Its Zero-COVID strategy has mostly worked, and vaccinations are going well. Now a breakout spread is raising multiple questions for the Asian nation and global financial hub.
Tag: covid-19
As the 5 million death toll has been passed, signs abound that the virus is not going away any time soon. We need to accept that we can return to normalcy even without eradicating COVID — though we must do it right and keep re-learning the right lessons.
Feeding vulnerable children was already a challenge in Zimbabwe. Since COVID-19 swept the globe, it’s only gotten harder.
With much attention now focused on rising COVID-19 cases in the UK and Moscow’s new lockdown, a hidden story is in Bulgaria, which claims both Europe’s highest death rate and lowest vaccination rate. By now, this reporter knows the drill…
Will flying be greener? More comfortable? Less frequent? As the world eyes a post-COVID reality, we look at ways the airline industry has been changing through a pandemic that has devastated air travel.
The current economic recovery is unlike any other in the labor market. For companies in the United States and Europe, recruitment is particularly tough. Resignations are exploding on both sides of the Atlantic and productivity is declining in places like France. These are all paradoxes confounding economists.
Originating in Taiwan, bubble tea was one of many products hard hit by the pandemic. But the internationally-beloved, tapioca-based drink isn’t just any import any longer — it’s an entire culture.
In recent months, governments and companies around the world have used a variety of incentives to boost vaccination rates — from cash to free beer to a live cow. But in Switzerland, a startup CEO chose to do the exact opposite, encouraging his staff not to get vaccinated — and rewarding them with a big […]
“Conspirituality” is what some are calling the movement of those spirituality seekers and organic food devotees who don’t trust the vaccine. It’s highlighted in the fallout from a summer peace-and-love festival of Tantra followers that became a COVID cluster.
With more employers allowing remote work these days, relocating to an exciting new place is an appealing idea for many. But where are the best global destinations for work?
Women who have found themselves in charge of a family after the sudden deaths of family members discover rules, regulations and laws making mockery of their situation.
Countries are rolling out increasingly aggressive campaigns in an international effort to vaccinate the world out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two weeks ago, Italy became the first European country to make COVID-19 health passes mandatory for all workers, while others, including the U.S, France and Hungary, have mandated vaccination for federal workers or healthcare staff. […]
Following bold promises from Western leaders to send millions of jabs to the developing world, there is still an extreme shortage in most African countries.
COVID-19 has disrupted the lives of billions of people all over the globe, and expats are no exception.
Affluent countries have begun offering COVID-19 boosters to already fully vaccinated citizens. Meanwhile in some low-income countries, access to doses is virtually non-existent.
Italy’s new “Super Green Pass” is great, but where’s “Super Mario”? Such a sweeping measure, which requires workers to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test, risks encroaching on the fundamental right to work. It’s necessary right now, but also needs Prime Minister Mario Draghi to explain why.
Video captures doseless jab…
In a country plagued by economic crisis, women are entering professions usually reserved for men. Against societal expectations, they are striving for independence.
Welcome to Monday, where U.S. defense systems intercept missiles fired at Kabul’s airport, Hurricane Ida leaves New Orleans in the dark and researchers find you don’t want to mess with your octopus lady. Meanwhile, Italian daily La Stampa takes the (extreme) temperature of farming as recurring droughts hit the country.
Welcome to Thursday, where an explosion rocks Kabul airport, Alexei Navalny gives his first interview since his March arrest, and the search for life beyond our Solar System gets a potential big boost. Meanwhile, French economic daily Les Echos offers a deep dive in the world of TikTok’s finance gurus — the so-called “finfluencers”.
Welcome to Wednesday, where tensions build between Algeria and Morocco, WHO reports that global COVID cases plateau, and Rolling Stones lovers mourn the passing of drummer Charlie Watts. Meanwhile, New Delhi-based daily The Wire looks at the patriarchal prejudices still surrounding motherhood and so-called “non-custodial mothers” in India.
Despite the pandemic’s heavy toll, people remain reluctant to inoculate, in part because of persistent doubts about the country’s public health system.
A government health campaign to vaccinate the citizens of Rio de Janeiro provoked a violent insurrection. More than a century later, Brazilians are demanding immunization against COVID-19 from their anti-vax president.
NEW DELHI — I had never given thought to the provenance of funeral wood, until news reports revealed in late April that officials in Delhi had begun receiving requests to chop trees in city parks amidst the colossal surge in COVID deaths. It was a jolting statement to encounter, for it forced me to reframe a life-giver into a death-enabler in ominously stripped, urgent terms. Wood, of course, had been used for cremation since ancient times, but to think of it as coming from our very midst instead of some sequestered supply-area bore a sting of abrasiveness. Would our public […]
The infamous (yet legal) Japanese criminal syndicate was already suffering under new laws when the pandemic hit. Now its business model is crumbling.
The pandemic has radically changed the way we manage hygiene in public spaces. Some new things are added, like hand sanitizer distributors at the entrance of shops; some are taken away, like holy water from the decorative font of your local church. But what if the former concept were applied to the latter? In Rennes, […]
Million-dollar jackpots, free food and … a cow? Governments around the world are getting creative to encourage COVID vaccination, particularly among the young and healthy, who have some of the highest rates of vaccine hesitancy. Not everyone, of course, can be convinced. Die-hard antivaxers who fear medical side effects (that have no scientific grounding) may […]
Particularly in mega cities like New Delhi, the pandemic and its accompanying lockdowns have changed our audible environment. What does that tell us about where we’re heading?
Friends, colleagues, countrymen: After many long months of distancing, masks, quarantine, curfews and telecommuting, it’s time to get back together. Yet re-socializing isn’t as simple as it seems.
With infections surging, and only 1% of the population fully vaccinated, many say that devoting so many resources to hosting the Summer Games is a recipe for disaster.
The government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sets off youth groups to enforce lockdowns and wants to control the ‘demand’ for oxygen cylinders.
Belgium’s vaccination campaign is a prime example, computer scientist Hugues Bersini argues, of how technology can not only improve efficiency, but also, in some cases, make things more fair.
In this era of plenty (even in the midst of a pandemic), humanity faces a key question: How can we cope with excess without sinking into decline?
Residents of the state’s ‘bastis’ get free rations and state-provided services on the back of ID documents with proof of address. But their homes are also subject to frequent demolition on the grounds that they are illegal encroachment.
Across the globe, mafia syndicates, white-collar criminals, hackers and scammers are finding novel ways to profit from the ongoing health crisis.
By closing bars and restaurants, we are not only depriving the sharing of meals but also the real exchange of ideas.
Only about 150,000 of the country’s 100 million people have been vaccinated so far against COVID-19, and in some crowded health centers, people wait hours only to be turned away.
A century ago, during the Spanish flu pandemic, Americans were eager let down their guard and get on with normal life. The consequences were enormous.
They haven’t actually gone anywhere. But because of the pandemic, the city’s celebrated cafés are off limits — and sorely missed.
The pandemic and subsequent closing of the border with Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in Morocco, put an end to the ‘atypical trade’ that sustained the Fnideq region.