Day: April 29, 2022

South Korea said Friday it will lift its outdoor mask mandate next week in response to a steady drop in COVID-19 cases after an omicron-fueled surge.

The announcement comes after Seoul dropped almost all other social-distancing measures earlier this month, ending two years of strict requirements that put a massive strain on the country’s small businesses.

From Monday, residents will no longer be required to wear face masks outdoors unless attending an event with more than 50 participants, health authorities said.

“As social-distancing measures are lifted and the mask mandate is being adjusted, people are increasingly returning to their normal lives,” Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), told reporters.

“This is all thanks to the patience and cooperation of the people over a long period of time,” Jeong added.

South Korea’s incoming administration, headed by conservative president-elect Yoon Suk-y, on Friday criticized the decision to end the mask mandate as “premature,” questioning if it had been based solely on “virus prevention measures.”

Ahn Cheol-soo, chief of Yoon’s transition team, had previously said the new government planned to make a decision on the mandate in May.

South Korea reported 50,568 new coronavirus cases Friday, well down from the peak of more than 620,000 a day in mid-March.

The KDCA’s Jeong said there had been a “steady decrease” in COVID-19 cases for the past six weeks.

“The number of new critically ill patients is also decreasing,” she said, adding hospitals had enough beds to treat new inpatients.

More than 86% of South Korea’s 51 million people have been fully vaccinated, with the majority also receiving a booster shot.

About 22,700 people in the country have died from the coronavirus — a 0.13% fatality rate, one of the world’s lowest.

Source: Voice of America

China has suspended cross-border freight train services with North Korea following consultations after COVID-19 infections in its border city of Dandong, the foreign ministry said Friday.

The suspension came within four months after North Korea eased border lockdowns enforced early in 2020 against the coronavirus, measures global aid groups have blamed for its worsening economic woes and risks to food supplies for millions.

“Due to the COVID situation in Dandong, after friendly consultation between both sides, China has decided to suspend freight services from Dandong to Sinuiju,” foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a daily briefing in Beijing.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said authorities in Dandong had acted on a request from North Korea, citing unidentified sources.

Authorities in Seoul, the capital of neighboring South Korea, said they were keeping watch on the situation.

The Chinese city of Dandong has been fighting a COVID-19 outbreak since late April, reporting 220 infections from April 24-27.

By Wednesday, authorities had locked down 77 residential compounds, while people elsewhere were asked to keep to designated areas.

North Korea has not officially reported any COVID-19 infections since the pandemic began but adopted border curbs among its anti-virus measures.

Source: Voice of America

Hong Kong’s next leader unveiled a manifesto Friday vowing to restore the business hub to its former glory but would not be drawn on when the city might discard zero-Covid controls that have left it internationally cut off.

John Lee, a former top cop and security chief, is expected to be appointed Hong Kong’s new chief executive by a committee of some 1,500 Beijing loyalists on May 8.

He faces no competition but will inherit a city convulsed by huge democracy protests, an ongoing crackdown on political freedoms and more than two years of pandemic curbs that have left residents and businesses internationally isolated.

“Covid is not going to live with us forever, at some stage it will be under control,” Lee told reporters when asked when Hong Kong would reopen to the world.

“It is important we will do a good balancing act,” he added.

China is the only major economy still sticking to the zero-tolerance strategy even as the highly transmissible Omicron variant breaks through those defenses and forces painful restrictions in both Hong Kong and on the mainland.

Hong Kong is at the tail end of a deadly Omicron wave, killing some 9,000 residents and sparking an exodus from the city’s business community.

Lee said Friday his 44-page manifesto will guide his attempt to restore Hong Kong’s sheen when he takes over from outgoing leader Carrie Lam on July 1 — the 25th anniversary of the city’s handover to China by Britain.

But despite fronting a campaign with the slogan “Starting a new chapter for Hong Kong together”, Lee’s policies so far indicate minimal change from the current Beijing-directed course under Lam’s administration.

Lee, 64, was a key figure in the suppression of huge democracy protests and is among 11 top Hong Kong and Beijing officials sanctioned by the United States.

He vowed Friday that a host of new national security crimes will be outlawed in local legislation, bolstering the already sweeping law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 designed to quash dissent.

Efforts to “cultivate a new generation that loves the country and Hong Kong” will continue, he added.

Like other chief executives since the handover, Lee pinpointed the chronic shortage of affordable housing as a key area his administration needed to tackle.

Hong Kong has long held the title of the world’s most unaffordable housing market, where a study this year showed the median property price is 23 times the median household income.

“After all the big debates on land use, it’s time for execution,” Lee said, vowing to build more housing as well as speed up and streamline land sales.

Source: Voice of America