New York Governor Kathy Hochul during a press conference to provide an update on the coronavirus disease in New York, US, September 7, 2022. (REUTERS/David 'Dee' Delgado)
New York state is ending a 28-month-old COVID-19 mandate requiring masks on trains, buses and other modes of public transit, Governor Kathy Hochul said.
Deaths and infections
ASIA-PACIFIC
- More Chinese cities advised residents to avoid unnecessary trips for the upcoming holiday long weekend, adding to COVID-19 policies that are keeping tens of millions of people under lockdown and exacting a growing economic toll.
- Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 recombinant nasal vaccine has been approved by the Indian drug regulator, the country's health minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted on Tuesday.
- Taiwan will resume visa free entry for visitors from countries including the United States and Canada from next week, the government said on Monday, as it continues to ease COVID-19 controls.
EUROPE
- The European Commission is set to propose boosting regular screenings for cancer and expanding them to additional types of tumours, after check-ups fell dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, EU officials said.
- Germany will soon drop mask requirements on commercial flights, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said on Tuesday, after airline Lufthansa complained that the rule was no longer enforceable.
- EU officials on Tuesday recommended that the two Omicron-tailored vaccines endorsed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) be first deployed in high-risk individuals.
- The European Union's drugs regulator may be a few weeks from a decision to approve the experimental COVID-19 vaccine developed by France's Sanofi and its British partner GSK, a Sanofi executive said on Monday.
AMERICAS
- Pfizer has donated 100,000 courses of its COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid to The Covid Treatment Quick Start Consortium, a new group aiming to improve access to the drug in low and middle-income countries.
- The United States is likely to start recommending COVID-19 vaccines annually, health officials said on Tuesday, as new boosters designed to fight currently circulating variants of the coronavirus roll out.
- U.S. President Joe Biden will request $22.4 billion for COVID-19 relief ahead of a potential fall case surge, the White House said on Friday.
- For the biggest Wall Street banks, the pandemic is largely in the rear-view mirror as they step up efforts to bring employees back to office full-time while also easing or lifting COVID-19 protocols.
AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST
- El Al Israel Airlines will resume non-stop flights to Hong Kong in February after halting them at the outset of the pandemic in 2020.
Economic impact
* China's exports and imports lost momentum in August with growth significantly missing forecasts as surging inflation crippled overseas demand and fresh COVID-19 curbs and heatwaves disrupted output, reviving downside risks.
