Kamala Harris tests positive for COVID, says White House

US Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday but is asymptomatic and not considered a current close contact of President Joe Biden, the White House said.

"Today, Vice President Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on rapid and PCR tests. She has exhibited no symptoms, will isolate and continue to work from the vice president's residence," said Harris' press secretary, Kirsten Allen.

"She has not been a close contact to the president or first lady due to their respective recent travel schedules," Allen said, adding that Harris would "return to the White House when she tests negative."

Harris, 57, is the latest in a rash of cases sweeping through the Washington elite.

Her husband, Doug Emhoff, came down with Covid in March, although Harris herself remained negative.

As infections from the virulent, but dramatically less dangerous, omicron variant of the coronavirus mount, the White House has publicly aired the possibility of the 79-year-old Biden testing positive while downplaying any potential fallout.

"It is certainly possible that he will test positive for COVID, and he is vaccinated, he is boosted and protected from the most severe strains of the virus," White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said earlier this month.

High-profile cases in Washington recently include White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who contracted COVID in March and also last year, as well as House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who comes after Harris in the line of succession to the presidency.

In October 2020, before vaccines were available, then president Donald Trump spent three days in hospital receiving emergency treatment for COVID-19, which he had told Americans was not a danger.

More than 900,000 people in the United States have now died from COVID-19, which at its peak killed over 3,000 a day. Currently about 300 to 400 people die from COVID every day in the world's richest country.

Agence France-Presse

Singapore to drop all COVID tests for fully vaccinated travelers

Singapore will drop all Covid-19 tests for fully vaccinated travellers while further easing domestic restrictions in an "important milestone" as it forges ahead with its plan to live with the virus.

Currently, those travelling to the city state are required to take a pre-departure test two days before arrival but this rule will be dropped from April 26.

"With this move, it will mean that fully vaccinated and well travellers will not require any tests to enter Singapore," the health ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Joy, free beer, parties: Singapore makes post-Covid shift, but many remain wary

Tourists coming into Singapore will also be allowed to pay for Moderna Covid-19 jabs.

Domestically, more restrictions will also be relaxed from next Tuesday - bringing the country almost back to the state of affairs before the pandemic.

Current limits capping social groups to 10 will be removed, all workers can return to the workplace, and safe distancing will no longer be required. The number of places people are required to use the "TraceTogether" contact-tracing application will also be slashed.

"Today is really a happy day that marks a very important milestone," health minister Ong Ye Kung said. "We know the danger is of course, not over, but we can all breathe easier now."

The city state, with one of the world's highest vaccination rates, has progressively relaxed its pandemic restrictions. The health ministry reported that the seven-day moving average of daily infections had fallen from 18,300 at its peak to under 3,100 in the past week. Hospitalisation numbers have also dipped to about 266.

Lawrence Wong, the country's finance minister and a co-chair of the virus task force, stressed that while the outdoor mask mandate had been lifted, it was still necessary to retain the measure for indoor settings.

"Mask wearing is effective and it will be one of the last few measures that we will do away with," he said.

Hong Kong to allow non-residents to fly into city from May 1

Just last month, Singapore took its most decisive step yet in reopening its borders by allowing all fully vaccinated travellers - from any country or region - to enter quarantine-free.

It also removed the requirement for on-arrival Covid-19 tests.

Authorities expect the move to boost air passenger volumes to at least 50 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. The civil aviation authority reported that numbers were at 31 per cent last week, with particularly strong traffic growth to and from Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

Singapore's move to remove pre-departure testing will make travelling almost like it was during the pre-pandemic era. Other countries in Southeast Asia that rely heavily on tourism have also started revising their testing guidelines.

Thailand on Friday announced that it would replace its mandatory on-arrival PCR test, to a voluntary self-administered antigen swab.

Singapore aims to be Asia's busiest airport as Hong Kong delays easing travel curbs

Wong, who last week was given the nod by the ruling People's Action Party as the putative successor to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said that the easing of measures was a "well deserved breather after two very difficult years" of battling the pandemic.

"But let's always remember we are getting closer to the finish line, but the race is not over," he said.

Copyright (c) 2022. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hong Kong foreign domestic workers 'abandoned' in COVID crisis

Hong Kong's foreign domestic workers are being "abandoned" in the current coronavirus wave sweeping the city, with some forced to sleep rough or being denied treatment after testing positive, charities warned Friday.

The Chinese financial hub is currently in the throes of its worst-ever coronavirus outbreak, registering thousands of confirmed cases a day as hospitals reach breaking point.

Hong Kongers live in one of the world's most densely packed cities and rely on some 370,000 foreign domestic workers, the vast majority women from the Philippines and Indonesia who cook, clean, and look after their families.

Foreign domestic workers must live with their employers, cannot swap jobs easily, and are only entitled to one day off a week.

On Friday a coalition of groups representing migrant workers said the already grim pandemic conditions have plunged further in the current outbreak.

Some workers had been sacked by employers after testing positive, forcing them to sleep outdoors. Others found themselves denied treatment at hospitals because they had lost their jobs.

Eni Lestari, an Indonesian domestic worker and activist, said her peers had been on the "frontlines" helping families throughout the pandemic.

"Now we are being neglected, we are being denied services, we are being abandoned," she told reporters. 

"We are very alarmed and we are very angry," she added.

- Calls for compassion -

Activists said many Hong Kong employers were refusing to let their domestic workers leave often cramped apartments even on their day off, while some had been fired for taking their rest day. 

"For us staying home means we have to work," said Dolores Balladares Pallaez from the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body, adding workers needed "compassion and help" from both the government and wider society.

The coalition said Hong Kong police had also ramped up social distancing fines each weekend for domestic workers, adding that penalties can be higher than their monthly wage. 

Like mainland China, Hong Kong has stuck to a rigid zero-Covid policy that largely kept the virus out but left the international business hub cut off the last two years.

Those defenses have now come crashing down after the highly infectious Omicron variant entered the local community after infected flight crew and residents returned from overseas.

On Thursday authorities announced more than 12,000 positive cases. Prior to the current outbreak, Hong Kong recorded just 12,000 infections for the whole pandemic.

The current outbreak has caught the government off guard with few preparations in place for dealing with zero-Covid being breached.

Authorities have since scrambled to locate thousands of hotel rooms and unused public housing blocks to isolate the infected as well as a location to build a temporary hospital.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, who has currently ruled out a China-style citywide lockdown, said some 20,000 hotel rooms had now been located.

Agence France-Presse

BTS to hit the stage in South Korea for first time since COVID began

SEOUL — South Korean boy band BTS is to put on their first shows for their home fans since the coronavirus pandemic began, with three concerts in the capital, Seoul, next month, their agency said on Wednesday.

The concerts, part of their "Permission to Dance on Stage" tour that has been disrupted by the pandemic, will be at Seoul's Olympic Stadium on March 10, 12, and 13, and will also be live-streamed, Bit Hit Music said.

"We would like to thank all ARMY for patiently waiting for an in-person concert to be held in Korea," the company said on its online fan platform, Weverse, referring to the band's global fan base known as Adorable Representative MC for Youth.

Since their 2013 debut, the band has spearheaded a global K-Pop craze with catchy, upbeat music and dances, as well as lyrics and social campaigns aimed at empowering youngsters.

The seven-member band made history in November, becoming the first Asian artist to win the top prize at the American Music Awards.

Their last concert for South Korean fans was in October 2019, a couple of months before the coronavirus emerged.

As the pandemic spread in 2020, the band postponed and then called off what was meant to be their biggest international tour involving nearly 40 concerts. They held some online shows instead.

They played their first in-person concerts since the onset of the pandemic in November, in Los Angles, and some die-hard South Korean fans flew in for the shows.

The pandemic has also affected some members of the band, though all are fully vaccinated.

V, the singer, and songwriter whose real name is Kim Tae-hyung, was on Tuesday confirmed as the band's fifth member to contract COVID-19, Bit Hit said.

V had no symptoms apart from a mild fever and sore throat, and all other members had tested negative.

"He is currently undergoing treatment at home," the company said in a separate statement, promising a speedy recovery.

Rapper RM, vocalist Jin, and rapper Suga tested positive in December shortly after their return from the U.S. shows, and singer Jimin contracted the virus last month. 

(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin Editing by Robert Birsel)

-reuters-

Thousands protest vaccine mandates in Australia

Thousands of protesters marched through Australia's capital to the parliament building on Saturday to decry Covid-19 vaccine mandates, the latest in a string of rallies against pandemic restrictions around the world.

Demonstrators packed Canberra's streets before massing outside the parliament, some waving the red Australian ensign flag associated with "sovereign citizens" who believe national laws do not apply to them.

Protesters, many with children, rallied under bright skies brandishing banners proclaiming "Fight for Your Freedom & Rights", "Free Aus Freedom Now", or "No forced drugs" written above a symbol of a syringe.

Police estimated there were up to 10,000 protesters. They were "generally well behaved", a police spokesman said.

Three people were arrested including one man who drove his truck through a roadblock. Two others were taken into custody for a breach of the peace.

Australia says 94 percent of people aged over 16 have had at least two Covid-19 vaccinations. 

Though getting the jab is voluntary, it is generally required for people entering the country and for those working in a range of professions deemed at particular risk such as caring for the elderly.

Some Australian states such as New South Wales have begun to relax proof-of-vaccine requirements for entry to pubs, restaurants or shops. 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who must call a general election by mid-May, called on the protesters to act peacefully.

But the Australian leader also said he understood their concerns, and stressed that the states -- not the federal government -- were responsible for many of the vaccine requirements.

- 'Free country' -

"My message to them today is Australia is a free country and they have a right to protest and I would ask them to do that in a peaceful way and a respectful way," Morrison told reporters when asked about the rallies.

"Those who are protesting today are speaking up for the things that they feel strongly about."

Morrison said he wanted to be "very clear" that the federal government had only supported mandates that relate to aged care workers, disability workers and those working in high-risk health situations.

"All other mandates that are related to vaccines have been imposed unilaterally by state governments," the prime minister added. "So, I understand their concerns about these issues."

Anti-vaccine mandate rallies have also swelled outside the New Zealand parliament in Wellington, where protesters and police faced each other under heavy rain on Saturday with no clashes.

Though the protests have been mostly peaceful, New Zealand police arrested 122 people and used pepper spray to quell scuffles on Thursday before taking a more hands-off approach in tackling the demonstrations.

World attention has been focused on Canadian truckers who have jammed a key bridge linking Canada and the United States, defying a judge's order to leave Friday night. 

Thousands of people were also driving towards Paris on Friday hoping to blockade the capital in protest at Covid vaccination rules in France.

Agence France-Presse

‘Beginning of the end’: Upbeat Poland cuts COVID-19 isolation

WARSAW — An end to the COVID-19 pandemic is in sight, the Polish health minister said on Wednesday, as he announced a cut to the isolation period for people infected with the coronavirus and looser quarantine rules.

Poland saw record daily case numbers as recently as two weeks ago, but with infections falling and the effects of Omicron appearing to be milder than previous variants, authorities believe the time is right for a lighter touch.

"We are dealing with the beginning of the end of the pandemic," Adam Niedzielski told a news conference. "In February, declines in infections should be relatively large."

From Feb. 15 the isolation period for people with COVID-19 will be cut to seven days from 10. People in the same household will only be quarantined during the isolation period.

From Feb. 11, people from outside an infected person's household who have come into contact with them will not be quarantined. Quarantine for travelers without a COVID vaccination certificate will also be cut to seven days.

Education Minister Przemyslaw Czarnek said school pupils would return to on-site learning from Feb. 21.

In comments published earlier on Wednesday, Niedzielski said Poland may lift its COVID-19 restrictions in March if daily infection numbers kept falling at the current rate.

"If the tempo at which infections are falling remains the same, there is a realistic prospect of lifting restrictions in March," Niedzielski told the Fakt tabloid.

He said wearing masks in closed spaces would become a recommendation rather than a requirement.Poland currently requires people to wear masks in enclosed public spaces and there are limits on the number of unvaccinated people allowed in restaurants and other venues. The regulations are often not strictly enforced.

The country of around 38 million people has reported 5,271,016 cases of the coronavirus and 107,204 deaths.

-reuters-

Australia to reopen borders to tourists on February 21

SYDNEY - Australia will reopen its borders to fully vaccinated tourists from February 21, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Monday, ending some of the world's strictest and longest-running pandemic travel restrictions.

"It's almost two years since we took the decision to close the borders to Australia," Morrison said after a meeting of the national security cabinet.

"If you're double vaccinated, we look forward to welcoming you back to Australia."

Australia's borders slammed shut in March 2020 to protect the island continent against a surging pandemic.

For most of the time since then, Australians have been barred from leaving and only a handful of visitors have been granted exemptions to enter.

The rules have split families, hammered the country's large tourist industry and prompted sometimes acrimonious debates about Australia's status as a modern, open and outward-looking nation.

Little-by-little rules have been relaxed for Australians, long-term residents and students.

The latest decision will see almost all remaining caps lifted.

It comes after the country's long-standing "Covid-zero" policy was abandoned and the once stellar track-and-trace system collapsed under a wave of Omicron cases.

Agence France-Presse

France eases COVID-19 curbs, including outdoor mask-wearing

PARIS — France began lifting coronavirus restrictions including mandatory outdoor mask-wearing Wednesday in a bid to ease citizens' daily lives, dividing opinion as the country only last month reported record COVID-19 infections.

Audience capacity limits for concert halls, sporting matches and other events were also removed, and although home working will no longer be mandated, it is still recommended.

The move begins a 2-part relaxation of curbs announced at the end of January -- despite the country hitting record levels of daily cases last month -- and comes as England and Denmark also eased their restrictions.

France "will be able to lift most of the restrictions taken to curb the epidemic in February" thanks to the new vaccination pass, which replaced the health pass, Prime Minister Jean Castex said in January.

Since last month proof of inoculation records have been required for the new passes -- needed to access everything from bars and restaurants to long-distance public transport.

Previously, the health pass could also be obtained with a recent negative COVID-19 test, a possibility the government ended in its bid to convince more people to get COVID jabs. 

The second stage of the curb-lifting will see nightclubs, shut since December, reopen on Feb. 16 and standing areas will again be allowed at concerts, sporting events and bars.

Eating and drinking will also be permitted in stadiums, cinemas and public transport from then.

Paris has not made the easing of restrictions conditional on the progress of the health situation.

Authorities view the threat of the Omicron variant as limited and less dangerous than previous strains of the virus, even though it is more contagious.

"We have seen a weak reversal of the trend over the past few days, with fewer cases declared each day than 7 days earlier," government spokesman Gabriel Attal told France Info radio Tuesday.

An average of 322,256 cases were recorded over the previous 7 days, according to latest figures, compared with 366,179 a week ago.

Attal called it a "very encouraging signal" but said officials "remain cautious" because of a "very contagious" sub-variant of Omicron that appears to have delayed the peak of infections in other countries.

Agence France-Presse

Get vaccinated, or get punished? How jab mandates divide

Vaccine mandates have been divisive ever since the first rollout two centuries ago, and they continue to split public opinion today as governments scramble to inoculate populations against coronavirus.

With Austria set to become the first country in Europe to impose Covid-19 vaccinations on Friday, AFP looks at vaccine orders in Europe -- and whether they work:

Backlash, workarounds

In Austria, those who do not become vaccinated against Covid under the new mandate will face a 600-euro ($670) fine.

Tens of thousands have taken to the streets almost weekly to protest the decision.

In other countries, the authorities have flip-flopped on whether to impose a direct mandate or implement alternative measures to penalise the unjabbed.

But doctor and philosopher Anne-Marie Moulin, who advises vaccine policy in France, said hesitant governments can give the impression, true or not, of political motivations -- not just health concerns -- behind the measures.

And in France, even though no direct mandate exists, many have accused their government of infringing on their civil liberties.

There is evidence, meanwhile, that mandates may end up driving people away from jabs, while leaving people the choice can have positive results.

In September, when UK media reported the government was considering requiring health workers to get Covid-19 jabs, physician and vaccine expert Peter English warned that taking choice away could stimulate backlash.

"Most health care workers already choose to be vaccinated... and, as long as they are given the time required to get vaccinated, they do so," he commented at the time.

He said some of those not yet jabbed were hesitant, while very few held "irrational, faith-like anti-vaccine beliefs".

"You are unlikely... to shift the latter's beliefs, but you may be able to persuade the hesitant," he said, adding that a mandate risked hardening the undecided against jabs.

By some estimates, Sweden has managed to vaccinate over 90 percent of its population with no mandate.

And other Scandinavian countries also report high levels of vaccination without imposing consequences.

In France, jabs against Covid are not obligatory, but the state has imposed a compulsory vaccination pass to access most social activities, thus punishing the unvaccinated by barring them from places like restaurants and museums.

Historian Laurent-Henri Vignaud insisted, however, it was very different from a law requiring vaccination.

"In one case you're saying, 'the protective state is... telling you what you must do'," he told AFP of the option that was rejected.

"And in the other you're saying, 'do what you want, but your choice will be the difference between whether you can participate fully in social activities or not'."

Smallpox history lesson

Sweden was one of the first countries to impose a vaccine mandate in the early 19th century to contain a deadly smallpox outbreak.

Europe had for decades been ravaged by the highly contagious disease, which causes fever and a horrifying skin rash, and can lead to death.

Sweden lost as many as 300,000 lives between 1750 and 1800, before the world's first smallpox vaccine became widespread.

The Nordic nation imposed vaccines in 1816, and by the end of that century had become the first country to eradicate the disease.

The British government followed suit in 1853 with the "United Kingdom Vaccination Act", which required parents to vaccinate babies against smallpox within their first three months or face fines.

Across the Channel, French soldiers fighting the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 suffered huge losses due to smallpox and were ultimately defeated by their better-vaccinated adversaries.

But it would still take decades of parliamentary arguing for France to decide to make smallpox jabs mandatory for babies, in the country's first such law, in 1902.

In the United Kingdom, meanwhile, a major shift in public opinion had caused the government to backpedal and pass a new law in 1898 that allowed people to refuse jabs for moral reasons.

Protests against jabs, which were not as consistently safe or effective as today's vaccines, had begun as soon as Britain's mandate was imposed decades earlier.

The government eventually relented after thousands of parents were prosecuted for refusing the jab as part of a peaceful but hugely popular movement in the city of Leicester.

"By the time France opted to impose vaccination at the start of the 20th century, England had abandoned the idea and never went back," Moulin told AFP.

Today, Sweden and the United Kingdom have some of the laxest vaccine requirements in Europe.

Agence France-Presse

Greece allows music in bars and restaurants again as COVID cases ease

ATHENS - Greece will allow music in restaurants and bars again and extend their operating hours as it lifts some of the restrictions imposed last month now that coronavirus infections and the pressure on hospitals are easing, authorities said on Thursday.

The country last month forced bars, nightclubs and restaurants to close at midnight, with no standing customers and no music, following a surge of cases over the Christmas holidays due to the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

"We have decided to scale back the restrictions, taking into consideration the course of the pandemic in terms of cases which have been declining in recent weeks," Health Minister Thanos Plevris said in a televised statement.

He said that despite ongoing pressure on the health system, the rate of hospital admissions and discharges and a shorter duration and less severe illness for the Omicron variant compared to Delta allowed authorities to ease the curbs.

Capacity restrictions will remain in place for sport events, while a double mask is mandatory in supermarkets and transport.

Greece reported 19,712 new cases on Thursday. Infections have been easing since a record high of around 50,000 in early January.

A total of 23,083 deaths linked to COVID-19 have been reported since February 2020 and 1,867,935 cases out of a population of 11 million people. (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou and Lefteris Papadimas; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

-reuters-

Spotify removing Neil Young's music after his Joe Rogan ultimatum

Neil Young's music is being removed from Spotify's streaming service after the singer-songwriter objected to his songs playing on the same platform that offers Joe Rogan's podcast, the company and the musician said on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, Young had released a letter addressed to his manager and record label, Warner Music Group, demanding that Spotify no longer carry his music because he said Rogan spreads misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.

On Wednesday, the "Heart of Gold" and "Rocking In the Free World" singer thanked his record label for "standing with me in my decision to pull all my music from Spotify," and he encouraged other musicians to do the same.

"Spotify has become the home of life-threatening COVID misinformation," he said on his website. "Lies being sold for money."

The Swedish company said it worked to balance "both safety for listeners and freedom for creators" and had removed more than 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID-19 in accordance with its "detailed content policies."

"We regret Neil's decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon," Spotify said in a statement.

Rogan, 54, is the host of "The Joe Rogan Experience," the top-rated podcast on Spotify, which holds exclusive rights to the program.

He has stirred controversy with his views on the pandemic, government mandates, and vaccines to control the spread of the coronavirus.

Earlier this month, 270 scientists and medical professionals signed a letter urging Spotify to take action against Rogan, accusing him of spreading falsehoods on the podcast.

Young, 76, said Spotify accounted for 60% of the streaming of his music to listeners around the world. The removal is "a huge loss for my record company to absorb," he said. 

-reuters-

'We missed you': Dutch bars, cafes, museums to reopen

THE HAGUE - The Netherlands will this week lift some of Europe's toughest COVID restrictions with bars, restaurants and museums allowed to reopen their doors, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Tuesday.

Rutte said the move, which takes effect from Wednesday, was in response to "great tensions" with the catering and cultural sectors over a virtual lockdown imposed days before Christmas.

"The Netherlands has missed you," Rutte told a news conference.

"Today we are taking a big step to further unlock the Netherlands. That feels contradictory while the contamination figures are going through the roof, and we have to be clear that we are taking a risk," he added.

Anger mounted after Dutch shops, gyms, hairdressers and sex workers were allowed to resume business on January 15, but other venues had to stay shut.

Cafes in several cities opened in defiance of the restrictions the weekend before last, while dozens of museums even opened as beauty salons for a day in protest.

Rutte said that the government was "consciously looking for the limits of what is possible, because of the great tensions and cries for help in recent days".

While new infections are running at around 60,000 a day, fueled by the Omicron variant, intensive care admissions and deaths have been falling in the Netherlands.

Health Minister Ernst Kuipers warned that it was "not the flu" and the situation remained sensitive, with hospitalizations rising again this week after a long period of decline.

But he said relaxing the curbs was important.

"Living for longer with restrictive measures harms our health and our society," said Kuipers.

Cafes bars and restaurants can open again until 10 pm from Wednesday, so long as patrons have a Covid pass, wear masks when not seated, and capacity is reduced, the government said.

Cinemas, theatres and museums may also welcome back customers, but nightclubs must stay closed for the time being.

Fans can also return to football matches and other professional sports, but stadium capacity will be limited. 

Quarantine rules for schools will also be relaxed, with classes no longer having to shut if three or more cases are confirmed, and children under 18 need no longer isolate after contact with an infected person.

But the government is still urging people to work at home and limit the number of visitors to four.

The current measures will remain in place until at least March 8.

Agence France-Presse

Italy’s coronavirus cases hit new daily record of 219,441 Thursday

MILAN—Italy reported a record daily number of new COVID-19 cases on Thursday at 219,441 against 189,109 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of coronavirus-related deaths fell to 198 from 231.

Italy has registered 138,474 deaths linked to the virus since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, and has reported 6.975 million cases to date.

There were 177 new admissions to intensive care units, sharply up from 132 on Wednesday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 1,467 from a previous 1,428.

Before Christmas just over 1,000 patients were in intensive care. Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 13,827 on Thursday, up from 13,364 a day earlier.

About 1.14 million tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the last day, compared with a previous 1.09 million, the health ministry said. (Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Sabina Suzzi)

-reuters-

New Year parties slashed as COVID wave hammers the world

PARIS - A New Year shorn of mass celebrations beckoned Friday for millions around the world as the number of daily COVID infections, driven by the omicron variant, surged through another symbolic high.

Coronavirus, first detected two years ago and declared a global pandemic in March 2020, has killed more than 5.4 million people, triggered economic crises and seen societies ricochet in and out of lockdowns.

The latest variant, omicron, while tentatively considered to cause milder illness, has pushed infection toll to record levels in recent days in the United States, Britain, France and other European countries, forcing governments to reimpose restrictions.

The number of daily new Covid cases worldwide crossed one million for the first time, according to an AFP tally Thursday, with more than 7.3 million in the last seven days.

From Greece to Mexico, from Barcelona to Bali and across swathes of Europe, authorities have canceled or curtailed public gatherings, either closing or imposing curfews on nightclubs.

Only South Africa, the first country to report the omicron variant, was bucking the trend. It lifted a midnight to 4 am curfew to allow celebrations to go ahead, after health officials said that a dip in infections in the past week indicated the peak of the current wave had passed.

In France, wearing masks outdoors will be compulsory while walking the streets of Paris from Friday for everyone over the age of 11. Nightclubs have been closed until well into January.

In Spain, public festivities have been cancelled across most regions and in the biggest cities except Madrid, where a stripped-down gathering is scheduled with the crowd limited to 7,000 people compared to 18,000 in 2019.

Britain's National Health Service said it would start opening temporary field hospitals to contain a possible overspill of patients in England, where the government stopped short of mandating curbs on New Year festivities.

'WAR FOOTING'

"Given the high level of COVID-19 infections and increasing hospital admissions, the NHS is now on a war footing," National Medical Director Stephen Powis said.

Indonesia, which has reported more than 4.2 million confirmed cases, warned that foreign travelers may be deported from the resort island of Bali if they are caught violating Covid health rules that bar carnivals, fireworks and gatherings of more than 50 people over the holidays.

"Get ready to be kicked out," said Bali immigration office head Jamaruli Manihuruk. 

Mexico City has canceled its massive New Year's Eve celebrations as a preventative measure after a rise in cases.

"I feel that this casts doubt on a lot of what we thought was already secure, because it is scary, it is worrying," said engineering student Aaron Rosas.

Israel meanwhile became one of the first countries to greenlight a fourth booster shot for immunocompromised people.

Authorities in Saudi Arabia reimposed social distancing measures at the Grand Mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, after recording the highest number of infections in months.

"I am highly concerned that Omicron, being more transmissible, circulating at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

'BRINK OF COLLAPSE'

"This is and will continue to put immense pressure on exhausted health workers, and health systems on the brink of collapse."

Omicron has already started to overwhelm some hospitals in the United States, the hardest-hit country, where the seven-day average of new cases has hit 265,427, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.

Harvard epidemiologist and immunologist Michael Mina tweeted that the count was likely just the "tip of the iceberg" with the true number likely far higher because of a shortage of tests.

US health authorities advised people to avoid taking cruises over the holiday period, even if they are fully vaccinated.

"Half of my family has it," said Victoria Sierralta at a testing site in Miami. "It's like we're back in like the first stage of Covid. It's absolutely crazy."

The NBA, NFL and NHL are scrambling to keep teams competing and sports leagues are grappling with how best to adjust their coronavirus protocols to protect players, staff and fans while keeping schedules intact.

In China, residents in the city of Xi'an, where 13 million people are under lockdown, said they were struggling to find enough food, despite Beijing insisting there were adequate supplies.

State TV showed footage of workers in hazmat suits sorting eggs, meat and vegetables, before delivering food to residents door-to-door.

"I live on.... a bowl of porridge every day, just to keep alive," one resident surnamed Wang told AFP, saying she was working through all her supplies.

Russia said that more than 71,000 people died of coronavirus in the country in November, a new fatality record since the start of the pandemic.

Agence France-Presse

Apple closes all New York City stores amid rising COVID-19 cases

Apple Inc said on it had closed all of its 7 New York City retail stores due to an increase in COVID-19 cases as the Omicron variant rages across the United States.

Customers will be able to pick up online orders at the stores, an Apple spokesperson said.

The closed stores include outlets at Fifth Avenue, Grand Central and SoHo.

Earlier this month, Apple said it had temporarily closed three stores in the United States and Canada after a rise in COVID-19 cases and exposures among the stores' employees.

For the same reason, Apple also mandated that all its customers and employees wear masks at its US retail stores.

Globally, concerns over the Omicron variant have prompted major companies to tighten their protocols.

Increasing cases has also resulted in reinstatement of a nationwide vaccine-or-testing COVID-19 mandate for large businesses which covers 80 million American workers by a U.S. appeals court earlier this month. Opponents of the move have rushed to the Supreme Court to ask it to intervene.

-reuters- 

3 members of K-pop sensation BTS diagnosed with COVID-19

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Three members of the K-pop superstar group BTS have been infected with the coronavirus after returning from abroad, their management agency said.

RM and Jin were diagnosed with COVID-19 on Saturday evening, the Big Hit Music agency said in a statement. It earlier said another member, Suga, tested positive for the virus on Friday.

All three took their second jabs in August, the agency said.

BTS is a seven-member boyband. The four other members are J-Hope, Jungkook, V and Jimin.

According to the agency, RM has exhibited no particular symptoms while Jin is showing mild symptoms including light fever and is undergoing self-treatment at home. The agency said Friday that Suga wasn’t exhibiting symptoms and was administering self-care at home in accordance with the guidelines of the health authorities.

RM had tested negative after returning from the United States earlier this month following his personal schedule there. But he was later diagnosed with the virus ahead of his scheduled release from self-quarantine, the agency said.

After returning to South Korea this month, Jin underwent PCR tests twice — upon arrival and later before his release from self-quarantine — and tested negative both times. But he had flu-like symptoms on Saturday afternoon before he took another PCR test that came back positive, the agency said. Media reports said he also had traveled to the U.S.

-Associated Press-

Omicron wave forces Lufthansa to axe 33,000 flights

German national carrier Lufthansa will cut its winter flight plan by "around 10 percent" as the spread of the Omicron variant fuels uncertainty about travel, chief executive Carsten Spohr said Thursday.

"From the middle of January to February, we see a sharp drop off in bookings", leading the airline to cancel "33,000 flights or about 10 percent" of its flights this winter, Spohr said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS).

"Above all we are missing passengers in our home markets of Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium, because these countries have been hit hardest by the pandemic wave," Spohr said.

Europe's largest airline was currently running "about 60 percent" of flights compared with the pre-pandemic year 2019, carrying "roughly half" the number of passengers, the CEO said.

The number of cancellations would have been higher were the company not running 18,000 "extra, unnecessary flights just to secure our landing and takeoff rights," Spohr said.

The airline industry has been battered since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, with countless flights grounded in 2020 as countries closed their borders.

The European airports association ACI Europe estimated on Thursday that the number of passengers travelling through its members had dropped 20 percent since November 24, when the Omicron variant was first reported to the World Health Organization.

Germany has placed stricter limits on travellers coming from the United Kingdom and South Africa, among others, where the new variant has caused a surge in cases.

The sudden headwind for the industry also caused Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair to cut its planned January schedule by 33 percent this week.

- Sick pilots -

On Thursday, a Lufthansa spokesman told AFP the airline had already cancelled several transatlantic flights around Christmas, after the number of pilots calling in sick was greater than normal for this time of year.

Asked whether the absences were linked to the Omicron variant, the spokesman said he "could not speculate" as he did not have any information about the causes of illness.

In total, the airline has been forced to axe six flights between December 23 and 26, including services to Chicago, Boston and Washington.

The lack of personnel came despite Lufthansa's "big planned reserves" of crew, the spokesman said.

Swedish national carrier SAS on Wednesday also cancelled nine flights due to the coronavirus, after scrapping some 30 flights worldwide the day before.

Lufthansa posted its first operating profit since the beginning of the pandemic in the third quarter of this year, after a difficult 18 months.

The carrier booked an underlying, or operating loss of 5.5 billion euros ($6.2 billion) in 2020 and turned to the state for support.

In November, Lufthansa announced it had finished paying back the nine-billion-euro bailout it received from the government earlier than planned.

Agence France-Presse

Spain to adopt mask-wearing outdoors amid record virus surge

MADRID (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is convening a special Cabinet meeting Thursday to pass a law by decree that makes it mandatory to wear masks outdoors, amid a record surge in COVID-19 cases.

Sánchez announced at a meeting with the leaders of regional governments Wednesday that he was consenting to their appeals to extend mask-wearing rules, his office said. A decree-law does not require a debate and vote in parliament before taking effect.

He also announced a raft of other measures, including an offer to deploy the armed forces to help the regions step up their vaccination rollout and put military hospital beds at their disposal if they are needed.

Sánchez said he is targeting 80% of the 60-69 age group to have received booster shots by the end of next week, among other goals.

Also, COVID-19 tests for professional use will temporarily be placed on sale at pharmacies, amid a reported shortage of tests, and medical teams will be reinforced with retired staff and specialists who earned their qualifications outside the European Union.

Furthermore, fully vaccinated people won’t need to quarantine if they have been in contact with an infected person - a measure that seemed to be aimed at avoiding the shortages of essential personnel.

Spain on Tuesday officially recorded almost 50,000 new cases of coronavirus. That’s higher than last January, when a surge placed the national health system under severe strain.

Spain is reporting almost 700 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over 14 days, more than double the accumulated cases before last year’s Christmas holidays. The omicron strain has soared from 5% of new cases in Spain to 47% within one week.

Still, vaccinations are credited with sparing many people from the virus’s worst effects. While last January some 30,000 COVID-19 patients were in the hospital in Spain, now it’s fewer than 8,000.

Sánchez told the Spanish parliament Wednesday that 90% of the target population 12 and over is fully vaccinated.

He told lawmakers: “Don’t worry, families will be able to celebrate Christmas. Spain has prevailed.”

-Associated Press-

Italy tightens border rules amid omicron threat

Italy will tighten restrictions for arrivals from the rest of the EU from Thursday, requiring coronavirus tests of everyone and a five-day quarantine for those who are not vaccinated.

Previously, EU arrivals had to show proof of vaccination, recent recovery or a negative test.

The decree signed by Health Minister Roberto Speranza late on Tuesday "provides for the obligation of a negative test on departure for all arrivals from European Union countries", a spokesperson said.

"For the unvaccinated, in addition to the negative test, a five-day quarantine is planned."

Unvaccinated people arriving from outside the bloc must already quarantine, and tests are required of those with jabs.

The new measures, valid from December 16 to January 31, come as Europe battles a fresh wave of coronavirus infections sparked by the spread of the new Omicron variant.

Early data suggests it can be resistant to vaccines and is more transmissible than the Delta variant, which currently accounts for the bulk of the world's coronavirus cases.

Italy was the first EU country to experience a major outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020. 

In recent months, it has sought to control infections through the use of health pass showing proof of vaccination, recent recovery or a negative test for everything from going to work to eating in restaurants.

More than 20,000 new cases were reported in Italy on Tuesday, and another 120 deaths.

Agence France-Presse

Half a million quarantined as China export hub faces COVID outbreak

BEIJING - China's economically important Zhejiang province wrestled on Tuesday with a Covid outbreak that has left half a million people quarantined and some districts under business shutdown.

Zhejiang, a major industrial and export hub on the country's east coast, reported 44 of China's 51 domestically transmitted coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing the total since late last week to nearly 200.

Although Chinese case counts are miniscule compared to other major economies, officials in Zhejiang have employed the country's signature mass testing blitz and targeted lockdowns with concern high over fresh outbreaks as Beijing gears up to host the Winter Olympics in February.

More than 540,000 people have been put in quarantine in Zhejiang, officials have said. 

The problems in the province come as Chinese media reported on Monday that the country's first case of the fast-spreading Omicron variant had been identified in the northern port city of Tianjin.

In recent days, districts in Ningbo -- the province's main port -- and the nearby city of Shaoxing said they also were suspending some business operations.

Ningbo's Zhenhai district, a large petrochemical base, said all enterprises not related to virus control or deemed crucial to the public would be shut down and that petrochemical producers would have to reduce output.

A district in Shaoxing had ordered business to halt last Thursday.

Several publicly listed companies in Hangzhou, the province's capital and largest city, have also released statements saying they had suspended production.

Data from flight tracker VariFlight on Tuesday showed that hundreds of flights out of Hangzhou had been cancelled.

Zhejiang is one of China's leading provinces in terms of GDP and exports. 

"The shutdown of Zhejiang factories will impact on the supply chains of various sectors, especially fiber and textiles," Zhaopeng Xing, senior China strategist at ANZ Research, told AFP.

He expects the flare-up could take up to 40 days to subside, with manufacturers possibly resuming work only after the Lunar New Year holiday in February.

"The impact will be similar to what happened in September and October, when power rationing was implemented," Xing said.

The world's second-largest economy battled weeks of widespread power cuts -- blamed on strict emissions targets and record coal prices -- before stabilising the situation last month.

Xing said he expected Zhejiang's Covid woes could have a "mild impact" on Chinese GDP.

Agence France-Presse