(Bloomberg) — China, which intercepted two bullet trains headed to Beijing on concern staff may be infected, now has cases in almost half its provinces from its latest flare-up. Singapore is converting a Formula 1 Pit Building into a Covid facility with more than 600 beds as the city-state adapts to a surge in cases, the Straits Times reported.
Citigroup Inc. will require all U.S. employees be vaccinated as a condition of their employment, fueling the battle over vaccine mandates being proposed by President Joe Biden. Florida sued the administration over rules requiring federal contractors to be inoculated, in a wave of Republican pushback against the president’s orders to fight the pandemic.
Key Developments:
- Virus Tracker: Cases top 245.4 million; deaths surpass 4.97 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 6.96 billion shots given
- Survey shows vaccination doesn’t stop people from spreading delta
- The best and worst places to be in the reopening: Resilience Ranking
- Fortress Australia reopens for some travelers after 19 months
- Singapore’s mystery case surge fades with cases back below 4,000
- Chile’s pension system has become a Covid piggy bank
- How Covid is changing the world for immigrants
Almost Everyone in Delhi May Have Antibodies (1:20 p.m. HK)
As many as 97% of the residents of Indian capital Delhi have antibodies against Covid-19 because of prior infection or because they’ve been vaccinated, according to a survey conducted in September. It’s the first such study after a second wave of infections in April and May overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums and made India the world’s second-worst affected nation after the U.S.
India has administered more than a billion shots but only about 34% of its adult population is fully inoculated. On Wednesday, the federal Health Ministry said a door-to-door vaccination campaign will start in districts with low levels of inoculation.
Uganda to End Controls After Almost 2 Years (1:17 p.m. HK)
Uganda will fully reopen its economy in January after almost two years of controls, President Yoweri Museveni said.
The East African country expects to have vaccinated 12 million of the targeted 21 million people by the end of December, Museveni said in a televised address. “Now that the vaccines are available the economy will be opened in January,” he said. Uganda has received more than 9.5 million doses of mainly AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines and expects more by year-end, he said.
Schools, bars and entertainment centers have been closed since the virus was first detected in the country in March 2020 and a dusk-to-dawn curfew been enforced.
China Stops Two Bullet Trains as Cases Expand (1:05 p.m. HK)
Two high-speed trains that departed from eastern China were intercepted on their way to Beijing on Thursday after one attendant on each of the trains were found to be a close contact of Covid patients. A total of 346 passengers and staff aboard the two trains would be subject to quarantine under the nation’s Covid rules.
China reported 51 new local infections on Friday, with cases now found in nearly half of the 31 provinces on the mainland. Heihe, a town that borders Russia in northeastern China, found nine more cases after four infections detected earlier this week prompted a lockdown of the city of 1.58 million people.
Most new infections are still being found in Inner Mongolia and Gansu located in northwestern China, where authorities also locked down two cities. Beijing reported two more cases as the Chinese capital struggles to disrupt community transmission set off by residents returning from the northwestern virus hotspot.
South Africa Health Workers to Get Boosters (12:15 p.m. HK)
Almost half a million South African health workers who received the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine earlier this year will be eligible for booster shots from Nov. 8, Business Day reported, citing Nicholas Crisp, acting health director-general.
Singapore Turns F1 Venue Into Covid Ward: ST (9:26 a.m. HK)
Singapore’s F1 pit building, normally used for the high-profile Grand Prix motor races that have been canceled a second year running due to the pandemic, is being converted into a medical facility for coronavirus patients, the Straits Times reported.
The city-state has been grappling with daily case numbers in the thousands and increased deaths as it tries to pivot from a zero-Covid policy. The government is expanding capacity at intensive care units in public hospitals as the number of available beds has declined.
The Pit Building was used for swab tests last year and was identified as a suitable temporary venue for Covid patients because it has ready facilities, Ong Ling Lee, director of sports at the Singapore Tourism Board, told the Straits Times. The halls in the building, which have in the past been used for art fairs and other events, have been partitioned into sections for more than 600 beds, the paper said.
Singapore recorded a total of 3,432 new cases as of noon on Oct. 28, including nine imported infections, down from a record 5,324 cases the day before.
South Korea Eases Social Distancing Rules (8:14 a.m. HK)
South Korea will ease social distancing measures next week, as the nation tentatively tries to return to normal life even as new Covid-19 cases have edged up to more than 2,000 a day. Private gatherings of as many as 10 people will be allowed in Greater Seoul and up to 12 elsewhere from Monday regardless of vaccination status. For “high risk” areas such as cafes and restaurants, unvaccinated groups of four can meet.
“We must, slowly and carefully, restore our ordinary lives that have been taken away from us,” Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said in a COVID-19 response meeting. More than 73% of the nation’s population is now fully vaccinated.
Biden Rule Could Make Workers Pay for Testing (4:29 p.m. NY)
The Biden administration’s highly anticipated vaccine mandate rule for private-sector employers will allow businesses to force workers who refuse to get the Covid-19 shot to pay for required weekly tests and masks, two sources familiar with the matter said.
The emergency rule, which will apply to companies with at least 100 employees and is expected to be released next week, will give employers the option of paying for testing and masks for unvaccinated workers or compelling those employees to foot the bill themselves, according to the sources, who requested anonymity because they didn’t have approval to discuss the rulemaking.
NYC Has 10,000 Unvaccinated Cops (3:40 p.m. NY)
Nearly a third of New York Police Department cops are still unvaccinated ahead of the city’s Friday deadline.
The Police Benevolent Association, which represents 24,000 cops in the most populous U.S. city, said 10,000 of the roughly 35,000 uniformed NYPD officers have not gotten the shot. Last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio eliminated the test-out option and said all city employees must receive their first vaccine dose by Oct. 29 or face unpaid leave.
The union is fighting the mandate in court, but a judge has refused to block it in the meantime. It’s not clear what effect the drop in staff will have on the operations of the nation’s largest police force, but de Blasio on Thursday sought to assure New Yorkers they will be safe.
Citi Requires Vaccines for All U.S. Workers (1:02 p.m. NY)
Citigroup Inc. will require all U.S. employees be vaccinated against Covid-19 as a condition of their employment, citing new orders from President Joe Biden.
The Wall Street giant asked staffers to submit proof of vaccination by Dec. 8, and said those who comply will receive $200 as a “thank you,” according to a memo to staff Thursday seen by Bloomberg News. Citigroup set Jan. 14 as the final cut-off for workers to upload vaccine cards, to give unvaccinated staff more time to get shots.
Citigroup told employees in August that anyone returning to offices in the New York area and other major U.S. cities would have to be vaccinated. The new policy expands that requirement to all workers in the U.S.
U.K. Removes All Countries From Red List (12:20 p.m. NY)
The U.K. removed all seven remaining countries from its Covid-19 red list, effectively ending a mandatory hotel quarantine requirement for any arriving travelers.
The highest-risk category will remain in place to protect public health, and U.K. officials are prepared to add countries back if necessary, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Thursday on Twitter.
The seven countries — Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Haiti, Panama, Ecuador and Peru, will be removed on Nov. 1, Shapps said.
Florida Sues U.S. Over Vaccine Mandates (12:15 p.m. NY)
Florida sued the Biden administration over vaccine mandates for federal contractors, the latest in a wave of Republican pushback against the president’s orders to fight the pandemic.
In a federal lawsuit filed Thursday in Tampa, the state called vaccination requirements for government contractors a “radical intrusion on the personal autonomy of American workers.” It alleges that the administration issued the mandate based on a law that doesn’t give it such power.
Among the defendants is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, which has a large presence in the state through the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island.
Vaccination Doesn’t Stop Delta Spread (12 p.m. NY)
People inoculated against Covid-19 are just as likely to spread the delta variant of the virus to contacts in their household as those who haven’t had shots, according to new research.
In a yearlong study of 621 people in the U.K. with mild Covid-19, scientists found that their peak viral load was similar regardless of vaccination status, according to a paper published Thursday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases medical journal. The analysis also found that 25% of vaccinated household contacts still contracted the disease from an index case, while 38% of those who hadn’t had shots became infected.
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