Beijing to support Hong Kong amid virus surge - latest updates

Saturday, February 26, 2022

Beijing to support Hong Kong amid virus surge

Beijing will continue to support Hong Kong amid a recent Covid-19 surge, said a Chinese health official at a press briefing.

"The central government will continue to fully support the prevention and control of the pandemic in Hong Kong, and mainland experts will continue to work closely with their Hong Kong counterparts to fight against the pandemic,"  said Wu Liangyou, deputy director of Disease Control Bureau at the National Health Commission

Hong Kong on Saturday reported a record 17,063 daily infections and 66 deaths.

Italy reports 38,375 cases, 210 deaths

Italy has reported 38,375 Covid-19 related cases, against 40,948 the day before, the health ministry said, while the number of deaths rose to 210 from 193.

Italy has registered 154,416 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eighth highest in the world. 

The country has reported 12.7 million cases to date.

Türkiye reports over 61,700 new cases

Türkiye has reported 61,764 new coronavirus cases.

According to the Health Ministry, 221 deaths and 85,552 recoveries were recorded over the past day, and some 421,855 virus tests were done.

To counter the spread of the virus, Türkiye has administered over 145.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines since it launched an immunization drive in January 2021.

South Korea reports record daily deaths from Covid-19

South Korea has seen its deadliest day of the pandemic, reporting 112 fatalities in the latest 24-hour period, as it grapples with a wave of infections driven by the fast-moving Omicron variant.

Health workers diagnosed 166,209 new cases, which came close to Wednesday’s one-day record of 171,451 and represented more than a 37-fold increase from daily levels in mid-January.

More than 640 virus patients were in serious or critical condition, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said, compared to around 200-300 in mid-February. 

The Health Ministry said about 44 percent of the country’s intensive care units designated for Covid-19 patients are occupied.

Hospitalisations and deaths are beginning to creep up amid a growing outbreak that is stretching worn-out health and public workers.

Hong Kong reports record 17,063 daily cases

Hong Kong health authorities have reported a record 17,063 daily infections and 66 deaths, as an outbreak with the highly transmissible Omicron variant proves increasingly hard to control.

Health authorities said on Saturday they would adjust testing procedures to allow some people to test from home to ease long queues at designated testing centres.

"The scale of the outbreak is unprecedented and the peak is yet to arrive," Health secretary Sophia Chan said, with some experts predicting up to 180,000 cases daily in March.

New Delhi ceases restrictions as virus cases fall

India's capital has announced the end of all the remaining restrictions after government data showed cases of the recent Omicron variant had fallen.

Local officials in the Delhi region, which recorded 460 cases and two deaths on Friday, decided to lift a night curfew and allow restaurants to operate at full capacity on Saturday. 

Places of religious worship were also permitted to reopen.

The country recorded 11,499 new daily cases and 255 deaths, according to the health ministry's latest statistics on Saturday, a tiny fraction of those seen during the devastating peak last year.

China records over 200 new cases, dozens from Hong Kong

Mainland China has reported 249 new confirmed infections, up from 224 a day earlier, with a record number of imported cases, including dozens among arrivals from Hong Kong.

Of the new cases, 156 were imported and 93 were locally transmitted, the National Health Commission said on Saturday. The death toll was unchanged.

59 imported cases were in Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong, which was the source of 55 cases, according to the provincial health authority.

The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, was 118, up from 109 a day earlier.

Brazil reports over 90,000 cases

Brazil had 91,595 new cases of the novel coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours and 770 deaths from Covid-19, the Health Ministry said.

The South American country has now registered 28,670,242 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 648,160, according to ministry data.

Mexico's Covid death toll rises

Mexico reported 380 more deaths from Covid-19, bringing the total death toll since the pandemic started to 317,683, according to Health Ministry data.

France reports over 2,000 people in intensive care for Covid-19

France has reported 2,546 people in intensive care units for Covid-19, down by 110.

The country has registered over 22 million cases and nearly 138,000 fatalities since the beginning of the pandemic.

Dutch celebrate carnival as most Covid curbs end

Dutch revellers celebrated carnival as the Netherlands axed most Covid restrictions.

The country is one of the last in Europe to ease towards normal after last December imposing some of the continent's toughest measures to curb a surge in Omicron infections.

Bars and restaurants allowed to stay open beyond 1:00 am, health passes dropped and social distancing axed, but masks remain compulsory only on public transport.