(Bloomberg) — New Zealand extended a national lockdown for a further four days as a coronavirus outbreak continues to grow, but said some restrictions outside the largest city Auckland will be eased next week.
Malaysia is now Southeast Asia’s Covid-19 hotspot, reporting a record 24,599 new cases on Thursday, eclipsing Indonesia and Thailand where daily infections have ebbed. The outbreak is set to prolong the global chip shortage as the country is a key center for semiconductor testing and packaging.
About half of Covid-19 hospital patients experienced at least one symptom 12 months later, according to a study in the medical journal The Lancet, which tracked patients in Wuhan. Nearly one in three suffered from shortness of breath, while about one in five had fatigue and muscle weakness.
Key Developments:
- Global Tracker: Cases top 214.4 million; deaths pass 4.47 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 5.11 billion doses administered
- Most big hedge funds mandate vaccinations for return to offices
- The worst places to be as delta spreads are in southeast Asia
- The hybrid work revolution is already transforming economies
- September promised return to normal that continues to elude U.S.
Ardern Extends New Zealand Lockdown (11:40 a.m. HK)
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern extended a national lockdown for a further four days as a coronavirus outbreak continues to grow, but said some restrictions outside largest city Auckland will be eased next week.
The strict Level 4 lockdown will remain in place until midnight on Aug. 31. For Auckland, the epicenter of the outbreak, and the neighboring Northland region, Level 4 is likely to stay in force for another two weeks. However the rest of New Zealand can move to Level 3 — a slightly milder lockdown in which some businesses can resume operations — from Sept. 1, Ardern said.
Australia to Add 12-to-15 Year Olds to Rollout (9:40 a.m. HK)
Australian children aged between 12 and 15 will be eligible to book Pfizer vaccinations from Sept. 13 after health authorities approved its use, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Friday.
The move follows a decision earlier this month to allow 16 to 39 year-olds to get Pfizer doses. Still, there’s no guarantees younger Australians will quickly be able to get vaccinated, with the nation’s rollout hampered by a lack of supply that’s been blamed by health experts on Morrison failing to sign enough contracts with a broad enough range of drug-makers.
About a quarter of Australians are now fully vaccinated. Morrison is trying to ramp up the program so the nation can start lifting lockdown restrictions that are currently impacting more than half its 26 million people, amid an outbreak of the delta variant that’s infecting hundreds of Sydney residents a day and spreading to other parts of the continent.
Supreme Court Lifts Biden’s Covid Moratorium on Evictions (9:30 a.m. HK)
A divided U.S. Supreme Court lifted the Biden administration’s moratorium on evictions, ending protections for millions of people who have fallen behind on rent payments during the Covid-19 pandemic.
With the three liberal justices dissenting, the court sided with challengers who said the moratorium exceeded the authority of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s authority and was subjecting landlords to unwarranted hardships.
Malaysia’s Outbreak Outpaces Rest of Southeast Asia (7:40 a.m. HK)
Malaysia is now Southeast Asia’s Covid-19 hotspot, reporting a record 24,599 new cases on Thursday, eclipsing Indonesia and Thailand where daily infections have ebbed. The surge, driven by the highly contagious delta variant, poses a risk to Malaysia’s recovery, with the central bank recently lowering its economic growth forecast for the year, and threatens to prolong the chip shortage with the country a key center for semiconductor testing and packaging.
Blood Clot Risk Much Higher From Covid Than Vaccines (7:20 a.m. HK)
Covid-19 patients face a much higher risk of developing blood clots than those vaccinated with AstraZeneca Plc or Pfizer Inc.’s shots, according to a large U.K. study.
For every 10 million people who receive the first dose of AstraZeneca, about 66 more will suffer from a blood-clotting syndrome than during normal circumstances, according to the study published in the British Medical Journal. This figure compares with 12,614 more incidences recorded in 10 million people who have tested positive for Covid-19.
The study followed 29 million people who received their first doses of either AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccine between December and April, and also tracked about 1.7 million Covid-19 patients.
Covid Complications Linger, Study Finds (6:30 p.m. NY)
About half of Covid-19 hospital patients experienced at least one symptom 12 months later, according to a large study published in the medical journal The Lancet.
Nearly one in three patients suffered from shortness of breath, while about one in five patients said they still experienced fatigue and muscle weakness, researchers found. The study following 1,276 patients discharged from a hospital in Wuhan, China, between January and May last year also found that women were twice as likely to deal with lung dysfunction compared to men.
The evidence that some patients will take longer than one year to recover “should be taken into account when planning delivery of health-care services post-pandemic,” said Bin Cao, a professor from the National Center for Respiratory Medicine, China-Japan Friendship Hospital. A previous study of 1,733 Covid-19 survivors after six months, by the same researchers, found that around three-quarters had persistent health problems.
Anthem Requires Vaccines for Return to Office (4:03 p.m. NY)
Anthem Inc. is requiring employees to be vaccinated before returning to offices. The health insurer announced the requirement to staff internally earlier this month, a spokeswoman confirmed to Bloomberg News. The requirement also applies to workers who have patient- or customer-facing jobs. Most Anthem offices in the U.S. remain closed.
UAW Won’t Push to Mandate Vaccines (3:55 p.m. NY)
The United Autos Workers, the largest U.S. auto union, doesn’t plan to push its members beyond voluntarily taking a Covid-19 vaccine, barring a national mandate, President Ray Curry told reporters in a call on Thursday.
The UAW is open to having discussions with employers about vaccine mandates and voluntary disclosure of vaccine records, but the ultimate goal is that “we would respect the wishes of our membership,” Curry said.
Texas Deploys More Help to Hospitals (2:55 p.m. NY)
Texas Governor Greg Abbott deployed another 2,500 medical staff and equipment to health care facilities throughout the state as the hospitalization rate nears a record set in January.
The Lone Star state had 13,928 hospitalized patients on Tuesday, close to the record 14,218 set on Jan. 11, before vaccinations became more widespread. Almost half of the state’s trauma service areas had fewer than five beds available in intensive care units, with four areas having run out of them altogether.
The new deployment brings the total number of additional, state-funded medical personnel to 8,100.
U.K. to Study Why Breakthrough Cases Happen (1:30 p.m. NY)
The newly-formed U.K. Health Security Agency will lead a study into why some vaccinated people get breakthrough infections and others don’t.
The study involves about 50,000 staffers in the National Health Service who enrolled in other Covid-related studies under which they get PCR tests every two weeks and regular antibody tests. Antibody results of those who test positive for Covid-19 despite having two vaccine doses or a previous confirmed infection will be analyzed for how their immune response differs from those who don’t contract the virus.
Understanding the immune response will help “vaccine developers who can target key components of the immune response effectively for future booster vaccines,” said Susan Hopkins, Public Health England’s Covid response director.
Illinois Mandates Masks (11:55 a.m. NY)
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, issued a statewide indoor mask mandate starting Monday and expanded vaccine requirements, saying “we are running out of time as our hospitals run out of beds.”
Pritzker’s administration required this month that employees at state-run congregate facilities be vaccinated. That mandate now expands to all health-care workers, including those in public and private nursing homes; teachers and staff at Pre-K through 12th grade schools; and personnel and students at higher education institutions.
Covered individuals must receive their first dose by Sept. 5 or be subject to regular testing. The shrinking hospital-bed capacity is mostly due to tight staffing, rather than space constraints, Pritzker told a news conference.
Kentucky, Florida Lead in U.S. Hospital Admissions (11:20 a.m. NY)
Kentucky, Florida and Georgia led U.S. states in per-capita hospital admissions for Covid-19 during the week that ended Monday, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention update published Thursday.
Florida had the most admissions during the period with almost 15,100 new patients, reflecting the strain of the delta variant on health care. The per-capita number varies widely, from 31.1 per 100,000 residents in Kentucky to a low of 2.2 in Vermont.
The CDC reported 5,665 U.S. deaths during the week through Tuesday, a 23% increase compared to the previous seven-day period.
India Cases Reach One-Month High (2:33 p.m. HK)
India recorded 46,164 new cases Thursday, the most for a single day in more than a month. Kerala reported a surge in infections that could threaten the state’s economy, which had held steady in July as cases declined.
The total tally now stands at 32.6 million. Almost 604 million vaccine doses have been administered so far but only 9.6% of India’s population is fully inoculated against the virus, according to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker. Covid-related deaths rose by 607 in a day to 436,365, as per the latest health ministry data.
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