(Reuters) – Shanghai took more gradual steps on Friday towards lifting its COVID-19 lockdown, while Beijing was investigating cases where its strict curbs were affecting other medical treatments as China soldiered on with its uneven exit from restrictions.
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 dropped to below 100,000 for the first time, state media said on Saturday, less than three weeks after the country’s first acknowledgement of a COVID-19 outbreak.
* Beijing has registered 1,701 new COVID-19 infections since April 22 as of 3 pm local time on Friday, Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director at the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, told a news briefing.
* Border areas in China’s northeastern province of Jilin, which shares a long frontier with coronavirus-hit North Korea, reported domestically transmitted COVID-19 infections of unknown origin, a Chinese health official said on Friday.
* Japan will double the maximum number of people allowed every day to enter at border crossings to 20,000 from June 1 as part of a phased easing of COVID-19 restrictions, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday.
EUROPE
* Switzerland will destroy more than 620,000 expired doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, health officials said on Friday, as demand for the shots drops dramatically.
AMERICAS
* After unprecedented revenue growth last year, digital platforms including Alphabet Inc, Meta Platforms Inc, Snap Inc and Twitter Inc now face a sobering reality as pandemic-driven advertising trends dissipate, according to a report by research firm MoffettNathanson.
AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
* Fears over the possible side effects and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines have been the main drivers of hesitancy among thousands of South Africans, a government-backed online survey showed.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Patients who experience recurrence of COVID-19 symptoms after completing treatment with Pfizer’s drug Paxlovid should isolate again for five days, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an advisory.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Taiwan’s economy is likely to grow at a slower pace this year that initially forecast, the statistics office said on Friday, downgrading its outlook due to global inflation and COVID-19 dampening consumer demand at home and abroad.
* Global markets enjoyed a broad-based rally on Friday, while the yield on benchmark U.S. Treasuries fell after data showed that U.S. consumer spending rose in April and the uptick in inflation slowed, two signs the world’s largest economy could be on track to grow this quarter. [MKTS/GLOB]
* Two months into harsh COVID-19 lockdowns that have choked global supply chains, China’s economy is staggering back to its feet, but businesses from retailers to chipmakers are warning of slow sales as consumers slam the brakes on spending.
(Compiled by Rashmi Aich and Amy Caren Daniel; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Arun Koyyur)
