COVID-19 Updates
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North Korea slams US over Beijing Olympics in letter of support to China
North Korea blamed “hostile forces” and the worldwide pandemic for not being able to attend the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing and accused the United States and its allies of…
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Coronavirus: Canadian ‘idiots’ on party flight to Mexico stranded as airlines refuse to fly them home
Passengers who filmed themselves partying without masks aboard a chartered flight from Montreal to Mexico face being stranded after three airlines refused to fly them home to Canada.Sunwing Airlines cancelled…
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Omicron coronavirus variant may be less severe, but don’t call it ‘mild’, says WHO
The more infectious Omicron variant of Covid-19 appears to produce less severe disease than the globally dominant Delta strain, but should not be categorised as “mild”, World Health Organization (WHO)…
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Omicron coronavirus: Hong Kong’s new social-distancing restrictions leave businesses, residents counting the financial and emotional costs
Hong Kong’s pandemic-stricken industries have ramped up their appeals for financial compensation or fresh subsidies following the government’s sudden revival of strict social-distancing rules, as businesses warn that losses over…
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Hong Kong’s banks including HSBC, Standard Chartered ask staff to work from home in A-B teams as Omicron tears through Covid-19 defence with threat of a fifth wave of infections
Several banks in Hong Kong have temporarily split their staff into A-B teams to let employees work from home as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus tears through some of…
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Covid-19 in China: woman says father died of heart attack after being denied admission to Xian hospital
A woman in China has said her father died of a heart attack after being refused entry to a hospital in the northwestern city of Xian amid tight Covid-19 controls.…
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Cathay Pacific cargo, passenger capacity to be slashed following Hong Kong’s imposition of new flight bans, rules for aircrew
Cathay Pacific Airways’ cargo capacity will be reduced by more than two-thirds and its existing passenger flights by some 80 per cent following Hong Kong’s recent imposition of a two-week…
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‘Many musicians have given up on Hong Kong’: fallout from Omicron curbs hits concert and theatre performers and organisers hard
The abrupt closure of performance venues as part of measures to stop the Omicron Covid-19 variant’s spread in Hong Kong has sent shock waves through the city’s embattled cultural sector.Scores…
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Omicron: suspected Covid-19 patient believed to be among 100 guests at birthday party that included Hong Kong officials, civil servants
A suspected Covid-19 patient is believed to be among 100 guests at a recent birthday party of the head of a mainland Chinese economic agency in Hong Kong, with officials…
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Coronavirus cases rise in Henan as China’s latest outbreak spreads
The central province of Henan has reported a jump in new Covid-19 cases, as China’s latest outbreak spreads beyond the tourist city of Xian in neighbouring Shaanxi.There were 64 new…