21st Feb 2022 https://nfind.uk/lockdown_exit/index.php/newsletter=604 lockdown_exit

Lockdown Exit

Bloomberg Germany spent about 42 billion euros 48 billion on a program to secure jobs threatened by the coronavirus pandemic. A government program to pay most of an employees wages when they cant work because of operational issues like lockdowns was worth the cost Germanys Labor Minister Hubertus Heil said in an interview with Tagespiegel on Sunday. The alternative namely allowing mass unemployment to return would have been much much more expensive for Germany socially and economically he said. The program was just one of the measures the government in Berlin implemented to shield its economy from the crisis. Since the beginning of the pandemic Germany has also paid out around 78 billion euros in aid to companies and extended 55.2 billion euros in loans. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-20/germany-spent-48-billion-to-protect-jobs-from-covid-fallout 20th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters Israel will begin allowing entry to all tourists regardless of whether they have been vaccinated against COVID19 from March 1 a statement from the prime ministers office said on Sunday. Entry into Israel will still require two PCR tests one before flying in and one upon landing in Israel the statement said. Currently only COVID19 vaccinated foreigners are allowed into Israel. We are seeing a consistent decline in morbidity numbers so this is the time to gradually open up what we were the first in the world to close Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-allow-all-tourists-regardless-covid-vaccination-status-2022-02-20/ 20th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

CNN As the number of new Covid19 cases and hospitalizations slowly falls cities and states are loosening vaccine and mask requirements. Boston lifted the citys proof of vaccine policy which required patrons and staff of indoor spaces to show proof of vaccination Mayor Michelle Wu announced Friday. As of today our public health data show that Boston is officially below the 3 critical thresholds for heightened Covid protections so we are lifting the proof of vaccination requirement Wu said in a tweet. This news highlights the progress weve made in our fight against Covid19 thanks to vaccines boosters which have always been our most effective weapon against the pandemic. Its a win for every Bostonian doing our part to keep our communities safe and we have to keep going Wu said https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/19/us/covid-mandates-vaccine-indoor-dining/index.html 19th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters Scrapping COVID tests and isolation periods in England could lead to rapid epidemic growth as peoples behaviour changes more swiftly than at previous times in the coronavirus pandemic government advisers said in a document published on Friday. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will outline his plans for living with COVID on Monday and has said that he aims to scrap the legal requirement to selfisolate for people who test positive for the coronavirus. Health leaders have urged him not to be too gungho with a survey showing most believed he should not scrap the requirement to selfisolate or end free testing https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/dropping-isolation-requirement-england-could-lead-epidemic-growth-advisers-2022-02-18/ 19th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

The Guardian The beds pile up outside Hong Kongs Caritas hospital. In the cold night elderly patients lie on gurneys covered with blankets and thermal foil sheets. A woman in pink folds her arms against the chill while another reaches across her bed in an apparent gesture of comfort to a neighbour. Nearby others crowd into yellow and blue spillover tents lining the car park edges. The hospital staff attend people calling out when they can but they are outnumbered. Wails from patients carry through the air. There are similar scenes across the city where 11 public hospitals were operating at or beyond capacity as of Friday. Private hospitals refuse to take Covid patients. Photos supplied to the Guardian show a treatment room inside one hospital earlier this week 88 capacity with gurneys three deep across the thoroughfare on a floor strewn with garbage. Bathrooms that no one has had time to clean were soiled with faeces dirt and discarded biohazard bags. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/18/no-light-at-the-end-how-hong-kongs-covid-response-went-so-wrong 19th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

Al Jazeera English The World Health Organization WHO has announced the first six countries that will receive the technology needed to produce mRNA vaccines in Africa in the latest effort to boost production on the continent. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday that Egypt Kenya Nigeria Senegal South Africa and Tunisia have been selected to ramp up jabs production on the continent. No other event like the COVID19 pandemic has shown that reliance on a few companies to supply global public goods is limiting and dangerous said Tedros during a ceremony hosted by the European Council France South Africa and the WHO. In the midtolong term the best way to address health emergencies and reach universal health coverage is to significantly increase the capacity of all regions to manufacture the health products they need with equitable access as their primary endpoint he added. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/18/six-african-countries-to-kick-production-of-mrna-vaccines 19th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters Hong Kong accountant May Ng says her family made huge sacrifices last month to comply with the citys COVID19 policies but now thinks these were in vain as she does not expect the latest outbreak to be contained. The global financial hub follows mainland China in deploying a dynamic zeroCOVID strategy aimed at ending any outbreaks as soon as possible after they occur but the highlytransmissible Omicron variant has proven hard to keep under control. Despite extensive contact tracing and draconian isolation policies daily infections have risen 60fold since Feb. 1 to several thousands pushing the city further and further away from its goals. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/whats-point-hong-kong-resident-questions-quarantine-ordeal-2022-02-18/ 18th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters British researchers led by Oxford University said on Friday that the current understanding of long COVID and options to treat it is emerging as a major longterm issue for global healthcare systems after reviewing the illness effects on patients. The review published in the European Heart Journal looked at direct impacts of a coronavirus infection such as myocardial infarction or inflammatory myocarditis severe heart conditions and longterm effects such as fatigue and mental wellbeing. Long COVID is besides its huge impact for the affected individual of great societal and economic importance as it leads to leave of absence from work reduced work performance and hence unforeseen costs said Thomas Lscher from the Royal Brompton and Harefield Clinical Group. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/long-covid-global-issue-patients-healthcare-systems-uk-review-finds-2022-02-18/ 18th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Friday that it would take up to three months to stabilise a worsening COVID19 pandemic that has overwhelmed health facilities and forced the postponement of an upcoming leadership election. Our government needs to focus on the epidemic Lam said at a news conference after a week that saw daily infections jump by 60 so far this month. It cannot be diverted... we cannot afford to lose she said. Quarantine facilities in Hong Kong have reached capacity and hospital beds are more than 95 full as cases spiral with some patients including elderly left on beds outside in chilly sometimes rainy weather. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/hong-kong-says-20000-hotel-rooms-earmarked-quarantine-covid-cases-surge-2022-02-18/ 18th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

The Wall Street Journal The Australian governments tourism department is attempting to lure visitors back for a longer stay in the country with a new ad campaign as the nation prepares to open its borders to vaccinated travelers on Feb. 21. The campaign which bears the tagline Dont Go Small. Go Australia focuses on destinations found throughout the country from the Avoca Caves in New South Wales to the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland. The strategy is to get travelers thinking beyond the weekend trips and weeklong stays that became common during the Covid19 pandemic said Susan Coghill chief marketing officer of Tourism Australia. https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-reopening-australia-encourages-travelers-to-come-take-a-long-vacation-11645009202 18th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

The Wall Street Journal More Americans are satisfying their wanderlust and spending big to do it companies say. With daily new Covid19 cases falling restrictions easing and the strongest consumer finances in recent history Americans are finally emerging from the pandemic eager to splurge on everything from travel and sports events to restaurants cruises and theme parks executives say. Companies including Marriott International Inc. Expedia Group Inc. CocaCola Co. and MGM Resorts International MGM told analysts recently that business is already improving from an Omicron dip and indications point to an American public eager to live large. Premium customers who after being cooped up for 2020 and the first part of 2021 are traveling and spending again with a vengeance Wynn Resorts Ltd. Chief Executive Craig Billings said Tuesday of the latest quarter. https://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-want-to-travel-and-are-eager-to-splurge-companies-say-11645093981 18th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

Bloomberg Washington one of just a handful of U.S. states with indoor mask mandates will lift that requirement for most spaces including schools on March 21 as Covid cases decline and hospital crowding eases. Thats a very important step in our journey to normalcy Governor Jay Inslee a Democrat said Thursday at a press conference. This is both good for our health and our education of our children and the total reopening of our economy. Masks will still be mandatory in hospitals medical offices longterm care and correctional facilities. Federal law requires masks on public transportation. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-17/washington-state-to-lift-mask-mandate-in-schools-most-indoor-locations-march-21 18th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will require attendees of the 94th Oscars ceremony in March to show proof of COVID19 vaccination and at least two negative resultsfrom PCR tests a person with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday. Performers and presenters at the film industrys highest honors also must undergo polymerase chain reaction PCR testing but will not need to show proof of vaccination the source said. Face covering requirements will vary at the event on March 27 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood according to the source. https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/oscars-will-require-covid-tests-all-vaccines-most-nyt-2022-02-18/ 18th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters Efforts to strengthen global health security will only succeed if the role of the World Health Organization WHO is enhanced the agencys head said on Thursday as its biggest donor Washington proposed a new global pandemic prevention fund. Speaking via video link at a G20 meeting of finance leaders WHO directorgeneral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was responding to the idea of a separate global health fund tasked with delivering emergency funds vaccines and other medical needs. Its clear that at the centre of this architecture the world needs a strong and sustainably financed WHO ... with its unique mandate unique technical expertise and unique global legitimacy Tedros told a panel in the Indonesian capital. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-must-be-bolstered-strengthen-global-health-security-says-tedros-2022-02-17/ 18th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters Israel on Thursday dropped a Green Pass policy requiring proof of vaccination recovery from COVID19 or a negative test to enter some public venues further rolling back restrictions as a wave of infections recedes. The highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus peaked in Israel towards the end of January with daily cases reaching record highs of some 85000 but numbers have steadily declined since to around 21000 by Wednesday. The wave has broken Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said at the start of a discussion with health officials on the state of the pandemic where he said Green Passes were being completely scrapped. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/israel-drops-green-passes-omicron-infections-wane-2022-02-17/ 17th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters Australia will welcome international tourists on Monday after nearly two years of sealing its borders relying on high COVID19 vaccination rates to live with the pandemic as infections decline. The wait is over Prime Minister Scott Morrison told a Sunday briefing at the Melbourne International Airport. Australias opening to tourists is the clearest example yet of the governments shift from a strict zeroCOVID approach to living with the virus and vaccinating the public to minimise deaths and severe illness. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/fortress-australia-welcome-tourists-first-time-under-covid-2022-02-20/ 20th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

The Times Hong Kong risks falling behind other Asian cities as the regions main financial hub if tough coronavirus restrictions are left in place for too long the boss of Standard Chartered has said. Bill Winters warned that although the former British colonys status as an offshore financial centre for China had been reinforced in recent years there was a question mark over its status as the leading Asian hub. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hong-kong-risks-losing-its-status-as-leading-asian-hub-winters-says-99bwgvvxq 19th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

Al Jazeera English Bundled in a quilted jacket covered with two thin blankets Alice Yeung insisted she was not cold. Five hours before she had tested positive for COVID19. With no symptoms but no vaccine either she was shipped from her nursing home to Caritas Medical Centre in the Kowloon region on Thursday. There she and 50 or so strangers waited outside the emergency room on one of winters coolest nights as medical staff inside drowned under a resurgent epidemic. No problem said the 69yearold Yeung with the practised optimism of the kindergarten aide she had once been. Like tens of thousands of seniors Yeung had ignored the governments fitful efforts to vaccinate them for most of the last two years. Local newspapers carried reports that people had died after getting jabs or suffered paralysis. Big headlines she said. With the government pushing vaccines harder in recent weeks she had signed up to get her jab on February 25. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/19/hong-kong-covid-19 19th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

Al Jazeera English South Koreas daily COVID19 cases topped 100000 for the first time amid its Omicron outbreak as authorities announced a slight easing of restrictions ahead of the March 9 presidential election. Authorities announced on Friday they would move a curfew on restaurants and cafs from 9 pm to 10 pm amid a growing backlash from business owners. https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/2/18/south-korea-extends-business-curfew-as-covid-19-cases-top-100000 19th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

Al Jazeera English Last Wednesday the British government announced plans to drop all remaining COVID19 restrictions in England by the end of the month including the legal requirement for infected people to selfisolate. Doing this they said would make England the freest country in Europe. But millions of us who are immunosuppressed are not free. For the past six months I have been living alone separated from my family. I have an autoimmune condition called lupus and because of my illness and the immunosuppressing medication Im on I am extremely vulnerable to COVID. With infection rates continuing to soar I am isolating in a rented flat across the street from our home so my teenage daughter can attend school. This is an option were lucky enough to be able to afford and not one all people like me have available. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/2/17/britain-promised-to-protect-us-but-now-we-are-being-left-behind 19th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters British shoppers began to return to stores last month after many stayed away during a wave of COVID19 cases that peaked at the turn of the year although fastrising inflation is curbing their spending power. Retail sales volumes rose by 1.9 in January after a 4.0 decline in December the Office for National Statistics said the largest rise since lockdown rules for nonessential stores in England were relaxed in April 2021. The monthly increase was greater than the average 1.0 gain forecast in a Reuters poll although Decembers drop in sales was slightly bigger than first estimated. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-retail-sales-grow-faster-than-expected-january-2022-02-18/ 18th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishidas plan to relax the strictest COVID19 border controls among wealthy nations has pleased nobody with businesses and student groups worried it might not be enough while online critics blast his change of tack. Japan has largely been closed off to nonresidents for almost two years keeping out hundreds of thousands of students and foreign workers sorely needed to fill a labour gap left by the nations shrinking aging population. Kishida said on Thursday that from March the number of people allowed to enter Japan will increase to 5000 a day from 3500 now while quarantine would be shortened or eliminated entirely https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-pm-kishidas-border-easing-covid-deaths-spike-draws-ire-online-2022-02-18/ 18th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters Chinas dynamic clearance strategy aimed at minimising COVID19 infections is boosting the economy not undermining it the countrys top anticorruption body said on Friday in response to concerns about the prospects for growth this year. As other countries relax restrictions China has maintained a zerotolerance approach shutting down transmission routes whenever they arise ordering mass testing programmes and maintaining mask mandates. Some analysts have forecast a decline in economic growth this year saying the challenge posed by the more infectious Omicron variant would significantly raise containment costs and further disrupt Chinas supply chains. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-dynamic-zero-covid-strategy-will-boost-economy-watchdog-2022-02-18/ 18th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters Poland has made progress in talks with the European Commission on unblocking COVID19 recovery funds its prime minister said on Friday adding that he believed a deal could be reached. Brussels has yet to approve Warsaws National Recovery Plan which is necessary to unblock the 36 billion euros 40.89 billion in funding due to a dispute over judicial reforms the bloc says undermine the independence of the courts. The chances after todays talks have slightly improved Mateusz Morawiecki told a news conference in Brussels broadcast by Polish television while stressing that it remained to be seen if an agreement could be forged in coming weeks https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/polish-pm-says-chances-deal-eu-covid-cash-have-slightly-improved-2022-02-18/ 18th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

The Wall Street Journal Officials are considering citywide coronavirus testing in Hong Kong adopting a strategy used in mainland China after Beijing demanded more be done to control an Omicron surge that has quickly overrun the citys health system. Under the plan all 7.4 million residents would be tested from early March with Chinese authorities sending health experts and medical workers to help carry out the mammoth task people familiar with the matter said. Some tests would be sent across the border to Shenzhen for results to be processed quickly one person said. A day after Chinese leader Xi Jinping called on the city to bring the outbreak to heel mainland authorities have begun stepping up plans to send help to the city. Hong Kong has quickly become the center of the worst outbreak in Chinese territory since the coronavirus emerged in Wuhan more than two years ago presenting a major test for the countrys socalled dynamic clearing policy which aims to eliminate clusters whenever they appear. https://www.wsj.com/articles/hong-kong-considers-citywide-testing-as-omicron-overwhelms-defenses-11645096216 18th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

The Wall Street Journal Omicron has breached Hong Kongs defenses. The semiautonomous city which until January had logged less than 13000 cases since the beginning of the pandemic is now discovering 6000 a day. Given that vaccination rates are very low among the vulnerable elderly a surge of deaths seems likely to be only a matter of time. Economists had begun marking down their growth expectations for 2022 even before the true severity of the outbreak became apparent. Fitch cut its Hong Kong growth estimate in half to 1.5 on Feb. 9. Natixis now expects zero growth in retail sales down from 8.1 in 2021 assuming current socialdistancing restrictions stick around and arent tightened furtherwhich they probably will be. https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-omicron-and-politics-punctured-hong-kong-11645147070 18th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

Wired UK On December 22 2021 the entire western Chinese city of Xian was put into lockdown. It was all of a sudden says Fan a XiAn native and university student in his early twenties who didnt give his full name due to privacy concerns. The university wouldnt let us go outside of the dorms. Our freedom was restricted and they stopped all our classes. I couldnt leave and I couldnt go home. We were stuck. Xian a city of 13 million people spent the end of December 2021 and much of January 2022 in one of Chinas most severe lockdowns. The trigger A handful of cases of Covid19. Since the start of the pandemic China has clung to a zeroCovid strategy consisting of strict containment measures that have served the nation remarkably well. Chinas official death toll has remained under 5000 and its total reported caseload of 124900 is significantly lower than the 78 million cases in the United States or the 18.4 million in the United Kingdom. Aside from travel disruptions life has been largely normaland Chinas success at containing the virus has become a source of national pride. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/china-zero-covid-vaccines?utm_social-type=earned 18th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters Australia recorded 43 coronavirusrelated deaths on Saturday as it readies to welcome international tourists on Monday for the first time in nearly two years. The country which shut its borders in March of 2020 has been gradually reopening since November allowing first Australians to travel then international students and workers and now leisure travellers. Once a champion of a zeroCOVID strategy the country has moved to live with the coronavirus in the community chiefly through high vaccination rates that have resulted in less severe cases and fewer hospitalisations. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/australia-reports-43-covid-deaths-before-expanded-border-reopening-2022-02-19/ 18th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

The Wall Street Journal As the Omicron variant surged through communities across the U.S. it also spread inside hospitals and infected nonCovid19 patients reaching a record number a Wall Street Journal analysis of U.S. government data found. The daily total of patients with Covid19 that they caught in hospitals reached a record of about 4700 during the Omicron wave in January according to the analysis of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data. The figure had peaked at around 1100 patients with hospitalacquired infections during the Delta wave and 2050 at the height of the pandemics first winter surge the analysis found among the first looks at how commonly the coronavirus spread inside the facilities during surges. The numbers dropped as the surges retreated. https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-omicron-surged-covid-19-spread-through-patients-in-hospitals-11645180201 18th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

Bloomberg Hong Kongs Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the city is planning to make it mandatory for all residents to get tested for Covid19 deploying a tactic widely used to curtail the virus on Chinas mainland as the financial hub struggles to contain an escalating outbreak. The city will also delay the chief executives election by more than a month Lam said at a press conference Friday where she described plans for universal testing that might need to be linked to residents government identity cards. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-17/hong-kong-s-lam-says-mass-testing-details-still-being-worked-out 17th Feb 2022

Partisan Exits

Reuters Britain wants to retain the capability to spot new coronavirus variants but it must stop spending so heavily on free testing as cases and fatalities fall Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday. Johnson will set out plans this week for the country to live with COVID amid suggestions that free coronavirus testing could be stopped and some health studies halted. Asked by the BBC how the country would spot the arrival of new variants Johnson said I want to make sure that we have capability to spot stuff and to snap back up as fast as we need to he said. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-must-cut-spending-covid-testing-johnson-says-2022-02-20/ 20th Feb 2022

Partisan Exits

The Wall Street Journal For the first time in over three weeks downtown Ottawa on Sunday was largely deserted with the heavyduty trucks and thousands of protesters demanding an end to Covid19 vaccine mandates replaced by police vehicles officers and crews trying to clean up after a 23day demonstration. Officials in the capital and across Canada remained on high alert. While police in Ottawa cleared out Freedom Convoy protesters there authorities in some of Canadas biggest cities such as Toronto and Vancouver dealt Saturday with either the threat of a truckerled demonstration or protesters that disrupted traffic. Its still clear that while police have made significant progress the job is not yet done Bill Blair a former Toronto police chief and Canadas emergencypreparedness minister told CTV News on Sunday. The threat the risks the reasons we had to invoke emergency powers they still exist. https://www.wsj.com/articles/freedom-convoy-leaves-town-and-quiet-returns-to-ottawa-11645385184 20th Feb 2022

Partisan Exits

CNN Police say they have made 47 arrests in Ottawa Saturday as they cleared downtown a day after a weekslong protest turned violent. City provincial and federal law enforcement officers began an unprecedented operation Friday morning to remove demonstrators their trucks and cars that have been blockading the streets. On Friday more than 100 people were arrested and 21 vehicles were towed. Another 38 vehicles have been towed since Friday police say. Wellington Street in front of Parliament has been cleared. Police say they will continue restoring the streets to normal order over the coming days. Tensions between Canadian authorities and protesters have been simmering for weeks as crowds and idling trucks filled the capital demanding the elimination of Covid19 preventative measures including mask and vaccination requirements. https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/19/americas/canada-trucker-protest-covid-saturday/index.html 19th Feb 2022

Partisan Exits

Reuters Canada Police some on horseback pushed into crowds of demonstrators to clear them from the streets of downtown Ottawa on Friday arresting more than 100 and hauling away vehicles that had been blocking the capitals core for over three weeks in a protest against pandemic restrictions. Fearing escalation or violence Ottawa police had sought to disperse protesters with fines and threats of arrest but on Friday hundreds of officers moved in despite frigid temperatures and freshly fallen snow slowly clearing one part of the city https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-police-set-end-siege-capital-by-protesters-fighting-covid-measures-2022-02-18/ 19th Feb 2022

Partisan Exits

The Wall Street Journal Police began arrests of people protesting against Covid19 mandates on Thursday evening including two organizers after promising imminent action to remove a weekslong encampment from the streets of Canadas capital city. The arrests came after multiple warnings from police to those involved in the blockadeknown as the Freedom Convoy and now in its third weekthat they would face severe penalties if they didnt leave the area voluntarily. Two of the protest groups organizers Chris Barber and Tamara Lich were among those arrested on Thursday evening. A lawyer for the group Keith Wilson said Mr. Barber was arrested on allegations that included counseling to commit mischief and obstruction of justice. Ms. Lich was charged with counseling mischief he added. Mr. Barber and Ms. Lich were two of the highprofile public faces of the protest group. They often posted video messages on social media urging protesters in Ottawa to keep their resolve. https://www.wsj.com/articles/trudeau-says-emergency-powers-necessary-to-counter-freedom-convoy-protests-in-canada-11645118737 18th Feb 2022

Partisan Exits

Reuters Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus support of vaccine mandates in fighting COVID19 helped him win reelection five months ago but now he looks increasingly isolated as restrictions are being lifted around the world. Denmark the Netherlands Ireland Sweden Norway Israel Britain and Spain and most of the United States are easing or lifting COVID restrictions and most of Canadas provincial governments are rolling them back too. But Trudeau has doubled down on federal vaccine mandates and this week invoked emergency powers to seek an end to weeks of protests against his governments pandemic restrictions https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/pandemic-fatigue-challenge-canadas-trudeau-amid-protests-2022-02-17/ 17th Feb 2022

Partisan Exits

The Wall Street Journal The rollout of new Covid19 pills has exposed a potentially costly hole in how the government and healthcare companies are managing the pandemic drug response. Pharmacies that dispense the pills are pushing back and some are threatening to halt supplies if they dont get more funds to cover the gap. The government paid billions of dollars for the pills Paxlovid from Pfizer Inc. and molnupiravir from Merck Co. and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP. Yet it left the details of how much pharmacists should be paid for filling prescriptions to health insurers and prescriptionprocessing middlemen known as pharmacybenefit managers. The commercial firms are paying pharmacies as low as a penny to about 10 for filling each prescription according to pharmacists and pharmacytransaction records reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-pill-access-at-risk-as-pharmacies-push-for-bigger-payments-11645365601 20th Feb 2022

Continued Lockdown

Reuters Hong Kong reported 6063 new COVID19 cases on Saturday as the the citys government made more plans for isolation facilities to take some strain off a healthcare system as infections have risen by more than 60 times since the month began. City leader Carrie Lam said on Saturday the government will build 10000 isolation units in two new community facilities with the help of China. Some 114 Chinese medical personnel arrived in Hong Kong on Saturday the second batch that thas been sent from the mailand. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/hong-kong-report-least-7000-new-covid-cases-saturday-tvb-2022-02-19/ 19th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Daily Mail The end of Covid19 restrictions in England is premature and not based on current evidence according to the British Medical Association. Experts have warned an absence of testing and selfisolation will lead to a surge in cases in the country. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he will present his plan for living with Covid when Parliament returns from a short recess on February 21 with an aim of lifting the requirement to selfisolate by February 24. Dr Chaand Nagpaul chair of the BMA council told the Guardian the decision was not based on current evidence and is premature adding It clearly hasnt been guided by data or done in consultation with the healthcare profession. He said case rates remained exceptionally high with one in 20 infected last week according to the latest Office for National Statistics survey. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10529961/Ending-Covid-restrictions-premature-not-based-evidence-BMA-warns.html 19th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The Wall Street Journal Vikki Spits partner of two decades received his first Covid19 shot in early May. Two weeks later he died from a condition doctors for the 48yearold former punk rock musician attributed to a rare vaccine side effect. Ms. Spit now lives alone in a north England farmhouse home to the couples rescue pets. Finances are tight. She struggles to maintain the online artresale business her partner who went by a single legal name Zion had started. Shes learning to drivea task that had always fallen to him. Sometimes putting a kettle on seems more than I can manage she says. Ms. Spit is now among hundreds in the U.K. and elsewhere applying for government compensation for suspected injury caused by Covid19 vaccines. https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-vaccines-were-deadly-in-rare-cases-governments-are-now-weighing-compensation-11645266603 19th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The Guardian US health regulators are looking at authorizing a potential fourth dose of a Covid19 vaccine in the fall the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday citing sources familiar with the matter. California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris wearing a light blue blazer and red and yellow patterned blouse speaks into a microphone at a news conference. Californias first surgeon general on Covid The Food and Drug Administration FDA has been reviewing data to authorize a second booster dose of vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech and Moderna the report added. The FDA did not immediately comment. The agency last month cut the interval to get a booster dose of Covid19 vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech as well as from Moderna in a bid to provide better protection sooner against the Omicron variant. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/19/us-fda-considers-second-covid-19-booster-shot-wall-street-journal 19th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it had found four batches of AstraZeneca Plcs AZN.L COVID19 vaccine manufactured at the troubled Emergent BioSolutions facility that were fit to be shipped outside the United States. The health agency said it does not however expect to make any more decisions on the remaining lots of the vaccine manufactured at Emergents Baltimore facility. Last year the FDA halted operations at the plant which was producing vaccines for AstraZeneca and Johnson Johnson JNJ.N following a discovery that one vaccine was contaminated with material used in the other. There have been concerns over the shelf life of AstraZenecas vaccines reaching the worlds poorest nations for distribution Reuters reported on Wednesday. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/fda-allow-export-astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-lots-made-emergent-plant-2022-02-18/ 19th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters Hong Kong until recently had an enviable record battling COVID19 but as an Omicron wave now overwhelms the city the steps that saved lives are making life unbearable for many of its 7.4 million people. Like an immune system overreacting and harming the person it is meant to protect the dynamic zeroCOVID policies that had crushed the virus in Hong Kong have contributed to current woes experts say. Patients lie in beds in cold wet parking lots outside overflowing hospitals isolation facilities are filling up and thousands queue for hours outside testing venues. A 60fold spike in daily infections this month prompted the government recently to modify its COVIDeradication policies but the authorities continue aiming to wipe out the virus. The impact of zero tolerance will remain for some time epidemiologists say. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/hong-kongs-zero-covid-success-now-worsens-strains-omicron-spike-2022-02-19/ 19th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The Wall Street Journal U.S. health regulators delayed their review of Pfizer Inc.s Covid19 vaccine in children under 5 years old because the initial twodose series so far wasnt working well against the Omicron variant during testing people familiar with the decision said. An early look at data showed the vaccine to be effective against the Delta variant during testing while that was the dominant strain but some vaccinated children developed Covid19 after Omicron emerged the people said. So few study subjects whether vaccinated or unvaccinated developed Covid19 during testing thus far that the small number of Omicron cases made the vaccine appear less effective in an early statistical analysis the people said. As more cases emerge Pfizers shot might wind up providing stronger protection against Omicron the people said if the bulk of infections are in unvaccinated subjects. https://www.wsj.com/articles/lower-omicron-efficacy-delayed-fda-review-on-pfizer-shot-in-kids-under-5-11645192800 19th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters The World Health Organization said on Friday six African countries Egypt Kenya Nigeria Senegal South Africa and Tunisia would be the first on the continent to receive the technology needed to produce mRNA vaccines. The technology transfer project launched last year in Cape Town aims to help low and middleincome countries manufacture mRNA vaccines at scale and according to international standards. mRNA is the advanced technology used by companies such as PfizerBioNTech and Moderna for their COVID19 shots. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/six-african-countries-receive-mrna-vaccine-technology-who-project-2022-02-18/ 18th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The New York Times China has done everything in its power to keep the virus outside its borders and protect its people almost. It has kept cases and deaths remarkably low through a zeroCovid strategy that has involved tracking and tracing every case closed its borders and locked down cities of millions of people. It fostered domestic vaccines that allowed the country to carry out a massive inoculation effort. But two years into the pandemic Chinas 1.4 billion people still dont have access to one of the most effective coronavirus vaccines the world has to offer. Those vaccines use the breakthrough mRNA technology that was developed and approved in the West and they have been embraced by dozens of countries. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/18/business/china-coronavirus-vaccines.html 18th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters China is giving COVID19 booster vaccines using technologies different from the initial injections in an effort to improve immunisation strategies amid concerns that its mostused jabs appeared to be weaker against variants such as Omicron. Boosting population immunity could be crucial to preparing China to eventually reopen its borders and pivot from its dynamic zero strategy which involves travel curbs and mass testing following dozens of local infections. Experts are watching whether combined Chinese doses would lead to higher effectiveness. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-allows-covid-boosters-different-technologies-than-primary-shots-2022-02-19/ 18th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters Moderna Inc has applied for patents in South Africa relating to its COVID19 vaccine prompting fears among charities that the company could eventually seek to prevent a new African vaccine manufacturing hub from making its own version of the mRNA shot although a Moderna spokeswoman said it did not plan to do so. Moderna spokeswoman Colleen Hussey confirmed it had filed for patents related to both the COVID19 vaccine and Modernas platform technology in South Africa and elsewhere after a group of 60 Africabased charities raised concerns about them. But she reiterated Modernas October 2020 pledge not to enforce its COVID19 related patents during the coronavirus pandemic. South Africas Afrigen Biologics has already used the publicly available sequence of Modernas vaccine to make its own version of the vaccine and plans to start human clinical trials in November https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/charities-say-moderna-patents-could-hit-africa-covid-vaccine-hub-2022-02-17/ 17th Feb 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Reuters News that Britains Queen Elizabeth had tested positive for COVID19 drew shock concern and messages of goodwill from across the country on Sunday with politicians and the public willing the 95yearold to recover. On a wet and blustery day a few sightseers gathered at the gates of Windsor Castle where the queen is receiving medical treatment for mild symptoms. Others went online to express support and message boards in the London Underground urged the monarch to take it easy. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/god-save-queen-messages-pour-after-elizabeth-catches-covid-2022-02-20/ 20th Feb 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Reuters South Koreas new daily COVID19 cases topped 100000 for the first time amid its Omicron outbreak with authorities saying social distancing measures would be only slightly eased ahead of the March 9 presidential election. Authorities announced on Friday they would move a curfew on restaurants and cafes from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. a nod to increasing criticism from business owners. The situation for small business owners and the selfemployed is desperate President Moon Jaein told a meeting of aides on Friday when calling for the parliament to quickly pass a supplemental budget with measures for resolving the difficulties of the peoples livelihood. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/skorea-daily-covid-19-cases-top-100000-first-time-kdca-2022-02-18/ 18th Feb 2022