(Reuters) – China’s race to stop the spread of COVID-19 is clogging highways and ports, stranding workers and shutting countless factories – disruptions that are rippling through global supply chains for goods ranging from electric vehicles to iPhones.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals for a case tracker and summary of news.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Shanghai’s authorities warned that anyone who violates lockdown rules will be dealt with strictly, while also rallying citizens to defend their city as its tally of new cases rebounded to more than 25,000.
* China must not relax COVID control and prevention measures, President Xi Jinping said during a visit to the southern island of Hainan, state radio reported.
* China is trying out reduced quarantine times for overseas arrivals and close contacts of positive cases in eight cities, in a potential easing of stringent entry controls, Caixin reported.
* South Korea will administer a second COVID-19 vaccine booster shot for people over 60, as the country continues to battle the highly contagious Omicron variant.
* Taiwan is in only the early stages of an outbreak and domestic cases will keep rising for the time being, its health minister said.
EUROPE
* Greece’s president tested positive for COVID-19, her office said, as the country announced plans to lift certain restrictions such as mask-wearing indoors and COVID certificates throughout the summer tourism period, possibly reinstating them in September.
* A senior British minister said that Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not set out to break COVID laws with malice and is mortified after he was fined by police for attending a gathering during lockdown, as calls mounted for Johnson to quit.
* Vaccines against COVID-19 have roughly halved the death toll from the disease in Italy, preventing some 150,000 fatalities and 8 million cases last year, the National Health Institute (ISS) estimated.
AMERICAS
* Delta Air Lines forecast a return to profit in the current quarter as airline travel demand reaches record heights. U.S. passenger traffic has been averaging about 89% of the pre-pandemic levels since mid-February, according to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) data.
AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST
* Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy is set to grow 3.6% this year, down from 4% in 2021, the World Bank said, adding that war in Ukraine would worsen the factors holding back Africa’s recovery from the pandemic.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said the company could possibly develop a new vaccine that protects against the Omicron variant as well as older forms of COVID-19 by autumn.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* China’s imports unexpectedly fell in March as curbs across large parts of the country hampered freight arrivals and weakened domestic demand, while export growth slowed, prompting analysts to expect a worsening in trade in the second quarter.
* China stocks closed lower on Wednesday as weak March import data fanned fears of a further slowdown in economic growth amid the country’s worst coronavirus outbreak in two years.
(Compiled by Olivier Sorgho; Editing by Milla Nissi)
