine-makers to order new shots for the fall, including next-generation vaccines the companies are in the process of developing, a White House official said in a statement.But even with the redirected funds, the U.S. still won’t have enough money to purchase... Read More

LONDON — A top official at the World Health Organization said the U.N. health agency assumes the coronavirus outbreak in North Korea is “getting worse, not better,” despite the secretive country’s recent claims that it is slowing down.At a news briefing on Wednesday, WHO’s emergencies chief Dr. Mike Ryan appealed to North Korean authorities for more information about the virus outbreak there, saying, “We have real issues in getting access to the raw data and to the actual situation on the ground.” Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics He said WHO has not received... Read More

NEW YORK — U.S. births bumped up last year, but the number of babies born was still lower than before the coronavirus pandemic.The small 1 percent increase was a bit of a rebound from 2020, the first year of the pandemic, which witnessed the largest one-year drop in the U.S. births in nearly 50 years.But there were still about 86,000 fewer births last year than in 2019, according to a government report released Tuesday.“We’re still not returning to pre-pandemic levels,” said Dr. Denise Jamieson, chair of gynecology and obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine.U.S. births had been... Read More

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for raising Covid-19 preventive measures to maximum levels as the country announced its first coronavirus infection more than two years into the pandemic.The Korean Central News Agency said Thursday tests from an unspecified number of people in the capital, Pyongyang, confirmed that they were infected with the omicron variant.Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics The agency said Kim called a meeting of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party’s Politburo where members decided to raise its anti-virus measures.During... Read More