China to scrap COVID-19 quarantine for overseas arrivals from Jan 8 - CNA

BEIJING: China will scrap quarantine measures for overseas arrivals starting Jan 8, health authorities announced Monday (Dec 27), after nearly three years of strict pandemic border restrictions.

The National Health Commission (NHC) announced the downgraded containment measures for COVID-19 in an online notice, adding that travellers would only need a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test taken 48 hours pre-flight to enter China.

The announcement is the latest move by Beijing to loosen its zero-COVID regime, after it abruptly dropped mandatory testing and lockdowns earlier this month.

"According to the national health quarantine law, infectious disease quarantine measures will no longer be taken against inbound travellers and goods," the National Health Commission said.

"People must take a PCR test in the 48 hours before arriving in China," the notice said, adding that restrictions limiting the number of international flights will also be abolished.

The measures will take effect from Jan 8, when COVID-19 will be downgraded from the top tier of infectious diseases, Class A, to a second tier Class B, the NHC said in a separate notice Monday.

Unlike most of the rest of the world where people have transitioned to living with the pandemic, China had until recently maintained harsh restrictions and largely sealed itself off.

Since March 2020, all passengers arriving in the country had to undergo at least two weeks of mandatory centralised quarantine, later increased to three weeks.

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2022-12-26 15:34:00Z
CBMieGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vYXNpYS9jb3ZpZC0xOS1jaGluYS1zY3JhcC1xdWFyYW50aW5lLWphbi04LW92ZXJzZWFzLWFycml2YWxzLXRyYXZlbGxlcnMtcGNyLXRlc3QtMzE2ODYyMdIBAA

'The ICU is full': Medical staff on frontline of China's COVID-19 fight say hospitals are overwhelmed - CNA

In the past month, Bernstein went from never having treated a COVID-19 patient to seeing dozens a day.

"The biggest challenge, honestly, is I think we were just unprepared for this," he said.

Sonia Jutard-Bourreau, 48, chief medical officer at the private Raffles Hospital in Beijing, said patient numbers are five to six times their normal levels, and patients' average age has shot up by about 40 years to over 70 in the space of a week.

"It's always the same profile," she said. "That is most of the patients have not been vaccinated."

The patients and their relatives visit Raffles because local hospitals are "overwhelmed", she said, and because they wish to buy Paxlovid, the Pfizer-made COVID-19 treatment, which many places, including Raffles, are running low on.

"They want the medicine like a replacement of the vaccine, but the medicine does not replace the vaccine," Jutard-Bourreau said, adding that there are strict criteria for when her team can prescribe it.

Jutard-Bourreau, who like Bernstein has been working in China for around a decade, fears that the worst of this wave in Beijing has not arrived yet.

Elsewhere in China, medical staff told Reuters that resources are already stretched to the breaking point in some cases, as COVID-19 and sickness levels amongst staff have been particularly high.

One nurse based in the western city of Xian said 45 of 51 nurses in her department and all staff in the emergency department have caught the virus in recent weeks.

"There are so many positive cases among my colleagues," said the 22-year-old nurse, surnamed Wang. "Almost all the doctors are down with it."

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2022-12-26 08:42:25Z
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Savage US blizzard leaves 31 dead, causes power outages, travel snarls - The Straits Times

NEW YORK - A relentless winter storm brought Christmas Day danger and misery to millions of Americans Sunday as intense snow and frigid cold gripped parts of the eastern United States, with weather-related deaths rising to at least 31.

“It is (like) going to a warzone, and the vehicles along the sides of the roads are shocking,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a native of Buffalo, where 2.4m snow drifts and power outages have made for life-threatening conditions.

Mrs Hochul told reporters on Sunday evening that residents were still in the throes of a “very dangerous life-threatening situation” and warned anyone in the area to remain indoors.

A crisis situation was unfolding in Buffalo, in western New York, where a blizzard has left the city marooned, with emergency services unable to reach high impact areas.

More than 200,000 people across several eastern states woke up without power on Christmas morning and many more had their holiday travel plans upended, although the five-day-long storm featuring blizzard conditions and ferocious winds showed signs of easing.

The extreme weather sent wind chill temperatures in all 48 contiguous US states below freezing over the weekend, stranded holiday travellers with thousands of flights canceled and trapped residents in ice- and snow-encrusted homes.

At least 31 weather-related deaths have been confirmed across eight states, with some US media reporting as many as 30 storm-linked fatalities in total, including four in Colorado who likely died of exposure and at least 12 in New York state with officials warning the number would likely rise.

While large swathes of the country have begun shovelling out from the massive storm and temperatures in some locations were returning to seasonal normality, Buffalo remained in the grips of “a major disaster”, a senior official said Sunday.

Officials described historically dangerous conditions in the snow-prone Buffalo region, with hours-long whiteouts and bodies discovered in vehicles and under snow banks as emergency workers struggled to search for those in need of rescue.

The city’s international airport remains closed until Tuesday and a driving ban remained in effect for all of Erie County, where the lake-side metropolis is located.

“We now have what’ll be talked about not just today but for generations (as) the blizzard of ‘22,” Mrs Hochul said, adding that the brutality had surpassed the region’s prior landmark snowstorm of 1977 in “intensity, the longevity, the ferocity of the winds”.

Due to frozen electric substations, some residents were not expected to regain power until Tuesday, with one frozen substation reportedly buried under 18 feet of snow, a senior county official said.

Governor Hochul deployed some 200 National Guard members to help with rescues in and around Buffalo.

“It is extreme, it is dangerous and deadly,” she told CNN, noting that even National Guard units were getting trapped and requiring rescue.

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2022-12-25 19:30:08Z
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Zhejiang province in China has 1 million daily COVID-19 cases, expected to double - CNA

"MOST DANGEROUS WEEKS"

"China is entering the most dangerous weeks of the pandemic," said a research note from Capital Economics. "The authorities are making almost no efforts now to slow the spread of infections and, with the migration ahead of Lunar New Year getting started, any parts of the country not currently in a major COVID-19 wave will be soon."

The cities of Qingdao and Dongguan have each estimated tens of thousands of daily COVID-19 infections recently, much higher than the national daily toll without asymptomatic cases.

The country's healthcare system has been under enormous strain, with staff being asked to work while sick and even retired medical workers in rural communities being rehired to help grass-root efforts, according to state media.

Bolstering the urgency is the approach of the Lunar New Year in January, when huge numbers of people return home.

Visits to Zhejiang fever clinics hit 408,400 a day - 14 times normal levels - in the past week, a Zhejiang official told a news conference.

Daily requests to the emergency centre in Zhejiang's capital, Hangzhou, have recently more than tripled on average from last year's level, state television reported on Sunday, citing a Hangzhou health official.

The eastern city of Suzhou said late on Saturday its emergency line received a record 7,233 calls on Thursday.

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2022-12-25 09:42:00Z
CBMiamh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vYXNpYS9jaGluYS16aGVqaWFuZy0xLW1pbGxpb24tZGFpbHktY292aWQtMTktY2FzZXMtZXhwZWN0ZWQtZG91YmxlLTMxNjc0NTbSAQA

China's National Health Commission to stop publishing daily COVID-19 figures - CNA

The United States has also reported COVID-19 cases less frequently, changing from daily to weekly updates, citing needs to reduce the reporting burden on local areas.

"China is entering the most dangerous weeks of the pandemic," said a research note from Capital Economics. "The authorities are making almost no efforts now to slow the spread of infections and, with the migration ahead of Lunar New Year getting started, any parts of the country not currently in a major COVID wave will be soon."

After years of enforcing stern rules, President Xi Jinping’s abandonment of his signature zero-COVID policy now puts a spotlight on the country's exit plan as Hong Kong plans to re-open China’s border.

"YOU DIDN'T COUNT ME"

China's abrupt easing of restrictions, including the dismantling of widespread mass testing, had confused its citizens and stoked frustrations as cases soared while official numbers remained incomplete.

"You didn't count me when I was positive for COVID and you didn't know when I turned negative. The statistics and reality are too far apart," wrote a user of China's Twitter-like platform after the NHC halted its daily case reporting, adding there has been no need to publish them for quite a while.

The cities of Qingdao and Dongguan have each estimated tens of thousands of daily COVID-19 infections recently, much higher than the national daily toll without asymptomatic cases.

Several models and reports in recent days have forecast as many as 2 million COVID-19 deaths as the virus spreads to rural sections of the country, threatening to hit the most vulnerable elderly population and the unvaccinated.

The country's healthcare system has been under enormous strain, with staff being asked to work while sick and even retired medical workers in rural communities being rehired to help grass-root efforts, according to state media.

Bolstering the urgency is the approach of the Lunar New Year in January, when huge numbers of people return home.

Daily requests to the emergency centre in the eastern city of Hangzhou have recently more than tripled on average from last year's level, state television reported on Sunday, citing a Hangzhou health official.

Suzhou, also in the east, said late on Saturday its emergency line received a record 7,233 calls on Thursday.

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2022-12-25 02:31:00Z
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Public voting for ST's Singaporean of the Year award begins, open till Jan 7 - The Straits Times

National table tennis player Feng Tianwei, 36, moved Singaporeans with her performance at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in August, pulling through with a win in the women’s singles final.

The win was a big one for her – she overcame an opponent 10 years her junior and the victory came even as she faced health issues. She had had heart palpitations after taking a third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine in January, and as a result was forced to halt her practice and halve her training load when she resumed training.

READ MORE HERE

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About the award

Over the years, the award has been given to outstanding Singaporeans in various fields.

Last year, it went to Mr Sakthibalan Balathandautham, who donated part of his liver to a one-year-old child after he came across a plea online from a young couple.

In 2020, front-line workers were collectively named Singaporean of the Year, for their hard work in the fight against Covid-19.

The Singaporean of the Year will get a trophy and $20,000, presented by UBS, which has supported the award since its inauguration. Other individuals or groups chosen as finalists by the panel of judges will receive $5,000 each.

The top award recipient will also receive a five-night stay at any of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels’ global properties and a three-night stay at Raffles Hotel Singapore. Other finalists will get a three-night stay at any of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels’ global properties.

Singapore Airlines is sponsoring a pair of business class tickets for the Singaporean of the Year, and a pair of economy class tickets for the other finalists.

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2022-12-24 21:00:00Z
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'The Serpent' serial killer Charles Sobhraj returns to France - CNA

PARIS: Charles Sobhraj, a convicted killer who police believe killed more than 20 western backpackers on the "hippie trail" through Asia in the 1970s and 1980s, returned to France on Saturday (Dec 24) after nearly two decades behind bars in Nepal.

Nepal's Supreme Court ordered the release of Sobhraj, known as the "bikini killer" in Thailand, and "The Serpent" for his evasion of police, on Wednesday citing his advanced age and health.

A French national who was born to an Indian father and Vietnamese mother, Sobhraj, 78, landed at Paris' main international airport shortly after 7am and was escorted off the plane by police for identity checks.

"He is well, he is a free man," Sobhraj's lawyer Isabelle Coutant-Peyre told Reuters. Asked what his next steps would be, she said: "He will file a legal complaint against Nepal because the whole case against him was fabricated."

Sobhraj had been held in a high-security prison in Nepal since 2003, when he was arrested on charges of murdering American backpacker Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975. He was later found guilty of killing Bronzich's Canadian friend, Laurent Carriere, and had served 19 years out of a 20-year sentence.

But he was suspected of more murders, including in Thailand, where police say he killed six women in the 1970s, some of whom turned up dead on a beach near the resort of Pattaya.

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2022-12-24 11:01:55Z
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