Jilin : China : China reported its first Covid-19 deaths since January 2021 as the highly contagious omicron variant continued to spread across the country, the first epicentre of the pandemic. The two deaths reported in Jilin on Friday, according to the National Health Commission said in a statement.
The global deaths related to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) plunged by a fifth despite the continued resurgence of the pandemic this week.
Citing a rise in Covid cases, a World Health Organisation spokesperson on Friday said that the end of the pandemic was a long way off. Days after Bloomberg reported that WHO was discussing how and when to call an end to the global Covid-19 crisis, the UN health agency said that the pandemic was “far from over”. “We are definitely in the middle of the pandemic,” the spokesperson added.
As Canada began to lift Covid restrictions, the country’s chief public health officer called for more people to get booster shots. Canada’s Covid policies may soon shift from “an emphasis on requirements to recommendations”, making it critically important for more people, especially the elderly, to get a booster dose.
“We’re in a period of uncertainty where the virus is still undergoing evolution, so getting up-to-date with vaccines and wearing a mask is really a good idea,” she said.
China has started looking for an exit from Covid prevention strategy even as authorities lock down cities in the country’s worst virus outbreak in two years. China is exploring ways of slowly easing its zero-tolerance approach.
