(Reuters) – Here’s what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:
China locks down city on Vietnam border; masks during competition at the Olympics
Authorities in China’s southwestern city of Baise ordered residents to stay at home from Monday and avoid unnecessary travel, as they enforced curbs that are among the toughest in the nation’s toolbox to fight rising local infections of COVID-19.
Separately, at the Winter Games, a women’s ice hockey game in the preliminary round between Canada and the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) was delayed by an hour before players returned wearing masks. No reason was given for the delay but Canadian media said the ROC had not provided Canada with COVID-19 test results.
Australia welcomes world back
Australia will re-open its borders to vaccinated travellers this month, ending two years of misery for the tourism sector, reviving migration and injecting billions of dollars into the world’s No. 13 economy.
The move effectively calls time on the last main component of Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which it has attributed to relatively low death and infection rates. The other core strategy, stop-start lockdowns, was shelved for good in December.
Hong Kong to report daily record of 610 new COVID cases -TVB
Hong Kong is expected to report a record of around 610 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, while 300 others were found positive in preliminary tests, broadcaster TVB said, citing an unidentified source.
The global financial hub, which is following mainland China’s strategy of suppressing all coronavirus outbreaks as soon as possible, has seen cases soar since January, with more than 2,000 infections, up from just two in December.
Indonesia bans foreign tourist arrivals at Jakarta airport
Indonesia has temporarily banned entry of foreign tourists through the airport in its capital, Jakarta, the transport ministry said, in a bid to slow a spike in coronavirus infections driven by the Omicron variant. Police have also enforced curfew in downtown Jakarta from midnight to 4 a.m.
The move to bar tourists flying to Jakarta comes just days after Bali welcomed the first international flight in nearly two years carrying foreign visitors.
Alzheimer’s-like changes seen in COVID-19 patients’ brains
Small studies have found that people who die of severe COVID-19 have brain abnormalities that resemble changes seen in Alzheimer’s disease – accumulation of a protein called tau inside brain cells, and abnormal amounts of the protein beta-amyloid that forms amyloid plaques.
In all the studies, patients had experienced the most severe forms of COVID-19. If similar changes happen in the brains of patients with milder illness, that might help explain the “brain fog” associated with long COVID, said Dr. Andrew Marks of Columbia University.
Patients with severe COVID-19 might be at higher risk for dementia later in life, but it is too soon to know, Marks added.
(Compiled by Karishma Singh)
