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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009721

Beijings official line on U.S. government representatives boycotting the Winter Olympics is that China couldnt care less and American officials were never invited anyway.

Yet the White House’s announcement Monday that neither President Joe Biden nor any other U.S. official will attend has touched a nerve in the Chinese capital, the host city for the Games in February. While dismissing the U.S. move as “grandstanding,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian vowed China would take “resolute countermeasures.” On Tuesday, Zhao said China had made “solemn representations” to the United States, assailing its move as a bid to “sabotage” the Games.

Online commentary and state media echoed similar points, that U.S. politicians were flattering themselves if they thought their presence was important. Ming Jinwei, a former editor at the official Xinhua News Agency, likened the United States to “the village bully who doesn’t get an invite to your wedding banquet but loudly tells everyone he won’t be attending.”

The glib response betrays Beijing’s sensitivities about legitimacy at a time when Chinese leader Xi Jinping is preparing to take on a controversial third term. Search results on China’s Weibo microblog for posts on the U.S. announcement appeared to be censored on Tuesday, and few state media outlets covered the news for their domestic audiences.

For Xi, who oversaw the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing – seen as China’s coming-of-age on the international stage – the Winter Games are an important marker of Beijing’s emergence as a global power.

“Beijing certainly cares about potential embarrassment around the Olympics, both internationally and domestically,” said Natasha Kassam, a former Australian diplomat in Beijing and director of the Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program at the Lowy Institute in Sydney. “You can see the Chinese system has switched into offense mode, accusing the United States of politicizing sport and claiming that no one will notice the boycott.”

More worrying for Beijing is the prospect of other countries following suit, making a boycott harder to ignore. Officials in Britain, Australia, Canada and Europe are considering similar measures, with the issue expected to be discussed at the Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting in Liverpool, England, this weekend.

A growing number of Australian lawmakers have backed a diplomatic boycott, but a spokesman for the country’s sports minister said Tuesday that the government had yet to make a decision. His New Zealand counterpart said Tuesday the country would not be sending government ministers to the Winter Olympics but attributed the decision primarily to covid-19 rules. The sports minister of Lithuania, a country under fire from Beijing for forging closer ties with Taiwan, said last week that she and other senior ministry officials would not attend.

While largely symbolic – U.S. athletes will still compete in the Games – the boycott illustrates the growing pressure on China over its treatment of Uyghurs in the northwestern Xinjiang region, crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong and silencing of Chinese citizens who speak out.

The recent curated reappearance of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, who vanished from public view for two weeks after accusing a retired senior Chinese official of pressuring her into sex, has galvanized calls from the international sports community and rights activists for more pressure on Beijing.

“While it’s relatively easy for Beijing to spin a U.S. boycott as another example of Western hypocrisy and double standards, this will be a more difficult narrative to sustain if the boycott grows beyond a few likely suspects,” Kassam said.

The dominance of Western liberal democracies in winter sports makes it harder for Beijing to drown out news of the boycott with shows of support from countries in the global south, she added.

The boycott threatens to undermine a slight thaw in U.S.-China relations after Xi and Biden held a virtual summit last month in which the two pledged to stop relations from deteriorating further. The Biden administration’s pledges to be tough on China and its hosting of a “Summit for Democracy” underline persistent tensions between the rivals and increased scrutiny of Beijing’s human rights record.

“Domestically, civil society is more silenced in China now, but at the same time China’s human rights abuses and systematic violations have naturally triggered more global attention,” said Eva Pils, an expert in Chinese law at King’s College London.

At home, Chinese officials appear to have braced for the boycott, emphasizing that China had not personally invited U.S. dignitaries. At a news conference on Friday, Zhao Weidong, deputy chief of propaganda for Beijing, noted that foreign dignitaries are invited by countries’ respective Olympic organizing committee, and not by China.

Rights advocates say the Chinese response demonstrates how much Beijing does care about the Winter Olympics and its image.

Yaqiu Wang, a China researcher at Human Rights Watch in Beijing, said the Chinese government could try to save face, “but deep down, it knows that the international community is upset with its actions and is increasingly willing to act on the discontent.”

When asked Tuesday about China’s intended countermeasures, Zhao said the United States would “pay a price for its wrong behavior.”

“Wait and see,” he said.

Published : December 08, 2021

By : The Washington Post

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009718

The death toll of Semeru volcano eruption in Indonesias East Java province rose to 22 with more than 30 people missing, while search for the victims was underway amid a potential of lava floods and hot clouds.

The death toll of Semeru volcano eruption in Indonesia’s East Java province rose to 22 on Monday with more than 30 people missing, while search for the victims was underway amid a potential of lava floods and hot clouds.

The rescuer team found several bodies buried by mud in Lumajang district on Monday, and the number of missing people may rise as there were sand mining activities on rivers during the eruption, said Daniel Riza, an official at the data and information center of the district’s disaster management and mitigation agency.

“The reports coming to us showed that 22 died, and 30 persons lost contacts, and the number could be more than that as there were some mining activities on the rivers just before the eruption,” he told Xinhua.

The natural disaster has forced 1,700 people to flee homes and take shelters at evacuation centers as hundreds of houses, a bridge and other infrastructure facilities were destroyed, the official said.

Search And Rescue (SAR) teams bring body packs of victims during a search operation after Mount Semeru erupted near Sumber Wuluh village in Lumajang, East Java, Indonesia, Dec. 6, 2021. (Photo by Kurniawan/Xinhua)

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Head of the Geological Agency at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry Eko Budi Lelono said there was still a potential for hot clouds to spread from the crater of the volcano, so that the red zone where the clouds may pass through must be emptied.

“The potential for the hot clouds to spread still exists. With a tool, it can be known just before it happens,” he told a virtual press conference.

On Sunday, the country’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency warned that heavy rains might happen in the coming days.

Heavy rains have usually triggered lava floods after volcanic eruptions in the vast archipelagic nation.

“There are still a potential of rains, with the level of weak, moderate and heavy, pouring down the areas around the crater and the slope of the volcano in the next three days,” Fachri Rajab, head of the Center for the Public Meteorology of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), told a press conference.

A resident squats in front of a damaged house after the eruption of Mount Semeru in Sumber Wuluh village in Lumajang district, East Java, Indonesia, Dec. 6, 2021. (Photo by Kurniawan/Xinhua)

Published : December 07, 2021

By : Xinhua

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009717

Although the COVID-19 situation in Japan has significantly improved, Kishida warned of “new risks including the confirmation of the Omicron variant across a number of countries.”

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday vowed to “prepare for the worst” in dealing with the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 while still promoting the economic recovery of the country.

In his policy speech at the beginning of an extraordinary parliamentary session, Kishida also voiced hope for further debate on constitutional revision and pledged to conclude a sweeping review of security policy in about a year.

Although the COVID-19 situation in Japan has significantly improved, Kishida warned of “new risks including the confirmation of the Omicron variant across a number of countries.”

“We will maintain our stance of being cautious and prudent,” the prime minister said, adding Japan has added 10,000 hospital beds for COVID-19 patients since the summer and would possibly approve the use of an oral treatment drug later this month.

Photo taken on Nov. 30, 2021 shows the international arrivals of Narita airport Terminal 1 in Tokyo, Japan. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu)

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He said the digital certificates for people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 would be ready to give out on Dec. 20 by the government.

Referring to a decision to ban new entries of foreigners into Japan due to concerns over the Omicron variant, Kishida said he is “ready to accept criticism that I’m being too cautious before we have an adequate grasp of the situation.”

Moreover, the prime minister pledged to support businesses and workers adversely affected by the impact of the pandemic through an enormous stimulus package, funded mostly with a record 36 trillion yen (319 billion U.S. dollars) fiscal 2021 supplementary budget expected to be passed by parliament during the extraordinary session.

Regarding the constitutional reform, Kishida emphasized that lawmakers “have a responsibility to seriously consider” whether or not to amend the supreme law.

“In a time of rapid change, we should spark wide debate among the public on whether the current Constitution is fitting for today,” he said.

Kishida said the government would “drastically” increase tax incentives for firms to raise wages in response to his promise of achieving his “new capitalism”, which not only sparks growth in the Japanese economy but also redistributes wealth to the middle class.

In order to promote digital technology, he said his government would lay underwater cables around Japan to form a “superhighway” for high-speed internet.

The extraordinary parliamentary session started Monday afternoon and would run through Dec. 21.

Published : December 07, 2021

By : Xinhua

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009715

The United States portrays itself as a model of democracy for the rest of the world, but its so-called “beacon of democracy” has long collapsed.

-“Blocking Afghan assets is a kind of bullying that has squeezed ordinary people like me to stop my son from going to school,” said Mir Ahmad, an Afghan wood seller and father of five.

– “Destructive war, displacement and poverty have devoured my life and that is why my 18-month-old daughter is suffering from malnutrition here in the hospital,” said Nafisa, an Afghan mother of eight.

Multiple countries that has been imposed the U.S. style of democracy have witnessed prolonged conflicts and insecurity, tattered national economy and massive sufferings among their people.

The U.S. democracy failed to fit in Afghanistan as well, leading to the loss of more than 100,000 Afghan lives and an unfolding humanitarian crisis.

As the weakest and most vulnerable group, Afghan children have become victims to the export of the U.S. democracy.

Afghan girls attend a class at a local school in Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of Balkh province, Afghanistan, Sept. 14, 2021. (Photo by Kawa Basharat/Xinhua)

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CHILDREN ARE DEPRIVED OF EDUCATION

Padshah, 12, can’t go to school due to extreme poverty and has to work on streets to help his family make ends meet.

The boy, who is from the northern Baghlan province, migrated along with his family to Kabul three months ago in search of better living conditions. He said that he can hardly earn 80 afghani (1 U.S. dollar equals to 96 afghani) to support his impoverished family.

Declining to reveal the number of his family members, the working boy said that from dawn to dusk he weaves through Kabul streets to earn a livelihood, as the sanctions imposed by the United States have destroyed businesses elsewhere in the country.

“People on the streets say that America has blocked Afghan assets and the brutal action has led to poverty, and that is why many people including my father have lost their jobs,” Padshah said.

He added that he was a good student at school when his father had a job and a regular income.

Following the U.S. military pullout in Afghanistan and the Taliban’s takeover of the country in mid-August, Washington reportedly has frozen more than 9 billion U.S. dollars of Afghanistan’s central bank, leaving the new rulers in the doldrums.

The sanctions have undermined bank activities in Afghanistan, as many Afghans withdrew their deposits. To avoid bankruptcy, the banks imposed restrictions under which the customers can withdraw a limited amount of money.

To survive, the Afghans, including Kabul residents, resorted to selling home appliances on roadsides, but customers are rare, as the U.S. sanctions have shrunk the purchasing power of Afghans.

The impact of Washington’s sanctions on Afghanistan is palpable as the Afghan national currency the afghani is tumbling against the U.S. dollar each day, and the rising prices of basic items forced many Afghans to find extra jobs.

An Afghan wood seller and father of five, Mir Ahmad said that poverty has forced him to disrupt his son’s schooling and bring his son to his shop as a helper.

Lamenting the chaotic situation and poverty, the distressed Ahmad said, “If I allow my son to go to school, then I have to pay a laborer at least 500 afghani daily to help me in the shop,” which is unbearable to him at this critical stage.

Denouncing the U.S. for freezing Afghan assets, Ahmad said angrily, “Blocking Afghan assets is a kind of bullying that has squeezed ordinary people like me to stop my son from going to school.”

Blaming the United States’ double standard policy for the suffering of Afghans, Ahmad said that many of his son’s classmates have also given up on school due to poverty and are working with their parents or on the streets as child labor to earn a livelihood and support their families.

An Afghan child receives medical treatment at a local hospital in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Nov. 23, 2021. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

CHILDREN SUFFER FROM MALNUTRITION

An Afghan mother of eight, Nafisa, who lives in Kabul, was sad that she can’t give her children enough food to eat.

“Destructive war, displacement and poverty have devoured my life and that is why my 18-month-old daughter is suffering from malnutrition here in the hospital,” she said.

“The war claimed the life of my husband one year ago and left me with eight children in poverty,” said the mother in a hospital in Kabul.

Lying on the hospital bed, the 18-month-old Karima is in a ward shared with some 10 other children who are under medical treatment.

“I have no money to buy enough food, biscuits and powder milk for my children,” said Zakia, a mother of six, who sat next to the bed of her ailing two-year-old daughter, also suffering from malnutrition.

Doctors said more Afghan children have been suffering from malnutrition this year.

“In this season in the past years we had five to seven children suffering from malnutrition but unfortunately this year nowadays we register seven such children on average every day,” Noorul Haq Yousufzai, the head of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health in Kabul, told Xinhua recently.

More than half the population of Afghanistan, a record 22.8 million people, would face acute food insecurity from November, and 3.2 million children under five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition by the end of the year, said a report by World Food Program released in October.

The Taliban-led administration has urged Washington to unfreeze the Afghan assets and not to link humanitarian issues to politics.

Published : December 07, 2021

By : Xinhua

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009714

“Malaysia welcomes prominent vaccine companies from China to set up their production plants in Malaysia which include data research and R&D centres,” said Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah.

Malaysia and China would collaborate in vaccine research, development and production, The Star recently quoted Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah as saying.

Saifuddin said the collaboration will fulfill Malaysia’s aspiration to be able to produce its own vaccines as expressed in Malaysia’s National Vaccine Development Roadmap.

The roadmap was recently announced by the country’s Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

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“Malaysia welcomes prominent vaccine companies from China to set up their production plants in Malaysia which include data research and R&D centres,” Abdullah said in a joint press conference with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in China on Saturday.

The two sides agreed to continue anti-pandemic cooperation when the two ministers co-chaired the first meeting of the high-level committee on China-Malaysia cooperation in Anji in east China’s Zhejiang Province. 

Published : December 07, 2021

By : Xinhua

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009689

South Africas surge in Covid-19 cases following the emergence of the omicron variant hasnt overwhelmed hospitals so far, prompting some cautious optimism that the new strain may cause mostly mild illness.

Initial data from South Africa, the epicenter of the outbreak of the omicron variant, are “a bit encouraging regarding the severity,” Anthony Fauci, U.S. President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, said on Sunday. At the same time, he cautioned that it’s too early to be definitive.

Scientists and public-health officials are scouring available data to try to predict omicron’s impact as many questions about the new strain and its multiple mutations remain unanswered. The variant, now dominant in South Africa, has made its way from Tokyo to Oslo since its discovery was announced on Nov. 25.

The scramble for clarity has led to sometimes conflicting messages about how serious a threat omicron represents.

Moderna President Stephen Hoge on Sunday said there’s a clear risk that existing vaccines will be less effective against omicron, though it’s too early to say by how much. Other vaccine developers last week expressed optimism that the shots may retain some efficacy against severe illness.

While the early link between infections and hospitalizations may look encouraging, there also tends to be a time lag between the two occurrences.

Severe symptoms in patients who contracted earlier variants typically developed between one and three weeks after they were diagnosed, according to South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases. The seven-day moving average of daily new cases in the country rose to 10,055 last week, from less than 300 three weeks earlier.

Governments around the world, which had hoped for a return to normalcy after two years of pandemic struggles, responded to the new strain by swiftly clamping down on travel.

The U.K. will require all travelers to take a test within 48 hours of their flight, regardless of their vaccination status. France has tightened testing requirements for visitors from outside the European Union. Germany’s Angela Merkel, in her last podcast as chancellor, pleaded with people to take the virus seriously and get vaccinated.

Omicron has sparked concern that it could evade vaccine-induced protection and frustrate efforts to reopen economies because it shows some 30 or more changes in the spike protein, which the virus uses to lever its way into cells. But several more weeks may elapse before laboratory testing and real-life studies begin to untangle exactly what the mutations mean.

In another encouraging sign, the Steve Biko and Tshwane District Hospital Complex in Pretoria, South Africa, said that most patients in the Covid wards didn’t require oxygen. That marks a departure from previous waves.

Fauci said the Biden administration is reevaluating the travel ban on eight southern African countries as more information becomes available. New York City recorded three more cases of the mutation, which has popped up in at least 11 U.S. states. Omicron cases linked to a corporate Christmas party in Oslo may rise to as many as 100, a Norwegian broadcaster reported over the weekend.

Published : December 07, 2021

By : Bloomberg

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009688

Italy, which has one of Europes highest vaccination rates, is further cracking down on the small minority that has so far refused the shot.

As of Monday, a green pass — which is proof of vaccination, recovery or a recent negative test — will be required for buses, metro, local trains and hotels. It’s already compulsory for working, long-distance travel and most indoor venues.

A new “reinforced” green pass, which can be obtained only with the vaccine or after recovering from covid, will be required for many leisure activities, including eating inside restaurants, and going to theaters, cinemas, sporting and other public events.

The aim of the new rules, which were announced in late November, is to stem the resurgence of the pandemic and ensure that the crucial Christmas shopping season can take place normally. Italy’s economy is growing faster than most European partners, and Prime Minister Mario Draghi wants to keep that momentum as he pushes through reforms aimed at reversing decades of stagnation.

While it has so far stopped short of introducing a blanket vaccine mandate, Italy introduced some of Europe’s toughest vaccination rules earlier than others. A green pass has been required to work and travel since mid-October.

As cases spiked across the continent, other European countries have adopted a similar approach. Germany’s government on Thursday became the latest to ramp up its response, putting stringent restrictions on the unvaccinated and weighing compulsory shots. Austria has already proposed mandatory vaccinations, while other countries plan to fine those who refuse.

Italy is facing a new wave of infections, albeit to a lesser degree than other European countries, with 16,632 new cases on Saturday and hospitals and intensive care units slowly filling up. Nine patients with the omicron variant have been identified, most linked to a person returning from southern Africa.

Only 12.3% of Italians over 12, some 6.6 million people, haven’t been inoculated, and shots for kids aged 5-11 are due to start later this month after the vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech received approval by Italy’s drug agency.

Two regions, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige, have already reintroduced minor restrictions, and other areas may be forced to follow suit if infection numbers continue to rise. Italy has a four-level automatic system, with curbs on business and movement automatically kicking when certain levels of new cases and hospital occupancy are reached.

“A vast majority of Italians have chosen to get vaccinated,” Public Administration Minister Renato Brunetta said in an interview with Corriere della Sera on Sunday. “The strategy is to have more than 90% of the population with two shots.”

Published : December 07, 2021

By : Bloomberg

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009687

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged to stay alert to the dangers of the coronavirus in his first policy speech to parliament since taking office in September, as a poll showed broad public support for his ban on new entry by foreigners.

“Coronavirus infections have eased in Japan,” he said Monday at the opening of an extra session. “But some countries in Europe where vaccinations are widespread are still seeing record numbers of cases,” he said, adding: “we must be prepared for the worst-case scenario.”

The public appears to want swift action to prevent the omicron variant from spreading in Japan, which currently has some of the lowest overall infection numbers in the developed world. A media poll over the weekend by the Yomiuri newspaper found that almost 90% of respondents approved of the government’s decision to close Japan’s borders to new entry by foreigners over concerns about omicron, which some reports say is more contagious than previous variants.

Kishida has been quick to react to new virus developments after his two predecessors quickly lost public support amid criticism they were sluggish in their response to the pandemic. After winning a general election last month, he faces an upper house election in 2022.

The survey by the Yomiuri also found support for Kishida had risen six percentage points to 62%. That was one of the highest ratings for the premier, and about double that of his predecessor, Yoshihide Suga, when he was forced from office after being seen as slow-footed in his pandemic management.

Kishida said he would ensure that sufficient medical care was available in case of another major wave of infections. While outlining plans to pour cash into helping the economy recover from the hit of Covid-19, including preparing to re-start subsidies for domestic tourism, he warned that restrictions on people’s movements could be reimposed if infections begin to spread again.

As Japan maintains its tough stance on border measures, there may be worries about the ramifications for broader domestic policy. The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo issued a rare warning Monday about foreigners being stopped and searched by Japanese police in what it said were suspected to be “racial profiling incidents.”

Published : December 07, 2021

By : Bloomberg

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009686

The space rivalry between the U.S. and China is suddenly heating up after a top Chinese scientist said his nation may be able to send astronauts to the moon for the first time by 2030.

Coming just weeks after President Joe Biden’s top space official set out a similar timetable for new American lunar exploration, the comments set up the possibility of dueling missions between the two of the world’s best-financed space powers.

While China has made no secret of its desire to launch crewed lunar missions, the optimistic outlook from Chinese Academy of Sciences member Ye Peijian raises the possibility of an accelerated timetable to match the Americans.

“As long as the technological research for manned moon landing continues, and as long as the country is determined, it is entirely possible for China to land people on the moon before 2030,” Ye told state broadcaster CCTV, according to a report on Sunday from the official Xinhua News Agency.

Ye was the chief designer of China’s first lunar probe, the Chang’e-1, a robotic spacecraft that orbited the moon in 2007 and hit the surface in 2009.

Ye’s interview follows an announcement by NASA chief Bill Nelson on the administration’s plan to work with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to return to the moon with a crewed mission, possibly in the second half of the decade.

The Trump administration made lunar exploration a priority, setting an aggressive 2024 deadline for NASA’s Artemis program to send U.S. astronauts to the moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

The Biden administration continues to support Artemis, Nelson said on Nov. 9, but will extend deadlines by a year for several of its milestones because of complications from the pandemic, storm damage to a NASA site in Louisiana and litigation brought by Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin over a contract awarded to SpaceX for a lunar lander.

For NASA’s human landing on the moon, “2024 was not a goal that was really technically feasible,” Nelson said, faulting the prior administration for setting a schedule not supported by budgets or the pace of engineering work.

SpaceX will launch the first test flight of its Starship rocket, which NASA will use to send astronauts to the moon, early next year.

Before any crewed mission to the lunar surface, NASA wants to set a record for human space flight by sending astronauts 40,000 miles beyond the moon. That mission, the Artemis II, would send people “farther into space than any humans have ever traveled before,” according to the U.S. space agency.

China’s most recent mission to the moon was the Chang’e 5, which last year returned to Earth with lunar samples.

A lunar rover that landed on the far side of the moon in 2019 is still exploring the surface.

Published : December 07, 2021

By : Bloomberg

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009685

The number of Covid-19 cases crossed 14.23 million across Southeast Asia, with 25,340 new cases reported on Monday (December 6). New deaths are at 422, bringing accumulated Covid-19 deaths in Asean to 294,577.

Home-grown biotechnology firm BioAcumen Global has launched Singapore’s first Omicron-specific Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) kit. The new BioA Omicron Detection Kit is able to detect the Omicron variant specifically, besides prior variants of the coronavirus. Currently, PCR kits here that are capable of detecting Omicron require an additional gene sequencing step to confirm the specific variant. This takes an additional day.

Meanwhie, Philippines’ Department of Education expected more schools to be allowed to hold in-person classes next year following the smooth implementation of the pilot run in 118 schools last month and in an additional 177, including 28 in Metro Manila, starting this week.

So far, the physical classes have been going well with no reported COVID-19 cases among participants. 
The second batch of schools was likely to be the last to be added to the pilot run this year as students were expected to go on break starting December 20.
 

Published : December 07, 2021

By : THE NATION