The Pigeon Express
A multi-million dollar Australian app used to track Covid-19 contacts has been decommissioned and branded “a failure” after identifying only two unique infections. Health Minister Mark Butler urged people to delete the app, calling it a “colossal waste” of taxpayer’s money. COVIDsafe was previously touted “as essential as putting on sunscreen” by former Prime Minister […]
Around 80,000 tourists are stranded in the popular resort city of Sanya on China’s tropical Hainan island after authorities announced lockdown measures to stem an outbreak of Covid-19. Public transportation was suspended and people’s movements inside the city were restricted from early Saturday morning, authorities said. Stranded tourists are required to stay for seven days […]
New Zealand has fully reopened to international visitors, lifting the last remnants of one of the toughest border regimes introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The country began reopening its borders in February with the lifting of restrictions on New Zealand citizens, followed in May by the return of tourists from more than 50 countries including […]
A health official is being investigated for vaccinating 30 students with a single syringe in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The incident took place in a school in Sagar district where children were being given Covid-19 vaccines. India’s health ministry mandates a “one needle, one syringe, only one time” protocol for Covid-19 vaccines. […]
Two newly published studies conclude that the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, was most likely the epicenter for the coronavirus. The studies were posted online as preprints in February but have now undergone peer review and were published Tuesday in the journal Science. In one, scientists from around the world used mapping tools and […]
President Joe Biden said Thursday that he’s tested positive for Covid-19 but will continue to work while in isolation at the White House despite his mild symptoms. In a video posted to Twitter, Biden told Americans that he is “doing well” and that his symptoms continue to be mild. “I guess you heard, this morning […]
Chinese officials have apologised to residents of a locked-down community in Guangzhou for removing the locks on the doors to their homes. A number of people at the apartment complex in the southern Chinese city had recently tested positive for Covid. Officials were searching for close contacts who may have been hiding in an attempt […]
More than 2,000 tourists have been stranded in a Chinese coastal city after a surge in coronavirus cases. Officials in clocked down urban areas and ordered the mass testing of its 1.9m residents over the weekend. It comes as concerns grow about the impact of China’s “zero-Covid” policy on the world’s second largest economy. Last […]
South Korean officials have said that the disease, only referred to by North Korea as an “acute enteric epidemic” is likely to be either cholera or typhoid. North Korea has dispatched medical crews and epidemiological investigators to a province battling the outbreak of an intestinal disease, state media reported on Sunday. At least 800 families […]
The US will no longer require air travellers to have proof of a negative Covid-19 test before entering the country from abroad. Officials said they were dropping the requirement due to the “tremendous progress” the country had made in the fight against the virus. The travel industry has been pushing for an end to the […]
Authorities in Shanghai have said they will tighten the enforcement of lockdown measures, as a Covid-19 surge continues in China’s financial capital. New measures include placing electronic door alarms to prevent those infected from leaving, as well as evacuating people to disinfect their homes. Earlier this week, hundreds were forcibly evacuated from their homes to […]
Videos of clashes between police and people being forced out of their homes in Shanghai has gone viral on the internet as the city enters a third week of Covid-19 lockdown. Some residential compounds are being turned into quarantine centres. Millions are confined to their homes as Shanghai battles a fresh outbreak of the virus. […]