Shanghai faces new outcry; Hong Kong, Singapore ease curbs: Global Covid updates

Top 8 updates on global Covid-19 situation: Fresh cases in China’s financial hub of Shanghai trickled down slightly for Saturday as authorities erected mesh barriers outside some residential buildings to curb the spread of Covid-19 via movement of citizens.

As Covid-19 cases in several European countries continue to witness a surge, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand are expected to remove most of the Covid-induced restrictions next week. In Hong Kong, the daily tally remained below the 1,000-mark for an entire week after it faced a massive surge earlier in March - reporting over 70,000 cases in a day.

A man wearing a face mask walks by a masked security stands guard at a barricaded entrance displaying a health QR code and a temperature scanner at a commercial office complex, Sunday. (AP)

Meanwhile in China’s Shanghai, the latest Covid hotspot, authorities have reportedly installed barriers in front of several residential buildings to curb the movement of people in a bid to overcome the current wave, triggering a fresh outcry as locals struggle for essentials.

Top 8 updates on global Covid-19 situation

1. Italy on Saturday reported 70,520 new Covid cases, against 73,212 the day before. The daily number of deaths fell to 143 from 202 on Saturday, the country’s health ministry said, according to reports.

2. France witnessed a single-day spike of 88,389 Covid-19 cases cases on Saturday as the nation braces to cast vote for the second round of presidential elections amid the current wave.

3. Shanghai authorities battling an outbreak of Covid have erected mesh barriers outside some residential buildings, sparking fresh public outcry over a lockdown that has forced much of the city's 25 million people to stay home, news agency Reuters reported.

4. Fresh cases in China’s financial hub of Shanghai trickled down slightly for Saturday, but remained in the tens of thousands. The city recorded around 21,000 cases, versus 23,300 a day earlier.

5. Hong Kong will allow entry of non-residents from May for the first time in more than two years. Foreign travellers will be subject to the same procedure as residents, the government said. The announcement comes as daily infections stayed under 1000 for more than a week from a peak of more than 70,000 on March 3.

6. Singapore will remove most remaining coronavirus restrictions from April 26 and ease its entry requirements for travellers, its health ministry said in response to a decline in new daily infections. The measures include removing limits on group sizes and allowing the full return of employees to workplaces, while lowering the Southeast Asian financial hub's alert level for the first time since the pandemic started.

7. Thailand is set to scrap on-arrival Covid tests from May, an official said on Saturday, in the latest measure to revive its battered tourism industry, Reuters reported. Visitors are encouraged to perform antigen self-tests during their stay, instead of the current "Test & Go" scheme, where arrivals must isolate themselves in a hotel while awaiting the result of a test on arrival.

8. Coronavirus emerged as the third leading cause of deaths in the United States as around 4,60,000 deaths linked to the virus were recorded in 2021, highlights one of the latest reports by the top US medical body. Cancer and heart attack were the first and second death causes respectively.

(With inputs from Reuters, AFP, AP)