(Reuters) – Beijing authorities extended work-from-home guidance for many of its 22 million residents to stem a persistent COVID-19 outbreak, while Shanghai deployed more testing and curbs to hold on to its hard-won ‘zero COVID’ status after two months of lockdown.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* North Korea’s daily fever cases stayed below 200,000 for a second day in a row, state media said on Monday, as Pyongyang remained silent on South Korean and U.S. offers to help fight its first confirmed COVID-19 outbreak.
* South Korea’s daily new COVID-19 infections dropped to below 10,000 for the first time in nearly four months on Monday, as the highly contagious Omicron variant recedes despite eased pandemic restrictions.
AMERICAS
* White House COVID-19 response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said on Sunday he expects a U.S. Food and Drug Administration decision on authorizing Moderna’s vaccine for children under age five within the next few weeks.
EUROPE
* Austria’s first case of monkeypox has been confirmed, Vienna’s health authority said.
* At least two cases of monkeypox have been registered in Berlin, health authorities in the German capital said on Saturday, one day after the country registered its first case in Munich.
AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
* The World Health Organization said it expects to identify more cases of monkeypox as it expands surveillance in countries where the disease is not typically found.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Global drugmakers are lobbying for wealthy nations to fund a supply mechanism that would secure vaccines for low-income countries without delay in case of a new pandemic, but said the proposal was contingent on free cross-border trade.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Thailand’s unemployment rate in the first quarter fell to 1.53% from 1.64% in the previous quarter, the state planning agency said on Monday, following an easing of coronavirus restrictions, and reopening to foreign tourists.
* Asian stocks came under pressure on Monday as persistent worries about inflation and rising interest rates dogged the global economic outlook and fresh selling in technology stocks weighed on Chinese markets. [MKTS/GLOB]
(Compiled by Rashmi Aich; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
