Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½Ò•îl

The Canadian government announced last week they will slowly begin easing requirements for fully-vaccinated travelers coming to Canada. As of Feb. 28, vaccinated travelers will be able to use a negative result of a rapid test taken a day before travel to get into Canada as long as the test is administered by a health care entity, laboratory or telehealth service. At-home tests will not fill the requirement. (St. Angelo)

All government-mandated coronavirus restrictions in England were lifted Thursday, including the legal requirement for people who test positive for COVID-19 to isolate at home. Officials say that those who tested positive will still be advised to stay at home for at least five days. But from Thursday they are not legally obliged to do so, and those on lower incomes will no longer get extra financial support to make up for a loss of income due to isolation. The routine tracing of infected people’s contacts has also been scrapped. (Hui, 2/24)

Queen Elizabeth II postponed two virtual audiences as she continued to experience cold-like symptoms from COVID-19, Buckingham Palace said Thursday. It was the second time this week that Elizabeth, 95, had canceled virtual sessions. However, she spoke by telephone with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday in what was seen as an encouraging sign of her recovery. The monarch’s age, COVID-19 diagnosis and a health scare last year have caused worry among officials and the public. Her positive test for the coronavirus over the weekend prompted concern and get-well wishes from across Britain’s political spectrum. (2/24)

China on Friday reported the highest daily count of COVID-19 cases arriving from outside the mainland in nearly two years, with infections mostly from Hong Kong as the financial hub grapples with a wave of infections. The mainland detected a total of 142 imported cases with confirmed symptoms for Thursday, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Friday. That marks the highest imported caseload since the authority began classifying domestically transmitted cases and infected travellers from outside the mainland separately, in March 2020. (2/25)

Germany does not have leeway to ease COVID-19 restrictions more quickly, and Germans should not think that the pandemic is over as the number of new daily infections is still very high, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said on Friday. "We have absolutely no scope for an accelerated opening," Lauterbach said, adding that it was an unacceptable situation that COVID-19 deaths were between 200 and 300 every day. (2/25)

Drugmaker Shionogi & Co Ltd (4507.T) has applied for approval to make and sell its oral COVID-19 treatment in Japan, the firm said on Friday. Known as S-217622, the drug would become the country's third antiviral pill approved for coronavirus patients, following those developed by Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and Merck & Co (MRK.N). In a statement, Shionogi said it was seeking conditional early approval of the drug after completing the Phase IIb part of a Phase II/III clinical trial in Japan and South Korea. (2/25)

Indonesia could start making its own mRNA vaccines after the World Health Organization picked it to receive a technology transfer to become Southeast Asia’s Covid-19 vaccine hub. State company PT Bio Farma will start producing mRNA doses, according to a statement from the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry, which didn’t name the brand. The company is one of the largest vaccine manufacturers in the region, with the capacity to produce 3.2 billion doses a year. (Dahrul, 2/25)

Hong Kong reported 21,979 virus cases on Friday as officials struggle to contain the city’s worst ever outbreak and residents prepare for mandatory mass testing next month that’s set to uncover even more infections. That’s up from 17,269 on Thursday. The city also announced 10,010 confirmed cases. (Lew, 2/25)

Ukraine's nuclear agency said on Friday it was recording increased radiation levels from the site of the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Experts at the agency did not provide exact radiation levels but said the change was due to the movement of heavy military equipment in the area lifting radioactive dust into the air. Presidential advisers meanwhile said President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was still in the capital Kyiv. (2/25)