Covid-19 key updates: Discontent grows in Shanghai over curbs, study finds Omicron symptoms 2 days shorter than Delta, and more

➡️ Shanghai vows to improve food deliveries as discontent grows over Covid curbs

The Shanghai government said on Thursday it was trying its best to improve the distribution of food and essential goods to locked-in residents, responding to growing public discontent as Covid curbs stretched into the 11th day. China’s financial hub has fallen largely silent after the city imposed harsh curbs to stem the spread of Covid under the country’s “zero tolerance” policy, with only healthcare workers, volunteers, delivery personnel or people with special permission allowed on the streets.

➡️ UK study finds symptoms from Omicron 2 days shorter than from Delta

Disease caused by the Omicron variant is on average around two days shorter than the Delta variant, a large study of vaccinated Britons who kept a smartphone log of their Covid-19 symptoms after breakthrough infections have shown. “The shorter presentation of symptoms suggests – pending confirmation from viral load studies — that the period of infectiousness might be shorter, which would in turn impact workplace health policies and public health guidance,” the study authors wrote.

➡️ The US House of Representatives on Thursday approved a $55 billion Covid-19 aid bill aimed at helping restaurants, bars and other businesses that are still struggling through the pandemic.

➡️ EU health agencies said there was no evidence to support the use of a fourth dose of vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna in the general population, but they recommend a second booster for people aged 80 and above.

➡️ Germany’s lower house of parliament voted against a law compelling anyone over 60 years of age to get a vaccination.

➡️ A Spanish court will investigate whether huge commissions charged by an aristrocratic entrepreneur and his partner on the sale of vital health supplies to Madrid city hall at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic constituted illegal profiteering.

➡️ European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said she had tested positive for Covid-19 but her symptoms are mild and she will continue to work.

➡️ The current Covid-19 wave hitting France has reached its peak, which means the country’s hospital system is not in danger, health minister said.

➡️ China will establish a financial stability protection fund to beef up its ability to cope with major financial risks, and set up a comprehensive cross-agency mechanism for risk detection and disposal, the central bank said.

➡️ Chinese authorities are telling foreign airlines they must have more empty seats on international flights when they arrive at Shanghai’s Pudong airport, sources said on Thursday, as part of measures to prevent the importation of Covid-19 cases.

➡️ Top FDA officials said the agency is aiming to decide by June whether to change the design of Covid-19 vaccines in order to combat future variants, even if it does not have all the necessary information to measure their effectiveness.

➡️  Democrats in the US Congress pushed back against President Joe Biden’s lifting of a pandemic-related rule expelling immigrants seeking asylum, with others supportive of the policy saying the administration needed to do more work to prepare for a surge in migrants.

➡️ More than two-thirds of Africans have been infected by Covid-19 since the pandemic started, 97 times more than reported confirmed cases, according to a World Health Organisation (WHO) study published on Thursday.

➡️ New research may help shed light on a rare but serious blood-clotting problem associated with the Covid-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

(Compiled from Reuters and Associated Press reports)