COVID-19
Covid-19: Bangladesh logs 9 more cases
Bangladesh reported nine more Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours till Tuesday morning.
With the new number, the country's total caseload rose to 2,037,386, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
However, the official death toll from the disease remained unchanged at 29,441 as no new fatalities were reported.
Read more: China halts visas for Japan, South Korea in COVID-19 spat
The daily case test positivity rose to 0.42 percent from Monday's 0.38 percent as 2,164 samples were tested.
The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.45 percent while the recovery rate rose to 97.67 percent.
Bangladesh reported its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 in 2021 and daily fatalities of 264 on August 5 of the same year.
Bangladesh sees 10 more Covid cases, zero death
Bangladesh reported 10 more Covid cases in the 24 hours to Saturday morning.
With the new number, the country's total caseload rose to 2,037,356, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
However, the official death toll from the disease remained unchanged at 29,441 as no new fatalities were reported.
The daily case test positivity dropped to 0.50 percent from Friday's 0.51 percent as 2,012 samples were tested.
The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.45 percent while the recovery rate rose to 97.65 percent.
Bangladesh reported its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 in 2021 and daily fatalities of 264 on August 5 of the same year.
Covid-19: Bangladesh reports another death, 22 cases
Bangladesh reported another Covid-linked death with 22 more cases in 24 hours till Wednesday morning.
With the new numbers, the fatalities rose to 29,441 and the caseload to 2,037,327, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The daily case test positivity rose to 0.95 per cent from Tuesday's 0.56 per cent as 2,317 samples were tested during the period.
The latest deceased was a man from Sylhet.
Read more: China halts visas for Japan, South Korea in COVID-19 spat
The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.45 percent while recovery rate rose to 97.63 percent, it added.
In December last year, the country reported seven Covid-linked deaths and 540 cases.
Bangladesh registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 in 2021 and daily fatalities of 264 on August 5 the same year.
China halts visas for Japan, South Korea in COVID-19 spat
Chinese embassies suspended issuing new visas for South Koreans and Japanese on Tuesday in apparent retaliation for COVID-19 testing requirements recently imposed by those countries on travelers from China.
The embassies in Tokyo and Seoul announced the suspensions in brief online notices.
The Seoul notice, posted on the embassy's WeChat social media account, said the ban would continue until South Korea lifts its “discriminatory entry measures” against China. The announcement covered tourist, business and some other visas.
China's Foreign Ministry threatened countermeasures last week against countries that had announced new virus testing requirements for travelers from China. At least 10 in Europe, North America and Asia have done so recently, with officials expressing concern about a lack of information about rapidly spreading virus outbreaks in China.
It wasn’t clear why South Korea and Japan were targeted, and whether the suspensions would be expanded to other countries that have imposed virus testing on passengers from China.
China's embassy in Tokyo said only that visa issuance had been suspended. The announcements appeared to apply only to new applicants, with nothing about people currently holding visas.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that “our government’s step to strengthen anti-virus measures on passengers arriving from China is based on scientific and objective evidence. We have provided information to the international community in a transparent manner and we have communicated with the Chinese side in advance.”
A Japanese Foreign Ministry official said earlier that it would be “regrettable” if restrictions were imposed. The official spoke on customary condition of anonymity.
A withholding of visas from South Korean or Japanese businesspeople could delay a hoped-for revival of commercial activity and potential new investment following China’s abrupt lifting of anti-virus controls last month.
Business groups had warned earlier that global companies were shifting investment plans away from China because it was too hard for foreign executives to visit under the pandemic controls. A handful of foreign auto and other executives have visited China over the past three years, but many companies have relied on Chinese employees or managers already in the country to run their operations.
A South Korean restaurant owner in Beijing said the announcement forced friends to postpone plans to visit China. He spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern his business might be affected. He added that he is preparing to renew his Chinese work visa and doesn’t know whether that will be affected.
Read more: Is China sharing enough COVID-19 information?
In a phone call on Monday before the visa suspension was announced, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang “expressed concern” about the measures taken by South Korea to his counterpart, Foreign Minister Park Jin. Qin said he “hopes that the South Korean side will uphold an objective and scientific attitude."
China's move appeared to be grounded in its demands that its citizens be treated the same as those of other countries. About a dozen countries have followed the U.S. in requiring either a negative test before departing China, a virus test on arrival at the airport, or both.
“Regrettably, a handful of countries, in disregard of science and facts and the reality at home, have insisted on taking discriminatory entry restriction measures targeting China," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Tuesday. "China firmly rejected this and took reciprocal measures."
He did not respond directly when asked if new visas had been suspended for South Koreans and Japanese, saying only that he had “made it very clear."
The World Health Organization and several nations have accused China of withholding data on its outbreak. A WHO official said Tuesday that t he agency sees no immediate threat for the European region from China's outbreak, but that more information is needed.
China’s ambassador to Australia said the response of those nations to China’s COVID-19 outbreak hadn’t been proportionate or constructive.
Xiao Qian told reporters in Canberra that China had shifted its strategy late last year from preventing infections to preventing severe cases. He said countries should use a science-based response.
“Entry restrictions, if they’re targeted at China, they’re unnecessary,” the ambassador told reporters.
Once-cordial ties between South Korea and China, its biggest trading partner, soured after Beijing targeted businesses, sports teams and even K-pop groups to protest deployment of an advanced U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea.
China fought on the side of North Korea in the 1950-1953 war and has remained a supporter of the North despite its missile launches and nuclear tests, and has opposed further sanctions against Kim Jong Un's government.
China abruptly reversed its strict pandemic containment requirements last month in response to what it says was the changing nature of the outbreak. That came after three years of lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing that prompted rare politically tinged protests in the streets in Beijing and other major cities.
The most optimistic forecasts say China’s business and consumer activity might revive as early as the first quarter of this year. But before that happens, entrepreneurs and families face a painful squeeze from a surge in virus cases that has left employers without enough healthy workers and kept wary customers away from shopping malls, restaurants, hair salons and gyms.
The decision by Xi's government to end controls that shut down factories and kept millions of people at home will move up the timeline for economic recovery but might disrupt activity this year as businesses scramble to adapt, forecasters say.
Read more: EU, Beijing heading for collision over China’s COVID crisis
China is now facing a surge in cases and hospitalizations in major cities and is bracing for a further spread into less developed areas with the start of the Lunar New Year travel rush, set to accelerate in the coming days. While international flights are still reduced, authorities say they expect domestic rail and air journeys will double over the same period last year.
Covid-19: Bangladesh logs 21 more cases
Bangladesh registered 21 more Covid cases in 24 hours till Tuesday morning.
With the new numbers, the country's total caseload rose to 2,037,305, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Read more: EU, Beijing heading for collision over China’s COVID crisis
However, the official death toll from the disease remained unchanged at 29,440 as no new fatalities were reported.
The daily case test positivity dropped to 0.56 per cent from Monday's 0.72 per cent as 3,763 samples were tested during the period.
The mortality and recovery rates remained unchanged at 1.45 percent and 97.62 per cent, respectively, it added.
Read more: Beds run out at Beijing hospital as COVID brings more sick
In December last year, the country reported seven Covid-linked deaths and 540 cases.
Bangladesh registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 in 2021 and daily fatalities of 264 on August 5 the same year.
China economy recovering but hampered by virus outbreaks
Wang Jian is anxious to get back to work teaching basketball to children now that China has lifted anti-COVID-19 restrictions. But his gym in the eastern city of Shenyang has been closed for a month because all its coaches are infected.
The most optimistic forecasts say China's business and consumer activity might revive as early as the first quarter of this year. But before that happens, entrepreneurs and families face a painful squeeze from a surge in virus cases that has left employers without enough healthy workers and kept wary customers away from shopping malls, restaurants, hair salons and gyms.
“I hope the situation will turn around in March or April with no more COVID shocks,” said Wang, 33, who went without a paycheck for four months when the gym closed during virus outbreaks. “If parents worry about possible reinfection, they simply won’t send their children for training.”
The abrupt decision by President Xi Jinping's government to end controls that shut down factories and kept millions of people at home will move up the timeline for economic recovery, but might disrupt activity this year as businesses scramble to adapt, forecasters say.
“This will be a bumpy process,” said Dong Chen, chief Asia economist for Pictet Wealth Management.
“People still are struggling with infections, but we think this could be temporary,” Chen said. “Broadly, we think this is a positive surprise.”
The decision to accelerate China's reopening is a boost for the global economy at a time when activity in the United States and Europe is weakening after repeated interest rate hikes by central banks to cool surging inflation.
It is likely to help revive auto sales and propel demand for imported consumer goods, oil and food in China, one of the biggest global markets. Countries including Thailand with big tourism industries look forward to an influx of Chinese travelers.
The World Bank and private sector forecasters have cut estimates of China's economic growth last year to as low as 2.2% due to the infection spike that started in early October and challenged Beijing's “zero-COVID” goal of isolating every case. The International Monetary Fund expects a recovery to 4.4% this year, but that still would be among the lowest levels of the past three decades.
“Zero-COVID” kept China’s infection numbers low but shut down Shanghai and other industrial cities last year for two months, disrupting manufacturing and shipping. Business groups said global companies were shifting investment plans away from China because rules that required visitors from abroad to quarantine for a week kept executives from visiting.
The ruling party promised Nov. 11 to reduce the cost and disruption. A series of surprise announcements rolled back travel and other restrictions that health experts and economists had expected to persist through mid-2023.
On Sunday, Beijing began allowing travelers to enter China without quarantines. The government has yet to say when China will resume issuing tourist visas.
“The sudden, chaotic way in which pandemic policies have been changed means that growth will be hampered in new ways,” Daniel H. Rosen, Charlie Vest and Rogan Quinn of Rhodium Group said in a report. High numbers of infections make it "realistic to expect production to be hampered for a substantial part of 2023.”
Forecasters say the economy probably contracted in the final quarter of 2022 as virus case numbers rose and retail spending and trade fell.
Exports shrank after American and European consumer demand was depressed by interest rate hikes. That forces Chinese planners to make up for lost foreign sales by trying to boost consumer demand.
“The key to rapid economic recovery" is to "convert income into consumption and investment as much as possible,” one of the country's most prominent financial figures, Guo Shuqing, the ruling party secretary for the central bank, told the official Xinhua News Agency.
Informal measures show public and business activity improving but weak.
This month’s subway passenger numbers in 10 large cities recovered to 55-60% of the level a year ago, up from 30-35% last month, according to Macquarie Group. Roads are growing more congested.
Foreign companies that see China as a critical market welcome the change but are struggling, said Eric Zheng, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.
“Companies were not prepared for this abrupt change,” said Zheng, whose group has about 1,000 member companies. “It is hard to manage a workforce when a lot of people are getting sick.”
Still, “things are almost going back to normal,” Zheng said. “Once life goes back to normal and consumers are out shopping, things will definitely improve.”
Another business group, the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said more than 70% of companies that responded to a poll last month expressed confidence the infection wave would last no more than three months and end early this year.
The ruling party is trying to nudge up growth by easing restrictions on financing for real estate and winding down anti-monopoly and data security crackdowns on tech companies that caused their stock market values to plunge.
In December, regulators announced Ant Group, an online financial company that was forced to call off a planned multibillion-dollar public stock offering in 2020, would be allowed to raise 10.5 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) for its consumer unit, more than doubling its capital.
“These measures are helpful, but far from enough to move the needle,” Larry Hu and Yuxiao Zhang of Macquarie said in a report.
Hotels, restaurants and other businesses hoping for a boost from this month’s Lunar New Year holiday, the busiest tourism season, suffered a blow when some local authorities appealed to migrant workers to skip traditional visits to their hometowns that might spread infections.
The operator of the 12-room Oriental Hotel in the eastern city of Hefei, who would give only his family name, Huang, said he is losing 4,000 yuan ($550) a month. His occupancy rate is 20%, well below the 50% needed to break even.
“People stay home and maybe they worry about possible reinfection,” Huang said. “If it stays the same for another year, I will give up running the hotel.”
The National Health Commission stopped announcing case numbers last month, but reports by city and county governments suggest hundreds of millions of people might have been infected.
The Zhengtai Restaurant in the northwestern city of Jinzhong closed for two weeks because almost all its 57 employees were infected, according to the manager, Chang Zhigang. Chang said the business has lost about 2 million yuan ($300,000) per year since the start of the pandemic.
“We don’t expect the situation to turn around within a short time, given there are very few people on the street,” Chang said.
China suspends visas for South Koreans in virus retaliation
China suspended visas Tuesday for South Koreans to come to the country for tourism or business in apparent retaliation for COVID-19 testing requirements on Chinese travelers.
A brief notice posted online by the Chinese Embassy in Seoul said the ban would apply until South Korea lifted its “discriminatory measures on entrance by China” to the country.
No other details were given, although China has threated to retaliate against countries that require travelers from China to show a negative test result for COVID-19 taken within the previous 48 hours.
China requires the same measures for travelers entering the country.
Beijing has been accused by the World Health Organization of withholding data on the state of the outbreak in China, and around a dozen countries have followed the U.S. in requiring negative tests for travelers coming from China.
China abruptly reversed its strict pandemic containment requirements last month in response to what it says was the changing nature of the outbreak. That came after three years of lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing that prompted protests on the street in Beijing and other major cities not seen in three decades.
The most optimistic forecasts say China’s business and consumer activity might revive as early as the first quarter of this year. But before that happens, entrepreneurs and families face a painful squeeze from a surge in virus cases that has left employers without enough healthy workers and kept wary customers away from shopping malls, restaurants, hair salons and gyms.
The abrupt decision by President Xi Jinping’s government to end controls that shut down factories and kept millions of people at home will move up the timeline for economic recovery, but might disrupt activity this year as businesses scramble to adapt, forecasters say.
Global Covid cases near 669 million
The overall number of global Covid-19 cases is gradually nearing 669 million, with the sudden surge of the virus’ Omicron sub-variant in Asia and some other parts of the world.
According to latest global data, the total case count mounted to 668,664,437 while the death toll from the virus reached 6,713,700 on Monday morning.
The US has recorded 103,086,927 cases so far, while 1,121,097 people have died from the virus in the country, both highest counts around the world.
Read more: China suspends social media accounts of over 1,000 critics of govt’s Covid-19 policies
India reported 153 new cases of Covid-19 on Sunday, taking the caseload to 44,681,170.
With no deaths reported across the country during this period, India’s Covid death toll remained static at 530,720.
Meanwhile, France has registered 39,407,727 Covid-19 cases so far, occupying the third position, while 162,643 people have died in the country, as per the Worldometer.
Covid situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh registered 17 more Covid cases in 24 hours till Sunday morning.
With the new numbers, the country's total caseload rose to 2,037,267, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Read more: Is China sharing enough COVID-19 information?
However, the official death toll from the disease remained unchanged at 29,440 as no new fatalities were reported.
Covid-19: Bangladesh reports 17 more cases
Bangladesh registered 17 more Covid cases in 24 hours till Sunday morning.
With the new numbers, the country's total caseload rose to 2,037,267, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
However, the official death toll from the disease remained unchanged at 29,440 as no new fatalities were reported.
The daily case test positivity rose to 0.84 per cent from Saturday's 0.39 per cent as 2030samples were tested during the period.
The mortality and recovery rates remained unchanged at 1.45 percent and 97.61 per cent, respectively, it added.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh registers another death, 23 cases
In December last year, the country reported seven Covid-linked deaths and 540 cases.
Bangladesh registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 in 2021 and daily fatalities of 264 on August 5 the same year.
Chinese travelers rush to take advantage of reopening
After two years of separation from his wife in mainland China, Hong Kong resident Cheung Seng-bun made sure he was among the first to cross the border following the reopening of crossing points Sunday.
The ability of residents of the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city to cross over is one of the most visible signs of China’s easing of border restrictions, with travelers arriving from abroad also no longer required to undergo quarantine.
“I’m hurrying to get back to her,” Cheung, lugging a heavy suitcase, told The Associated Press as he prepared to cross at Lok Ma Chau station.
Travelers crossing between Hong Kong and mainland China, however, are still required to show a negative COVID-19 test taken within the last 48 hours — a measure China has protested when imposed by other countries.
Read more: China suspends social media accounts of over 1,000 critics of govt’s Covid-19 policies
Hong Kong has been hard-hit by the virus, and its land and sea border checkpoints with the mainland have been largely closed for almost three years. Despite the risk of new infections, the reopening that will allow tens of thousands of people to cross each day is expected to provide a much-needed boost to Hong Kong’s tourism and retail sectors.
China's borders remain largely sealed, however, with only a fraction of the previous number of international flights arriving at major airports. That number is expected now to tick upward, with Beijing's main airport preparing to reopen arrival halls that have been quiet for most of the past three years.
China is now facing a surge in cases and hospitalizations in major cities and is bracing for a further spread into less developed areas with the start of the Lunar New Year travel rush, set to get underway in coming days. While international flights are still reduced, authorities say they expect domestic rail and air journeys will double over the same period last year, bringing overall numbers close to those of the 2019 holiday period before the pandemic hit.
China has said the testing requirements being imposed on its travelers by foreign governments — most recently Germany and Sweden — aren’t science-based and has threatened unspecified countermeasures.
Chinese health authorities publish a daily count of new cases, severe cases and deaths, but those numbers include only officially confirmed cases and use a very narrow definition of COVID-19-related deaths.
Authorities say that since the government ended compulsory testing and permitted people with mild symptoms to test themselves and convalesce at home, it can no longer provide a full picture of the state of the latest outbreak.
Read more: WHO 'continues to urge' China to share more data amid Covid surge
Government spokespeople have said the situation is under control and reject accusations from the World Health Organization and others that it is not being transparent about the number of cases and deaths or providing other crucial information on the nature of the current outbreak that could lead to the emergence of new variants.
Despite such assertions, the Health Commission on Saturday rolled out regulations for strengthened monitoring of viral mutations, including testing of urban wastewater. The lengthy rules called for increased data gathering from hospitals and local government health departments and stepped-up checks on “pneumonia of unknown causes.”
Criticism has largely focused on heavy-handed enforcement of regulations, including open-ended travel restrictions that saw people confined to their homes for weeks, sometimes sealed inside without adequate food or medical care.
Anger was also vented over the requirement that anyone who potentially tested positive or had been in contact with such a person be confined for observation in a field hospital, where overcrowding, poor food and hygiene were commonly cited.
The social and economic costs eventually prompted rare street protests in Beijing and other cities, possibly influencing the Communist Party’s decision to swiftly ease the strictest measures and reprioritize growth.
As part of the latest changes, China will also no longer bring criminal charges against people accused of violating border quarantine regulations, according to a notice issued by five government departments on Saturday.
Individuals currently in custody will be released and seized assets returned, the notice said.
The Transportation Ministry on Friday called on travelers to reduce trips and gatherings, particularly if they involve elderly people, pregnant women, small children and those with underlying conditions.