Tag Archives: reopening

Business

China stocks notch trillion-dollar gain on hopes of reopening, better U.S. ties

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  • Hang Seng surges to best week since 2011
  • Tech, property stocks lead gains
  • Yuan, commodities, China-sensitive luxury stocks rise

SINGAPORE, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Chinese markets soared and the yuan rose on Friday, with about a trillion dollars added to the value of Chinese stocks in week, as rumours and news reports fed hopes for twin relief in U.S.-China tension and China’s tough COVID rules.

The Hang Seng (.HSI) surged 5.3% and notched its biggest weekly gain in 11 years. The Shanghai Composite (.SSEC) rose 2.4% for a 5.3% weekly gain, the largest in more than two years and China-sensitive assets around the world rose sharply.

Bloomberg News reported initial U.S. inspections of audit papers at U.S.-listed Chinese companies – a long-running point of regulatory tension and risk – finished ahead of time, raising hopes that the U.S. officials were satisfied.

Unsubstantiated social media posts flagging an aim to relax COVID rules in March have also driven optimism all week and seemed to get new momentum on Friday.

A former Chinese senior disease control official told a closed-door conference that substantial changes to the country’s zero-COVID policy were set to take place in the next five to six months, according to a recording of the session heard by Reuters.

“Any indication that some rules could be relaxed would be an immediate dose of grease in the jarring cogs of China’s economy,” said Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

Focus was now on a press conference from China health authorities on Nov. 5.

Gains were broad, overshadowing a downbeat mood in global markets on the prospect of U.S. interest rates rising further than previously expected. Property and tech shares led the way.

Shares in online giants Alibaba (9988.HK) and JD.com (9618.HK) each rose more than 10% and the Hang Seng Tech index (.HSTECH) rose 7.5%. Property manager Country Garden Services rose 15% and an index of mainland developers (.HSMPI) rose 9%.

Hedge fund manager Lei Ming said the re-opening rumour is just the trigger for a rebound in an oversold market.

“The main reason for the market jump is that selling pressure had been exhausted after the market fell so much.”

Gains in value, across Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Shanghai over the week are approximately $1 trillion. However the Hang Seng remains down 30% this year against a 24% fall in world stocks (.MIWD00000PUS). The Shanghai Composite is down 15% this year.

A view of a giant display of stock indexes, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Shanghai, China October 24, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo

The rally extended to commodities markets with iron ore futures surging on Friday, and China-sensitive stocks listed in London and Europe.

Miners such as Rio Tinto (RIO.L) and Anglo American (AAL.L) rose sharply along with luxury retails like LVMH (LVMH.PA) and Swiss jeweller Richemont (CFR.S).

U.S.-listed China stocks surged in premarket trading, with KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF and iShares MSCI China ETF (MCHI.O) set for weekly gains after sharp declines in October.

Strategists at TD Securities continue to expect a gradual easing of zero-COVID restrictions, warning that markets could be in for some disappointment if investors are expecting something more rapid.

China stocks market cap

BUY THE RUMOUR

Changes to COVID policies have not been officially flagged. A foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday he was not aware of the situation, when asked about rumours on social media that China was planning a reopening from strict COVID curbs in March.

Bloomberg News also reported on Friday, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, that China was working towards relaxing rules that penalise airlines for carrying COVID-positive passengers.

A foreign ministry spokesman later said he was not aware of the report and that China’s COVID policies were consistent and clear.

An early conclusion to audit checks has also not been confirmed by either Chinese or U.S. officials. Yet markets have desperate reasons to rally after the Hang Seng hit a 13-year low last month in the wake of China’s Communist Party Congress.

“I do not see anything new that has changed the Hong Kong and China investment environment,” said Frank Benzimra, head of Asia equity strategy at Societe Generale in Hong Kong.

“The only explanation I have is that the sell-off has been excessive post-Congress, valuation on some offshore names has been very distressed, and there is some bottom-fishing.”

The currency joined in the rally, jumping more than 0.5% to touch a one-week high of 7.2340 per dollar.

Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Summer Zhen in Hong Kong. Writing by Tom Westbrook. Editing by Sam Holmes and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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World

Fresh shelling delays reopening of Kherson bridge -Interfax

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Aug 8 (Reuters) – Ukrainian forces again shelled the Antonivskyi bridge in the Russian-controlled city of Kherson, damaging construction equipment and delaying its reopening, Interfax news agency quoted a local Russian-appointed official as saying on Monday.

The bridge is one of only two crossing points for Russian forces to territory they have occupied on the western bank of the Dnipro river in southern Ukraine in what Moscow calls a “special military operation” in the country.

It has been a key target for Ukrainian forces in recent weeks, with Kyiv using high-precision U.S.-supplied rockets to try to destroy it in possible preparation for a counter-offensive to retake Russian-controlled areas of the south.

Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-appointed deputy head of Kherson’s city administration, told Interfax there had been no “critical damage” from the latest shelling. He did not say how long this would delay its planned reopening.

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Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov
Editing by Mark Heinrich

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Business

Shanghai declares zero-Covid milestone but residents cast doubt on reopening

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“Zero-Covid at the community level” means infections are no longer found outside centralized quarantine facilities or neighborhoods under the strictest lockdowns — and is a prerequisite for those measures to be lifted.

Zhao Dandan, deputy head of the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, said at a news conference Tuesday that all 16 districts of the Chinese financial hub had now achieved that distinction. But 860,000 people remain under the strictest lockdown level, meaning they cannot leave their homes.

Since China’s leader Xi Jinping vowed to endure with his zero-Covid policy on May 5, Shanghai authorities have taken increasingly hardline measures, canceling food deliveries in some neighborhoods, forcing residents who tested negative for Covid into government quarantine and disinfecting their homes without consent.
However, while the tough measures have fueled discontent among residents, they also appear to have brought infections down. Shanghai reported fewer than 1,000 new cases on both Sunday and Monday — the first time under four figures since March 24, according to the city’s health commission.
The announcement comes a day after Shanghai pledged to gradually ease its Covid lockdown and return life to normal in June, following seven weeks of a government-enforced standstill that inflicted great pain on residents and dealt a devastating blow to the economy.

At a news conference Monday, Shanghai officials declared the outbreak to be “under effective control” as 15 of the city’s 16 districts had stopped the community spread of Covid, with fewer than 1 million of its 25 million residents still in strict lockdown.

Officials said the city’s reopening will come in three phases, with the goal of restoring life to normal and fully restarting factories in June.

“From June 1 to mid- and late June, under the premise of controlling the risks of a rebound in infections, we will make epidemic prevention and control a normalized routine, and fully restore normal production and life in the city,” Deputy Mayor Zong Ming said.

Supermarkets, convenience stores and pharmacies began to reopen on Monday, Zong said, adding they would be followed by hair salons and wholesale agricultural markets.

Train services to and from Shanghai have also been gradually resuming since Monday, followed by domestic flights. Starting May 22, bus and subway services will resume. Passengers will need a negative Covid test — taken within 48 hours — to board public transport, according to Zong.

Shanghai residents unconvinced

The reopening roadmap was met with skepticism by some Shanghai residents who have lost trust in the local government.

In March, Shanghai authorities repeatedly denied the city would go into lockdown. Police even arrested two people accused of “spreading rumors” that such a measure was imminent.

When the local government announced a two-stage lockdown in late March, it said it would last for only four days and promised daily supplies would be sufficient. But days turned into weeks, and many struggled to secure access to food and other daily necessities.

“You can fool me, but please don’t do it too many times,” said a user on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform, in a widely circulated comment.

On Chinese social media, some Shanghai residents said they were still not allowed to go outside despite their neighborhoods reporting no recent cases. Others lashed out at state media reports claiming life in the city is returning to normal.

Meanwhile, an article on the website of the People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, featuring pictures purporting to show reopened restaurants, cafes and supermarkets was lampooned.

“Although I’m not allowed to go out in Shanghai, I can feel a real sense of warmth from your fake news. Thank you People’s Daily!” said one resident in a social media post under a hashtag that loosely translates as “the smell of cooking is coming back in Shanghai”.

“Is that Shanghai in a parallel world?” asked another user under the same hashtag.

The hashtag, which has been viewed 140 million times, appears to have caught the attention of China’s internet censors; by Tuesday afternoon only posts published by official accounts under that hashtag could be viewed.

Some Shanghai residents even left sarcastic comments on the official Weibo account of the “National Anti-Fraud Center,” an app launched by China’s Ministry of Public Security to fight phone scams.

“Please go after the Shanghai government and let them shut up. They lie with their eyes wide open every day, enough is enough,” a user from Shanghai said.

Others kept their ire for the People’s Daily. “The People.cn is spreading rumors. The Shanghai described in their words is not the Shanghai I’m living in right now,” a user said.

Most of the comments had been deleted by Tuesday afternoon.

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World

Japan to allow limited tour groups from May as step to full re-opening

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Tourists wearing protective face masks following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are seen at Asakusa district in Tokyo, Japan March 25, 2020. REUTERS/Ju-min Park/File Photo

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TOKYO, May 17 (Reuters) – Japan said on Tuesday it would start conducting “test tourism” in the form of limited package tours in May as a way of gathering information prior to a full re-opening of the country to tourism.

Though tourism was a major pillar of Japan’s economy, tourists have not been permitted to enter since it adopted strict border controls in 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Regulations have been loosened slightly to allow students and some business travellers to enter. But, individual tourists remain barred despite calls from industry leaders hoping to restart tourism to take advantage of the yen, which has fallen to 20-year lows.

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The Tourism Agency said on Tuesday that it would start allowing small group tours to enter from later this month as “test cases” to gain information for a broader resumption of tourism at an unspecified future date.

Tourists who have been triple-vaccinated and come from the United States, Australia, Thailand and Singapore will be allowed to take part in the tours, which will be strictly planned in conjunction with travel agencies and accompanied at all times by tour conductors, it added in a statement.

“This venture will allow us to verify compliance and emergency responses for infection prevention and formulate guidelines for travel agencies and accommodation operators to keep in mind,” it said.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said earlier this month during a speech in London that he would bring Japan’s border controls into line with other wealthy democracies in June, but no further details have been given, including when the country will fully open its borders to tourists again.

The government is aiming for a “phased relaxation” of border measures that balances infection controls and ease of entry into the country, said Makoto Shimoaraiso, a Cabinet Secretariat official for Japan’s COVID-19 response.

“We are currently discussing concrete plans for border measures after June, including quarantine measures such as testing and standby (status),” he added.

In 2019, Japan hosted 31.9 million foreign visitors, who spent 4.81 trillion yen.

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Reporting by Elaine Lies and Rocky Swift in Tokyo; Editing by Christian Schmollinger

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Business

Tesla exports first cars from Shanghai since reopening plant – media

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A Tesla sign is seen at its factory in Shanghai, China, May 13, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song

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SHANGHAI, May 11 (Reuters) – Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) on Wednesday made its first exports from China since reopening its Shanghai factory on April 19, as a shipment of 4,767 cars left for Slovenia, the government-backed media outlet Shanghai Observer reported.

The Glovis Splendor vehicle carrier left port early on Wednesday, bound for the Slovenian port of Koper, according to the Shanghai-based news outlet.

“Tesla was in a big hurry to load cars freshly off the production lines onto the vessel yesterday afternoon,” Shanghai Observer said, citing a customs official.

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Tesla has also arranged for 4,100 cars to be shipped on Friday, it said, adding that the automaker aims to export 300,000 cars from Shanghai in 2022.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The shipment reflects Tesla’s efforts to return operations to normal levels at its Shanghai plant, which makes Model 3 and Model Y for sale in China and for export.

Tesla did not export any China-made Model 3s or Model Ys from the Shanghai plant in April, the China Passenger Car Association said on Tuesday, as China’s zero-COVID-19 policies disrupted production and deliveries.

The company’s sales in China slumped 98% in April from a month earlier, the data also showed.

The factory’s April 19 reopening was carried out with the help of the Shanghai government and widely covered by Chinese state media. It was held up as an example of how the city is trying to keep business open while pursuing a tough COVID policy.

Tesla manufactured 10,757 cars at its Shanghai plant from its reopening on April 19 to April 30, and had set a target to achieve a daily output of 2,600 vehicles a day from May 16, Reuters reported previously. read more

Factories in Shanghai that are trying to return to full swing have had their efforts complicated by authorities in the city tightening a lockdown to stamp out outbreaks of COVID-19.

Tesla’s plant was running well below capacity earlier this week due to logistical and supply line issues.

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(This story refiles to fix the spelling of Glovis Splendor in paragraph 2)

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Reporting by Zhang Yan, and Brenda Goh; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Jacqueline Wong & Simon Cameron-Moore

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World

Covid Live Updates: Mask Mandates, Reopening News and More

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Credit…Channi Anand/Associated Press

The Omicron surge seems to be slowing in much of the world, but a subvariant that scientists believe is even more contagious is on the rise, and a decline in testing has muddled the global picture, the World Health Organization said.

New cases worldwide dropped 19 percent from Feb. 7 to Feb. 13, compared with the week before, according to the agency.

The W.H.O. also said that the subvariant of Omicron, BA.2, appeared to be “steadily increasing” in prevalence and that BA.2 had now become dominant in several Asian countries, including China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines. Denmark was the first nation to report that BA.2 had overtaken BA.1, the version of Omicron that first swept through the world.

Scientists have said there is no evidence that BA.2 is more lethal than BA.1, though BA.2 could slow Omicron’s decline. So far, vaccines appear to be just as effective against BA.2 as they are against other forms of Omicron.

The Omicron wave has yet to crest in what the agency calls the Western Pacific region, which includes Oceania, the Pacific islands and East Asian countries like China and South Korea that recently celebrated the Lunar New Year, a holiday period that typically involves large family gatherings. Cases in the region rose 19 percent last week, the W.H.O. reported.

In the Pacific, two island nations that had no confirmed cases until recently are now grappling with the arrival of the virus. In Tonga, an outbreak began after ships brought aid to help the country recover from a volcanic eruption and tsunami in January. And the Cook Islands reported its first case last week.

The W.H.O. said caseloads were falling in the other regions. But cases are still rising in parts of Europe, including in Slovakia, Latvia and Belarus. And in Russia, new cases have increased by 79 percent over the past two weeks, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

On Wednesday, Maria Van Kerkhove, the W.H.O.’s Covid-19 technical lead, cautioned that a drop in testing rates around the world has meant the reported global case numbers might not reflect the true spread of the virus.

“We need to be careful about interpreting too much this downward trend,” she said. She said the bigger concern was the increase in reported deaths from Covid-19 for the sixth week in a row.

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World

Covid-19 Cases, Mandates and Reopening News: Live Updates

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Credit…Kriston Jae Bethel for The New York Times

Infants whose mothers received two doses of an mRNA coronavirus vaccine during pregnancy are less likely to be admitted to the hospital for Covid-19 in the first six months of life, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overall, maternal vaccination was 61 percent effective at preventing infant hospitalization, the researchers found.

Vaccination later in pregnancy — after the first 20 weeks — appeared to provide better protection for infants than earlier vaccination, the study suggests.

The new study is the first real-world, epidemiological evidence that maternal vaccination can protect infants from Covid-19, likely because they are born carrying their mother’s antibodies.

“The bottom line is that maternal vaccination is a really important way to help protect these young infants,” Dr. Dana Meaney-Delman, chief of the Infant Outcomes Monitoring Research and Prevention Branch at the C.D.C., said at a news briefing on Tuesday.

The C.D.C. recommends that women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or trying to become pregnant be vaccinated against Covid-19, which can be dangerous for pregnant women and their children. Research has shown, for instance, that the disease can increase the risk of a variety of pregnancy complications, including preterm birth and stillbirth.

Prior research on other diseases has suggested that women who are vaccinated against other pathogens during pregnancy can pass antibodies to the fetus through the placenta, and scientists have previously found signs that the same antibody transfer might happen after vaccination for Covid-19.

The new study focused on children under six months of age who were admitted to one of 20 U.S. pediatric hospitals between July 1 and Jan. 17. Of the 379 infants included in the study, 176 had been admitted for Covid-19 or had symptoms of the disease; all of these children tested positive for the virus. The remaining 203 children tested negative for the virus.

Among the infants with Covid-19, 16 percent of mothers had been vaccinated during pregnancy, compared to 32 percent of the mothers of hospitalized children without the virus.

Vaccination during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy was 32 percent effective against Covid-19-related hospitalization for infants, the researchers found, whereas later vaccination was 80 percent effective.

But because of the relatively small sample size, more research is needed to determine the optimal timing of vaccination during pregnancy and whether a booster during pregnancy might provide similar protection for infants whose mothers have already received their first set of shots.

“For right now, we want to ensure that we are protecting both the mom and the infant, and so as soon as a pregnant woman is willing to be vaccinated, we recommend that she go ahead and do so,” Dr. Meaney-Delman said.

She added, “Unfortunately, vaccination of infants younger than six months old is not currently on the horizon.”

The study was also not large enough to determine whether maternal vaccination was equally protective against Delta, which was the dominant variant when the study began, and Omicron, which had displaced Delta by the time the research ended.

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World

Covid-19, Travel and Reopening News: Live Updates

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Credit…Patrick Doyle/Reuters

Canadians awoke on Monday with their capital, Ottawa, under a state of emergency.

On Sunday afternoon, the mayor of Ottawa declared the emergency after 10 days of unrest that began with protests by truckers over vaccine mandates. The protests have since mushroomed into an occupation of Canada’s capital and broader demonstrations over pandemic restrictions that have spread well beyond the capital.

Thousands turned out to protest in Toronto and Quebec City. Truck convoys congregated near provincial legislatures in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia.

The demonstrations snarled traffic and disrupted business and residential neighborhoods. Downtown Ottawa, site of the country’s Parliament, was paralyzed as truckers parked their vehicles in intersections and across busy thoroughfares.

“Someone is going to get killed or seriously injured because of the irresponsible behavior of some of these people,” Jim Watson, Ottawa’s mayor, warned on Sunday. City officials and the chief of police said they were under “siege.”

Early Monday morning in Ottawa, it was 14 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny, and the thousands of weekend protesters were gone. The streets near Parliament were quiet without the honking horns of the weekend. But trucks still clogged the roads heading to Parliament Hill, and with a snowfall overnight, had become part of the snow scape. Most had license plates from Ontario or Quebec, with a few from Alberta, in the west of the country. Many were decorated with Canadian flags. Several bore anti-Covid restriction posters and signs.

Late Sunday night, heavily armed police seized a tanker truck with more than 3,000 liters of diesel fuel from a staging area used by the truckers, and arrested people in downtown Ottawa for transporting fuel.

Near Parliament, one of the protesters said the group was prepared in the event the police seized more diesel fuel or if their trucks were towed.

“We have people working on things,” said Eric, a demonstrator from the Niagara region of Ontario who declined to give his full name. He was in a large delivery truck with a poppy painted on the side.

“What we are doing is within the law,” Eric said, adding that he could not say specifically what he wanted from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but that he needed to be “a man of the people.”

Throughout the pandemic, Canadians have been living under varying restrictions to combat the coronavirus. Although polls show that most Canadians support the measures, the protests are an expression of frustrations as the pandemic enters its third year.

The demonstrations were initially set off by Mr. Trudeau’s decision to require Covid vaccinations for truckers returning from the United States, mirroring a requirement imposed by the U.S. government for Canadian truckers crossing the border. In January, a convoy of trucks began traveling from British Columbia with protesters intending to pressure the prime minister to reverse the mandate.

As the convoy rolled along, it was joined and ultimately outnumbered by supporters traveling in pickup trucks and cars. The group — loosely organized and without a single, clear leader — also expanded its demands, pressing Mr. Trudeau to end all Covid rules and restrictions in Canada, including those set by provinces and local governments.

Long before the first trucks began trickling into Ottawa on Jan. 28, Mr. Trudeau said he would not reverse the vaccine mandate. He has refused to meet with members of the groups, which he described as a “fringe minority.”

On Jan. 29, the crowd around the Parliament Building in Ottawa swelled to more than 8,000 protesters and hundreds of trucks, by police estimates. As a security precaution, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police removed Mr. Trudeau and his family from the prime minister’s official residence. They are now staying in the prime minister’s official country residence outside Ottawa, where Mr. Trudeau is isolating because he has tested positive for the coronavirus.

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World

Australia to push ahead with reopening amid record COVID-19 cases

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A person wearing a face mask walks along the harbour waterfront across from the Sydney Opera House during a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sydney, Australia, October 6, 2021. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

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SYDNEY, Jan 3 (Reuters) – Australia’s government said the milder impact of the Omicron strain of COVID-19 meant the country could push ahead with plans to reopen the economy even as new infections hit a record of more than 37,000 and the number of people hospitalised rose.

Record daily case numbers were reported on Monday in the states of Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania, as well as the Australian Capital Territory.

In New South Wales, there were 20,794 cases, higher than Sunday’s figure but below the daily record of 22,577 set on Saturday, with testing numbers lower over the New Year’s holiday weekend.

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The national daily total hit a record of more than 37,150 cases, exceeding Saturday’s 35,327 cases, with Western Australia and the Northern Territory still to report.

“We have to stop thinking about case numbers and think about serious illness, living with the virus, managing our own health and ensuring that we’re monitoring those symptoms and we keep our economy going,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Channel Seven.

Hospitalisations rose to 1,204 in New South Wales, up more than 10% from Sunday and more than three times the level on Christmas Day.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the advice to the government was that the Omicron strain was more transmissible but also milder than other variants, which reduced the risk to both individuals and the health system.

Michael Bonning, chairman of the Australian Medical Association’s New South Wales Council, said the significant increase in hospitalisations combined with the peak holiday period and the number of health workers exposed to COVID were putting pressure on capacity.

“With both the Christmas period and with hospital workers being furloughed due to their close contact status…. we’re finding that it is becoming quite difficult to staff, especially critical areas of hospitals,” he told ABC Television.

In late December, the government changed its advice on when people should get a free PCR test for COIVD-19, and is calling for greater use of rapid antigen tests, in part to relieve pressure on testing capacity. read more

But the rapid antigen tests are in short supply, and Morrison said the government would not cover the cost for people to test themselves, which he put at A$15 ($10.90).

“We’re at another stage of this pandemic now, where we just can’t go round and make everything free,” he said.

Eight deaths from COVID had been reported on Monday, taking the national toll through the pandemic to more than 2,260.

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Reporting by John Mair. Editing by Gerry Doyle

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World

Australia records first Omicron death, authorities stick to reopening plan

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A traveller receives a test for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a pre-departure testing facility, as countries react to the new coronavirus Omicron variant, outside the international terminal at Sydney Airport in Sydney, Australia, November 29, 2021. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

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SYDNEY, Dec 27 (Reuters) – Australia reported its first confirmed death from the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 on Monday amid its biggest daily surge in infections, but the authorities refrained from imposing new restrictions saying hospitalisation rates remained low.

The death, a man in his 80s with underlying health conditions, marked a grim milestone for the country which has had to reverse some parts of a staged reopening after nearly two years of stop-start lockdowns, due to the fresh outbreak.

Omicron, which health experts say appears more contagious but less virulent than previous strains, began to spread in the country just as it lifted restrictions on most domestic borders and allowed Australians to return from overseas without quarantine, driving case numbers to the highest of the pandemic.

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The authorities gave no additional details about the Omicron death, except to say that the man caught the virus at an aged care facility and died in a Sydney hospital.

“This was the first known death in New South Wales (state) linked to the Omicron variant of concern,” said NSW Health epidemiologist Christine Selvey in a video released by the government.

The man was among seven COVID-19 deaths reported in Australia the previous day. The country clocked 10,186 new cases nationwide, according to a Reuters calculation of state data, its first total over 10,000 since the start of the pandemic. Most new cases were in NSW and Victoria.

“Although we are seeing increased case numbers… we are not seeing the impacts on our hospital system,” said Annastacia Palaszczuk, premier of Queensland which reported 784 new cases with four people in hospital.

With reports of six-hour wait times for COVID testing for people hoping to meet requirements for interstate holiday travel, Palaszczuk defended the tourism-friendly state for mandatory testing, saying “everyone knew when they booked a ticket that if they wanted to come here they would have to do a PCR test”.

However, she added that Queensland was considering whether to relax testing requirements for domestic visitors. Tasmania, another tourist-popular state, also said it was considering changes to state border testing rules.

Around the country, the surge in infections meanwhile weighed on testing resources. Sydney testing clinic SydPath had confirmed a day earlier that it wrongly told 400 COVID-positive people they were negative in the days before Christmas; on Monday it now realised it sent wrong result messages to another 995 people.

Australian authorities have so far resisted a return to lockdown in the face of surging case numbers but have reinstated some restrictions. On Monday, NSW again made it compulsory to check into public venues with QR codes, while many states have brought back mandatory mask-wearing in indoor public places.

The country has also narrowed the window for vaccine booster shots from six months to four months, soon to be three months.

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Reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Michael Perry

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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