COVID-19

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Hong Kong Lifts Mask Mandate After 959 Days

Chief executive says city is 'resuming normalcy'

(Newser) - Hong Kongers traveling to work Wednesday morning might see something unusual—each other's unmasked faces. Chief Executive John Lee said Tuesday that as of the next day, the city would no longer require masks to be worn on public transport or in outdoor and indoor public areas, the New ...

China: Now US Is Playing Politics With COVID

Beijing rejects Energy Department assessment that virus likely originated in a lab

(Newser) - China is pushing back against the US Energy Department's conclusion that the COVID pandemic likely started in a Chinese lab . "The origin of the novel coronavirus is a scientific issue and should not be politicized," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning on Monday. Over the weekend,...

Agency Sides With Theory That Lab Leak Sparked Pandemic

Energy Department agrees with FBI's conclusion, for a different reason

(Newser) - The COVID-19 pandemic probably began with a laboratory leak, the Energy Department has decided. The agency, which had not expressed a view on the origin of the coronavirus, added its finding to a previous classified intelligence report sent to the White House and certain members of Congress, the Wall Street ...

Idaho Bill Would Make mRNA COVID Vaccines Illegal

A legislator behind the bill expressed concern vaccines were 'fast-tracked'

(Newser) - When it comes to COVID vaccination rates, Idaho is near the bottom of the barrel, with US News & World Report citing CDC data that shows 56.2% of residents are fully vaccinated. That's the sixth-lowest rate in the country, and if two Republican Idaho state legislators have their...

House GOP Puts Fauci on Notice for COVID Probe

Panels send Biden officials letter about testimony, documents

(Newser) - House Republicans kicked off an investigation Monday into the origins of COVID-19 by issuing a series of letters to current and former Biden administration officials for documents and testimony. The Republican chairmen of the House Oversight Committee and the subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic requested information from several people, including...

DeSantis Wants to Permanently Ban Mask, Vaccine Mandates

He describes Florida as a 'refuge of sanity'

(Newser) - If the COVID pandemic rebounds to the point where authorities seek to bring back mask and vaccine mandates, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to make sure his state isn't affected by what he calls the "biomedical security state." The Republican is seeking to make Florida's ban...

The Stars Came Out for the Golden Globes. Then COVID Hit

Jamie Lee Curtis, Colin Farrell, others drop out of Critics Choice Awards days after first awards show

(Newser) - Celebrities came out in droves to celebrate the Golden Globes together on Tuesday, and many of the same stars were set to show up for the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday. Several, however, were forced to drop out of attending the second awards show after they discovered they'd contracted...

China Sees 60K Deaths Linked to COVID Since Last Month

Beijing official suggests the worst is over

(Newser) - China on Saturday reported nearly 60,000 deaths in people who had COVID-19 since early December, when the nation abruptly lifted its strict pandemic restrictions. Those numbers may still underestimate the toll, though the government said the “emergency peak" of its latest surge appears to have passed, per the...

Tight-Lipped China Offers Its COVID Death Numbers

Claims 60K COVID-tied deaths since early December, insists 'emergency peak' is over

(Newser) - China on Saturday reported nearly 60,000 deaths in people who had COVID-19 since early December, following complaints it was failing to release data, and said the "emergency peak" of its latest surge appears to have passed. The toll included 5,503 deaths directly due to respiratory failure caused...

China Apparently Retaliates Against South Korea

It has suspended visas for South Koreans

(Newser) - China suspended visas Tuesday for South Koreans to come to the country for tourism or business in apparent retaliation for COVID-19 testing requirements on Chinese travelers, the AP reports. A brief notice posted online by the Chinese Embassy in Seoul said the ban would apply until South Korea lifted its...

WHO Says China Isn't Sharing Enough COVID Data

Official count doesn't reflect explosion in cases

(Newser) - As COVID-19 rips through China, other countries and the World Health Organization are calling on its government to share more comprehensive data on the outbreak. Some even say many of the numbers it's reporting are meaningless, the AP reports. Of greatest concern is whether new variants will emerge from...

Doctor Who Claimed Face Masks Were Harmful Gets Jail Time

Physician in Germany hit with nearly 3-year prison sentence after issuing 4K-plus mask exemptions

(Newser) - A German doctor has been sentenced to two years and nine months in prison for illegally issuing exemptions from wearing masks during the coronavirus pandemic for more than 4,000 people. Public broadcaster SWR reported that a regional court in the southwestern town of Weinheim convicted the doctor late Monday...

'Badly Wounded' Xi Delivers New Year Message

He defends abrupt change in COVID policy

(Newser) - In the weeks after China abruptly dropped its "zero-COVID" restrictions, Xi Jinping didn't publicly comment on the pandemic as a wave of infections swept the country, but he acknowledged in his New Year's Eve speech that the last three years had taken a heavy toll. "It...

US Says Travelers From China Need to Show Negative COVID Test

Officials cite lack of transparency from Beijing on spread of COVID

(Newser) - This story has been updated with new developments. As China prepares to drop most COVID restrictions for incoming travelers, the US is bringing in new restrictions for travelers from China. Officials announced Wednesday that starting Jan. 5, all air passengers from China, Hong Kong, and Macao will be required to...

China Makes a Big Move About Its Borders

Beijing significantly eases COVID rules for incoming travelers

(Newser) - COVID cases may be rising dramatically in China , but the government is not easing up on its relaxation of rules. The latest move has stock markets up internationally on Tuesday and stock futures rising in the US: Beijing said it will stop requiring incoming travelers to go into quarantine as...

Amid Staggering Estimates, China Halts COVID Data

Nation will no longer publish daily case counts; reports suggest about 20% of country is infected

(Newser) - By nearly all accounts, the number of COVID cases in China is exploding. Just don't look for official counts anymore from the government. Beijing's National Health Commission said this weekend that it would no longer publish daily case counts, reports NPR . The commission will instead delegate such data...

Scientists May Have Solved a Big COVID Mystery
Scientists May Have
Solved a Big COVID Mystery
in case you missed it
Dec 25, 2022 11:31 AM CST

Scientists May Have Solved a Big COVID Mystery

They say loss of smell might be from inflammation-driving T-cells helping to nix critical neurons in nose

(Newser) - Loss of taste and smell are among the symptoms of COVID that stick around after the infection itself has subsided, and now scientists think they may be on to why the latter happens. It may all come down to an unusual immune response in which T-cells that cause inflammation invade...

China Faces 'Very Hard Road' in COVID Fight

Experts predict up to 2M deaths next year

(Newser) - Nearly three years after it was first identified in China, the coronavirus is now spreading through the vast country. Experts predict difficult months ahead for its 1.4 billion people. China’s unyielding "zero-COVID" approach, which aimed to isolate all infected people, bought it years to prepare for the...

Drug Chains Restrict Purchase of Children's Meds

Demand as respiratory illnesses thrive forces CVS, Walgreens to limit amount customers can buy

(Newser) - Parents on the hunt for medication for their sick kids may not be able to immediately find what they need on drugstore shelves, thanks to a spike in various respiratory illnesses and, therefore, higher demand for those meds. CNN reports that the CVS and Walgreens chains have placed limits on...

China Sees First COVID Deaths in Weeks. 1M Could Follow

Experts are worried about what's to come

(Newser) - China on Monday reported its first deaths linked to COVID-19 since Dec. 4—and there could be many more to come, experts tell ABC News . The following day, five deaths reported in Beijing brought China's COVID death toll to 5,242, a number the AP says is "relatively...

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