COVID digest: China sends army to help in Shanghai outbreak

Beijing, Apr 04: China has deployed more than 10,000 healthcare workers, along with 2,000 military medical personnel, to help contend with a COVID-19 outbreak in the country's largest city. Authorities plan to carry out COVID-19 tests for all of Shanghai's 26 million residents.

China is battling to contain the contagious omicron BA.2 virus which is putting the country's so-called zero-COVID strategy to the test.

Shanghai has been under a two-phase lockdown for two weeks.

Health authorities said Monday there have been more than 13,000 new infections across China over the past 24 hours, although 12,000 of that number have been found to be asymptomatic. Around 9,000 of the cases were reported in Shanghai

The China Daily newspaper reported that around 15,000 medical staff from neighboring Jiangsu and Zhejiang province had set off by bus for Shanghai on Monday morning. The newspaper reported that four other provinces have contributed doctors and nursing staff.

The Associated Press cited a Chinese military publication reporting that over 2,000 members of the army, navy and support staff arrived in Shanghai on Sunday.

The measures are considered to be the largest public health response since tackling the initial outbreak in Wuhan.

Meanwhile, Shanghai health officials on Monday defended separating babies and young children from their parents in the event of testing positive for COVID-19. According to the policy, anyone testing positive must be isolated from those who haven't, regardless of whether they have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic.

"If the child is younger than seven years old, those children will receive treatment in a public health center," said Wu Qianyu from the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission on Monday.

Here are the latest major developments on coronavirus from around the world:

Europe

In the United Kingdom a spike in COVID-19 cases has forced airlines to cancel hundreds of flights due to staff sickness. Easyjet canceled over 200 flights over the weekend and indicated that a further 60 would not fly on Monday. British Airways also canceled a small number of flights on Sunday and said the issue was generally affecting airlines and airports.

"We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause to customers on affected flights," the airline said in a statement.

England scrapped COVID-19 restrictions earlier in the year and the people testing positive for the virus have not been required to self-isolate, despite advise from employers to do so.

In large parts of Germany, people going to shops on Monday are no longer required to wear face masks for the first time in around two years, as federal and state authorities eased up on restrictions.

Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are maintaining mask protocols for the time being.

According to the latest figures from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) the nationwide incidence of COVID-19 in Germany has continued to decrease.

On Monday the number of new infections per 100,000 people stood at 1424.6 when compared to the figure of 1457.9 the day before. There were 41,129 new COVID-19 infections in the space of a day, whereas the week before that number was 67,501 infections.

Sweden has recommended a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to people aged 65 and over, including those who live in nursing homes or are receiving home care.

Previously the recommendation had been that a fourth shot be administered to people aged 80 and older.

Sweden's Public Health Agency said the recommendation included giving fourth shots to those aged 18 to 64 who had compromised immune systems.

"The goal is just as before to prevent serious illness and death from COVID-19," said agency chief Karin Tegmark Wisell.

Source: DW