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North Korea said on Friday that all its fever patients had recovered, the first such statement since the outbreak of the pandemic in an isolated economy, state media KCNA reported.
death and infection
*Eikon users, click COVID-19: MacroVitals for case tracking and news digests.
Asia-Pacific
* The Macau government has announced it will resume ferry services to the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen on Aug. 8, as authorities try to lift strict COVID-19 restrictions in the world’s largest gaming hub.
* Mainland China reported 539 coronavirus cases on Aug. 4, with 222 asymptomatic and 317 asymptomatic.
* Australia’s winter COVID-19 outbreak, driven by a new Omicron BA.4/5 subvariable, may have peaked early, Health Minister Mark Butler said on Thursday, as hospitals reported a steady decline in admissions over the past week.
JOHNSON & JOHNSON COVID vaccine linked to deaths in South Africa, health watchdog report
Europe
* The European Medicines Agency recommended that Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine warns against the possibility of two types of heart inflammation, adding to the burden of a vaccine that has so far not been widely adopted.
J&J’s vaccine has recently come under fire for being linked to a rare neurological disorder the FDA calls Guillain-Barre syndrome.
(Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)
America
* U.S. President Joe Biden will continue to self-isolate until he tests negative for COVID-19, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Thursday.
* Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from next week’s U.S. Open warm-up in Canada because he cannot enter the country without being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by event organizers Ray (Andy Murray) is handed one of the four wild cards.
Middle East and Africa
* South Africa’s health regulator on Thursday reported a causal link between an individual’s death and Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, the first such direct link in the country.
medical development
* A variant of Omicron may be more effective at infecting children through the nose than previous versions of the coronavirus, a small study found.
The BA.5 variant of OMICRON may cause a higher risk of reinfection and severe consequences compared to other variants
Economic impact
* The Reserve Bank of Australia warned on Friday that inflation is heading towards a 30-year high and further interest rate hikes are needed, which would slow growth sharply and make it difficult for the economy to maintain its “balanced keel.”
* The Reserve Bank of India’s key interest rate was raised by 50 basis points on Friday, the third hike in as many months, to quell stubbornly high inflation.
* Indonesia’s economy accelerated in the April-June quarter amid rising commodity prices fueling an export boom, but monetary tightening, rising inflation and the risk of a global recession threatened the outlook, official data showed on Friday.
* Japanese households increased spending for the first time in four months in June as demand for travel services rose, in a positive sign of prospects for a broader recovery.