Coronavirus Live Updates: WHO needs more information on China Covid situation, chief Tedros Adhanom says

The United States, South Korea, India, Italy, Japan and Taiwan have all imposed Covid tests for travellers from China in response. "In order to make a comprehensive risk assessment of the Covid-19 situation on the ground in China, WHO needs more detailed information," Tedros said in a tweet late on Thursday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) needs more information to assess the latest surge in infections in China, director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. Covid infections have risen across China this month after Beijing dismantled its zero-Covid policies including regular PCR testing on its population. (Reuters)

People travelling from China to Spain will be required to test negative for Covid-19 or prove they have been fully vaccinated against the disease, health minister Carolina Darias said on Friday. (Reuters)

The current practice of random testing of 2 per cent of arriving passengers in each international flight will also continue. The ministry on Friday sent the communication regarding the revised guidelines to all scheduled commercial airlines, airport operators, and chief secretaries/ administrators of states/Union Territories, among others.

"Air Suvidha portal self-declaration has been made operational for passengers travelling in all international flights from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Thailand and Japan, with a provision to allow these international travellers arriving in India to upload negative RT-PCR test reports as well as to submit self-declaration form," it said. RT-PCR testing should have been done 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey.

Airlines are directed to modify their check-in functionalities to incorporate the changes and issue boarding passes only to those international passengers travelling from the six countries who have submitted self-declaration forms on the Air Suvidha portal, the ministry said in a communication.

The ministry of civil aviation on Friday issued revised Covid guidelines for passengers arriving in international flights, ahead of RT-PCR negative test report being made compulsory for travellers from six countries, including China and Thailand. From January 1, 2023, a pre-departure RT-PCR negative test report will be mandatory for passengers coming in all international flights from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, Thailand and Japan. (PTI)

Nearly 75% of Indonesians over the age of 6, or 174.7 million people, have received two vaccine shots and about 68.5 million have had at least one booster injection, according to health ministry data.

Before the announcement, most mobility restrictions had already been removed for recipients of at least one booster vaccine shot, but authorities still required masks to be worn indoors and use of a Covid tracker app when entering most public spaces. Jokowi, as the president is known, urged Indonesians to remain vigilant against the virus, including continuing to wear a mask indoors and when in a crowd.

Indonesia on Friday removed all remaining measures to control the spread of Covid-19 effective immediately, since most of the country's population already has antibodies against the disease, President Joko Widodo said. "There will be no more restrictions on gatherings and movements," he told a news conference, noting that the decision was taken based on the latest infection figures. (Reuters)

There have been more than 6.65 million officially-reported Covid deaths since the virus was first identified in China in December 2019, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). However countries count Covid deaths differently and methods have changed throughout the pandemic.

The true global death toll of Covid-19 remains difficult to nail down three years after the first case was detected, though experts agree there have been far more fatalities than officially reported. The difference between the official and real figures could diverge even further next year, with modelling predicting more than a million deaths in post-zero-Covid China, which recently narrowed how it counts fatalities. (AFP)

Malaysia joins countries like United States, India, Italy and Japan in taking new measures as a wave of infections erupted across China after Beijing's abrupt decision to dismantle Covid restrictions. Zaliha said Malaysia will screen body temperatures of all inbound travellers, including those from China, and those detected with fever or other symptoms will be tested for Covid-19.

Malaysia on Friday said it will screen all inbound travellers for fever and test wastewater from aircraft arriving from China for Covid-19 as part of fresh measures to prevent an outbreak following Beijing's decision to lift strict zero-Covid policies. The health ministry is taking preventative measures as the country faces a risk of an influx of coronavirus cases from abroad, minister Zaliha Mustafa said in a statement. It was not immediately clear when the new measures would take effect. (Reuters)

"The real intention is to sabotage China's three years of Covid-19 control efforts and attack the country's system," state-run tabloid Global Times said in an article late on Thursday, calling the restrictions "unfounded" and "discriminatory."

Some places have been taken aback by the scale of China's outbreak and expressed scepticism over Beijing's Covid statistics, with the United States, South Korea, India, Italy, Japan and Taiwan imposing Covid tests for travellers from China.

Having kept its borders all but shut for three years, imposing a strict regime of lockdowns and relentless testing, China abruptly reversed course toward living with the virus on December 7, and a wave of infections erupted across the country.

Chinese state-media said Covid-19 testing requirements imposed by several places around the world in response to a surging wave of infections were "discriminatory", in the clearest pushback yet against restrictions that are slowing down its re-opening.

An increase of 57 cases has been recorded in the active Covid caseload in a span of 24 hours. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has increased to 4,41,43,850, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.19 per cent.