Updated 8 Jan 2023: COVID-19: Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan & China 2023
A total of 68 cases are currently warded in hospitals, with 3 of them held in intensive care units, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.
No new deaths from COVID-19 were reported leaving the total death toll unchanged at 1,712.
We may be entering Covid’s least predictable year yet
The Covid-19 outbreak is officially three years old on January 30, which marks the moment in 2020 when the World Health Organization declared the respiratory disease a public health emergency of international concern. But this month’s anniversary offers little to celebrate in the wake of China’s chaotic and abrupt lurch from zero-Covid to full-Covid.
Beijing has dramatically reduced testing, junked contact tracing and is scrapping most quarantine requirements; some regions now permit infected people with mild or no symptoms to go to work. The pandemic virus is thus free to circulate unobserved in a sixth of the world’s population — just as the rest of the globe is clamouring for normality. As the third year of the outbreak closes amid reports of overflowing hospitals in China and fresh restrictions on air travellers, and with the Chinese new year holiday fast approaching, the pandemic seems somehow more familiar and less predictable than ever.
China is right to abandon its inhumane and unworkable zero-Covid policy, but it has done so from a position of relative weakness. A headline 90 per cent vaccination rate masks the reality that its homegrown vaccines are less effective than the mRNA ones used widely elsewhere, and that around 30 per cent of the country’s 260mn over-60s (and more than half of its over-80s) have not received a third dose. Those factors have led to hair-raising projections, ranging from 1mn deaths this year to 1.7mn deaths by the end of April — and has prompted the EU to offer free vaccines to China.
China reopens borders in final farewell to zero-COVID
Travellers began streaming into mainland China by air, land and sea on Sunday (Jan 8), many eager for long-awaited reunions, as Beijing opened borders that have been all but shut since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After three years, mainland China opened sea and land crossings with Hong Kong and ended a requirement for incoming travellers to quarantine, dismantling a final pillar of a zero-COVID policy that had shielded China's people from the virus but also cut them off from the rest of the world.
China's easing over the past month of one of the world's tightest COVID-19 regimes followed historic protests against a policy that included frequent testing, curbs on movement and mass lockdowns that heavily damaged the second-biggest economy.
Singapore reports 3,259 new COVID-19 cases (New Report Xinhua from 10 Apr 2022)
Singapore reported 3,259 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the total tally to 1,135,428.
Of the new cases, 432 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 2,827 through ART (antigen rapid test) tests, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health. Among the PCR cases, 418 were local transmissions and 14 were imported cases. Among the ART cases with mild symptoms and assessed to be of low risk, there were 2,717 local transmissions and 110 imported cases, respectively.
A total of 350 cases are currently warded in hospitals, with 18 cases in intensive care units. Two deaths were reported from COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the total death toll to 1,299, the ministry said.
Singapore reports 4,014 new COVID-19 cases, 7 deaths (CNA Last Report 9 Apr 2022)
Singapore reported 4,014 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Friday (Apr 8), comprising 3,880 local infections and 134 imported ones. There were seven fatalities, taking the death toll from coronavirus complications to 1,297.
Among the new cases reported on Friday, 3,565 are classified under Protocol 2, comprising 3,452 local cases and 113 imported infections. Another 449 cases were confirmed via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, with 21 of them being imported infections.
Singapore has recorded 1,132,169 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.
Singapore's total COVID-19 caseload crosses 1 million mark, with 10,244 new infections and 3 deaths
Singapore's total COVID-19 caseload since the start of the pandemic surpassed the 1 million mark on Saturday (Mar 19), with the health ministry reporting 10,244 new infections. In all, 10,102 of the new COVID-19 infections reported as of noon on Saturday were local cases while 142 were imported.
There were three fatalities reported on Saturday, taking the death toll from coronavirus complications to 1,194. Among the new cases reported on Saturday, 8,003 are classified under Protocol 2, comprising 7,912 local cases and 91 imported infections. Another 2,241 cases were confirmed via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, with 51 of them being imported infections.
Singapore has recorded 1,007,158 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.
Singapore reports record 26,032 new COVID-19 cases
Singapore reported 26,032 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Tuesday (Feb 22), comprising 25,731 local and 301 imported infections. There were four fatalities, taking the death toll from coronavirus complications to 956.
Among the cases reported on Tuesday, 22,705 are classified under Protocol 2, comprising 22,635 local cases and 70 imported ones. Another 3,166 cases were confirmed via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, with 70 of them being imported infections.
Singapore has recorded 622,293 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.
related:
Singapore reports 19,420 new COVID-19 cases, 7 deaths
Singapore reported 19,420 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Tuesday (Feb 15), comprising 19,179 local and 241 imported infections. This is the highest number of new infections reported in a day since the Ministry of Health (MOH) began including Protocol 2 cases in its daily updates on Jan 21. The previous high was 13,208 cases, reported on Feb 4.
There were also seven fatalities recorded on Tuesday, taking the death toll from coronavirus complications to 913. Among the new cases, 16,161 are Protocol 2 infections, comprising 16,102 local cases and 59 imported ones. Protocol 2 cases are those who are well or assessed to have a mild condition. Another 3,259 cases were confirmed via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, with 182 of them being imported infections.
As of Tuesday, Singapore has recorded 497,997 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.
Singapore's daily local COVID-19 cases triple to more than 13,000
Singapore reported a record 13,046 local coronavirus infections on Friday, triple the previous day's tally.
Singapore has recorded 85,357 cases of the virus over the last 28 days, but 99.7% of them had no or mild symptoms. The country has fully vaccinated 89% of the total population against COVID-19, while 59% have received boosters shots.
Authorities have previously warned that daily cases could rise to as many 15,000 due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
COVID-19: Singapore includes daily Protocol 2 cases from 22 Jan 2022
Singapore reported 3,155 new COVID-19 infections as of noon on Friday (Jan 21), comprising 2,794 local infections and 361 imported ones. The surge in the number of new cases, considering Thursday's figure was just 1,472, is due to the inclusion of the number of Protocol 2 cases in its daily updates, said the Ministry of Health (MOH). Protocol 2 cases are individuals who are well and tested positive, or have been assessed by a doctor to have a mild condition. Two sets of numbers will be reported every day - one for the infections confirmed by PCR tests, and another for the Protocol 2 cases.
There was one fatality, according to the latest infection statistics on the MOH website. This takes the death toll from coronavirus complications to 846. The weekly infection growth rate is 2.70, up from Thursday's 2.17. A figure above 1 means that the number of new weekly cases is rising. A total of 1,539 new Protocol 2 infections were confirmed on Friday, comprising 23 imported cases and 1,516 local cases. Another 1,616 cases were confirmed by polymerase chain reaction test (PCR), which were made up 1,278 local infections and 338 imported ones.
As of Friday, Singapore has recorded 307,813 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. Case numbers have been backdated to Jan 6 when GPs started to order Protocol 2, for the purposes of calculating the total number of infections in Singapore as well as the week-on-week increase in infection numbers.
COVID-19 Singapore abandoning ‘Zero COVID’ strategy
Singapore has one of the world's highest vaccination rates at 82%, yet cases of COVID-19 are skyrocketing from just double digits in August to well over 3,000 cases a day now. Infectious disease physician Dale Fisher of the National University Hospital says Singapore is letting nature take its course.
Singapore's health experts say exiting the pandemic will mean a carefully calibrated lifting of lids and laying them back on again as needed. Fisher says it may take another year or two. Meanwhile, he says don't expect a Singapore version of the U.K.'s Freedom Day, where almost all COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.
related:
Hong Kong can’t live with COVID-19. Can it survive ‘zero-COVID'?
In a span of just one month, Hong Kong turned from one of the “safest” places in the world to one with the worst COVID-19 death rates in the developed world. The more than 2,300 deaths recorded in one month easily surpassed the total deaths that occurred in the two years prior.
Earlier this month, Hong Kong hit a daily record high of 56,827 confirmed COVID-19 cases - and that’s likely an underestimation since authorities now rely on self-reporting. Hong Kong still has a flight ban in place for several countries such as Australia, United Kingdom and United States. But based on recent developments, Hong Kong authorities would have quickly issued a travel ban to itself.
The severity of the Omicron wave has certainly alarmed Beijing. Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the Hong Kong government to “take all necessary measures” to contain the situation. A delegation of mainland Chinese medical professionals, led by the architect of China’s “dynamic zero” strategy, Dr Liang Wannian, are already in town to bolster its frontline forces, and Chinese contractors have rushed to build makeshift hospitals.
Hong Kong reports 37,529 new COVID-19 cases, 150 deaths
Hong Kong reported 37,529 new coronavirus infections on Saturday (Mar 5) and 150 deaths, as the city clings to a "zero-COVID" strategy despite spiralling cases that have spread through care homes and overwhelmed healthcare facilities.
Many supermarket shelves were bare again on Saturday even as the government said there were plenty of fresh food supplies from China and the public should not over-purchase. Two of the city's largest consumer retail chains started rationing some food and drug items on Friday to curb panic buying amid fears of a citywide lockdown.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has said there will not be a "complete lockdown" although many residents are unnerved and frustrated by what they see as mixed messages and policy tweaks on an almost daily basis.
related:
Hong Kong reports record 26,026 daily COVID-19 cases
Hong Kong reported a record 26,026 daily COVID-19 infections on Sunday (Feb 27) and 83 deaths, as an outbreak of the highly transmissible Omicron variant overwhelms healthcare facilities and proves hard to control.
The global financial hub has imposed some of the most stringent COVID-19 restrictions in the world to cope with the coronavirus spike, leading some executives to leave and frustrating some residents.
While most major cities seek to live with the virus, Hong Kong has imposed its harshest rules yet, following the mainland with a "dynamic zero-COVID" strategy aiming to eradicate the disease. This proved largely successful until the Omicron spike overwhelmed the city's tracking and isolation processes. Some experts predict the city of 7.4 million will have up to 180,000 cases daily next month.
related:
Hong Kong COVID-19 cases hit record as compulsory testing looms
Hong Kong reported a record 8,674 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday (Feb 23), as the city prepares for compulsory testing of its residents after authorities extended the toughest social restrictions imposed since the pandemic began.
Health authorities reported 24 deaths compared with Tuesday's 32, as they step up measures, with assistance from their mainland counterparts, to contain the outbreak.nOn Tuesday, Hong Kong reported 6,211 new cases.
With the city's testing, treatment and isolation capacity already stretched to the maximum, University of Hong Kong researchers predicted new infections could peak at 180,000 a day next month. "We are really at the limit," Lau Ka-hin, chief manager for quality and standards of the Hospital Authority, an oversight department, told reporters.
Hong Kong in 'all-out combat' to contain COVID-19 outbreak with China support
Hong Kong is in "all-out combat" to contain a surge in coronavirus cases, the city's No 2 official said on Sunday (Feb 20), with the ramping up of community isolation and treatment units helped by mainland Chinese construction teams.
Scenes of people lying outside public hospitals in the rain and chilly weather have shocked many in the global financial hub, leading to an apology from authorities. Officials have now organised facilities to shelter patients amid a drop in temperatures as healthcare facilities are overwhelmed.
Officials reported 6,067 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, a day after the government announced that the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal would be turned into a dedicated COVID-19 facility with 1,000 beds to mitigate overburdened public hospitals.
related:
How COVID-19-wracked Hong Kong is reeling two years into pandemic
Hong Kong is in the throes of its worst-ever coronavirus outbreak, as residents are suddenly confronted with a severely overstretched healthcare system and a tightening of restrictions even as much of the world opens up.
The city's strict but successful "zero-Covid" policy had largely kept the virus out for months. But when the highly transmissible Omicron variant broke through Hong Kong's defences, authorities were caught flat-footed with a dangerously under-vaccinated population and few plans in place to deal with a mass outbreak.
The extremely contagious Omicron variant was first discovered within Hong Kong's local community in late December -- far later than much of the rest of the world. Authorities reacted quickly -- banning flights, forbidding gatherings of more than two, and launching a mass hamster cull after coronavirus-positive pet store rodents were discovered. But these measures did little to curb Omicron's spread. As of Friday, Hong Kong had recorded more than 20,200 infections in less than two months -- outstripping its cumulative two-year total of about 12,000.
related:
Thousands flee to mainland China as Hong Kong Covid-19 outbreak widens
Chinese residents in Hong Kong are racing to get back to the mainland to get away from the financial hub's worsening Covid-19 outbreak, posing a challenge for officials fearful of contagion.
On Friday (Feb 18), hundreds of people queued at a border checkpoint between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, with many waiting hours to get through all checks and processes. Most have family ties with the mainland or are Chinese nationals studying or working in Hong Kong. They join a stream of people racing to leave Hong Kong: departures via land routes - all but one of which go directly to mainland China - tripled to 24,697 in the first 17 days of February from a year earlier, according to Immigration Department data.
While Hong Kong's four-digit case numbers pale in comparison to global peers, the outbreak is now the worst in China and bigger than even the crisis in Wuhan at the start of the pandemic. Healthcare resources have become increasingly strained, but the recent deaths of two small children, both too young to be vaccinated, have given an additional push to the exodus to mainland China, where strict and swift anti-virus measures have always stamped out flareups quickly.
Parents in Hong Kong rush to vaccinate children as COVID-19 surges
Hong Kong parents rushed children as young as 3 years old to vaccination centres this week as the government lowered the age limit for the shots and the deaths of two toddlers exacerbated concerns in a city struggling to cope with a COVID-19 surge.
The government approved children 3 and older to take China's Sinovac vaccine from Feb 15, while those 5 and older can take the BioNTech shot. The measures come as the Chinese territory has recorded a 60-fold surge in infections since Feb 1, overwhelming the global financial centre's hospitals and testing facilities.
A 3-year-old and 4-year-old, both diagnosed with COVID-19, died in the past week. Authorities said they were "saddened" by the deaths and would offer assistance to the children's families. At a vaccination centre in the northern New Territories district on Friday, long queues formed early in the morning, with parents and children braving wet and windy weather before being allowed inside for vaccinations.
related:
Hong Kong reports 1,347 COVID-19 cases as healthcare system overwhelmed
Hong Kong reported 1,347 new daily COVID-19 infections on Sunday (Feb 13), down from the previous day's record, but the spread, with 2,000 more suspected cases, threatens the city's overstretched healthcare system, authorities said.
The surge in coronavirus cases, the biggest test yet for Hong Kong's "dynamic zero-COVID" strategy, comes a day after the government said China would help the city with testing, treatment and quarantine capacity.
Following the death of a four-year-old who had tested preliminary positive for the disease this week, the government said late on Sunday that children from the age of three would be eligible for vaccinations from Feb 15.
Hong Kong's zero-COVID policy an opportunity for Singapore to become Asia’s leading international air hub
The pandemic has had a decimating impact on international hub airports with Asia Pacific particularly hard hit due to border closures and travel restrictions.
Changi Airport handled only 3.05 million passengers in 2021, or 4.5 per cent of the 68.3 million passengers handled in 2019.
Changi has slipped completely out of the rankings of top airports globally after having ranked seventh in 2019 for international passenger traffic and eighteenth for total passenger traffic.
related:
Hong Kong leader says city to stick with 'dynamic zero' COVID-19 strategy for now
Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday (Feb 8) that the Asian financial hub would stick to a "dynamic zero" COVID-19 strategy to contain the virus as authorities face their biggest test yet to control a record number of infections.
Lam, who was speaking at a weekly news briefing, said she would announce further COVID-19 restrictions later in the day after the city saw a "shocking" new record of over 600 infections on Monday. Broadcaster TVB said there were at least 380 confirmed infections on Tuesday with 400 preliminary positive tests.
For now, Lam said, the best option was to adhere to the "dynamic zero" strategy employed by mainland China to suppress all coronavirus outbreaks as soon as possible. "We should contain the spread of the virus as much and as fast as possible," she said. "We need your support, we need your cooperation. You only need to stay at home."
Omicron shows Hong Kong can’t maintain ‘dynamic zero-Covid’
It’s become quite apparent in recent days that Hong Kong’s current social distancing measures are inadequate to suppress the city’s fifth wave of Covid-19. While similar measures were, eventually, effective in ending the fourth wave last spring, the Omicron variant is much more transmissible and cannot be contained as easily.
A persistent failure to suppress the current outbreak could leave Hong Kong facing more stringent measures with no end in sight, even as the authorities refuse to contemplate a more sustainable, business-friendly mitigation approach.
It is time for the Hong Kong government to accept the possibility that even if zero-Covid is a desirable goal, it is not realistic or achievable. Alternative strategies for dealing with the virus must now be considered.
Hong Kong to report daily record of 610 new COVID-19 cases
Hong Kong is expected to report a record of around 610 new COVID-19 cases on Monday (Feb 7), while 300 others were found positive in preliminary tests, broadcaster TVB reported, citing an unnamed 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 compared with just two in December.
The city recorded 342 cases on Sunday, slightly below the previous day's record of 351 cases. Health Secretary Sophia Chan said over the weekend that she expects cases to rise "exponentially" following the Lunar New Year holiday due to an increase in family and social gatherings and appealed several times for people to stay indoors.
The former British colony has become one of the most isolated cities in the world, with flights down around 90 per cent due to strict coronavirus regulations and schools, playgrounds, gyms as well as most other venues shut. Restaurants close at 6pm, while most people, including the majority of civil servants, are working from home. The economic and psychological tolls from the hardline approach are rapidly rising, with measures becoming more draconian than those first implemented in 2020.
Hong Kong may maintain COVID-19 isolation until 2024, risking exodus: Euro chamber
Hong Kong may only reopen in early 2024 because of its stringent COVID-19 policies, which could trigger an exodus of foreign firms and staff and jeopardise its role as a financial hub, the city's European Chamber of Commerce said in a draft report.
The limited effectiveness of locally developed vaccines is forcing mainland China to maintain tight restrictions on travel, the chamber said in the draft which was reviewed by Reuters but has not been made public. The European Chamber of Commerce declined to comment on the report.
The most likely scenario for Hong Kong would be that it would not reopen until China rolls out its mRNA vaccine across its 1.4 billion population, which could take until late 2023 or early 2024, it said. If that was the case, the chamber said there was a risk of a "cascade effect" of firms leaving the Asian financial hub.
Some Hong Kong civil servants to work from home as COVID-19 spreads
A health worker wearing a protective suit stands as residents queue to take a COVID-19 test in Hong Kong. (Photo: REUTERS/Lam Yik)
Health authorities said there were 109 new cases on Monday, out of which 98 were locally transmitted and five were untraceable. Daily cases hit an 18-month high of 140 on Sunday, fuelled by an outbreak in a congested public housing estate.
Responding to the latest COVID-19 scare, the government said in a statement on Monday that some employees would "work from home as much as possible" and warned that individual departments might have to cut back temporarily on some public services.
How omicron pushed Hong Kong to ramp up its ‘zero-Covid’ strategy
The Chinese territory of Hong Kong has among the strictest quarantine requirements in the world, with some international arrivals required to spend the first part of their 21-day quarantine at a government facility
Fifteen nasal swabs down, one to go.
As the coronavirus pandemic enters its third year, traveling to Hong Kong is more complicated than ever, if you can get here at all.
With some of the strictest quarantine requirements in the world, the Chinese territory has become an international outlier as countries struggle to craft a return to some sort of normality. Almost all international arrivals are required to self-isolate in a hotel room for 21 days and submit to a slew of PCR tests to make sure they didn’t bring the virus with them.
Hong Kong locks down building and tests thousands as Covid-19 cases jump
People queueing for Covid-19 tests at a community testing centre in Hong Kong on Jan 12, 2022. PHOTO: REUTERS
A rising number of Covid-19 infections in Hong Kong, known for its zealous Covid-zero approach, is unnerving the city's political and healthcare leaders.
Local cases, while comparatively low, are hitting levels not seen in nearly a year. There are several undetectable chains of transmission.
Some infections appear to be coming from unusual sources - including family pets and a scavenger who recycles items from apartment buildings - showing how difficult it will be to keep the highly transmissible strains at bay.
Hong Kong warns of worsening COVID-19 outbreak as leader defends hamster cull
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Saturday (Jan 22) warned that COVID-19 infections could be growing exponentially in a congested residential area of the city and that overall cases had also spread due to an outbreak in pet hamsters.
Chief Executive Lam urged Hong Kong people to avoid gatherings ahead of next week's Lunar New Year as officials grappled with an outbreak of the highly-infectious Omicron variant in Kwai Chung, north of the city's Kowloon peninsula. "We are worried that the exponential growth of cases that we have seen in other parts of the world is now happening in Kwai Chung," Lam said.
The situation is testing Hong Kong's "zero COVID" strategy focused on eliminating the disease, with schools and gyms already shut, restaurants closing at 6pm and air travel with many major hubs severed or severely disrupted.
Coronavirus: ‘at least 75 Covid-19 cases’ uncovered at Hong Kong public housing estate
Residents of the virus-hit block face five days of daily Covid-19 tests Photo: Felix Wong
The infections were recorded at two different buildings on Kwai Chung Estate, sources said. Hong Kong has not seen such a high daily tally in almost exactly a year, when 73 infections, of which four were imported, were logged on January 25, 2021.
One source said Yat Kwai House, where 2,700 residents were placed under a five-day lockdown for daily Covid-19 testing on Friday night, recorded 34 cases.
Covid-19 deaths per 1 million inhabitants
Hong Kong — that Singaporeans like to compare their city with — sits at 28, but it has been pretty much sealed off from the world and is following Chinese protocols. It also has to grapple with considerably higher vaccine hesitancy, which prevents it from reopening the borders, what would most certainly lead to an explosion of the virus in the relatively poorly inoculated metropolis.
The best performer is New Zealand, with just five deaths per 1 million people, but it too lingers in isolation, at the literal end of the world. Should it open more boldly to the world, it would suffer the same — or worse — fate, considering barely 60 per cent of its population is vaccinated (versus 84 per cent in Singapore, including 94 per cent of over 12 year olds). In other words, the only places doing better than Singapore are those which have yet to even try reopening their borders, encouraging more inward and outward travel. And they too, will not escape a rise in recorded cases and deaths when they unfreeze. No country can remain completely insulated forever.
The daily number of cases is no longer relevant as we already understand that the virus is unlikely to ever be extinguished. But with the help of modern medicine, we can neuter it to the point of it becoming another mild cold.
Hong Kong risks global status as Singapore opens up to world
The divide between Asia’s two main financial hubs in handling the pandemic is growing ever wider, with one opening up to global travel and the other maintaining one of the world’s harshest quarantine policies.
In Singapore, officials are taking steps to reconnect with the global economy even as the government faces pressure to favour locals over foreigners for well-paying jobs. Speaking in a televised address over the weekend, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that Singapore can’t stay “locked down and closed off indefinitely” and residents should prepare to see “many Covid-19 cases for some time to come.”
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has taken the opposite approach, stressing in a Bloomberg Television interview Monday that even a single death would be a “major concern” as she follows China’s Covid Zero approach that tolerates no local infections. While expressing concern about the city’s reputation, Lam said she was “duty bound to protect my people” and businesses in any case saw Hong Kong as a gateway to the mainland. The divergence is raising questions about Hong Kong’s future as a regional hub, particularly among an expat business community that for years has bounced back-and-forth between the former British colonies known for low tax rates, friendly labor laws and easy immigration policies. Even fully vaccinated residents in Hong Kong face a mandatory 21-day hotel stay if they visit locations like the US and UK, while Singapore is starting to allow quarantine-free travel to those places and more.
US CDC admits it raised Hong Kong's Covid-19 risk rating in error
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it mistakenly flagged Hong Kong as a growing risk for coronavirus when it raised its travel warnings for the city and Singapore earlier this week.
Hong Kong’s increase was done unintentionally, the agency said on Tuesday (Sept 28). The city’s status has returned to Level 1, indicating a low risk, on the CDC’s website, a spokesman said. The level is the lowest of the agency's four-tiered travel health notice system.
But while Singapore has reported almost daily caseloads of more than 1,000 since mid-September, Hong Kong has seen fewer than 10 cases almost every day since late August. There has not been a locally transmitted infection in Hong Kong since mid-August, data shows, and it has yet to experience an outbreak of the Delta variant.
related:
Unequal Hong Kong can’t live with Covid-19, unlike Singapore
A woman pulls a trolley of cardboard boxes and old electronics down Elgin Street in Central in August 2020. Photo: Jonathan Wong
I would like to respond to Cliff Buddle’s column, “Time for Hong Kong to emerge from its ever-shrinking bubble” (August 21), which argued that Hong Kong should follow Singapore’s “live with the virus” strategy because “many countries now accept it is impossible to eliminate Covid-19” and “Hong Kong’s status as an international city … is at stake” if it continues to isolate itself from the rest of the world.
However, Hong Kong is not a monolithic society that consists of only international high-flyers. With a Gini coefficient of 0.54, Hong Kong is a much more unequal society than Singapore, whose number is a modest 0.35. That means a vast majority of Hongkongers cannot afford the kind of international travel that is viewed as an essential fact of life by the elites.
The elites need to understand that the virus has an outsize impact on the low-income segment of society. What may be a mere inconvenience for the elites can mean the difference between life and death for the poor.
Hong Kong expats are up in arms about quarantine. Singapore stands to gain
Tough coronavirus rules in Hong Kong is forcing many ex-pats to consider moving to nearby Singapore. (NurPhoto via Getty Images)
It's been nearly two years since Norris Fong has seen his family back in his native Singapore. Now, he's had enough. The 33-year-old fashion buyer is soon leaving Hong Kong to return to his home country, citing frustration over the city's coronavirus restrictions and lack of a clear reopening plan. "Singapore definitely has a better game plan," Mr Fong, who has lived in Hong Kong for four years and works in merchandising at Versace, said.
Mr Fong isn't alone. Hong Kong and Singapore have long vied to be Asia's premier global business centre, but as the Chinese city's international borders remain virtually closed, some businesses and expats are starting to lose patience — and turning to the Southeast Asian hub. Some companies were already weighing the merits of Singapore over Hong Kong as a centralised Asian business hub, especially as Beijing began tightening its grip over the former British territory. But as the pandemic nears the two-year mark, their strategies for containing the virus have taken centre stage.
Like many Asian countries, Hong Kong has embraced a "zero COVID" strategy, placing emphasis on social distancing, limiting travel and shutting most non-residents out. Most travellers arriving in the city have to contend with one of the world's longest quarantines, paying to isolate in a hotel room for up to three weeks.
8.62m vaccine jabs given
About 8,622,700 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered to the public, with about 4,472,800 people receiving their first dose and around 4,149,900 getting their second dose. Among those given the first dose of vaccines, about 1,623,600 people have received the Sinovac jab and about 2,849,300 people got the BioNTech one. For the second dose, about 1,505,100 people have received the Sinovac vaccine, while about 2,644,800 people have been administered the BioNTech jab.
About 21,900 people received jabs under the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme today.
Around 3,600 people received their first dose of the Sinovac vaccine and around 6,600 people received their second dose. For the BioNTech vaccine, about 3,500 people received their first dose and around 8,200 people got their second dose.
The overall percentage of people who received the Sinovac vaccine at community vaccination centres is about 96%, while it is about 92% for the BioNTech one. As of midnight, four people were sent to hospital.
Hong Kong dismisses business pushback over 'zero-COVID' strategy
International companies choose Hong Kong for its regional access, low taxes, legal system and financial services. (File photo: AFP/Isaac Lawrence)
Hong Kong's leader doubled down on her "zero-COVID" strategy on Tuesday (Aug 31), brushing off growing pushback from the business community over the city's indefinite international isolation.
The European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong wrote a rare open letter to chief executive Carrie Lam earlier this month warning that the finance hub's business reputation was at risk and residents were "indefinitely trapped". But Lam said that there are no plans to change course, reinforcing concerns that there is no current end in sight to travel restrictions.
"Now, the most important defence is to prevent importation of cases as far as possible," Lam told reporters. She also said that normalising transit with the Chinese mainland would be prioritised over global travel, even as chief regional rival Singapore prepares to live with the coronavirus and open up to the world.
Hong Kong to tighten Covid-19 quarantine rules for travellers from 16 countries
Only Hong Kong residents who are fully vaccinated can enter the city if they are from high-risk places. PHOTO: REUTERS
The Hong Kong government on Monday (Aug 16) said it would tighten quarantine rules from Friday (Aug 20) for travellers from 16 countries.
Fifteen of them - Bangladesh, Cambodia, France, Greece, Iran, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States - will be specified as high-risk places from the current medium-risk classification.
Only Hong Kong residents who are fully vaccinated can enter the city if they are from high-risk places. Besides having to present a negative test result for Covid-19 before boarding the flight, they will also have to be in quarantine for 21 days and self-monitor for another seven days.
Taiwan to move away from zero-COVID strategy: Health minister
Taiwan will move away from a zero-COVID policy and instead focus on tackling the most severe infections in an effort to live with the coronavirus, its health minister said on Thursday (Apr 7).
The decision leaves China - and its financial hub Hong Kong - as the only major economy still sticking to the strategy even as Omicron breaks through those defences. Taiwan has largely closed its borders and implemented strict quarantine rules throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping infection numbers low.
An outbreak last year prompted the temporary reimposition of economically painful social distancing measures until it was brought under control. Infections are once again rising, but Taiwan's leaders have signalled that they will follow other former zero-COVID economies like Singapore, Australia and New Zealand by opening up.
Taiwan sees 1,000 daily local COVID-19 cases by end of month
Taiwan expects daily domestic COVID-19 infections to top 1,000 a day by the end of the month, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said on Tuesday (Apr 12), calling on people not to panic about a wave that is causing few serious cases.
Taiwan has been a model for how to control the pandemic. It moved early and effectively with such measures as largely closing its borders and implementing highly efficient contact tracing.
But since the beginning of this year the island of 23 million people has recorded about 4,000 domestic infections, driven by the more infectious Omicron variant, though more than 99 per cent of those have involved only minor symptoms or none at all. Speaking on a Taiwanese radio station, Chen said daily cases could exceed 1,000 by the end of the April.
Taiwan reports 68 new COVID-19 cases, including 14 domestic
Taiwan reported 68 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, consisting of 14 domestically transmitted cases and 54 originating from abroad, and no new deaths from the disease, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC). The 14 new domestic cases involved 5 men and 9 women ranging in age from under 5 years old to their 90s, with 10 of the cases linked to a cluster involving employees at a Taipei real estate agency, the CECC said.
Of the new domestic infections, 10 were fully vaccinated, two had received no vaccine jabs, while the vaccination status of two cases is still under investigation, the CECC said. In addition to the domestic cases, Taiwan also reported 54 imported cases on Thursday, involving people who arrived in Taiwan from the United States, Vietnam, Australia, France, India, the Philippines, Ukraine, Chad, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Malaysia, Japan and Cambodia.
To date, Taiwan has confirmed 19,797 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 15,353 domestically transmitted infections. With no deaths reported on Thursday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the country remains at 852.
Taiwan says needs to reopen, eyes March cut to COVID-19 quarantine
Taiwan aims to ease its strict COVID-19 quarantine policy from next month as it needs to gradually resume normal life and reopen to the world, the government said on Monday (Feb 14). Since the pandemic began two years ago, Taiwan has succeeded in keeping reported cases of COVID-19 below 20,000, having enforced a blanket two-week quarantine for everyone arriving on the island even as large parts of the rest of the world have ditched theirs.
Speaking at a meeting with senior health officials, Premier Su Tseng-chang said that even though there could be further domestic infections the government was "quite confident" in its anti-pandemic measures. "The government must also take into account livelihoods and economic development, gradually return to normal life, and step out to the world," his office cited him as saying.
On the precondition that there are sufficient medical supplies and preparations and that the vaccination rate continues to rise, Su said he had asked the Central Epidemic Command Centre to "consider whether reasonable and appropriate adjustments" should be made to the quarantine policy and entry of businesspeople. Health Minister Chen Shih-chung, who leads the command centre in charge of fighting the pandemic, told reporters they were aiming to cut quarantine to 10 days before the middle of March, confident they can detect any infections within that period with testing. "Basically, we can relax epidemic prevention" measures, he said.
Taiwan to mandate COVID-19 vaccination proof for entertainment venues
A woman receives a booster shot of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at a community centre, in Taipei, Taiwan, January 17, 2022. REUTERS/Ann Wang
The Central Epidemic Command Centre said that from Friday, entry into venues including bars and night clubs would require proof of full vaccination either by showing a physical vaccine card or a new digital card. The centre said the move was needed to minimise the risk of community transmission as Taiwan deals with a small number of domestic infections of the Omicron variant. More than 70 per cent of people in Taiwan have received two vaccine doses and booster shots are currently being rolled out, though only around 10% of residents have had their third shot so far.
Taiwan has kept the pandemic well under control thanks to strict border measures enacted early on and a highly efficient tracing system. It has reported 18,041 cases to date out of a population of 23.5 million.
Taiwan reports 7 new COVID-19 cases, one death
Taipei, Sept. 22 (CNA) Taiwan reported seven new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, all but one of whom contracted the virus overseas, and one death from the disease, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC). The new domestic case is a New Taipei resident in her 30s who was placed in home quarantine after being listed as a contact of two confirmed COVID-19 cases and tested for COVID-19 on Sept. 20 before completing quarantine. The test result came back positive for the disease on Wednesday, the CECC said.
The sole death reported Wednesday was a Taiwanese man with a history of chronic illness who arrived in Taiwan from Vietnam on Aug. 6 and developed a fever and a sore throat on Aug. 17. He passed away on Sept. 20. The six imported cases are three men and three women, who traveled to Taiwan between Aug. 15 and Sept. 20, including three from the United Kingdom, one each from the United States, Cambodia and Mynamar, according to the CECC.
The new cases bring the total in Taiwan to 16,159, of which 14,415 are domestic infections reported since May 15, when the country first recorded more than 100 COVID-19 cases in a single day.
Covid-19: What went wrong in Singapore and Taiwan?
They've been hailed as virus success stories - places that have seen virtually zero or single-digit Covid cases since the start of the year.
But this month, Singapore and Taiwan have both seen a sudden and aggressive rise in cases - with Singapore logging 248 new cases just last week, and Taiwan 1,200 local infections. Both places have gone into a heightened state of restrictions, limiting the size of social gatherings and closing schools.
By global standards, these numbers may seem small - but for these places, these figures would have been unthinkable just months ago. So what exactly went wrong?
- A tale of complacency - Taiwan
- Cracks in the wall - Singapore
COVID-19: Expert urges Taiwan to follow Singapore
Elementary and high-school teachers and staff receive COVID-19 vaccinations at a vaccination center at the Taipei Expo Park yesterday
Taiwan should abandon its “COVID zero” strategy and instead focus on COVID-19 vaccines and improving clinical outcomes, a Taiwanese medical expert said yesterday, citing Singapore’s experience in battling the pandemic.
Huang Yun-ru (黃韻如), a professor of medicine at National Taiwan University who lives in Singapore, made the remarks in an online news conference organized by the National Taiwan University Hospital. As vaccines are effective in preventing deaths, severe symptoms and hospitalizations, it is possible to live with COVID-19 if a large percentage of the population is fully vaccinated, she said.
Singapore has vaccinated 80 percent of its people against COVID-19, the highest vaccination rate in the world, Huang said, adding that Taiwan’s top priority should be raising its inoculation rate. Taiwan has not adopted similar measures due to its low vaccination rate and legal concerns over digital privacy, she said.
Taiwan at zero Covid-19 cases after worst outbreak but restrictions to remain
Taiwan’s health minister said the situation will be monitored for the next two weeks before any decision on easing restrictions is made. Photo: AFP
Taiwan has recorded no new locally transmitted Covid-19 infections for the first time since its worst outbreak began in late April.
More than 800 people have been killed in the island-wide outbreak, and the health minister on Wednesday said there was no immediate plan to ease restrictions. “We have finally recorded zero local cases today, which is happy news for all of us, but this does not mean we will have no more locally transmitted infections, and all we can say is that the situation in Taiwan has stabilised,” Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said.
He called on the island’s 23.5 million people to stay alert and vigilant to keep the virus at bay, particularly given the spread of the highly transmissible Delta strain elsewhere.
Why Taiwan Is Beating COVID-19 – Again
How did Taiwan suppress this wave even as Australia, Vietnam, & S'pore are struggling with an uptick of the virus
That enviable routine came to an end in mid-May 2021 when an outbreak of COVID-19 transmission upended everyday life. Yet, COVID-19 cases have fallen significantly in recent days. New cases per day have fallen from 535 on May 17 to an average of fewer than 20 in the past seven days. On July 26, Taiwan reported a new low of 10 cases of community transmission.
How did Taiwan suppress this wave of COVID-19 transmission, even as Australia, Vietnam, and Singapore are struggling with an uptick of the virus:
- First, Taiwan doubled down on longstanding strategies of masking, quarantine measures, and contact tracing.
- Second, the Taiwanese government was willing to listen to critics and change its policies in fighting the pandemic.
- Third, the Taiwanese people actively sought accountability from politicians in fighting the pandemic.
- Fourth, Taiwan’s media played an understated role in fighting the pandemic.
- Fifth, Taiwan reaped the goodwill it sowed in the early days of pandemics.
Taiwan orders toughest curbs amid infections spike
Schools and other learning institutions are being disinfected across Taiwan
Taiwan's government has imposed its toughest restrictions so far, as the island tries to battle a spike in Covid-19 cases. The authorities are shutting down cinemas and entertainment venues until 28 May, while limiting gatherings to five indoors and 10 outdoors. President Tsai Ing-wen urged the public not to panic-buy basic necessities.
Taiwan - which has so far survived the pandemic almost unscathed - on Sunday reported 207 new infections. The island of 23 million people has recorded 1,682 infections and 12 Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Taiwan's impressive success battling the coronavirus has been largely attributed to early and strict border controls, a ban on foreign visitors and mandatory quarantine for all Taiwanese returning home.
China reports record 20,000 daily COVID-19 cases as Shanghai begins new round of testing
China reported more than 20,000 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday (Apr 6), the highest daily tally given since the start of the pandemic, as millions in locked-down Shanghai began a new round of testing.
The country's "zero-COVID" strategy has come under immense strain as cases spike, with around 25 million residents of Shanghai - China's largest city and economic engine room - ordered to stay-at-home as the authorities struggle to contain the outbreak. Until March, China had kept daily cases low with snap localised lockdowns, mass testing, and strict restrictions on international travel. But the caseload has hit thousands per day in recent weeks, with officials saying they have detected a mutation of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
The city locked down in phases last week and complaints have swelled online of fresh food shortages caused by logistics disruptions and panic buying, which has left many residents waking early to try to beat the queues on grocery apps. State broadcaster CCTV reported that the city will launch a fresh round of tests on the entire population on Wednesday.
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Shanghai social media unpicks China's COVID-19 lockdown story
Videos of a pet dog killed in the name of COVID-19 controls, expletive-strewn songs aimed at authorities and scuffles with hazmat-suited officials - seething, locked-down Shanghai residents are pouring scorn on China's hardline virus measures via social media.
The world's most populous country is glued to an aggressive "zero-COVID" strategy, with Beijing extracting political value from China's relatively low death rates since the pandemic began and playing up its handling of the virus compared to Western rivals.
But well over two years since the virus first emerged, Shanghai now simmers under an Omicron-fulled outbreak that has 25 million city residents locked down. Record caseloads have topped 20,000 a day and the lockdown - initially billed as a phased, localised measure - appears set to drag on, even as much of the world learns to live with COVID-19.
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China reports highest COVID-19 new daily cases since Feb 2020
China on Sunday (Apr 3) reported a total of 13,287 new daily cases for Apr 2, the highest level since February 2020, with the majority in northeastern Jilin province and the financial hub of Shanghai which has virtually locked down the entire city.
The country reported 1,506 confirmed coronavirus cases in the previous day, the national health authority said on Sunday, down from 2,129 a day earlier.
But the number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, surged to 11,781 on Saturday compared with 7,869 a day earlier. Of the new confirmed cases, 1,455 were locally transmitted, with 956 detected from Jilin and 438 from Shanghai.
China reports first COVID-19 deaths in more than a year
Mainland China reported its first COVID-19 deaths in more than a year on Saturday (Mar 19), according to a post on the National Health Commission's website that said two people died in the northeastern region of Jilin. China reported only two COVID-19 deaths for all of 2021, the last of those on Jan 25.
The country is maintaining a "dynamic clearance" approach which aims to cut transmission as soon as possible, using stringent measures such as short and targeted shutdowns and quick testing schemes where cases are found. Jilin, bordering North Korea and Russia, accounts for more than two-thirds of domestic infections in the latest wave.
One of the dead was not vaccinated, said Jiao Yahui, a senior official with the National Health Commission. The direct cause of death for both victims was underlying diseases, Jiao told reporters in Beijing, while their COVID-19 symptoms were mild. One victim was 87 and the other was 65, according to The Paper, a Shanghai state-run publication. More than 95 per cent of the nearly 30,000 people hospitalised with COVID-19 in China have mild or no symptoms, Jiao said.
China records nearly 3,400 daily COVID-19 cases in worst outbreak in two years
Chinese health authorities reported nearly 3,400 COVID-19 cases on Sunday (Mar 13), double the previous day, forcing lockdowns on virus hotspots as the country contends with its gravest outbreak in two years.
A nationwide surge in cases has seen authorities close schools in Shanghai and lock down several northeastern cities, as almost 19 provinces battle clusters of the Omicron and Delta variants.
The southern Chinese tech hub Shenzhen was put under a citywide lockdown Sunday, the local government announced, after it reported 66 new coronavirus cases and sealed off the central business district.
China daily local COVID-19 infections exceed 1,000 as symptomless cases spike
Mainland China reported over 1,000 new local COVID-19 infections on Friday (Mar 11), the highest daily count since Beijing contained its first national outbreak in early 2020, driven by a jump in asymptomatic infections amid the spread of the Omicron variant.
The size of the latest outbreak is much smaller than many others outside mainland China, but the increase in the number of cases could add pressure to China's "dynamic-clearance" ambition to curb each transmission as quickly as possible.
China detected 703 domestically transmitted asymptomatic infections for Thursday, according to data from the health authority on Friday, up from 435 a day earlier. That marks a sharp increase from a daily average of about 10 such cases in the first two months this year, Reuters calculations showed. Another 397 local symptomatic cases, which China classifies separately from symptomless infections, were reported for Mar 10, the National Health Commission said.
Mainland China posts highest number of imported COVID-19 cases in nearly 2 years
Mainland China has logged its highest number of daily new local symptomatic COVID-19 infections in about two years, as the highly transmissible Omicron variant pressures its stringent policy to curb each outbreak quickly.
China reported 214 domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms for Sunday (Mar 6), data from the National Health Commission showed on Monday. That marks the highest daily caseload since Chinese authorities started in early March 2020 to count locally found infections and cases arriving from outside the mainland separately.
China's latest local virus flare-ups are tiny by global standards, and the country is sticking to its "dynamic-clearing" policy which requires local authorities to quickly identify and quarantine every infection and their close contacts and impose travel restrictions to cut off transmission.
China could eventually 'co-exist' with COVID-19
China could move away from its zero-COVID strategy "in the near future" and co-exist with the virus, a top Chinese scientist said in a possible sign that the country's leadership is rethinking its strict approach.
The country where the coronavirus was first detected in 2019 is now one of the last places still hewing to a zero-tolerance approach, responding to small outbreaks with snap lockdowns and cutting off most international travel. But fatigue over disruptions to everyday life as well as semi-autonomous Hong Kong's struggle to contain a mass Omicron outbreak has raised questions about the sustainability of China's approach.
China's strategy against COVID-19 cannot "remain unchanged forever" and "it is the long-term goal of humanity to co-exist with the virus" at tolerable death and illness rates, Zeng Guang wrote in a social media post-Monday (Feb 28).
Why China is sticking with its ‘COVID Zero’ strategy
Two years ago, China was being lauded by the World Health Organization for its success in beating the coronavirus. But its insistence on adhering to a so-called COVID Zero policy is leaving it increasingly isolated as other countries, most of which suffered far worse outbreaks and higher death tolls, wean themselves off harsh countermeasures and return to a semblance of pre-pandemic life.
Their populations have built up a large degree of protection through previous infections and more effective vaccines. Chinese officials have said vaccines alone aren’t enough and stringent curbs aimed at wiping out the virus are needed to avoid a health care calamity:
- Does COVID Zero mean zero cases?
- Why is China sticking to it?
- What’s the domestic downside?
- What are the hurdles to getting back to normal?
- What’s the cost to the rest of the world?
- What’s the endgame for China?
- What’s the outlook for Hong Kong?
China not to adjust dynamic zero-COVID policy for the time being: chief epidemiologist
As long as China has no new measures to prevent the imported strains of the coronavirus from triggering large-scale transmission and with no effective way to contain the epidemic, the country will not adjust its dynamic zero-tolerance policy for now, because relying on only vaccines cannot contain COVID-19, Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview.
Responding to the question whether vaccinating 70 percent of the global population could end the acute phase of the pandemic, Wu said such an assertion is still open to discussion. Ahead of the fourth wave of the pandemic, many countries in Europe have already reached 70 percent total vaccination, and some countries like Germany, France and the UK have vaccination rates above 70 percent, but the occurrence of Omicron with breakthrough cases challenges the concept of herd immunity. This means if you want to end the epidemic through building up the herd immunity but mutated strains can evade immunity, this concept will no longer apply, Wu noted.
"China has already reached a 70 percent vaccination rate, but as long as the virus can evade herd immunity, people can still get infected, like the recent outbreak in Tianjin, where many infected people were vaccinated, although the symptoms were milder," he said. No matter how hard Western media outlets and observers slander China's zero-tolerance policy in fighting COVID-19, Chinese policymakers and epidemiologists consider that it is still the best way to reduce the catastrophic outcome of a reckless reopening.
‘Zero-COVID’ is no longer the real goal for China
About the same time when the new Omicron variant was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) in November 2021, China shifted towards a new approach - to what is termed a “dynamic zero-COVID” approach to replace its zero-tolerance policy. According to Liang Wannian, head of China’s COVID-19 task force, the goal of the new policy was to prevent domestic flare-ups through timely interventions, rather than achieve zero infections.
Compared to its early zero-tolerance stance, this flexible approach allowed for more relaxed rules alongside a suite of measures focused on rapidly eliminating any new infections. This includes early detection, frequent contact tracing, long quarantines and strict border controls. What this now means is that a couple of reported infections will no longer trigger a lockdown of a whole city.
Instead, targeted lockdown measures among specific communities rather than entire cities or provinces are applied promptly once more than two new cases are spotted in a community within 14 days. Under this “dynamic” policy, more emphasis has been placed on striking a balance between disease control and enabling people to live normal lives.
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How China is keeping to its strict zero-Covid-19 approach
China's official tally since the start of the pandemic - just over 100,000 - is a fraction of the record one million cases logged by the United States in a single day earlier this month. The official death toll has stayed under 5,000.
Although cases from the chaotic initial outbreak in Wuhan in early 2020 are widely believed to have been under-reported, life since then has largely returned to normal.
"There is still no ability to stop single local cases from appearing, but we have the ability and confidence to quickly extinguish the outbreak when a local case is found," National Health Commission official Liang Wannian told reporters last month.
No exit from zero-COVID: China struggles to find policy off-ramp
China's "zero-COVID" stance has put it at odds with the rest of the world and is exacting a mounting economic toll, but an exit strategy remains elusive as authorities worry about the ability of the healthcare system to cope and adapt to new strains. Chinese medical experts believed last year that higher vaccination rates would eventually allow China to relax tough rules on movement and testing as infection rates slow elsewhere.
The emergence of the highly transmissible Omicron variant dashed those hopes. While some analysts have branded China's approach as "unsustainable", many local health experts - and some from overseas - say the country has no choice but to continue given its less developed health system. Some even argue China's economy could even emerge stronger than ever if it keeps Omicron at bay.
"For a large country with a population of 1.4 billion, it must be said that the cost effectiveness of our country's prevention and control has been extremely high," said Liang Wannian, head of the expert epidemic prevention group at China's National Health Commission, at a Saturday briefing.
Singapore’s response praised alongside those in Hong Kong and Taiwan
In the early months of the outbreak, Singapore’s response was praised—alongside those in Hong Kong and Taiwan—as a model for how to stop slow the spread of the coronavirus. The World Health Organization (WHO) commended Singapore, citing its widespread testing and comprehensive tracing of close contacts.
Singapore had also largely managed to quell a second wave of the virus, caused by students and other residents returning home from the U.S. and Europe. Authorities have only recorded one imported case since April 9.
But Hong Kong and Taiwan now appear to have a much better handle on the outbreak. Hong Kong recorded no new cases Monday, and Taiwan recorded just two. Both also have a fraction of the confirmed infections. (1,025 in Hong Kong and 422 in Taiwan), despite having larger populations.
Why Coronavirus Cases Have Spiked in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan
Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan — once heralded for early successes in battling the pandemic — are now confronting a new wave of coronavirus cases, largely fueled by infections coming from elsewhere. Singapore is also seeing a rise in local transmissions, with more than 400 new cases in the past week that have been linked to migrant worker dormitories.
The first confirmed cases in all three places were connected to people who had traveled to Wuhan, China, where the pandemic began, followed by small clusters of cases among residents with no travel history. Despite their proximity to mainland China, however, they had all managed to keep their case counts low for weeks, through vigilant monitoring and early intervention. None of these places had a single day with more than 10 new cases until March, even as the coronavirus spread around the world.
That changed in the past two weeks, as both Hong Kong and Singapore saw new cases in the double digits for consecutive days, with the bulk attributed to those who have traveled from abroad. Singapore’s numbers are now triple-digits, with large clusters of cases linked to dorms for migrant workers. Taiwan was hit with a surge of new cases, the vast majority of which were imported from other countries, while the number of locally transmitted infections remained low.
Why vaccinated people dying from Covid-19 doesn't mean the vaccines are ineffective
Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell died on Monday of Covid-19 complications. His family announced that he was fully vaccinated. He was 84 years old, and had multiple myeloma, a blood cancer.
Health officials worry that anti-vaccine activists will seize upon Powell's death to make the claim that vaccines don't work. If you can still die after being vaccinated for Covid-19, what's the point of getting the vaccine?
What's the answer to that question? I discussed it with CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. She is also author of a new book, "Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health."
COVID-19: Singapore’s fatality rate
Singapore reported 3,155 new COVID-19 infections as of noon on Friday (Jan 21), comprising 2,794 local infections and 361 imported ones. The surge in the number of new cases, considering Thursday's figure was just 1,472, is due to the inclusion of the number of Protocol 2 cases in its daily updates, said the Ministry of Health (MOH). Protocol 2 cases are individuals who are well and tested positive, or have been assessed by a doctor to have a mild condition. Two sets of numbers will be reported every day - one for the infections confirmed by PCR tests, and another for the Protocol 2 cases.
There was one fatality, according to the latest infection statistics on the MOH website. This takes the death toll from coronavirus complications to 846. The weekly infection growth rate is 2.70, up from Thursday's 2.17. A figure above 1 means that the number of new weekly cases is rising. A total of 1,539 new Protocol 2 infections were confirmed on Friday, comprising 23 imported cases and 1,516 local cases. Another 1,616 cases were confirmed by polymerase chain reaction test (PCR), which were made up 1,278 local infections and 338 imported ones
As of Thursday, Singapore has recorded 307,813 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. Case numbers have been backdated to Jan 6 when GPs started to order Protocol 2, for the purposes of calculating the total number of infections in Singapore as well as the week-on-week increase in infection numbers.
Singapore confirms first case of Wuhan virus on 23 Jan 2020
A China national has tested positive for the Wuhan virus in Singapore, with another likely to have the virus.
The 66-year-old man, a Wuhan resident, arrived in Singapore with nine travelling companions on Monday (Jan 20), and stayed at Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa resort, the Ministry of Health said at a briefing on Thursday night (23 Jan 2020).
All the rooms at the hotel where the man and his travelling companions stayed in have been sanitised and sealed off.
Singapore reports first deaths from COVID-19
Two patients died from Covid-19 on Saturday morning (March 21) due to complications, the first deaths the Republic has seen.
A 75-year-old Singaporean woman with a history of chronic heart disease and hypertension died at 7.52am.
She had been admitted to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) on Feb 23 for pneumonia and was confirmed to have Covid-19 the same day.
read more
REUTERS COVID-19 TRACKER: SINGAPORE
Average number of new infections reported in Singapore each day reaches new high: Now reporting more than 2,300 daily.
COVID-19 infections in Singapore are at their peak — the highest daily average reported — now at 2,397 new infections reported each day. There have been 106,318 infections and 121 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began.
Singapore has administered at least 9,486,020 doses of COVID vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs 2 doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 83.2% of the country’s population.
REUTERS COVID-19 TRACKER: HONG KONG
Hong Kong is reporting 4 new infections on average each day, 3% of the peak — the highest daily average reported on July 30.
There have been 12,238 infections and 213 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began.
Hong Kong has administered at least 8,745,399 doses of COVID vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs 2 doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 58.2% of the country’s population.
REUTERS COVID-19 TRACKER: TAIWAN
COVID-19 infections are decreasing in Taiwan, with 7 new infections reported on average each day. That’s 2% of the peak — the highest daily average reported on May 30.
There have been 16,262 infections and 844 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began.
As COVID-19 infections began to be reported around the world, many countries responded by shutting down places like schools, workplaces and international borders in order to contain the spread of the virus.
REUTERS COVID-19 TRACKER: MAINLAND CHINA
COVID-19 infections are decreasing in Mainland China, with 29 new infections reported on average each day. That’s 1% of the peak — the highest daily average reported on February 13.
There have been 96,284 infections and 4,636 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began.
Mainland China has administered at least 2,214,564,000 doses of COVID vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs 2 doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 79.2% of the country’s population.
4 lions at Night Safari and another lion at Singapore Zoo tested positive for COVID-19
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