Online Covid-19 test sales approved by Japan’s health ministry
The move is intended to help obtain test kits from home at any time, as hospitals and outpatient clinics have been under pressure amid the current wave of infections.
Pandemic
Japan’s nationwide coronavirus cases hit record high
The daily number of new cases of novel coronavirus infection exceeded 255,000 nationwide, marking a record high for the first time in eight days.
China and Hong Kong ‘actively discussing’ quarantine-free travel
Legislators expressed concerns about Hong Kong students unable to go to the mainland in time to start their college owing to a lack of quarantine quotas.
More than 400,000 doses of expired vaccine discarded in Tokyo
Reluctance to receive the Moderna vaccine - which is said to produce strong adverse reactions - on top of the sluggish vaccination rate, are seen as the causes of the waste.
Elderly care facilities under pressure amid Covid surge
In Okinawa, where the occupancy rate of Covid-19 hospital beds has surpassed 90 per cent, residents of care homes have died because they could not be hospitalised.
Bongbong Marcos receives second booster shot for Covid-19
President Marcos stated he attended the vaccination campaign to encourage the public to also take their booster shot, stressing its importance to fight the new Covid-19 variants.
The arrival of a ‘final variant’ could mark the pandemic’s end
The pandemic will not end in 2022, but the behavior of the virus in highly vaccinated countries across the globe may offer a glimpse of what the endpoint may look like.
Hong Kong sees ‘significant’ rise in Covid-19 cases in children
For children aged 3 to 9 years, the total number of cases in the past two weeks reached 3,483 – an increase from the 3,263 infections in the previous two weeks.
US CDC gives Philippines ‘high risk’ travel rating, citing rising Covid-19 cases
A Philippine Department of Health spokesperson said that what was more important was to prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed.
South Korea forecasts severe cases to peak at some 900 in early September
The government, however, did not change its projection for the number of daily infections, which is anticipated to peak at around 200,000 cases in late-August.