Mon, September 19, 2022
(Reuters) - The coronavirus pandemic remains a global emergency but the end could be in sight if countries use the tools at their disposal, a spokesperson for the World Health Organisation said.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* Eikon users, click on COVID-19: MacroVitals for a case tracker and summary of news. https://amers2.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1775942723
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Hong Kong will soon make an announcement on its controversial COVID-19 hotel quarantine policy for all arrivals, as it wants to keep the city connected with the rest of the world and allow an "orderly opening-up".
* China's government issued draft rules aimed at making it easier for some foreigners to enter the country for visits to tourism sites along the Chinese border.
* Shanghai announced eight infrastructure projects with total investment of 1.8 trillion yuan ($256.67 billion), after the city was hit hard by COVID-19 lockdowns in April and May.
AMERICAS
* U.S. President Joe Biden said in an interview aired on Sunday that "the pandemic is over," even though the country continues to grapple with coronavirus infections that kill hundreds of Americans daily.
EUROPE
* Dutch King Willem-Alexander held his annual budget day address on Tuesday, appearing in front of a full audience in The Hague for the first time since before the pandemic.
VACCINES, TREATMENTS
* Global vaccine alliance GAVI has set up financial instruments that will allow the group to immediately access pledged donor funding if it needs to buy vaccines for future pandemics, its chief executive told Reuters.
* Two COVID-19 antibody therapies are no longer recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), on the basis that Omicron and the variant's latest offshoots have likely rendered them obsolete.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Asian tourists are only expected to resume international travel at pre-pandemic levels gradually, by 2024, the new chief executive of online travel agency Agoda said late on Monday.
* Japanese land prices rose in the 12 months to July 1 for the first time since before the pandemic, thanks to an easing of COVID-19 curbs, an annual land ministry survey showed.
* China's exports to North Korea grew at a slower pace in August than July, as shipments of masks and other COVID-related items plunged, customs data showed.
($1 = 7.0130 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Compiled by Olivier Sorgho; Editing by)
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