(Reuters) – Here’s what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:
Beijing finds most daily local cases in nearly a month
Beijing reported on Wednesday 10 domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases with confirmed symptoms, the highest number of daily local COVID-19 cases since Jan. 29. The infections come less than two weeks before the opening of China’s annual parliamentary meeting in the capital on March 5.
Despite the tiny caseload by global standard, the city, in line with China’s “dynamic-zero” strategy against the virus, has sealed up some buildings where cases and their close contacts lived. It has advised residents living in districts that have reported local infections not to leave Beijing unnecessarily, and recommended large conferences and events be held online.
S.Korea prime minister calls for calm as cases hit record
South Korea’s prime minister on Wednesday called on people not to panic about a major increase in coronavirus infections as new daily cases surged past 170,000 for the first time.
Serious cases and deaths are at manageable levels despite record cases caused by the highly infectious Omicron variant, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum told a pandemic response meeting.
Singapore’s daily cases hit record of more than 26,000
Singapore’s health ministry reported a daily record 26,032 COVID-19 infections on Tuesday and said it may take a few weeks before the current transmission wave peaks and subsides.
“While the number of patients needing oxygen supplementation and intensive care unit (ICU) care is not high, there is a surge in demand for hospital beds, mostly for patients with underlying chronic illnesses to recover,” the health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday evening. It reiterated people with mild or no symptoms who had tested positive should consider self-recovery at home to reduce the pressure on healthcare workers.
More patients, fewer nurses: Hong Kong’s medical frontline struggles
Yee, a nurse on the frontline of Hong Kong’s fight against COVID-19, recently became one of the patients her hospital had to turn away, after isolation wards and later corridors became overpacked with people on gurneys. At home, the 25-year-old spread the virus to her father, and fears her mother and brother might also get it. Rules say she should be sent to a quarantine facility, but nobody got in touch for the past seven days to make arrangements.
Nurses and doctors at other hospitals say the situation is similar across Hong Kong’s health system, showing the limits of the government’s “dynamic zero-COVID” strategy as thousands of new cases are discovered each day. Daily infections have surged 70 times since the start of February.
Ireland drops most of its remaining COVID restrictions
Ireland on Tuesday said it will drop most of its remaining pandemic-linked restrictions from Feb. 28 as an Omicron-fuelled wave of infections ebbs. The country has been one of the most cautious in the European Union on the risks of COVID-19, putting in place some of the longest-running curbs on travel and hospitality.
People will no longer be legally required to wear masks, physical distancing measures in schools will end, and the national testing and tracing program will be scaled back. Government advice that masks should be worn on public transport and in healthcare settings will remain.
(Compiled by Karishma Singh; Editing by Sam Holmes)
