New Zealand fully reopens borders after long pandemic closure

New Zealand removes last of COVID-19 restrictions

NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand removed the last of its remaining COVID-19 restrictions, marking the end of a government response to the pandemic that was watched closely around the world. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the requirement to wear masks in hospitals and other healthcare facilities would end at midnight, as would a requirement for people […]

Khabarhub English आषाढ २०८०

New Zealand: Economy slips into recession after interest rate hikes

June 15: New Zealand's economy has fallen into a recession after the country's central bank aggressively raised interest rates to a 14-year high. Its gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.1% in the first three months of the year, official figures show.

Ratopati English जेष्ठ २०८०

Human rights declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, in countries from Angola to the US to New Zealand

The Himalayan Times चैत्र २०७८

Why China is locking down its cities?

China's zero-Covid policy has been among the strictest approaches to tackling the pandemic anywhere in the world. But a recent surge in infections is forcing it to reconsider how it deals with the pandemic. How serious is the current wave? The latest jump in daily cases, widely spread across the country, has been driven largely by the Omicron variant. Tens of millions of people in China, including the entire north-eastern province of Jilin, and the tech-hub city Shenzhen in the south, have been ordered into lockdown. Shanghai, China's largest city, has become the latest city to join the list after battling the new wave for nearly a month. Makeshift hospitals and quarantine centres have been set up across the country. In the week prior to 24 March, there were just over 14,000 new cases in the whole of mainland China. In the UK over a similar period, there were over 610,000 new infections. How is China's policy changing? As more infections are detected across the country, China's strict zero-Covid strategy is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain. However, most of its principal elements remain in place: -Travel to and from China is strictly limited, and there are restrictions on internal movement -Travellers from abroad with permission to enter China are screened and sent to government-designated hotels for a mandatory quarantine of at least two weeks, followed by a further period of monitoring -Regular community testing programmes are carried out and if infections are detected, residents can be evicted and sent to quarantine facilities (along with targeted area lockdowns) -All non-essential businesses have been shut, apart from food shops and some other essential suppliers -Schools are closed and public transport is suspended, with almost all vehicle movement banned -As China's healthcare system is put under increasing strain, some regulations have been relaxed: -People with mild symptoms no longer need to attend designated hospitals, but they still need to isolate at centralised facilities -Quarantine-period rules have been reduced -City-wide testing is no longer being carried out - replaced by local community testing -Self-testing kits are to be made available in stores across the country and online, but those who test positive will need to take PCR tests How successful has China's zero-Covid policy been? China has had remarkable success containing the pandemic prior to the current outbreak. Since the end of 2019, it has reported just over 4,600 deaths (according to Our World in Data). In the United States, more than 970,000 have died and in the UK, a little over 160,000. That's around three deaths per million people in mainland China, compared with 2,922 in the US and 2,402 in the UK. Reported infections in China have also been very low throughout the pandemic. Concerns have been expressed about the accuracy of the official data, but it seems clear that both infection and death rates have been low when compared with other countries. About 88% of the population is now fully vaccinated. Despite this, China is almost alone in adhering to strict zero-Covid policies. Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, relaxed their strict policies in the latter part of 2021 as vaccination rates improved. Cases did then surge in those three countries, largely as a result of the spread of the Delta and Omicron variants of coronavirus - but have remained relatively low in comparison with countries across Europe and in the United States.

Ratopati English फाल्गुन २०७८

New Zealand to remove pandemic mandates

New Zealand will remove many of its COVID-19 pandemic mandates over the next two weeks as an outbreak of the omicron variant

Nepalnews फाल्गुन २०७८

Covid deaths probably three times higher than records say

MARCH 11: Their report comes two years to the day from when the World Health Organization first declared the pandemic. The Covid-19 excess mortality team at the US's Washington University studied 191 countries and territories for what they call the true global death figure. Some deaths were from the virus, while others were linked to the infection. This is because catching Covid might worsen other pre-existing medical conditions, such as heart or lung disease, for example. The measure used is called excess deaths - how many more people have been dying than would be expected compared to recent years, before the pandemic hit. To calculate this, the researchers gathered data through searches of various government websites, the World Mortality Database, the Human Mortality Database, and the European Statistical Office. Rates of excess deaths are estimated to have varied dramatically by country and region, but the overall global rate calculated in the study is 120 deaths per 100,000 people. That would mean about 18.2 million deaths have happened because of Covid in the two years between the start of 2020 and the end of 2021 - three times as many as the official 5.9 million that have actually been recorded. Excess death estimates were calculated for the full study period only, and not by week or month, because of lags and inconsistencies in reporting of Covid death data that could drastically alter the estimates, the investigators stress. According to the research, which is published in The Lancet, the highest rates were in lower income countries in Latin America, Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. But deaths were also fairly high in some high-income countries, such as Italy and parts of the US. The five countries with the highest estimated excess death rates were: -Bolivia -Bulgaria -Eswatini -North Macedonia -Lesotho The five with the lowest were: -Iceland -Australia -Singapore -New Zealand -Taiwan For the UK, the estimated total number of Covid-related deaths in 2020 and 2021 was similar to official records at about 173,000, with an excess mortality rate of 130 people per 100,000. Lead author Dr Haidong Wang, from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, said: "Understanding the true death toll from the pandemic is vital for effective public health decision-making. "Studies from several countries, including Sweden and the Netherlands, suggest Covid was the direct cause of most excess deaths, but we currently don't have enough evidence for most locations. "Further research will help to reveal how many deaths were caused directly by Covid, and how many occurred as an indirect result of the pandemic." The researchers predict that excess mortality linked to the pandemic will decline, thanks to vaccines and new treatments. But they warn that the pandemic is not yet over. And new, dangerous variants of the virus could emerge. With inputs from BBC

Ratopati English माघ २०७८

Tonga records first coronavirus case since start of pandemic

Tongans have been rushing to vaccinate themselves against coronavirus after the Pacific island nation confirmed its first case on Friday. The infection was detected in a fully vaccinated person who had arrived on a repatriation flight from New Zealand.

The Rising Nepal आश्विन २०७८

Australia and New Zealand on Thursday pulled out of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup in England

Ratopati English आषाढ २०७८

New Zealand’s health minister resigns after virus blunders

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, July 2: New Zealand’s health minister resigned Thursday following a series of personal blunders during the coronavirus pandemic.

Republica जेष्ठ २०७७

New Zealand tames virus; France, Spain reveal lockdown exits

PARIS, April 28: France and Spain, two of the worst-hit countries in the coronavirus pandemic, were laying out separate roadmaps Tuesday for lifting their lockdowns, while signs emerged the virus has been all but vanquished in New Zealand and Australia.

Republica चैत्र २०७६