Covid 19 pandemic omicron variant live: Shanghai widens Covid testing as other Chinese cities impose curbs : The conditions and deaths at the hospital are a sharp rebuke against China’s strategy of sticking to a zero-Covid policy as it deals with the outbreak in Shanghai in which most of the infected people don’t have symptoms.

The conditions and deaths at the hospital are a sharp rebuke against China’s strategy of sticking to a zero-Covid policy as it deals with the outbreak in Shanghai in which most of the infected people don’t have symptoms.

Shanghai hospital pays the price for China’s Covid response

A series of deaths at a hospital for elderly patients in Shanghai is underscoring the dangerous consequences of China’s stubborn pursuit of a zero-Covid approach amid an escalating outbreak in the city of 26 million people. Family members have taken to social media to plea for help and answers and are demanding to see surveillance video from inside the facility after getting little to no information from the hospital.

Saudi Arabia expands Haj to 1 mln pilgrims, easing Covid curbs

Saudi Arabia will let up to 1 million people join the Haj pilgrimage this year, greatly expanding the key event to participants from outside the kingdom after two years of tight Covid restrictions, state media said on Saturday. Pilgrims to Mecca this year must be under age 65 and fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, the ministry of Hajj and Umrah said in a statement carried by the SPA news agency.

Shanghai widens Covid testing as other Chinese cities impose curbs

Shanghai on Friday announced a record 21,000 new cases and a third consecutive day of Covid testing as a lockdown of its 26 million people showed no sign of easing and other Chinese cities tightened curbs – even in places with no recent infections. Beijing authorities intervened in Shanghai after its failure to isolate Covid by locking the city down in stages, and insists that the country stick to its zero-tolerance policy to prevent its medical system from breaking down.