Europe is gradually leaving pandemic restrictions behind, with Germany and Greece poised to become the latest in the region to unwind regulations that have disrupted life for two years.
Other measures include a lowering of the number of staff required to work at home in both the private and public sectors to 20% from 50% of the workforce.
Switzerland will scrap almost all pandemic-related restrictions starting from Thursday, including a work-from-home recommendation and the need for Covid-documentation to enter the country.
As part of its Covid Zero strategy, Hong Kong is still trying to separate all infected people and their close contacts from the wider community, despite the strain that has placed on hospitals and other resources.
The country will also increase limits for attendance at low- and medium-risk events and abolish the requirement for students to self-isolate after a contact with classmates who have tested positive for Covid-19.
The study in the country, where the BA.2 strain is now dominant, may not extrapolate to others as most of the immunity South Africans have is from prior infections rather than vaccinations, Cheryl Cohen, head of the Centre for Respiratory Diseases at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, said in an online press conference.
Hong Kong’s transport and housing bureau together with the taxi industry has set up a fleet of cabs for free transport services between designated clinics and residences, according to a statement.
The government will restore and progressively raise quotas on so-called vaccinated travel lanes, the Ministry of Health said in a statement Wednesday.
International tourists must test negative before boarding planes and meet all requirements from the health ministry on Covid-19 vaccinations, according to Tuoi Tre newspaper, which didn’t provide details.
and Spanish company Laboratorios Farmaceuticos Rovi will extend a long-term agreement to manufacture mRNA medicines, according to a regulatory filing.
Cases found at the city’s international airport and within the bubble have hovered in the single digits for the past five straight days, with only two reported on Wednesday.
A three-year-old girl was the latest fatality in Hong Kong’s worsening coronavirus wave that’s seen case numbers balloon and overwhelm the health system.
Hong Kong’s total number of preliminary Covid cases and patients waiting to be hospitalized reached about 12,000 as of Tuesday, local media outlets including Hong Kong Economic Times and Now TV reported, citing unidentified people.
China reported 51 domestic Covid-19 domestic infections, with eastern biotech hub Suzhou emerging as the latest flareup driven by omicron.