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If doctors believe that the death was caused solely by COVID-19 pneumonia, they must report to their superiors, who will arrange for two levels of "expert consultations" before a COVID death is confirmed, it said. "We have stopped classifying COVID deaths since the reopening in December," said a doctor at a large public hospital in Shanghai. Three other doctors at public hospitals in different cities said they were unaware of any such guidance. Before Saturday, China was reporting five or fewer COVID deaths per day. But the hospital told him it had run out of medicine, so they could only go home.

☆ Salary Transparency Is Coming — so I Decided to Tell Everyone What I Make
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +37 min

But there's a glaring catch to my support for pay transparency: I haven't actually practiced it in my own life. To find out why, I decided to commemorate the dawning age of salary transparency by telling pretty much everyone in my life what I earn. Norway responded to pay transparency with yet another level of transparency, and that brought down the level of snooping.. Thanks to its nationwide experiment, Norway has been fertile ground for scholars trying to measure the consequences of extreme pay transparency. But I do believe that as more states implement pay-disclosure laws — and as Gen Z increasingly comes to dominate the workforce — salary transparency is going to become the new norm.

☆ Air travel recovers in China amid COVID infection worries
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The industry needs to "fully understand the special nature, and complexity of the Spring Festival migration in 2023", Song said in a statement on Friday. It expects a Spring Festival boom in tourism. Cinema box office receipts are on track to generate revenue of as much as 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) during the Spring Festival period, a brokerage has forecast. According to Guosen Securities, box office revenues in 2022 totalled less than 30 billion yuan, down 36% from a year earlier. ($1=6.7010 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Shanghai newsroom; Editing by Tony Munroe and Clarence FernandezOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The UN agency said China was heavily under-reporting deaths from COVID, although it is now providing more information on its outbreak. China's foreign ministry said the country's health officials have held five technical exchanges with the WHO over the past month and have been transparent. Concerns over data transparency were among the factors that prompted more than a dozen countries to demand pre-departure COVID tests from travellers arriving from China. Tensions escalated this week with South Korea and Japan, with China retaliating by suspending short-term visas for their nationals. Still, traffic data and other indicators have not yet fully recovered to levels of just a few months ago.

[1/2] Chinese travellers wear face masks outside the border checkpoint with the neighbouring city of Zhuhai, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Macau, China, December 29, 2022. Over the three-day New Year's Day holiday, businesses and consumers caught their first glimpse of a return to post-pandemic life -- holiday-makers flocked to beaches, flight numbers ticked up, and hotels turned some guests away because they were fully booked. Flight numbers on the last working day ahead of the holiday only recovered 70% compared with pre-pandemic levels, however. Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsBOON FOR RESTAURANTSMany businesses have been forced to adapt how they reach customers over the course of the pandemic. As the Lunar New Year rolls in, Chinese officials also expect a significant uptick in activity.

☆ Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 accounts for 27.6% of U.S. COVID cases - CDC
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Jan 6 (Reuters) - The Omicron subvariant, XBB.1.5, is estimated to account for 27.6% of COVID-19 cases in the United States for the week ending Jan. 7, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed on Friday. The CDC revised its estimate for the week ended Dec. 31 to say XBB.1.5 made up 18.3% of cases, not about 40% of cases. The agency did not immediately respond to a Reuters request seeking details about the change in estimated data. The World Health Organization's senior epidemiologist, Maria Van Kerkhove, earlier this week said XBB.1.5 is the most transmissible Omicron sub-variant that has been detected so far. Reporting by Leroy Leo and Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The subvariant of omicron, named XBB.1.5, has raised concerns about another potential wave of Covid cases following the busy holiday travel season. The CDC projected Friday that about 40% of confirmed U.S. Covid cases are caused by the XBB.1.5 strain, up from 20% a week ago. There’s no indication it causes more severe illness than any other omicron virus, Dr. Barbara Mahon, director of CDC’s Coronavirus and Other Respiratory Viruses Division, told NBC News. The XBB.1.5 is a relative of the omicron XBB variant, which is a recombinant of the omicron BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75 subvariants. Yet, only 37.5% of that age group has received the most recent omicron booster, according to the most recent CDC data.

☆ Alfalfa sprouts recalled in 3 states due to potential salmonella contamination
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Marlene Lenthang | Marlene Lenthang Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

A Nebraska company is recalling alfalfa sprouts sold in three states due to potential salmonella contamination as state health officials investigate a “cluster of gastrointestinal illnesses” caused by the bacteria. SunSprout Enterprises, based in Fremont, Nebraska, announced Thursday that it is voluntarily recalling four lots of raw alfalfa sprouts. SunSprout Enterprises alfalfa sprouts. "This voluntary recall is a result of a preliminary investigation by the State of Nebraska in connection with CDC of an outbreak of illness likely associated with alfalfa sprouts," the company said. State Epidemiologist Dr. Matthew Donahue praised local and state health officials for quickly narrowing down the cause of the illnesses.

☆ COVID travel curbs against Chinese visitors 'discriminatory' -state media
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Bernard Orr | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Global spending by Chinese visitors was worth more than $250 billion a year before the pandemic. China's official death toll of 5,247 since the pandemic began compares with more than 1 million deaths in the United States. UK-based health data firm Airfinity said on Thursday around 9,000 people in China are probably dying each day from COVID. Airfinity expects China's COVID infections to reach their first peak on Jan. 13, with 3.7 million cases a day. China has said it only counts deaths of COVID patients caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure as COVID-related.

The United States this week also expanded its voluntary genomic sequencing program at airports, adding Seattle and Los Angeles to the program. "Previous COVID-19 wastewater surveillance has shown to be a valuable tool and airplane wastewater surveillance could potentially be an option," she wrote. French researchers reported in July that airplane wastewater tests showed requiring negative COVID tests before international flights does not protect countries from the spread of new variants. They found the Omicron variant in wastewater from two commercial airplanes that flew from Ethiopia to France in December 2021 even though passengers had been required to take COVID tests before boarding. Osterholm and others said mandatory testing before travel to the United States is unlikely to keep new variants out of the country.

☆ China COVID deaths accelerate to 9,000 a day - UK research firm Airfinity
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Cumulative deaths in China since Dec. 1 likely reached 100,000 with infections totalling 18.6 million, Airfinity said in a statement. Airfinity expects China's COVID infections to reach their first peak on Jan. 13 with 3.7 million cases a day. Airfinity expects deaths to peak on Jan. 23 around 25,000 a day, with cumulative deaths reaching 584,000 since December. Since Dec. 7 when China made its abrupt policy U-turn, authorities have reported 10 COVID deaths. Airfinity expects 1.7 million deaths across China by the end of April, according to its statement.

☆ U.S. records 100 million Covid cases, but more than 200 million Americans have probably had it
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

The U.S. officially recorded more than 100 million cases as of Tuesday, just under one-third of the total population, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Covid-19 has easily infected more than 200 million in the U.S. alone since the beginning of the pandemic — some people more than once. "There are have been at least 200 million infections in the U.S., so this is a small portion of them," Frieden said. The estimate was based on a survey of commercial lab data that found about 58% of Americans had antibodies as a result of a Covid infection. The more than 21 million additional confirmed cases on top of the CDC's February estimate of about 187 million total infections gives a low-end estimate of more than 208 million infections since the pandemic began.

They promoted and delivered vaccines, developed prevention strategies, monitored data and did a million other unheralded things to help weave a stronger public health safety net. Meanwhile, top health officials are warning that persistent vaccine misinformation remains a serious public health threat. Particularly in vulnerable communities where access to vaccines, therapeutics and good information are lacking, there is much work to be done. And this common-sense principle is still true: When you enact and maintain good policies, good things happen. In the past two weeks, deaths from Covid are up 63%, a possible harbinger of things to come in 2023.

The methods for counting COVID deaths have varied across countries in the nearly three years since the pandemic began. CAN CHINA'S COVID DATA BE TRUSTED? With one of the lowest COVID death tolls in the world, China has been routinely accused of downplaying infections and deaths for political reasons. Globally, the study estimated 18.2 million excess deaths in 2021-2022, compared with reported COVID deaths of 5.94 million. China actually cut its accumulated death toll by one on Dec. 20, bringing the total to 5,241.

☆ China reports first Covid deaths in weeks as virus surges through Beijing
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Some fear China’s Covid death toll could rise above 1.5 million in coming months. It was not immediately clear which, if any, of these deaths were included in official death tolls. “The (official) number is clearly an undercount of Covid deaths,” said Yanzhong Huang, a global health specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a U.S. think tank. Overseas-developed vaccines are unavailable in mainland China to the general public, which has relied on inactivated shots by local manufacturers for its vaccine rollout. While China’s medical community in general doesn’t doubt the safety of China’s vaccines, some say questions remain over their efficacy compared to foreign-made mRNA counterparts.

☆ Substack is having a moment, again. But can the startup live up to its massive $650 million valuation?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Steven Perlberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

He provided a place where readers could find him "in case the bird app spirals into oblivion": his Substack newsletter. The epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding began promoting his Substack newsletter to his 722,000 Twitter followers in early November. They have been a welcome addition, Substack writers say. Substack has also recently rolled out mentions and cross-reporting functions, where writers can mention other Substack writers and share existing posts with their audiences. The irony, of course, is that many Substack writers rely on their Twitter audiences to promote their posts.

☆ China's cities battle first wave of COVID surge as wider spread looms
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

China is currently in the first of an expected three waves of COVID cases this winter, according to the country's chief epidemiologist, Wu Zunyou. China reported some 2,097 new symptomatic COVID infections on Dec. 17. In Beijing, the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant has already hit services from catering to parcel deliveries. A third wave of cases would run from late February to mid-March as people returned to work after the holiday, Wu said. He said those in the community that are vulnerable should be protected, while recommending booster vaccines for the general public.

Experts recommend isolating first, then taking at least two rapid tests, spaced a day or two apart. But if you don't use rapid tests in the right way at the right time, they won't provide accurate results. According to early studies from the UK and the US Food and Drug Administration, rapid tests still work. If you're planning to mingle, take a rapid test just as you arrive, not hours beforeA rapid COVID-19 test, the Abbott BinaxNow, administered by a health department in Livingston, Montana. 'One layer of reducing risk'A 4-year-old gets a rapid COVID-19 test in Palos Verdes Estates, California, on August 24.

☆ China's COVID spike not due to lifting of restrictions, WHO director says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Emma Farge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The comments by the WHO's emergencies director Mike Ryan came as he warned of the need to ramp up vaccinations in the world's No. Speaking at a briefing with media, he said the virus was spreading "intensively" in the nation long before the lifting of restrictions. "There's a narrative at the moment that China lifted the restrictions and all of a sudden the disease is out of control," he said. "The disease was spreading intensively because I believe the control measures in themselves were not stopping the disease. Beijing started pivoting away from its signature "zero-COVID" policy this month after protests against the economically damaging curbs championed by President Xi Jinping.

☆ In COVID U-turn, China's message to the people shifts from war to self-care
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Ryan Woo | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Last week, in one fell swoop, China cut away most of the tenets governing its stifling zero-COVID policies, effectively ending its war on the pandemic. "Be the first person responsible for the epidemic", it has said, which is emerging as China's new public health slogan. So far, China's official COVID death toll remains unchanged at 5,235 since the domestic epidemic curbs were removed. The suddenness of the policy shift has not yet been explained to the public, except that Omicron has weakened. But Beijing resident Charlie Zhang, 42, said he was not enthused about the recent dramatic changes in COVID policies, believing it would be hard for the elderly to recover from Omicron.

China's health authority did not immediately respond to a request for comment on infections among medical staff. A few nurses at the fever clinic were tested positive, there aren’t any special protective measures for hospital staff and I believe many of us will soon get infected," Li added. A post on the Weibo social media platform recounted a recent experience at the emergency ward at Beijing Hospital. "Those who have not been to the emergency department of Beijing Hospital don't know what a mess it has become," wrote a Weibo user called Moshang. Beijing Hospital did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment.

☆ China's capital swings from anger over zero-COVID to coping with infections
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] Pandemic control workers in protective suits sit in a neighbourhood that used to be under lockdown, as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks continue, in Beijing, China December 10, 2022. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many businesses have been forced to close as infected workers quarantine at home while many other people are deciding not to go out because of the higher risk of infection. "We can see that hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands of people are infected in several major cities," Zhong said. China's economy may grow 1.6% in the first quarter of 2023 from a year earlier, and 4.9% in the second, according to Capital Economics. Inbound travellers are subjected to five days of quarantine at centralised government facilities and three additional days of self-monitoring at home.

☆ Grant Wahl: A charming, kind and talented journalist
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Don Riddell | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The American soccer journalist Grant Wahl, who’d also been covering the game at Lusail, had died. The LED board shows a photo of Grant Wahl prior to the quarterfinal match between England and France. Wahl pictured at an awards ceremony in Doha during the World Cup. Grant Wahl (left) being interviewed by CNN's Don Riddel in Qatar. He was charming, kind and just so happy to be covering his eighth men’s World Cup and the game he loved.

But the popular traditional Chinese medicine Lianhua Qingwen, used for symptoms like fever and cough, and antigen test kits remained harder to find. Online pharmacies across China have run out of drugs and test kits, prompting the government to crack down on hoarding. Heat was insufficient because of "unstable" coal supplies caused by COVID, state-run Baoding Daily reported, without giving details. "I have no fear" of COVID, said Yang, a farmer who is fully vaccinated and with no underlying diseases. China has reported no deaths since easing the COVID curbs, with fatalities to date around 5,200, versus more than 1 million in the United States.

In the central city of Wuhan, where the pandemic erupted in late 2019, there were more signs of life with some areas busy with commuters on Friday. "They've relaxed the measures but still, there’s nobody about," said a taxi driver surnamed Wang, who didn't want to give his full name. But there are signs the reassuring new message has still to convince many of the country's 1.4 billion people. China's current tally of 5,235 COVID-related deaths is a tiny fraction of its population of 1.4 billion, and extremely low by global standards. Some experts have warned that toll could rise above 1.5 million if the exit is too hasty.

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