Brexit compounded UK's shortage of doctors, says study

LONDON, United Kingdom - Brexit has compounded a shortage of doctors in Britain, with an estimated shortfall of 4,000 in major specialty areas from EU countries, a study published Sunday said.

It comes as the crisis-hit NHS state-funded health service struggles after years of underfinancing, with record waiting lists for some hospital care due to the Covid pandemic but also a lack of doctors and nurses.

The Nuffield Trust, an independent health think tank, focused on four fields of medicine -- anaesthesia, pediatrics, cardio-thoracic surgery and psychiatry -- where European doctors had been particularly relied upon before the UK left the European Union.

It found that in the four areas -- where recruitment was already challenging -- "the increase in EU and EFTA (European Free Trade Association) staff slowed down, falling below the projected increase".

If the trend seen before Brexit had continued, there should have been more than 41,000 doctors from the EU or EFTA (Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein) registered in 2021, or at least 4,000 more than the figures showed.

"The campaign and result of the EU referendum is the obvious reason for a change in trend around 2015 and 2016," the study, commissioned by The Guardian newspaper, said.

It highlighted initial uncertainty over new rules for the movement of people, followed by tighter visa rules and "deteriorating work conditions" in the health system.

"The findings suggest that stagnation in the number of EU doctors in these specialities has exacerbated existing shortages in areas where the NHS has not been able to find enough qualified staff elsewhere," it added.

The Royal College of Nursing last week announced that its members would next month hold their first strike action in the union's 106-year history in England and Wales, citing pay, conditions -- and chronic staff shortages.

Agence France-Presse

Shanghai lockdown snarls world's busiest port and China supply chains

BEIJING — Shanghai's grinding coronavirus lockdown is slowly clogging China's supply chains, as delays hit the world's busiest container port where staff are tangled in a morass of COVID controls.

Beijing has refused to tack away from its strict zero-COVID strategy that has protected its public health system through the pandemic but at a mounting economic cost.

China's financial hub Shanghai -- home to multinational firms and its busiest port -- has been sealed off almost entirely for a week following an outbreak fueled by the Omicron virus variant.

That has many forced companies to halt production and slow new projects, factories told AFP, while those still operating are struggling with a shortage of truck drivers on top of onerous permit and COVID testing requirements.

At Shanghai's port, the lack of drivers and other workers means getting goods in and out is increasingly hard.

The docks are working normally with a "single-digit" number of vessels waiting to berth, Shanghai International Port Group said this week.

"But the fact is... due to restrictions caused for truck drivers, it is not really operating," Bettina Schoen-Behanzin, vice president of the EU Chamber of Commerce's Shanghai Chapter, told AFP.

"The figure I heard is that... week-on-week volumes at the Shanghai port are down by 40 percent. So that's really enormous."

Shortages are starting to bite across China's vast consumer economy, where online shopping platforms such as Taobao face delivery delays, especially of imported goods.

COVID curbs in a number of cities have forced factories to find new suppliers.

But the impact may soon also be felt outside China if lockdowns persist.

Shanghai is the world's number 1 container port, a spinal point in the global supply chain and a key gateway for foreign trade.

It handles around 17 percent of China's total port volume and shipped 47 million TEU -- the standard measurement for cargo, meaning Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit -- in 2021.

FACTORIES CAN'T WORK FROM HOME

Chinese manufacturers say lockdowns, no matter how flexible or targeted, pile pressure on their business.

"Not many roles allow working from home," said Jason Lee, founder of wheelchair producer Megalicht Tech, whose factory in Shanghai's Puxi area has suspended production.

"People can't enter the factory... and because our raw materials come from other provinces or cities, these can't enter Shanghai either," he said.

A Shanghai-based clothing exporter surnamed Zheng said his biggest problem was that he could not send samples to clients.

"Deliveries can neither leave nor enter," he said

Experts say the outbreak is currently nibbling at growth, but could soon take a big bite.

Nomura economists estimate that 23 cities accounting for 22 percent of China's GDP have rolled out full or partial lockdowns.

"The costs of the zero-COVID strategy will rise significantly as its benefits decline, especially as exports are hit by the ongoing lockdowns," Nomura chief China economist Lu Ting told AFP.

That will challenge Beijing's 2022 GDP growth target of around 5.5 percent, he added.

ADAPTING TO SURVIVE

For now, companies are adapting to try and handle the restrictions.

"Our main business activity is down by over 50 percent," said Gao Yongkang, general manager of Qifeng Technology in eastern China's Quanzhou city.

The company has been unable to transport textile materials to regular clients because of the COVID curbs, and has instead pivoted to supplying the booming market for protective gear.

Meanwhile, those who cannot reach their original suppliers are scouring for new ones.

"The costs are a little higher and it's slightly less efficient but we can fulfill our regular needs," said Shen Shengyuan, deputy general manager of diaper-producer New Yifa Group.

In a nod to struggling industries, Premier Li Keqiang this week announced a temporary deferment of old-age insurance premiums for sectors such as catering, retail and civil aviation.

But industry groups say hard lockdowns on major cities such as Shanghai are unsustainable, especially with many Omicron cases presenting light or no symptoms.

"Does the zero-COVID strategy still work in the current environment," said Eric Zheng, American Chamber of Commerce president in Shanghai. 

"That's a big question, particularly when you try to balance the economic cost."

Agence France-Presse

'Shanghai won't lock down despite COVID spike'

Shanghai on Saturday recorded a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases, but a member of the city's pandemic task force said officials were determined to avoid a full lockdown over the damage it would do to the economy.

Millions of Chinese in affected areas have been subjected to city-wide lockdowns by an Omicron-led outbreak that has sent daily case counts creeping ever-higher, though they remain insignificant compared to other countries.

Shanghai, however, has aimed to ease disruption with a more targeted approach marked by rolling 48-hour lockdowns of individual neighbourhoods and large-scale testing while largely keeping the metropolis of 25 million people running.

At a daily Shanghai press conference Saturday, officials alluded to the importance of avoiding a full lockdown of the huge port city.

"If Shanghai, this city of ours, came to a complete halt, there would be many international cargo ships floating in the East China Sea," said Wu Fan, a medical expert with the city's pandemic task force.

"This would impact the entire national economy and the global economy."

Wu made the comments as city officials also announced that they would begin handing out self-testing kits to Shanghai residents, in the latest sign that the government was expanding its pandemic response.

The northeastern province of Jilin also said Saturday that it had begun distributing 500,000 of the rapid-antigen kits.

Shanghai and Jilin have been the areas hardest hit by the outbreak, which took off in early March. 

China had largely kept the coronavirus -- which first emerged in the city of Wuhan in late 2019 -- under control through its strict zero-tolerance measures.

But that top-down approach is increasingly being questioned amid concerns over the economic impact and public "pandemic fatigue", especially considering Omicron's less severe symptoms.

The National Health Commission announced two weeks ago that it would introduce the sale in China of rapid antigen self-test kits for the first time, and they have begun to appear on pharmacy shelves.

But Saturday's announcements appeared to mark their first wide-scale use as part of official pandemic control measures.

China on Saturday reported 5,600 new confirmed domestic transmissions, most of them asymptomatic.

Chinese authorities had watched nervously as a deadly Hong Kong Omicron surge sparked panic buying and claimed a high toll of unvaccinated elderly in the southern Chinese city.

Its subsequent spread in mainland China has posed a dilemma for authorities wrestling with how forcefully they should respond.

On Wednesday, Shanghai infectious disease expert Zhang Wenhong, a top doctor in the city's pandemic fight, called for balancing anti-virus measures with maintenance of "normal life".

The comments in his widely followed blog indicated growing official tolerance for voices who question the lockdown approach.

Shanghai's softer strategy has so far failed to stop cases from rising, and the localised lockdowns have provoked grumbling online and a run on groceries in some districts.

Shanghai on Saturday reported another steep rise in new local transmissions to 2,269 -- around 40 percent of the national total. 

Agence France-Presse

Shanghai pushes ahead with mass COVID tests as new cases spike

SHANGHAI - The Chinese commercial hub of Shanghai is pushing ahead with a mass testing initiative as it tries to curb a new spike in COVID-19 infections, but some districts were easing lockdown rules in an effort to minimize disruptions.

The city, home to about 25 million people, saw symptomatic local community infections hit 57 on March 17, with another 203 domestically transmitted asymptomatic cases, up from eight and 150 respectively a day earlier.

Shanghai, which has up to now remained relatively unscathed by the coronavirus, has shut schools and launched a city-wide testing program that has seen dozens of residential compounds sealed off for at least 48 hours.

China has been battling its worst COVID outbreak since the virus first emerged in Wuhan in 2020. It reported 2,388 new local cases with confirmed symptoms on March 17, almost double the count a day earlier.

The outbreak is small by international standards and analysts have been debating how much China's uncompromising "zero-COVID" response will hurt the economy at home and in the world at large. 

President Xi Jinping signaled late on Thursday that the "dynamic clearance" policy to contain the outbreak would not be ditched. 

"Victory comes from perseverance," Xi told a Politburo standing committee meeting while calling for more effective measures and efforts to minimize the economic impact, state media reported.

MIXED SIGNALS

The Shanghai government, while stressing there would be no city-wide lockdown as in other cities, said it would test residents on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis, and order 48-hour lockdowns while they waited for their results.

On Friday, there were some signs it was easing up on its restrictions, with some compounds no longer required to go into a 48-hour lockdown while residents were tested.

The head of one residential committee in Changning district said her compound would not be sealed off this weekend as originally planned. At least two other compounds also said testing would be postponed.

While officials said on Thursday that Shanghai has ramped up its testing capacity to 3 million per day and planned to increase it to 5.5 million in the near future, some districts also reported shortages of qualified testing personnel.

Some residents complained about the lack of clarity when it came to the rules. One family quarantined in the district of Hongqiao said they were still locked in despite two negative tests.

Users of China's Weibo microblogging platform also slammed a decision to seal rented accommodation used by outpatients at the Shanghai Cancer Hospital, making it impossible for them to receive treatment.

"Shanghai used to brag the whole day long about its precise epidemic prevention and control... even mocking others for excess prevention and for having inadequate officials," said one user posting under the name BayMax XX. "It's not so great now?"

As of March 17, mainland China had reported 126,234 cases with confirmed symptoms, including both local ones and those arriving from outside the mainland. There were no new deaths, leaving the death toll unchanged at 4,636.

(Reporting by David Stanway, Brenda Goh, Engen Tham and the Shanghai newsroom; Additional reporting by Roxanne Liu and Albee Zhang; Editing by Sam Holmes and Lincoln Feast)

-reuters-

St Patrick's Day returns to Ireland after 2-year hiatus

Hundreds of thousands of Irish and international visitors were to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Ireland on Thursday after a two-year pause in festivities due to the coronavirus.

Events celebrating Ireland's patron saint were some of the first to be called off in 2020 as mass gatherings were shelved, pubs closed and international travel stopped.

But restrictions have been lifted, and organizers are billing this year's celebrations as a symbol of the country's return after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coordinators have promised the centerpiece parade through the streets of central Dublin on Thursday will be bigger and better than ever.

Interim director of the St. Patrick's Festival Anna McGowan said this year's event -- boosted by extra city and government funding -- would be "Ireland's reopening moment."

The specter of fresh COVID measures has hung over events in Dublin, which in normal times would take 18 months to organize.

While planning had been going on in the background, it was only in January that the government announced they expected the parade to go ahead.

"Suddenly, it was like someone just lit a fire under all of us," McGowan told AFP. "It has been just one of the most intense planning periods I think this festival has ever seen."

Ukraine tribute

Up to 400,000 attendees and 3,000 participants are expected at the parade, with 250 contractors involved in preparing the route and erecting stages. 

Along the parade route, which is normally swathed almost entirely in green, the Dublin City Council has placed 100 lamp-post banners in the blue and yellow colors of Ukraine.

On bridges over the River Liffey in the city's beating heart, the Ukrainian national flag will replace the Irish tricolor in some places.

Festival-goers are being urged to bring items like Ukrainian flags to show their solidarity following Russia's invasion of the country.

Parts of the parade will also reflect on the war, organizers said.

At The Temple Bar pub, which shares its name with the busy area that contains many of Dublin's most famous watering holes, staff were bracing for the busiest day of the year.

Barman Andrew Roche said that with pubs closed until midday, people would be "loaded up" outside waiting to come in after the parade.

"As soon as the doors open, there's just a flood of people and just a great atmosphere," he said, explaining the crowds would be "mayhem" and "electric."

Beer 

Roche, who had only been working months at the pub when it opened for the last St. Patrick's Day, said he expected "the biggest Paddy's day in a long time."

Preparations were being made to make sure the pub "was as efficient as possible," he added.

On the day, "there's never a moment where there aren't five taps pouring beer and there's constantly beer going out and money coming in," he said.

St Patrick's Day is typically celebrated in cities across the world, led by the Irish diaspora and expatriates.

Dublin Airport has said it expects 800,000 passengers to travel through in the 12-day St Patrick's Day period from March 12 to March 24.

Kenneth Will, director of the Pride of Dayton Marching Band, traveled to the Irish capital with 130 student band members from the University of Dayton in the US state of Ohio.

Along with taking in Ireland's tourist sites, the group will be performing in the parade after having to cancel in 2020.

"To come over... and perform in front of the thousands of people here in Dublin is really special to this group, and I know that they're really excited," he said.

Irish culture is predominant in the United States, Will said, referring to the millions of people in the country who identify as being of Irish ancestry.

"Whether it's your ancestors or whether it's our basic foundation of the university, there are ties everywhere," he said.

Agence France-Presse

Austria to further ease COVID restrictions

ZURICH - Austria will begin easing COVID-19 related restrictions next week, Chancellor Karl Nehammer told a news conference on Saturday, allowing shops and restaurants to remain open longer and easing restriction on the unvaccinated.

The moves come as the Omicron variant leads to reduced hospitalisations despite high infection numbers.

From Feb. 5, Austria will extend the maximum permitted opening hours of restaurants and shops until midnight and will increase the number of people able to participate in events to 50 from 25, Nehammer said.

"The good thing in spite of everything in this difficult situation - the hospital numbers are at a good level, the intensive care beds, I think it's fair to say, are at a very good level," Nehammer told a press conference in Vienna.

"We are now in a position to raise new prospects that will allow people a breather."

New daily coronavirus infections have been rising in Austria, driven by the extremely contagious Omicron variant, with nearly 35,000 new cases reported on Saturday.

However, pressure on hospitals has eased, as Omicron leads to less severe outcomes, and the current Omicron wave is expected to reach a peak around Feb. 7-9, Director General for Public Health Katharina Reich told the same press conference.

In a further step, from Feb. 12, Austria will eliminate so-called "2G rules" barring those who are not vaccinated against or recovered from the virus from entering non-essential shops.

Since Nov. 15 those not fully vaccinated have been under lockdown, meaning they are only allowed to leave their homes for a limited number of reasons such as shopping for essentials or working. The measure, which was suspended over Christmas, has been criticised as very difficult to enforce.

Austria last week set Jan. 31 as the date to end a fuller lockdown for the unvaccinated, removing restrictions on their movement.

However, they remain barred from taking part in a range of leisure activities, including eating in restaurants or shopping for non-essential items, as part of government efforts to increase the vaccination rate, which is among the lowest in western Europe.

Now, alongside entering shops from Feb. 12, Austria will also ease measures barring the unvaccinated from restaurants from Feb. 19, Nehammer said, saying those with a negative COVID test result will be able to visit restaurants and tourist attractions.

-reuters

Germany daily COVID cases rise above 200,000

BERLIN - The number of new COVID-19 infections in Germany exceeded 200,000 in a day for the first time on Thursday, hitting staffing at companies including Lufthansa Cargo.

The Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases reported 203,136 positive tests in the last 24 hours, 69,600 cases more than the same day a week ago.

The seven-day incidence per 100,000 people rose to 1,017 from 941 the previous day, while another 188 people died, bringing the death toll since the start of the pandemic in early 2020 to 117,314.

The rising number of infections has led to staffing shortages in sectors including logistics, healthcare and child care.

Airline group Lufthansa's cargo arm said a staffing crunch at its hub in Frankfurt meant it was currently unable to handle sorting of loose freight from the United States, Canada and Europe.

"Despite comprehensive preventative measures, we are now clearly feeling the rising infection numbers," Lufthansa Cargo said [in a statement?] on Thursday, adding that up to 15% of cargo at Frankfurt was affected by delays.

It said its flight schedule was unaffected, as was transportation of time-sensitive goods such as organs for transplants or temperature-controlled cargo.

Rival DHL said its operations in Frankfurt and Leipzig were still running smoothly.

The German Hospitals Federation had warned earlier this week that three-quarters of hospitals were reporting higher than usual numbers of staff out on sick leave.

Around 75% of the German population have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine - less than in western European peers such as France, Italy or Spain, where the equivalent figures are 80%, 83% and 86%.

German lawmakers debated on Wednesday whether to impose compulsory COVID-19 shots, while protesters gathered outside the parliament building.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz backs compulsory vaccines for over-18s but his coalition government is divided on the issue and he has told lawmakers to vote according to their conscience.

Many lawmakers, including some from the coalition's junior partner, the liberal Free Democrats, oppose mandatory vaccines, arguing this violates the second article of Germany's constitution that guarantees citizens control over their own bodies. 

-reuters

Fauci warns of bleak winter with Omicron 'raging through the world'

WASHINGTON, United States - Top US pandemic advisor Anthony Fauci on Sunday warned of a bleak winter ahead as the Covid-19 Omicron variant spurs a new wave of infections globally, sparking restrictions and concerns over hospital capacity. 

"One thing that's very clear... is its (Omicron's) extraordinary capability of spreading," Fauci told NBC News. "It is just... raging through to the world."

Since it was first reported in South Africa in November, Omicron has been identified in dozens of countries, prompting many to reimpose travel restrictions and other measures.

Despite indications it is not more severe than the Delta variant -- currently still the dominant strain -- the heavily mutated Omicron has been shown in early data to have a worrying resistance to vaccines and higher transmissibility. 

Fauci also cautioned against too much optimism over Omicron's severity, noting that in South Africa, while the hospitalization-to-case ratio is lower than with Delta, this could be due to underlying immunity from widespread previous infections. 

"No matter how you look at it," he underscored, "when you have so many, many infections, even if it is less severe, that overcomes this slight to moderate diminution in severity, because our hospitals, if things look like they're looking now in the next week or two are going to be very stressed," particularly in areas of the country with low levels of vaccination.

The top scientist urged unvaccinated Americans to get a shot and the vaccinated to get boosters, which have been shown to re-up protection.

The administration of President Joe Biden, who is due to address the nation on pandemic developments on Tuesday, has been campaigning hard for vaccination. 

While a little over 70 percent of the US population has had at least one shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, another 50 million eligible people remain unprotected, Fauci said.

"It's never too late to get vaccinated, and if you're vaccinated, go get boosted," Fauci told CNN, adding that continuing to wear masks and get regular testing -- another area the Biden administration is investing in -- are also key to avoiding infection. 

"With Omicron... it is going to be a tough few weeks to months as we get deeper into the winter."

Omicron now accounts for around three percent of cases in the United States, a figure that is expected to rise rapidly as has been seen in other countries.

On Saturday, New York state announced a record number of daily cases for the second day in a row with almost 22,000 positive results.

The United States is the nation hit hardest by the pandemic, crossing 800,000 known Covid-19 deaths on Tuesday, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.

Agence France-Presse

69,601 new infections, 527 dead from COVID in Germany in 1 day

BERLIN - Germany recorded the highest number of deaths from COVID-19 since February on Wednesday as it battles to stop a fourth wave of the pandemic.

A total of 69,601 new infections were reported, 2,415 more than the same time a week ago, and another 527 people died - the highest number since Feb. 12 - to bring the total to 104,047, the German Robert Koch Institute for disease control said.

However, the country's seven-day incidence rate of cases per 100,000 people continued to fall, declining to 427 from 432 on Tuesday.

Experts have questioned whether the metric means Germany has passed the peak of this wave of the pandemic or whether the figures are unreliable because some health authorities are so overwhelmed, particularly in the hardest-hit areas.

The country agreed last week to bar the unvaccinated from access to all but the most essential businesses such as grocery stores, pharmacies and bakeries and to ramp up the vaccination campaign. 

-reuters 

Time to ‘think about mandatory vaccination’, says European Union chief

It is time for the European Union to "think about mandatory vaccination" against COVID-19, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday, while stressing member state governments would decide.

"My personal position is . . . I think it is understandable and appropriate to lead this discussion now," she told a media conference, underlining that a third of the EU population of 450 million was still unvaccinated.

"How we can encourage and potentially think about mandatory vaccination within the European Union? This needs discussion. This needs a common approach. But it is a discussion that I think has to be led," she said.

Several EU countries have already taken steps in that direction.

Austria has announced compulsory COVID-19 vaccinations from February 1 next year and Germany is mulling following suit. 

Greece on Tuesday said jabs would be mandatory for over-60s, while France has said COVID passes would be deactivated for all adults who have not had booster shots six months after their last jab, starting January 15.

Von der Leyen also said that the EU's main COVID vaccine provider, BioNTech/Pfizer, would have jabs available for children in the bloc in two weeks' time.

She said she had spoken with the German-US joint venture about the issue the day before, and they said "they are able to accelerate -- in other words children's vaccines will be available as of December 13."

She noted that "if you look at the numbers we have now, 77 percent of the adults in the European Union vaccinated, or if you take the whole population, it's 66 percent -- and this means one-third of the European population is not vaccinated, these are 150 million people".

The EU's vaccination drive is very uneven across the 27-nation bloc. 

Portugal, Malta, Spain, Italy, Ireland, France and Belgium have all vaccinated more than three-quarters of their populations, while eastern member states Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Croatia all have jabbed less than half.

"We have the vaccines, the life-saving vaccines, but they are not being used adequately everywhere," von der Leyen said.

While the European Commission pre-purchased COVID vaccines for use in the EU, von der Leyen emphasized that the individual countries had the responsibility on how their vaccination programs were done.

Agence France-Presse

BioNTech/Pfizer expect new variant impact data 'within 2 weeks'

Germany's BioNTech said Friday it was urgently studying how well the coronavirus vaccine it developed with Pfizer protects against the new B.1.1.529 variant detected in South Africa.

"We expect more data from the laboratory tests in two weeks at the latest," a spokesperson said.

"These data will provide more information about whether B.1.1.529 could be an escape variant that may require an adjustment of our vaccine if the variant spreads globally."

The discovery of the new variant by scientists in South Africa has sparked global alarm, amid concerns its many mutations could make it even more dangerous than the highly contagious Delta strain.

A number of countries including Britain, Italy, Germany and Singapore have moved to curtail travel from South Africa and several neighboring nations to prevent the variant's spread.

BioNTech said variant B.1.1.529 "differs significantly from previously observed variants as it has additional mutations located in the spike protein".

But it said that even if its jab -- which is based on novel mRNA technology -- needed to be tweaked, changes could be made quickly.

"Pfizer and BioNTech have taken actions months ago to be able to adapt the mRNA vaccine within six weeks and ship initial batches within 100 days in the event of an escape variant," the spokesperson said.

Agence France-Presse

Germany's seven-day COVID incidence rate rises to record high

Germany's incidence rate measuring the number of new coronavirus infections per 100,000 people over the last seven days soared to 201.1 on Monday, a record since the pandemic erupted more than a year ago.

The figure, published by Germany's Robert Koch Institute (RKI), surpasses the last high, which had been 197.6 reached on December 22, 2020. 

While many more people in the country have had the jab than at that point last year, vaccination rates have stagnated at under 70 percent, with officials pleading in the last days for the population to get the jab.

"For the unvaccinated, the risk is high that they will become infected in the coming months," warned RKI chief Lothar Wieler on Wednesday.

In the eastern state of Saxony, where the incidence rate is more than twice the national average at 491.3, unvaccinated people face new restrictions from Monday.

Access to indoor dining and other indoor events will be limited to those who are fully vaccinated or can show proof of recovery.

The new rules are the toughest state-wide restrictions in Germany against non-inoculated people. Only children as well as those who cannot receive jabs for medical reasons will be exempt.

The surge in German cases comes with the country in political limbo following September's general election. 

The incoming coalition parties, aiming to form a government by early December, have so far ruled out mandatory jabs and said there will be no new lockdowns -- at least not for the vaccinated.

Agence France-Presse

Malaysia lifts travel restrictions for fully vaccinated people

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia on Sunday lifted interstate and international travel restrictions for residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as the country achieved its target of inoculating 90 percent of its adult population.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government has agreed to allow fully vaccinated Malaysians to travel overseas without applying for permission.

The new rules take effect on Monday.

The government is preparing to shift into an endemic COVID-19 phase where it will not impose wide lockdowns again if cases rise, Ismail Sabri told a news conference.

"We have to train ourselves to live with COVID, because COVID may not be eliminated fully," he said.

Nearly 65% of the country's 32 million population, including those aged 12 to 17, were fully vaccinated as of Saturday.

The Southeast Asian nation has recorded 2.3 million coronavirus infections and 27,265 deaths from COVID-19.

(Reporting by Mei Mei Chu; Editing by David Goodman and William Mallard)

-reuters

India to reopen for tourists from October 15

India will reopen for tourists from October 15 after being closed for more than a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the government said Thursday.

"After considering various inputs, the MHA (home ministry) has decided to begin granting fresh Tourist Visas for foreigners coming to India through chartered flights with effect from October 15, 2021," the home ministry said in a statement.

"Foreign tourists entering into India by flights other than chartered aircraft would be able to do so only with effect from November 15, 2021 on fresh Tourist Visas," it added. 

India suspended all visas for foreigners in March 2020 when the pandemic took off as the government imposed a strict lockdown.

Restrictions on some categories of foreigners such as diplomats and businesspeople were later lifted but tourists remained barred.

Earlier this year India was hit by a severe wave of coronavirus infections with about 400,000 cases and 4,000 deaths every day.

But cases in the country of 1.3 billion people have since slowed sharply to around 20,000 new daily infections and 200 to 300 deaths.

At the same time restrictions on most activities have been lifted.

Agence France-Presse

Protesters in Brazil demand Bolsonaro's impeachment

RIO DE JANEIRO - Tens of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets around the country Saturday, once again calling for the ouster of unpopular President Jair Bolsonaro over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, among other issues. 

Large crowds gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Brasilia and dozens of other towns and cities as part of the "Bolsonaro Out National Campaign," which is backed by a dozen left-wing political parties and labor groups.

Among other issues, the right-wing president has come under stinging criticism for his handling of the pandemic, which has claimed nearly 600,000 lives here.

Hundreds of people marched through the central Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Candelaria, shouting "Bolsonaro out!" which was also emblazoned on several large banners. 

"We're going to get him out. The hope of the people here in the streets is to put pressure on legislators so that they call for impeachment," 69-year-old retired professor Elizabeth Simoes told AFP. 

More than 100 requests for the impeachment of Bolsonaro have been filed with the Chamber of Deputies, but its leader Arthur Lira, a government ally, has refused to take any of them up. 

The Supreme Court has ordered several investigations into Bolsonaro and his aides, including for spreading false information.

In Sao Paulo, tens of thousands of people gathered Saturday afternoon on the central Paulista Avenue, including former cabinet minister Ciro Gomes.

"Bolsonaro is destroying the national economy," said the center-left politician, calling for unity. "He fills Brazil with shame abroad and is responsible for the death of almost 600,000 Brazilians" from COVID-19.

Meanwhile, hundreds of demonstrators gathered along the Esplanade of Ministries in Brasilia.

Local media counted protests in 24 of Brazil's 27 states, and in 84 cities, including 14 state capitals.

Red flags of the Workers' Party of former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, or Lula, could be seen Saturday, along with Brazilian flags and the signs of several other left-wing and centrist parties often seen at protests against the far-right Bolsonaro.

- 'Can't stand this government' -

In recent months, protests led by leftist movements have demanded Bolsonaro's impeachment due to his mismanagement of the pandemic. But Saturday's demonstrations were also against a hike in food and fuel prices, as well as for relief for the 14.1 million unemployed people throughout the country.

"The population is going hungry, and we can't stand this government any longer," said Isadora Lessa, 22, in Rio.

"What is the importance of being here? That he knows he doesn't have unanimity, that he's going to have a hard time getting elected again," said Marcelo Werneck, who joined the protests in Rio in memory of the "friends and family" who died of COVID-19.

"If he doesn't face an impeachment, he loses the election in 2022," Werneck added.

Besieged by judicial investigations and the economic crisis, Bolsonaro's popularity has plummeted in recent months to 22 percent, its lowest level since he took office in January 2019.

But backers of the president have also made themselves known in recent weeks, as around 125,000 of them gathered in Brasilia and Sao Paulo September 7 in a show of support for Bolsonaro. 

A mid-September opinion poll by the Datafolha Institute found that Bolsonaro has 26 percent support compared with Lula's 44 percent, just one year ahead of the presidential vote. 

Agence France-Presse

Some 25,000 Spanish students hold 'macro-botellon' drinking party

MADRID - About 25,000 people took part in the biggest illegal drinking party in Madrid since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, police said on Saturday.

The "macro-botellon," as these outside drinking parties are called, started at the Complutense University in Madrid on Friday.

Madrid's Municipal Police said because of the large numbers involved in the party, they were unable to clear the drinkers until 7 a.m. Saturday.

Video of the party showed thousands of revelers not wearing masks or maintaining social distancing.

"It is the biggest botellon that we have seen since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic," a police spokesman told Reuters.

Madrid's regional government will relax restrictions from Monday so that bars and clubs can stay open until 6 a.m., from the 2 a.m. close currently. People must still wear masks indoors and maintain a distance of 1.5 meters if social distancing is not possible.

However, mass drinking parties are still illegal and punishable with fines for taking part between 500 euros ($586.25) for minors and 600 euros ($703.50) for adults. Organizers face fines of up to 600,000 euros ($703,500.00) if a court judges it is an activity which puts public health at risk.

There were other mass drinking parties in Barcelona and the northern Spanish city of Logroño on Friday night, authorities said. 

-reuters

New Zealand lifts virus curbs, says Delta elimination in sight

WELLINGTON - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday said nationwide coronavirus curbs would be lifted, bar in the biggest city of Auckland, as the country gets on top of an outbreak of the Delta variant.

New Zealand had been largely virus-free, excluding a small cluster of cases in February, until an infected traveler from Australia seeded an outbreak that prompted Ardern to impose the national lockdown last week.

Ardern, who said restrictions would be eased outside of Auckland from Wednesday, is continuing to pursue an elimination strategy for the disease.

"We are within sight of elimination, but we can't drop the ball," Ardern said at a televised news conference. "Day by day we are making very good progress. What I don't want to do is move too quickly and then see a resurgence."

About 1.7 million people in greater Auckland, the epicenter of the outbreak, will remain in a full level 4 lockdown until at least Sept. 14.

The easing of the alert status to level 2 from level 3 in the rest of the country will allow the reopening of schools, offices and businesses. Regional travel will also be allowed.

Face masks will still be required inside most public venues, including shops and malls. Indoor hospitality venues will be limited to 50 patrons and outdoor venues to 100 people.

Daily new cases in the current outbreak have dropped from a peak of 85 on Aug. 29 to 20 on Monday.

The current outbreak is responsible for 821 of the country's total of about 3,400 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. It has reported 27 deaths.

Ardern's tough lockdowns and international border closure helped rein in COVID-19, but the government now faces questions over a delayed vaccine rollout and rising costs in a country heavily reliant on an immigrant workforce.

Just about 30% of the country's 5.1 million people has been fully vaccinated, the slowest pace among the wealthy nations of the OECD grouping. (Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Jane Wardell)

-reuters

YouTube says it removed 1 million ‘dangerous’ videos on COVID-19

YouTube said Wednesday it has removed more than 1 million videos with "dangerous coronavirus misinformation" since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The statement by the Google-owned video platform comes as social media platforms are under fire from political leaders for failing to stem the spread of false and harmful misinformation and disinformation about the virus and other topics.

YouTube said in a blog post it relies on "expert consensus from health organizations," including the US Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization, but noted that, in some cases, "misinformation is less clear-cut" as new facts emerge. 

"Our policies center on the removal of any videos that can directly lead to egregious real world harm," chief product officer Neal Mohan wrote. 

"Since February of 2020, we've removed over one million videos related to dangerous coronavirus information, like false cures or claims of a hoax," he said.

"In the midst of a global pandemic, everyone should be armed with absolutely the best information available to keep themselves and their families safe."

YouTube said it was working to accelerate the process for removing videos with misinformation while simultaneously delivering those from authoritative sources.

Mohan said the platform currently removes close to 10 million videos per quarter and that the majority of them have been watched less than 10 times.

"Speedy removals will always be important but we know they're not nearly enough... The most important thing we can do is increase the good and decrease the bad," he said. 

"When people now search for news or information, they get results optimized for quality, not for how sensational the content might be."

YouTube also said it removed "thousands" of videos for violating election misinformation policies since the US vote in November, with three-fourths removed before hitting 100 views. 

Agence France-Presse

Israel's COVID-19 vaccine boosters show signs of taming Delta

JERUSALEM - Less than a month into a COVID-19 vaccine booster drive, Israel is seeing signs of an impact on the country's high infection and severe illness rates fueled by the fast-spreading Delta variant, officials and scientists say.

Delta hit Israel in June, just as the country began to reap the benefits of one of the world's fastest vaccine roll-outs.

With an open economy and most curbs scrapped, Israel went from single-digit daily infections and zero deaths to around 7,500 daily cases last week, 600 people hospitalized in serious condition and more than 150 people dying in that week alone.

On July 30, it began administering a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine to people over 60, the first country to do so. On Thursday it expanded eligibility to 40-year-olds and up whose second dose was given at least 5 months prior, saying the age may drop further.

In the past 10 days, the pandemic is abating among the first age group, more than a million of whom have received a third vaccine dose, according to Israeli health ministry data and scientists interviewed by Reuters.

The rate of disease spread among vaccinated people age 60 and over - known as the reproduction rate - began falling steadily around Aug. 13 and has dipped below 1, indicating that each infected person is transmitting the virus to fewer than one other person. A reproduction rate of less than 1 means an outbreak is subsiding.

Scientists said booster shots are having an impact on infections, but other factors are likely contributing to the decline as well.

"The numbers are still very high but what has changed is that the very high increase in the rate of infections and severe cases has diminished, as has the pace at which the pandemic is spreading," said Eran Segal, data scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science and an adviser to the government.

"This is likely due to the third booster shots, an uptake in people taking the first dose and the high number of people infected per week, possibly up to 100,000, who now have natural immunity," Segal said.

BOOSTER VS LOCKDOWN

After reaching one of the highest per-capita infection rates in the world this month, the question now is whether Israel can battle its way out of a fourth outbreak without imposing another lockdown that would damage its economy.

Evidence has emerged showing that while the vaccine is still highly effective in preventing serious illness, its protection diminishes with time. But there is no consensus among scientists and agencies that a third dose is necessary, and the World Health Organization has said more of the world should be vaccinated with a first dose before people receive a third dose.

The United States has announced plans to offer booster doses to all Americans, 8 months after their second vaccine dose, citing data showing diminishing protection. Canada, France and Germany have also planned booster campaigns.

About a million of Israel's 9.3 million population have so far chosen not to vaccinate at all and children under 12 are still not eligible for the shots. On Thursday, health officials said they have identified waning immunity among people under 40, although relatively few have fallen seriously ill.

According to Doron Gazit, a member of the Hebrew University's COVID-19 expert team which advises government, the rise in cases of severely ill vaccinated people in the 60 and older group has been steadily slowing to a halt in the last 10 days.

"We attribute this to the booster shots and to more cautious behavior recently," Gazit said.

More than half of those over 60 have received a third jab, according to the Health ministry.

The rate of new severe cases among unvaccinated patients 70 and older is now 7 times that of vaccinated patients, and the gap will continue to grow as long as infections rise, according to Gazit. Among those over 50, that gap is 4-fold.

"We are optimistic, but very cautious," Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz told public broadcaster Kan on Sunday. "It gives us more time, slows the spread and we're moving away from lockdown."

But even if the boosters are slowing the pandemic's pace, it is unlikely to fend Delta off entirely.

Dvir Aran, biomedical data scientist at Technion - Israel's Institute of Technology, said that while cases are retreating, other measures are needed alongside boosters to stop the pandemic. 

"It will take a long time until enough people get a third dose and until then thousands more people will getting seriously ill," Aran said.

Since Delta's surge, Israel has reimposed indoor mask wearing, limitations on gatherings and ramped up rapid testing.

Its "living with COVID" policy will be tested come September, when schools reopen after summer break and when the Jewish holiday season starts, with families traditionally gathering to celebrate.

-reuters

More than 4.4 million dead, 209 million infected with COVID-19 worldwide

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 4,401,486 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1000 GMT on Friday. 

At least 209,862,720 cases of coronavirus have been registered. The vast majority have recovered, though some have continued to experience symptoms weeks or even months later. 

The figures are based on daily reports provided by health authorities in each country.

They exclude revisions made by other statistical organizations, which show that the number of deaths is much higher. 

The World Health Organization estimates that the pandemic's overall toll could be two to three times higher than official records, due to the excess mortality that is directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19. 

A large number of the less severe or asymptomatic cases also remain undetected, despite intensified testing in many countries. 

On Thursday, 10,453 new deaths and 687,183 new cases were recorded worldwide. Based on latest reports, the countries with the most new deaths were Indonesia with 1,492, followed by Brazil with 979 and Mexico with 850. 

The United States is the worst-affected country with 625,166 deaths from 37,294,389 cases. 

After the US, the hardest-hit countries are Brazil with 572,641 deaths from 20,494,212 cases, India with 433,589 deaths from 32,358,829 cases, Mexico with 251,319 deaths from 3,175,211 cases, and Peru with 197,716 deaths from 2,138,666 cases. 

The country with the highest number of deaths compared to its population is Peru with 600 fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Hungary with 311, Bosnia-Herzegovina with 296, the Czech Republic with 284, Brazil with 269 and the Republic of North Macedonia with 269. 

Latin America and the Caribbean overall has 1,416,393 deaths from 42,452,051 cases, Europe 1,229,171 deaths from 61,347,777 infections, and Asia 742,452 deaths from 48,176,802 cases.

The United States and Canada has reported 651,949 deaths from 38,757,295 cases, Africa 187,324 deaths from 7,418,307 cases, the Middle East 172,587 deaths from 11,605,917 cases, and Oceania 1,610 deaths from 104,576 cases.

As a result of corrections by national authorities or late publication of data, the figures updated over the past 24 hours may not correspond exactly to the previous day's tallies.

Agence France-Presse