Category: Featured
EU Moves Toward Requiring Covid Tests for Passengers From China
(Bloomberg) The European Union is moving toward an approach to the rampant Covid outbreak in China that may include masks and pre-flight testing requirements on flights from the country. EU health advisers agreed Tuesday on a draft opinion that includes masking recommendations and increased wastewater monitoring, while also suggesting a discussion on Covid testing, according […]
Jan 3, 2023
China media plays down COVID severity as WHO seeks detail on variants
(Reuters) State media in China played down the severity of a surge of COVID-19 infections ahead of a briefing on Tuesday by its scientists to the World Health Organization, which was hoping for a “detailed discussion” on the evolution of the virus. China’s abrupt U-turn on COVID controls on Dec. 7, as well as the […]
Jan 3, 2023
Bodies Pile Up in China as Covid Surge Overwhelms Crematoriums
(Bloomberg) For five days the elderly Chinese lady’s corpse lay decomposing in the Shanghai house she shared with her family before a hearse finally arrived to take away her remains. “We’re lucky it’s the cold winter time,” a relative said last week at Shanghai’s Longhua Funeral Home, recounting the ordeal as the family waited their […]
Jan 3, 2023
COVID Testing Company Missed Nearly All Positive Cases
(MedPageToday) Northshore Clinical Labs’ PCR test was ultimately found to have missed 96% of positive COVID-19 cases on a university campus in Nevada last year, but early concerns raised by state epidemiologists went unheeded as the company aggressively pursued government customers. When students from a Nevada school district began receiving conflicting test results from their […]
Dec 28, 2022
U.S. to impose new coronavirus testing requirements for travelers from China
(Washington Post) U.S. health officials Wednesday announced new testing requirements for travelers from China, a decision based in part on concerns about the lack of data coming out of that nation, which is lifting stringent zero-covid policies even as it reduces testing and reporting, making it harder for officials to identify new variants. The requirement […]
Dec 28, 2022
After years with little covid, videos show China is now getting hit hard
(Washington Post) [link to video here] Emergency departments are overflowing, with patients sleeping in hallways until they can be evaluatedor taken to a hospital room. In at least one hospital, half of doctors and nurses were absent because they had tested positive for covid. These and other alarming scenes in China’s medical facilities have been […]
Dec 27, 2022
China will end its COVID-19 quarantine requirement for incoming passengers
(NPR) China will drop a COVID-19 quarantine requirement for passengers arriving from abroad starting Jan. 8, the National Health Commission announced Monday in the latest easing of the country’s once-strict virus-control measures. Currently, arriving passengers must quarantine for five days at a hotel, followed by three days at home. That is down from as much […]
Dec 27, 2022
‘Tragic Battle’: On the Front Lines of China’s Covid Crisis
(NYT) Medical staff are outnumbered and working sick as the nation’s health care system buckles under the strain of a spiraling crisis. Slumped in wheelchairs and lying on gurneys, the sickened patients crowd every nook and cranny of the emergency department at the hospital in northern China. They cram into the narrow spaces between elevator […]
Dec 27, 2022
COVID infections surge in Beijing causing hospital shortages
(NPR) AUDIO For nearly three years, China focused on keeping the virus outside of its borders. But now COVID is spreading largely unchecked across the country, leaving hospitals filled and medical resources scarce. In Beijing, so many people are ill, there aren’t enough ambulances. NPR’s Emily Feng brings us this report.
Dec 27, 2022
China’s COVID-19 surge raises odds of new coronavirus mutant
(AP) Could the COVID-19 surge in China unleash a new coronavirus mutant on the world? Scientists don’t know but worry that might happen. It could be similar to omicron variants circulating there now. It could be a combination of strains. Or something entirely different, they say. “China has a population that is very large and […]
Dec 27, 2022
