(Reuters) – Three-quarters of Beijing’s 22 million people began lining up for COVID-19 tests as authorities in the Chinese capital raced to stamp out an outbreak and avert the kind of city-wide lockdown that has shrouded Shanghai for a month.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Shanghai reported 52 new deaths among its COVID-19 patients on April 25, up from 51 the day before, the city government said.
* The Asian region faces a “stagflationary” outlook, a senior International Monetary Fund official warned, citing the Ukraine war, spike in commodity costs and a slowdown in China as creating significant uncertainty.
EUROPE
* French vaccines company Valneva, which is aiming to get European approval for its COVID-19 vaccine product, said it had secured new financing with U.S.-based healthcare investment firms Deerfield Management Co and OrbiMed.
AMERICAS
* A federal judge in Louisiana said he intends to rule that U.S. authorities cannot immediately proceed with plans to lift pandemic restrictions that empowered U.S. agents at the Mexico border to turn back migrants without giving them a chance to seek asylum.
* Brazil’s government has renewed until the end of 2023 a program in which it guarantees part of credit operations for small and medium-sized companies, aiming to boost the economy by recycling efforts to fight the pandemic.
* Most Americans support a flexible approach to the lingering pandemic, with cities reimposing mask mandates when cases surge, even as a growing number are eager to get on with their lives, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* The U.S. drug regulator granted the first full approval for treating COVID-19 in children aged 28 days and older to Gilead Sciences’ drug remdesivir.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* China stocks recovered from two-year lows, on hopes of more easing measures to reduce the economic impact from a COVID-19 outbreak in the country, with rising cases in Beijing dimming prospects for the world’s second-largest economy.
* China’s central bank said it will step up prudent monetary policy support to the real economy, especially to small firms hit by COVID-19, responding to a media question seeking comment on swings in the financial markets.
* South Korea’s economic growth nearly halved in the first quarter from the preceding three months on coronavirus curbs and surging inflation, while a slowing Chinese economy clouded the outlook for the coming months.
* The Australian and New Zealand dollars were deep under water as concerns about the impact of coronavirus lockdowns on Chinese demand sank commodity prices and risk trades in general.
(Compiled by Aditya Soni and Vinay Dwivedi; Edited by Sriraj Kalluvila and Shounak Dasgupta)
