A northern Virginia child was the first in the state to die of an inflammatory syndrome associated with covid-19, state health officials said Friday.
The child, who was between the ages of 10 to 19, lived in the Prince William health district, which includes Prince William County as well as the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
More than 5,526 cases of the rare but serious illness – which is known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) – had been reported nationwide as of Nov. 1. Just 48 of those patients have died.
Virginia health data shows 111 cases of the illness have been reported within the state. Maryland has reported between 100 and 149 cases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while the District of Columbia has reported between 25 and 49.
The syndrome appears to have some similarities with Kawasaki disease and can cause problems with a child’s heart, lungs, kidneys and other organs. Symptoms include ongoing fever and stomach pain, vomiting and lightheadedness.
“We are devastated by this sad news, and our hearts go out to the family and friends of this child,” Virginia Health Commissioner M. Norman Oliver said in a statement.
He urged families to get vaccinated if they have not done so already and to wear masks during the holiday season.
A new, possibly more infectious coronavirus variant, with an unusual number of mutations, had scientists sounding the alarm Friday and countries including the United States moving to impose travel restrictions as the world feared another setback on the long road out of the pandemic.
Senior Biden administration officials announced that starting Monday, travel to the United States will be restricted from South Africa and seven other countries – Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe. The new policy, which does not affect U.S. citizens and permanent residents, was enacted “out of an abundance of caution,” officials said, as scientists work to learn more about the new variant.
This latest variant arrives nearly two years after the first ominous warnings about a novel coronavirus emerged from China. Now, even as the world grows increasingly weary of measures to contain the virus, this new threat is casting a shadow across holiday celebrations.
On Friday, the World Health Organization declared the mutation-laden virus a “variant of concern” after a full-day review by the group’s scientists and dubbed it the “omicron” variant, named for a Greek letter.
“This variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning,” the WHO said in a statement Friday. “Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant, as compared to other” variants of concern.
In many ways, the virus is acting exactly as global health experts have warned it might – creating new and potentially more dangerous variants, first detected in under-vaccinated parts of the world. Still, major questions remain about omicron’s origins, transmissibility, whether it might make people sicker and whether it might be able to evade vaccines or therapeutics.
“It’s early to know the effectiveness of current vaccines against the new variant,” said Bruce Gellin, a vaccine expert and chief of global public health strategy at the Rockefeller Foundation.
Scientists in South Africa convened a news conference Thursday and said they had linked omicron to an exponential rise of infections in the country. Cases have also been identified in Belgium, Botswana, Hong Kong, Israel and other countries.
Financial markets plummeted amid news of the variant, with the Dow Jones industrial average delivering its worst day of 2021 with a 905-point plunge. By the time trading stopped at 1 p.m. because of the holiday weekend, the Dow had shed about 2.5%, the S&P 500 had erased 2.3% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq had declined 2.2%.
The World Trade Organization postponed its first ministerial meeting in four years because of the deteriorating health situation, Reuters reported.
Britain, Canada, France, Israel and Japan began to ban or order quarantines for air passengers arriving from the southern African region. European Union countries agreed Friday to ban air travel from seven southern African countries.
“Our view is very clear,” Dana Spinant, deputy chief spokeswoman for the European Commission, said at a news conference. “We need to act very fast, we need to be vigilant, and we need to take all measures that are appropriate at this stage to prevent this virus from entering Europe.”
Chief among experts’ concerns is whether coronavirus vaccines will prove less powerful against omicron – and whether they could be adapted to target the new variant.
In a statement, Pfizer and BioNTech said the companies expect to have data within two weeks that will provide more information on whether omicron may require an adjustment to the companies’ coronavirus vaccine.
Pfizer and BioNTech have been working to adapt their mRNA vaccine “within 6 weeks and ship initial batches within 100 days in the event of an escape variant.” The companies have begun clinical trials to test their vaccine against other variants that could provide blueprint studies for regulators if a variant-specific vaccine is needed.
Moderna, maker of another mRNA coronavirus vaccine, said Friday it was “working rapidly” to test the ability of its vaccine to neutralize the omicron variant and that it expected to have data “in the coming weeks.” It also plans to advance an omicron-specific booster candidate, according to a company statement.
The omicron variant, Moderna said, carries a combination of mutations that pose a “significant potential risk” to both natural and vaccine-induced immunity.
Gellin said U.S. regulators have “not yet mapped the process they would use to make adjustments to coronavirus vaccines.” But small clinical trials would probably be needed to ensure that changes had the effect desired.
The Food and Drug Administration is familiar with updating vaccines, Gellin said, and has a long track record of approving flu vaccines to “match” the viruses in circulation every year.
“There is no reason why future boosters should not be updated to match the most common strain” of the coronavirus, said John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Africa began ramping up its monitoring of variants several months ago, made wary by the delta variant’s destructive sweep across India and the continent’s low vaccination rates, which some officials blamed on “vaccine hoarding” by wealthier countries. In South Africa, just 25% of the population is vaccinated, and officials said the vast majority of people hospitalized continue to be unvaccinated.
Biden administration officials said Friday the United States has shipped more than 275 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to 110 countries, including 93.9 million for Africa, and 13.3 million to the newly restricted countries, and that it has worked to boost vaccine manufacturing in South Africa.
Top South African health officials said they began exploring the possibility of a new variant when they discovered a fast-growing cluster of cases in the nation’s populous Gauteng province. The officials said they wanted to announce the new variant to help prevent further spread – and scientists around the world noted that the variant was detected far more quickly than the delta variant, which was idenified in India and quickly spread around the world.
But South African health officials decried the world’s reaction as unjustified, saying South Africa should not be “punished” for making this discovery, particularly because the variant’s origin remains unknown.
“This kind of knee-jerk reaction, really does not make sense,” said Joe Phaahla, South Africa’s health minister. “Many of these countries that are coming with this draconian reaction are battling their own fourth wave.”
“The world should provide support to South Africa and Africa and not discriminate or isolate it!” tweeted Tulio De Oliveira, director of South Africa’s Center for Epidemic Response & Innovation, calling on philanthropists to help. “By protecting its poor and oppressed population we will protect the world,” De Oliveira wrote.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control offered a new threat assessment Friday noting the distinct possibility that the new variant will spread.
Even before the latest variant emerged, Europe was applying new lockdowns and travel restrictions for unvaccinated residents in an attempt to contain a surge in coronavirus cases. Reported deaths in Europe reached nearly 4,200 a day last week – twice the number since the end of September, according to the World Health Organization, which counts 53 countries as part of its European region. Covid-19 cases fueled by the delta variant have been surging in some U.S. states, too, including Michigan and Minnesota.
As scientists study the newly emerged variant, they are left fearful because of the number of mutations present in the variant and their location, sparking concerns it could be more resistant to vaccines and therapeutics, more transmissible or cause more serious illness in more people.
“We just don’t know,” said Brownstein, who emphasized the importance of waiting for research.
“Those mutations are worrisome,” said Albert Ko, an infectious-disease epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health, who said they may compromise treatments known as monoclonal antibodies. “That’s the proof that has to be done,” said Ko, who pointed out that multiple mutations can also cripple a virus, making it less fit.
“Not all mutations are good for the virus,” Ko said.
Massimo Ciccozzi, head of the molecular epidemiology unit at the Rome-based University Campus Bio-Medico, described omicron as “a greatest hits compilation of all mutations from other variants, within one lineage.”
Ciccozzi, who speculated that the package of mutations may be due to long-term treatment of a single immunocompromised patient, noted one bright spot. Unlike delta, omicron is detectable through the normal procedures used with other variants.
“The molecular test detects it,” Ciccozzi said. “Which is very important because it just won’t go unnoticed.”
Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser to Britain’s Health and Security Agency, told BBC Radio that South Africa had a very low level of cases at one point and then “in a shorter period than two weeks, they have more than doubled their epidemiology picture.”
Britain maintains a world-class system of laboratories to detect and study the genomes of coronavirus variants and modeling groups that forecast potential spread. The southern African strain has not been found in Britain.
Israel imposed a travel ban covering most of Africa after the detection of the new variant.
“We are currently on the verge of a state of emergency,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said.
In Japan, travelers arriving from six African countries will need to quarantine at designated accommodation facilities for 10 days beginning Saturday, rather than quarantining at home, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno announced Friday evening.
India on Thursday alerted all states to the new variant, advising them to test and screen everyone traveling from and transiting through the “at-risk” countries of South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong. India earlier this month had opened its borders to vaccinated international travelers after more than a year and a half.
“What’s interesting is the policies,” said Ko, the Yale epidemiologist, noting how the coronavirus has consistently beaten global responses. “Are any of these policies going to help?”
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asserted Friday that a group of Russians and Ukrainians planned to attempt a coup in Ukraine next month and that the plotters tried to enlist the help of the countrys richest man, Rinat Akhmetov.
Zelensky, speaking at a “press marathon” for local and international media, said that audio recordings, obtained by Ukraine’s security services, caught plotters discussing their plans and mentioning Akhmetov’s name.
Akhmetov was not involved in the purported coup plot, however, Zelensky said.
The president offered no other details, leaving many questions about his motives for making the allegations public and what possible actions authorities have taken.
Akhmetov, a mining and steel tycoon, also owns media holdings, which in recent weeks have increased their criticism of Zelensky and his administration.
A statement attributed to Akhmetov called Zelensky’s claims “an absolute lie.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied any Russian role in an alleged plot.
“Russia never engages in such things. There have never been such plans,” Peskov said.
Zelensky’s comments also come against a backdrop of rising tensions between Kyiv and Moscow.
Western and Ukrainian officials say that they have observed a buildup of Russian forces on the country’s border with Ukraine.
The reasons for the buildup are unclear, but U.S. and other officials say that it could be preparation for an invasion or an escalation in the seven-year-old conflict in eastern Ukraine with anti-Kyiv insurgents, backed by Moscow, according to Western officials and independent researchers.
Speaking in Nantucket, Mass., President Joe Biden told reporters that he would “in all probability” have talks with Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the deepening tensions.
“I believe [Akhmetov] is being dragged into the war against Ukraine,” Zelensky said. “This will be a big mistake, because it is impossible to fight against the people, against the president elected by the people of Ukraine.”
Zelensky said the alleged coup was being planned for Dec. 1 or 2. He gave no further details.
Ukrainian media in recent weeks have commented on growing tensions between Zelensky and Akhmetov. Zelensky has launched a “de-oligarchization”campaign to reduce the political influence of Ukraine’s richest people, who control key sections of the economy.
“I am outraged by the spread of this lie, no matter what the president’s motives are,” Akhmetov was quoted as saying. “My position has been and will be explicit and definite: an independent, democratic, and united Ukraine with the Crimea and my home region, Donbas.”
Donbas is part of the breakaway region in eastern Ukraine. The Crimean Peninsula was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.
The Ukrainian president said his country was prepared for any scenario in the volatile east.
“We are in full control of our borders and ready if there will be an escalation,” Zelensky said.
He added, however, that the number of Russian forces was smaller than during a buildup in spring this year, an episode that also caused concern about a possible Russian offensive.
Zelensky said Ukraine had received promises of support “in public and not in public” from its Western partners if Russia were to take military action, but he did not provide details.
He said that the risk of escalation or invasion from Russia was always present and that Ukraine had observed a sharp rise in aggressive comments coming from Russia, which he said was worrying.
“When Russia says it is defending its borders, it is very dangerous,” Zelensky said.
NANTUCKET, Mass. – The United States will restrict travel from South Africa and seven other countries starting Monday, as President Joe Biden and his administration cautiously responded to a wave of global anxiety over the new omicron coronavirus variant.
The travel policy was implemented out of “an abundance of caution in light of a new coronavirus variant circulating in Southern Africa,” a senior Biden administration official said in announcing it. Other regions and countries, including the European Union, Britain, Japan and Israel, also set restrictions for air travelers arriving from southern Africa.
The restrictions will apply to travelers from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi. They do not apply to American citizens and lawful permanent residents, the official said.
Biden was briefed by his chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, and others Friday on the variant. Biden said in a statement that the restrictions were “a precautionary measure until we have more information,” and again urged Americans to get vaccinated and get booster shots.
“If you have not gotten vaccinated, or have not taken your children to get vaccinated, now is the time,” Biden said.
“We don’t know a lot about the variant, except that it is of great concern. It seems to spread rapidly, and I spent about a half-hour this morning with my covid team, led by Dr. Fauci, and so, that was the decision we made,” Biden later told reporters. He also said his staff recommended waiting until Monday rather than immediately instating the ban.
Since late Wednesday, senior administration officials have been on a flurry of calls to review preliminary reports out of South Africa and to begin planning for various scenarios, said one of those officials said, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.
The White House arranged a meeting Friday between U.S. and South African doctors to learn more about the variant that is spreading in that region, Fauci said in an interview on CNN “New Day.”
“We want to find out scientist-to-scientist exactly what is going on,” Fauci said of the meeting.
The calls have included health officials in South Africa and representatives of the various vaccine manufacturers. But the administration official said it will likely be two weeks before health officials have a full picture of the vaccines’ efficacy against the new variant.
Fauci said the new variant has “some mutations” that “are raising some concern,” including “with regard to possibly transmissibility increase and possibly evasion of immune response.”
On Friday, the stock market tumbled, with the Dow Jones falling more than 900 points on concerns about the new variant, its worst day of the year thus far at the close. The S&P 500 was also down by more than 2.2% at the close.
Biden told reporters the market activity was “expected” and typical after bad coronavirus news and that he was “not at all” worried about the drop.
The World Health Organization announced the official name of the variant, in line with protocols, and labeled it a “variant of concern” in a statement Friday morning. The WHO said it was first alerted to the variant by South Africa on Wednesday.
The new variant is emerging as Biden is struggling with low poll numbers but optimistic that the country is emerging from the pandemic. The president traveled to Nantucket with his family, a longtime tradition, to celebrate Thanksgiving and showcase how much has improved in American life over this time last year. He skipped the trip in 2020 because of pandemic restrictions.
On Thursday, Biden sought to project confidence about the fight against the pandemic when he called in to NBC’s broadcast of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. “My message is, after two years, you’re back. America is back. There’s nothing we’re unable to overcome,” Biden told host Al Roker.
Biden in his Friday statement said the new variant underscored the need for other countries to do more to increase global vaccinations, including by waiving intellectual property restrictions that hamper production.
Fauci said scientists are trying to determine whether the current vaccines work against the new variant. “Once you test it, you’ll know for sure whether it does or does not evade the antibodies that we make, for example, against the virus through a vaccine” or after infection, he said.
Fauci said that determining whether the variant can evade the vaccines is a key piece of data he’d like to have before recommending further action. “You’re prepared to do everything you need to do to protect the American public but you want to make sure there’s a basis for doing that, and that’s what we’re doing right now,” Fauci said.
U.S. officials have started planning for various scenarios depending on how effective the vaccines are, and they remain confident in their ability to handle any outcome. But the senior administration official warned against drawing any immediate conclusions, saying only a limited amount of data is available at this point.
“The main message right now is get boosted,” the official said. “It can only help with a new variant.”
SEATTLE – As the holiday shopping season kicks off this weekend, consumers will find prices higher than theyve been in months.
That’s particularly true at Amazon, which has raised prices faster than rivals, according to Profitero, an e-commerce data analytics company that tracks more that 20,000 popular items across several large online retailers. Amazon’s prices on those items grew 7.5% in October, compared with the same month a year ago.
Walmart’s prices in comparison grew 3.1% and Target’s grew 3.6% for the same items over that period.
Amazon – the dominant online retailer with more than 41% of e-commerce, according to eMarketer – also plays a huge role in influencing prices across the Web. The phenomenon, which economists have dubbed the “Amazon Effect,” happens because rivals tend to follow Amazon’s lead to match each other on online pricing.
Retailers with brick-and-mortar stores are matching their online pricing to physical shelves, too, Harvard Business School economist Albert Cavallo said, homogenizing prices – low or high – across the board.
“Online competition is a force for price uniformity, and therefore also inflation equalization,” Cavallo said. And as retailers get better at bringing online pricing, with its frequent swings, to their physical stores, the Amazon Effect becomes an even greater force.
That matters because consumer prices grew 6.2% in October compared to a year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The spike, the largest annual inflation increase in 30 years, is driven by soaring energy prices and ongoing supply-chain backlogs.
Retailers – including Amazon – are struggling with the global supply-chain crunch and a domestic labor shortage that have pushed up costs. Amazon said last month it plans to spend an extra $4 billion during the fourth quarter to lure seasonal workers with richer paychecks and benefits and to ensure that packages arrive at its warehouses. The company is hiring 150,000 seasonal workers. In the third quarter, the company spent $18.5 billion on fulfillment costs.
“We’re doing everything we can,” finance chief Brian Olsavsky said on a call last month with analysts. “The issue is, it’s costly.”
(Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Amazon spokesman Patrick Graham acknowledged the pressure that increased manufacturing and supply-chain costs puts on pricing.
“Customers come to Amazon to find low prices, and we strive to deliver by matching the lowest price from across relevant competitors every day,” Graham said. “In spite of increased manufacturing and supply-chain costs, Amazon continues to offer customers the best possible value and selection, not only during the holiday season but throughout the year.”
Amazon has long used algorithms that scrape other retail websites to ensure its merchandise matches or beats the competition. The company doesn’t always try to beat rivals, particularly on items such as large packages of toilet paper that can be more costly to ship. An 18-roll package of Charmin Ultra Strong, for example, was recently available on Amazon for $31.03, while Target offered the product for $18.79.
Amazon’s Graham disputed that the company doesn’t always try to beat rivals, and said that the Charmin toilet paper on its site was sold by a third-party merchant who sets its own prices.
“Amazon seeks to always meet or beat the best price offered at other retailers on the products we sell ourselves, and our systems continually benchmark prices in other stores to make sure we are delivering on this promise,” Graham said after publication of this article. “If we find an isolated error where we offer a product at a higher price than other major retailers, we quickly investigate and take action to ensure our price meets or beats the lowest price elsewhere.”
The majority of products offered through Amazon’s marketplace come from third-party sellers, and Amazon pressures them to keep prices competitive. D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine filed an antitrust suit in May alleging that Amazon prevents sellers from offering their products at lower prices or on better terms on any other online platforms, including their own websites, and that prohibition results in “artificially high” prices across e-commerce sales. Amazon has said that sellers are responsible for the prices they offer on its marketplace.
One way Amazon keeps prices from third-party sellers low is through the “buy box” – the crucial piece of digital real estate on product pages that customers use to add items to their shopping carts. The buy box is often a boon for sellers, since studies have shown that shoppers regularly purchase items Amazon’s algorithms elevate there.
There’s also plenty of competition. Product categories like ear buds with several third-party sellers fighting one another for sales are less prone to inflationary pressure, said Juozas Kaziukenas, CEO of the e-commerce research firm Marketplace Pulse.
“The marketplace protects against rising prices because it dynamically shifts sales to the most competitive offers,” Kaziukenas said. “On Amazon, it matters less if products X and Z are getting more expensive. Because on Amazon there are also Y, T, U, etcetera products that didn’t get more expensive. Consumers will pick those.”
Amazon’s prices rose in part because it started with lower prices, Profitero President Sarah Hofstetter said. Even with the price increases on Amazon, Profitero found that Walmart’s prices on the 20,000 items are 4% more than Amazon’s prices, and Target’s prices are 15% more expensive.
Target and Walmart did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Across the board, however, prices are higher on some of those items. Take the Bose portable home speaker, an item that sold for $399 on Amazon, Walmart and Target sites last weekend. Profitero found that the average price for the speaker from July to October this year jumped 9% on Amazon compared to the same period a year ago. The price on the device jumped 3% at Target and 2.8% at Walmart.
Meanwhile, large consumer-goods companies are struggling to fill the orders placed by Amazon and other retailers – leading to price spikes in categories such as grocery and pet products.
CommerceIQ, a consultant for consumer-product brands including Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg’s and Nestle, tracks the orders Amazon places for items from its 4,000 clients to sell on its site. CommerceIQ said those clients’ ability to meet orders has dipped since spring.
Amazon is “ordering more, but vendors are less able to fill them,” said Guru Hariharan, CommerceIQ’s chief executive.
The new variant, first detected in South Africa, features “unusual” alterations that are concerning since they may let it evade the immune system and become more transmissible.
Anew COVID-19 variant known as B.1.1.529 has been confirmed in Belgium, the country’s Minister of Health and Social Affairs Franck Vandenbroucke said on Friday.
Two suspect samples were being analyzed, according to virologist Marc Van Ranst of the Catholic University of Louvain. One sample was confirmed as the novel B.1.1.529, the virologist tweeted.
The new variant, first detected in South Africa, features “unusual” alterations that are concerning since they may let it evade the immune system and become more transmissible.
A sign to notice pedestrians wearing face masks and keeping social distance is seen in Brussels, Belgium, Nov. 5, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
Belgium decided on Friday to suspend flights from the southern African region, following a proposal from the European Commission. Belgian travelers returning from South Africa and other nearby countries must adhere to a ten-day quarantine.
Several European countries, notably the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy, have already decided to close their borders to the region.
People queue up for check-in in the departure hall at the Brussels Airport in Zaventem, Belgium, July 1, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
A survey conducted by the CBA showed that 82 percent of Aussies would try to make the most of any discounts over the weekend, and 80 percent said they would be encouraged to shop at stores offering Black Friday discounts.
This weekend Aussies across the country are expected to crowd stores both in person and online for one of Australia’s largest and most anticipated shopping holidays, Black Friday.
Data from Australia’s largest commercial bank, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), showed that Aussies had spent more than ever over the four-day holiday in both 2019 and 2020.
Retail and consumer expert from CBA Jerry Macey said the 2021 event would likely be no different.
“The increase in sales in 2020 in comparison to 2019 bodes well for the Black Friday sales this coming weekend,” he said.
People shop at a shopping center in Sydney, Australia, Nov. 26, 2021. (Photo by Hu Jingchen/Xinhua)
With several major Australian cities only recently exiting lockdown and the Christmas season fast approaching, Aussies have been keen to take full advantage of the sales.
A survey conducted by the CBA showed that 82 percent of Aussies would try to make the most of any discounts over the weekend, and 80 percent said they would be encouraged to shop at stores offering Black Friday discounts.
In anticipation of the holiday, many large retailers have extended their opening hours and slashed up to 50 percent off a variety of consumer goods.
People shop at a shopping center in Sydney, Australia, Nov. 26, 2021. (Photo by Hu Jingchen/Xinhua)
This month the Australia Retailers Association (ARA) projected that total sales for the weekend would reach 5.4 billion Australian dollars (about 3.9 billion U.S dollars), almost half of which is forecast to be in online sales.
Gary Starr, executive general manager of Australia Post, said Australia’s national postal service was gearing up for what is expected to be a record year in online sales.
“We’ve set ourselves up with 30 percent more processing capacity, more planes in the air, and thousands of extra people to sort and deliver parcels,” said Starr.
“We know people are keeping a close eye on the big online sales events and planning ahead for what they want to buy, so we’re expecting this year to be huge,” he said.
A sign to notice pedestrians wearing face masks and keeping social distance is seen in Brussels, Belgium, Nov. 5, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
People queue up for check-in in the departure hall at the Brussels Airport in Zaventem, Belgium, July 1, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
People shop at a shopping center in Sydney, Australia, Nov. 26, 2021. (Photo by Hu Jingchen/Xinhua)
People shop at a shopping center in Sydney, Australia, Nov. 26, 2021. (Photo by Hu Jingchen/Xinhua)
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