seriously to curb any risk of exposure. PETALING JAYA: With the current surge in Covid-19 cases and the

BEIJING — Several of China’s largest factory cities have ordered a lockdown, halting production of Toyota cars and Apple iPhones.... That is in large part because China can’t afford to lift restrictions. The government has been concerned about comparatively lower rates of vaccination among China’s older adults.... The country also has far fewer intensive care hospital beds compared to its population than most industrialized countries....

their people to prepare for a surge in COVID-19 cases fuelled by the Omicron variant, officials at

who entered Japan from Namibia and another from Peru were confirmed to be infected with the omicron

Omicron outbreak driving up hospitalisation rates as the surge put severe strain on supply chains forcing

rights, this could be a worry because it means it combines Delta’s severity with Omicron’s

off the omicron surge, ” Goodfriend said....

claiming that Omicron symptoms are milder. The UK Health Security Agency study concluded that people

The state coronavirus task force Golikova heads reported 49, 513 new infections on Friday — the

doors immediately after Christmas in a tightening of coronavirus restrictions to curb a surge in