1st Mar 2022 https://nfind.uk/lockdown_exit/index.php/newsletter=610 lockdown_exit

Lockdown Exit

Cambridge News Throughout the Covid pandemic travel rules were put in place to prevent the spread of the virus part of these rules included quarantining after going abroad. Anyone arriving in England in summer 2020 was made to quarantine for 14 days and according to new research this did have the desired effect. Cambridge scientists found that the measures put in place did reduce the spread of coronavirus. They found it was particularly effective for travellers aged 1620. The requirement for people arriving in England to selfisolate for a fortnight was introduced on June 8 2020 following the first few months of the pandemic. https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/cambridge-scientists-release-study-effectiveness-23206214 1st Mar 2022

Lockdown Exit

The Independent At least 30 per cent more coronavirus deaths have occurred in the most deprived areas of England since the turn of the year data shows reinforcing concern that the poorest communities will carry the greatest burden of disease under the governments plans for living with Covid. Of the 7053 deaths registered in the six weeks after 1 January 1589 22.5 per cent were from the most deprived 20 per cent of the country compared to 1188 16.8 per cent in the least deprived 20 per cent. Ministers have been warned that these disparities will only widen as the government scales back free testing and mandated isolation and removes sick payments for those ill with Covid. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/covid-death-rates-england-latest-b2023511.html 1st Mar 2022

Lockdown Exit

Bloomberg Hong Kong is planning to enforce a lockdown of the city to ensure a mandatory Covid19 testing drive planned for this month is effective Sing Tao Daily reported. Testing of the financial hubs 7.4 million people will start after March 17 the newspaper reported citing people it didnt identify. Officials are aiming to test the whole city three times over nine days with a stayathome order in place to maximize the impact the report said. Hong Kongs core financial services including the operations of the stock exchange and Covid vaccination program will continue during the testing period according to the report. Officials are still working out the details Sing Tao said. Residents will still be allowed to leave their homes to buy necessities like food during the lockdown the Hong Kong Economic Times reported citing unidentified people. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-28/hong-kong-eyes-mass-testing-with-lockdown-sing-tao-reports 1st Mar 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC on Monday recommended unvaccinated travelers avoid travel to Hong Kong over rising COVID19 cases. The CDC raised its COVID19 level for Hong Kong from Level 1 Low to Level 3 High one level below its highest warning level. Hong Kong is facing a record number of COVID19 fatalities and battling to control a surge in cases. The global financial hub reported a daily record high of 34466 new coronavirus infections and 87 deaths on Monday health authorities said. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-cdc-says-unvaccinated-travelers-should-avoid-hong-kong-travel-2022-02-28/ 28th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

The Guardian New Zealand has ended its selfisolation requirements for vaccinated travellers arriving from Australia as the countrys Covid transmission rates soar to among the highest in the world. From Wednesday vaccinated travellers will no longer need to selfisolate but will still be required to undergo a Covid19 test on arrival and on day five or six prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Monday. If the traveller tests positive for the virus they will be required to selfisolate in line with requirements for New Zealanders. Unvaccinated travellers will still have to stay in managed isolation or MIQ. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/28/previously-virus-free-new-zealand-now-has-one-of-worlds-highest-covid-transmission-rates 28th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

Business Matters Landmark Covid19 pills will allow the UK to fully reopen its economy according to analysts as the impacts of the pandemic continue to weigh on the economy. Companies including famed vaccine maker Pfizer which has won regulatory approval for its Paxlovid pill and Merck have revolutionized the global immunisation process with antiviral pills. The acceleration of the roll out of new accessible medications against Covid19 is expected to have a meaningful impact in terms of our ability to move beyond the pandemic and will help us to learn to live with the disease in the background Manx Financial Group CEO Douglas Grant told Business Matters. Easytotake medication will be a catalyst for the return to business as usual and help remove these damaging blockages unleashing a sector that is desperate to grow. Grant added that it is particularly good news for the UKs SMEs who have been disproportionately hit by the pandemic and its longerlasting impacts of rising costs of goods utilities and labour as inflation teeters on a 30year high. https://bmmagazine.co.uk/news/covid-19-pills-will-allow-uk-to-fully-reopen-economy-as-pandemic-impacts-weigh/ 28th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

BBC News The legal requirement to wear face masks in some public settings in the Republic of Ireland has been removed. It has been replaced with public health advice that masks should still be worn while on public transportation and in healthcare settings. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60548749.amp 28th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

Hindustan Times Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday said the requirement that vaccinated travellers isolate for a week after arriving would end on Wednesday. Initially the changes will apply only to returning New Zealanders as tourists are still not allowed to visit. https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/travel/new-zealand-gears-to-end-covid-19-travel-curbs-travellers-need-not-isolate-101646052533451.html 28th Feb 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters Italy will receive a first payment of 21 billion euros 23.53 billion from the Next Generation EU fund to help states compensate the impact of the COVID19 pandemic EU Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/italy-receive-first-21-billion-euros-eu-covid-19-fund-von-der-leyen-2022-02-28/ 28th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters Two doses of the Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE COVID19 vaccine was protective against severe disease in children aged 5 to 11 during the recent Omicron variant surge but quickly lost most of its ability to prevent infection in the age group according to a study by New York State researchers. The vaccines efficacy against infection among those children declined to 12 at the end of January from 68 in midDecember compared to kids who did not get vaccinated according the study which has not yet been peer reviewed. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizerbiontech-covid-vaccine-less-effective-ages-5-11-new-york-study-2022-02-28/ 28th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

The Jamaica Observer In Jamaica eight private entities in the health sector have signed grants totalling US600000 with the United States Agency for International Development USAID to continue the rollout of the health ministrys outsourcing of COVID19 vaccines. The ministry is trying to administer 75000 doses of COVID19 vaccines through private entities. So far approximately 17000 doses have been given outside of the public health system state minister for health Juliet Cuthbert Flynn noted during a signing ceremony https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/usaid-boosts-jamaica-s-push-to-get-covid-19-vaccines-to-private-health-facilities_244997?profile=1338&amptemplate=MobileArticle 28th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

Business Standard Ninety per cent of adolescents in the age group of 15 to 18 years in Delhi have been administered the first dose of vaccine against COVID19 since the launch of the drive on January 3 according to official data. Up to February 24 54 per cent of them had also received the second dose of the vaccine the data presented during a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority DDMA earlier this week mentioned. https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/90-adolescents-administered-1st-covid-19-vaccine-dose-in-delhi-data-122022700421_1.html 28th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

Deccan Herald Though the chances of severity in children infected with Covid19 is very low vaccination is very essential and it would help combat the fourth wave said Dr Mrudula Phadke senior advisor to Government of Maharashtra and UNICEF on Child Health. Speaking about Multiple Inflammatory Syndrome of Children a syndrome that affects almost every organ she said Only 1 in 10000 children may experience severe disease on being infected with Covid19. But there is a condition called MISC where almost every organ is affected. Hence our children should be vaccinated she insisted. https://www.deccanherald.com/national/vaccination-very-essential-will-help-combat-4th-covid-wave-unicef-advisor-says-1086180.html 28th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

The BMJ The sluggish pace of covid19 vaccination in the Caribbean is leaving the region vulnerable to current and future outbreaks of the disease senior Pan American Health Organization PAHO officials have warned. Unlike much of Latin America where vaccination campaigns started slowly but ramped up quickly through 2021 when more doses became available vaccination coverage across the Caribbean remains low. Of the 13 countries in the Americas that are yet to reach the World Health Organizations 2021 goal of 40 vaccination coverage 10 are in the Caribbean. Only regional outliers Cubawhich produces its own vaccinesand the Dominican Republic have fully vaccinated more than half of their population. Haiti which has been hit by natural disasters and political turmoil has fully vaccinated less than 1 of its citizens against covid19. https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj.o519 28th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

The Guardian The number of new people getting vaccinated in America has steadily declined in recent months according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC data. The sevenday average of new vaccinations now mirrors the rates from December 2020 when there was a limited supply of the vaccines. But doctors emphasize that the virus remains a threat in the US and that people who are not vaccinated are at greater risk of become severely ill or dying. They point to the fact that the sevenday average of new cases on 23 February in the United States was 76667 according to the New York Times data. On 23 February last year the sevenday average was 67854. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/28/us-new-covid-vaccinations-decline-cases-hospitalizations-drop 28th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

New Straits Times The process of transitioning Malaysia from the Covid19 pandemic stage into endemicity must be made carefully although the country is increasingly ready to make such a transition. Yang diPertuan Agong AlSultan Abdullah Riayatuddin AlMustafa Billah Shah cited several indicators which show that the country is ready to transition into the endemic phase. Among the indicators include the Nikkei Asia Covid19 Recovery Index which ranked Malaysia at 13th spot out of 122 countries around the world. AlSultan Abdullah also noted that the Covid19 National Immunisation Programme NIP has helped to inoculate 98 per cent of the adult population in the country. https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2022/02/775522/agong-encourages-people-take-covid-19-booster-shots 28th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters Vaccinating 70 of the population in every country in the world against COVID19 by mid2022 has been the World Health Organizations WHO rallying cry to end the pandemic. But recently public health experts say that while boosting immunity globally remains essential the figure is neither achievable nor meaningful. It has always been ambitious Currently just 12 of people in lowincome nations have had one shot according to Our World In Data. Earlier targets set by WHO to reach 10 by September 2021 for example were also missed. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/is-whos-aim-vaccinate-70-world-by-june-still-realistic-2022-02-28/ 28th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters South Korea will temporarily lift a requirement for vaccine passes or negative COVID19 tests at a number of businesses to ease the strain on testing centres authorities said on Monday as the country faces a wave of Omicron infections. The move will allow public testing and health facilities to devote more resources to battling the wave of new cases Interior Minister Jeon Haecheol told a COVID19 response meeting. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/skorea-rolls-back-covid-19-vaccine-pass-infections-burden-testing-centres-2022-02-28/ 28th Feb 2022

Exit Strategies

Associated Press Nearly half of the 500 million free COVID19 tests the Biden administration recently made available to the public still have not been claimed as virus cases plummet and people feel less urgency to test. Wild demand swings have been a subplot in the pandemic from vaccines to hand sanitizer along with tests. On the first day of the White House test giveaway in January COVIDtests.gov received over 45 million orders. Now officials say fewer than 100000 orders a day are coming in for the packages of four free rapid tests per household delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-lifestyle-only-on-ap-57e63ac3d5c508f3d41afdedbdc2aaea 27th Feb 2022

Partisan Exits

Lancs Live The OxfordAstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine has been subject to months of debate based on numerous health concerns primarily surrounding blood clots. And due to these concerns some members of Lancashires Asian community have been reluctant to have the jab over worries that it is safe. Certain medical studies and reports note that one of the most common reasons for hesitancy within the BritishAsian community are concerns regarding side effects and longterm effects on health. https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/how-covid-vaccine-misinformation-still-23218860 28th Feb 2022

Partisan Exits

The New York Times Nearly 60 years after Bobby took his sister along for the excursions into the woods the son and namesake of Robert F. Kennedy the New York senator attorney general and Democratic presidential candidate assassinated on June 5 1968 has become an unimaginably polarizing figure in this tightknit political family. Once a top environmental lawyer who led the charge to clean up the Hudson River in New York the third eldest child of Robert and Ethel Kennedy has emerged as a leading voice in the campaign to discredit coronavirus vaccines and other measures being advanced by the Biden White House to battle a pandemic that was near the end of February killing close to 1900 people a day. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/26/us/robert-kennedy-covid-vaccine.html 26th Feb 2022

Continued Lockdown

South China Morning Post Changes such as registering positive results using rapid antigen tests on a government portal can help speed up confirmation of Covid19 infections. Close contacts who are at least double vaccinated can leave quarantine earlier if they test negative using rapid antigen kits on sixth and seventh days. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3168598/coronavirus-hong-kong-fights-fifth-wave 28th Feb 2022

Continued Lockdown

The Wall Street Journal For Charles Murton one of Hong Kongs tens of thousands of expatriate residents the citys surprise decision to shut schools next month to test its 7.4 million people for Covid19 was the last straw. He has been drawing up plans to leave the city he immigrated to as a teenager eyeing a move with his wife and two young children to Singapore a perennial Hong Kong rival that continues to open its borders even as Covid19 numbers there surge to record highs. The virus is something that youve got to live with but that doesnt seem to be the thought process here said Mr. Murton a 41yearold logistics executive. For two years Hong Kong largely shut out Covid19 by at times banning travelers from certain highrisk countries using lengthy quarantines for arrivals and social distancing and isolating infected people and their close contactsat the cost of effectively cutting off the global financial hubs residents from the outside world. Now after the Omicron variant punctured the citys defenses overwhelming hospitals and testing facilities the city is tightening the screws in new and unpredictable ways to adhere to Beijings zeroCovid policy of stamping out the virus whenever it appears. https://www.wsj.com/articles/hong-kongs-covid-19-regime-sparks-rush-for-exit-by-spooked-residents-11645963200 28th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The Associated Press South Korea will no longer require people to show proof of vaccination or negative tests to enter any indoor space starting Tuesday removing a key preventive measure during a fastdeveloping omicron surge thats elevating hospitalizations and deaths. The Health Ministrys announcement on Monday came as the country set another oneday record in COVID19 deaths with 114 breaking the previous high of 112 set on Saturday. More than 710 COVID19 patients were in critical or serious conditions up from 200300 in midFebruary while nearly half of the countrys intensive care units designated for COVID19 were occupied. Park Hyang a senior health ministry official said rescinding the antiepidemic pass would free more health workers to help monitor nearly 800000 virus patients with mild or moderate symptoms who have been asked to isolate at home to save hospital space. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-seoul-south-korea-b8059ddebfb9e3ef29249db32838c805 1st Mar 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

News-Medical.Net Postacute sequelae of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 SARSCoV2 infection is estimated to affect about 2 of the population in the United Kingdom UK. These longterm symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 COVID19 also called postacute COVID19 syndrome postCOVID19 syndrome long COVID or postCOVID condition cause functional impairment in the majority of those affected. COVID19 vaccines have been successful in reducing the rate of incidence of long COVID by lowering the rate of occurrence of SARSCoV2 infection. However the risk for these sequelae postbreakthrough infection remains obscure. Until the end of January 2022 nearly 16 of the UK population were not fully vaccinated despite being eligible for the second vaccination dose. In addition most ethnic minorities and deprived communities show lower vaccination coverage these groups also record the highest infection rates. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20220227/Vaccination-reduces-risk-of-long-COVID.aspx 28th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The Washington Post Moderna faces yet another patent challenge over its coronavirus vaccine after Arbutus Biopharma and Genevant Sciences both small biotechnology companies filed a lawsuit on Monday alleging Moderna hijacked its technology to develop the multibilliondollar vaccine. Arbutus and Genevant said in their lawsuit that Moderna infringed on their patent for socalled lipid nanoparticle technology which they say was key in the development of Modernas mRNA vaccine and took scientists from Arbutus and Genevant years of painstaking work to develop and refine. The suit had been expected after Moderna lost a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling last year in the protracted patent battle. Moderna a 10yearold Cambridgebased biotechnology firm that had not marketed any product before the pandemic has said it expects coronavirus vaccine sales to top 19 billion in 2022. Arbutus and Genevant a company spearheaded by former Arbutus scientists could demand some of that as royalties if their challenge succeeds. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/02/28/moderna-arbutus-patent-infringement-lawsuit/ 28th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The Guardian This week the government announced additional vaccine booster jabs for the over75s and suggested a further shot is likely to be needed in the autumn. But imagine if the next Covid vaccine jab you have were the last you would ever need. Thats a dream being actively pursued now by researchers who feel it could be possible to make a universal vaccine against the SarsCoV2 virus that would work well not only against all existing variants but any that the virus could plausibly mutate into in the future. Some are thinking even bigger. In January Joe Bidens chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci and two other experts called for more research into universal coronavirus vaccines that would work not only against SarsCoV2 but against the many other coronaviruses in animal populations that have the potential to spill over into humans and cause future pandemics. We need a research approach that can characterise the global coronaviral universe in multiple species Fauci and colleagues wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine and apply this information in developing broadly protective universal vaccines against all coronaviruses. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/feb/26/will-we-get-a-single-variant-proof-vaccine-for-covid 28th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News Two notorious SARSCoV2 proteasesMpro and PLprowere inhibited by drugs that have already been approved for indications other than COVID19. The identification of potentially useful SARSCoV2 antiviral drugs is obviously welcome but in this case the findings are especially encouraging. Why Because the discovery of the inhibitors was accomplished with a novel screening strategy one that could be used in additional screening studies. Details about the protease inhibitorsand the screening strategyappeared in Communications Biology in an article titled Identification of SARSCoV2 inhibitors targeting Mpro and PLpro using incell protease assay. The incell protease assay ICP indicated in the articles title is just one part of the screening strategy. Other parts include antiviral and biochemical activity assessments as well as structural determinations for rapid identification of protease inhibitors with low cytotoxicity. https://www.genengnews.com/topics/drug-discovery/covid-19-proteases-inhibited-by-repurposed-fda-approved-drugs/ 28th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The BMJ A last minute row over funding for free covid testing between the Treasury and the Department of Health and Social Care for England nearly derailed the governments living with covid strategy launch last week.1 But the Cabinet eventually signed off drastic cuts to the estimated 15.7bn 18.7bn 21bn testing budget as a key plank of the prime ministers plan to scrap all remaining covid regulations in England. Duncan Robertson a policy and strategy analytics academic at Loughborough University told The BMJ that the latest row over ending restrictions showed that the false equivalence of the virus versus the economy was still rearing its head almost two years into the pandemic even though it is known that once people are infected they cant go to work and the economy suffers. It remains to be seen whether the right balance has now been struck and whether the short term gains to the exchequer from letting the public shoulder more responsibility for fighting SARSCoV2 are going to pay off with long term benefits to health and society as a whole. https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj.o515 28th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

New Scientist Data suggests that people whove had the BA.1 omicron variant are protected against BA.2 at least in the short term. A preliminary study of coronavirus infection rates suggests that people who have recently been infected by the BA.1 omicron variant are 95 per cent protected against infection with the fastspreading BA.2 omicron variant. The omicron wave which began in November has primarily been driven by the BA.1 variant but now another variant of omicron BA.2 seems to be rising to dominance. BA.2 has 32 of the same mutations as BA.1 but it also has 28 that are different. Rapidly rising numbers of BA.2 infections suggest that this variant is even more transmissible than the BA.1 omicron variant. A key problem with the omicron variants is their ability to escape immunity but data from around 20000 people in Qatar suggests that people who have recently been infected with BA.1 are 95 per cent protected against catching BA.2 35 to 50 days after infection. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2237475-covid-19-news-omicron-immune-response-protects-against-ba-2-variant/ 28th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters China has spent over a year developing Pfizertype COVID19 vaccines that may even help it pivot from stringent zeroCOVID restrictions but a changed market and the Omicron variant have muddied prospects before efficacy data has even been published. Still China is unlikely to join the majority of countries in approving foreignmade vaccines based on messenger RNA mRNA technology before making its own experts said though a slowing vaccination drive at home and in some other nations and improved supply of approved vaccines have raised questions of viability. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/china-perseveres-with-mrna-covid-shot-development-amid-omicron-commercial-2022-02-28/ 28th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

CIDRAP Last last year Moderna lost a legal bid to invalidate two Arbutus Biopharma patents tied to the delivery of its COVID19 vaccine. At the time it wasnt so much a question of whether Arbutus would sue the messenger RNA vaccine giant for infringement but when. Now the other shoe has dropped. Arbutus and Roivants Genevant Sciences on Monday filed PDF a lawsuit against Moderna in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. In their suit the companies seek damages for infringement on six patents they claim Moderna infringed with the production and sale of its COVID19 vaccine. The patents relate to nucleic acidlipid particles and lipid vesicles plus compositions and methods for their use Arbutus and Genevant said in a release. Crucially the plaintiff companies dont want to stop Moderna from making selling or distributing its shot. https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/moderna-headed-to-court-after-arbutus-genevant-call-infringement-patents-related-to-covid-19 28th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

CIDRAP As expected and amid a steadily declining Omicron surge the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC today updated its indoor masking guidance which would ease indoor use for most parts of the country according to new baseline measures. The CDC urges states and cities to still look at COVID19 caseloads when considering masking. But it adds two new metrics for assessing whether to trigger the measure hospitalization levels and hospital capacity. Most states have already dropped their mask mandates reflecting a transition to voluntary use in people who want to lower their risk of spreading or contracting the virus. Hawaii as the only state with mandates still in place. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/02/cdc-eases-covid-19-mask-guidance-adds-metrics-future-use 25th Feb 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

CIDRAP A team led by Johns Hopkins University researchers investigated 555 cases of sudden sensorineural hearing loss SSNHL among adults within 3 weeks of COVID19 vaccination reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System VAERS during the first 7 months of the US COVID vaccine rollout Dec 14 2020 to Jul 16 2021. The patients had received the Pfizer Moderna or Johnson Johnson JJ COVID19 vaccine. The study period spanned the administration of nearly 187 million vaccine doses in the United States. In addition to the crosssectional study the authors also analyzed a multicenter retrospective case series of 21 patients at two hospitals and one community practice who experienced SSNHL after COVID19 vaccination. SSNHL is unexplained hearing loss occurring all at once or gradually over a few days. The researchers noted that anecdotal reports of postCOVID vaccination have recently emerged among otolaryngologists and the public. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/02/studies-no-very-slight-risk-hearing-loss-after-covid-vaccine 25th Feb 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

The Malta Independent A 76yearold woman is the latest victim of the Covid19 pandemic as 40 new cases of the virus were reported on Monday by health authorities. 61 people meanwhile have recovered from the virus meaning that the number of active cases is now down to 692. 36 patients are currently being treated at Mater Dei Hospital with three of those in intensive care. 1242239 doses of the vaccine have been administered thus far with 342764 of those being booster doses. Malta has had 71208 cases of Covid19. 69500 of those have recovered while 605 have died. https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2022-02-28/local-news/Woman-dies-while-Covid-19-positive-as-40-new-cases-are-reported-6736241036 28th Feb 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

The Star Vietnam logged a new daily record of 94385 Covid19 infections on Monday taking the total to over 3.4 million cases according to its Ministry of Health. The new infections up 7395 cases from Sunday logged in 61 localities nationwide included 94376 domestically transmitted and nine imported. Vietnamese capital Hanoi remained the epidemic hotspot with 12850 cases on Monday also its highest ever daily number followed by northern Quang Ninh province with 9105 cases and central Nghe An province with 3958 cases. On the same day health authorities documented 28095 Covid19 cases detected earlier in northern Quang Ninh province. https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2022/02/28/vietnam-reports-a-new-daily-record-of-94385-new-covid-19-cases-total-tally-now-tops-34-million-on-monday-feb-28 28th Feb 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Reuters A rapid spread in COVID19 cases in Hong Kong has cast a spotlight on the plight of domestic helpers in the global financial hub after some were fired or made homeless by their employers when they tested positive for coronavirus. Hong Kong has around 340000 domestic helpers most hailing from either the Philippines or Indonesia. Many families in the city depend on livein helpers for housekeeping and to look after the elderly and children with the minimum wage set at HK4630 593 per month. Under Hong Kong law migrant domestic workers must live with their employers often residing in tiny rooms or sharing the bedrooms of the children they care for. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/hong-kong-domestic-helpers-abandoned-covid-takes-toll-2022-02-28/ 28th Feb 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Reuters Facilities for storing dead bodies at hospitals and public mortuaries in Hong Kong are at maximum capacity due to a record number of COVID19 fatalities the Hospital Authority said on Monday as officials battle to control a surge in cases. The global financial hub reported a daily record high of 34466 new coronavirus infections and 87 deaths on Monday health authorities said. Separately the citys Education Secretary said international schools could maintain their original term dates after widespread confusion over summer school holidays. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/hong-kong-mortuaries-fill-up-covid-deaths-climb-2022-02-28/ 28th Feb 2022

New Lockdown

Bangkok Post Hong Kong may impose a Chinastyle hard lockdown that confines people to their homes authorities signalled Monday with the citys zeroCovid strategy in tatters and bodies piling up in hospitals. Two years of strict zeroCovid policies kept the coronavirus largely bay but a breakthrough of the highly transmissible Omicron variant exposed how little authorities had done to prepare for a mass outbreak. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam previously ruled out a citywide lockdown and instead has ordered all 7.4 million residents to be tested in March. https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2271399/virus-hit-hong-kong-considering-lockdown 28th Feb 2022