Thursday, March 28

Record Hong Kong Cases; New York to End Mask Rule: Virus Update


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(Bloomberg) — Hong Kong is set to report record new cases Wednesday even as a top adviser to the city’s leader said he’s “very optimistic” the city will reopen to the world within the next year.

Global Covid-19 cases passed the 400-million mark, more than two years after the pandemic began. Protests over vaccine mandates and Covid-19 restrictions widened across Canada. In New Zealand, anti-vaccine mandate protests were held for a second day.

New York and Illinois will lay out plans Wednesday to phase out some mask mandates, according to media reports.

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Key Developments:

Virus Tracker: Cases top 400 million; deaths pass 5.75 millionVaccine Tracker: More than 10.2 billion shots administeredTraffic remains below pre-Covid levels as work habits changeCanada trucker protest blocking border has few semis as others join inIs Covid becoming endemic? What would that mean?: QuickTake

Covid-Zero Policy Undercuts Hong Kong’s Appeal (1:35 p.m. HK)

The city’s Covid Zero policy undercuts its appeal, according to a research note by Tommy Wu at Oxford Economics. Hong Kong is likely to keep its zero-Covid policy at least until late 2022. The city is out of sync with other economies that have shifted to living with Covid. U.S.-China tension and the national security law implementation are expected to raise risk of people and companies leaving Hong Kong. Wu sees Hong Kong holding on to its global financial hub status.

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Singapore Aims to Calm Covid Fears (1:20 p.m. HK)

Singapore is highlighting the infection of its 63-year-old defense minister as a way to soothe ongoing fears in the city state about the virus, despite one of the highest vaccination and booster rates in the world. 

The Ministry of Health reported more than 12,000 local cases as of noon Tuesday, surpassing the peak of a delta-induced spike last year. Yet about 99.7% of local cases in the last four weeks have been mild or asymptomatic, according to health ministry data, among the highest such proportions here since the start of the pandemic.

Myanmar Cases Hit Three-Month High (1:19 p.m. HK)

Myanmar reported 1,145 new Covid cases on Tuesday, the highest one-day tally in almost three months, with new clusters emerging among factory workers in commercial hub Yangon. Rapid response teams and bed management committees have been formed in Yangon region to contain the virus spread, and people are urged to take swab tests if they exhibit Covid symptoms, the Ministry of Health said.

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No More Cruise-to-Nowhere (1:15 p.m. HK)

Royal Caribbean has canceled the remaining 2022 cruise-to-nowhere program in Hong Kong, which includes Spectrum of the Seas sailings, following the city’s extension of Covid-19 measures, according to a statement on Facebook. Extension of Covid measures and uncertainty in the city impacts the cruise line’s commitment.

Red Traffic Lights (12:37 p.m. HK)

An omicron outbreak in southern China led officials to switch traffic lights to red in several counties, as local governments strive to limit people’s movements to meet Beijing’s strategy of eliminating Covid-19 despite the virus’s growing infectiousness. 

A sudden Covid-19 resurgence in the southwestern province of Guangxi during the recent Lunar New Year Holiday prompted a snap lockdown on Monday of Baise, a city of 3.6 million bordering Vietnam, after nearly 100 infections were detected. Soon after, local authorities in five sub-districts in the city turned the lights red to reinforce the stay-at-home order, though it granted exceptions for essential travel related to medical care, deliveries and the Covid response.

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Hong Kong Food Supply Is Back (11:24 a.m. HK)

Vegetables and other fresh produces are gradually back in stock in Hong Kong after China reopened its border control point for food deliveries. Fresh food prices soared since the weekend after some cross-border truck drivers responsible for ferrying supply tested positive for Covid, prompting mainland authorities to take testing and isolation measures, which caused delivery delays. Hong Kong relies on mainland China for more than 90% of its vegetable and fresh water fish supplies.

About 90% of the fresh food supply has reached Hong Kong Wednesday, with only a few vegetable farms in the mainland visited by the infected drivers or their close contacts closed off for disinfection, said Thomas Ng, chairman of Hong Kong Food Council and a fresh produce supplier. If more drivers don’t test positive, supply should be back to normal by Thursday, Ng said.

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New Zealand Protests Continue (11:14 a.m. HK)

An anti-vaccine mandate protest is in its second day with a small number of people in a standoff with police outside the nation’s parliament in Wellington.

Around 100 officers have formed a line on the concourse, while the crowd sings and listens to speeches. The protesters, some of whom camped overnight in the grounds in small tents, have been served trespass notices but are refusing to leave. Earlier, an attempt to break the police lines resulted in a handful of arrests.

The protesters are the remnants of a large convoy of trucks and vehicles that descended on the city yesterday, disrupting traffic and attempting to mimic the truckers who have gridlocked the Canadian city of Ottawa.

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Trackers for Pilots (11:12 a.m. HK)

Hong Kong is further tightening quarantine rules for airline staff, with cargo pilots isolating at home to be tracked with electronic monitoring bracelets and crew on passenger planes who have been in countries with high levels of the virus made to quarantine for 14 days. The updated rules, set out in a document seen by Bloomberg News, will come into effect Wednesday. The strengthened protocols for turnaround cargo pilots and cargo crew, the last remaining category of flight staff to not require hotel quarantine, close a loophole that allowed some to shirk stay-at-home orders because there was no monitoring or checking in place.

Illinois Set to End Mask Mandate (11:06 a.m. HK)

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Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker will lay out a plan on Wednesday to phase out the mask mandate for the state residents in most indoor settings, Chicago Sun Times reported, citing people it didn’t identify. Pritzker teased the rollback Tuesday, telling residents to “stay tuned” for an update on the policy. While the governor will wind down the mask mandate for the public at large, state officials are expected to continue waging the legal battle to keep masks on in schools, which Pritzker says present a different challenge in the fight to curb the spread of the virus, the report said.

Mandatory Testing in Discovery Bay (10:29 a.m. HK)

Hong Kong put Discovery Bay on the government’s mandatory Covid test list. Anyone who had been at the popular expatriate enclave on Hong Kong’s Lantau island for more than two hours between Jan. 26 and Feb.8 must get tested as sewage samples there tested positive for the virus.

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Hong Kong Set to Report Record Cases (10:21 a.m. HK)

Hong Kong will report more than 1,100 cases on Wednesday, as the city’s worsening outbreak prompts the government to roll out its toughest ever pandemic measures. The city will announce an almost doubling of cases from a day earlier, local media reported, citing people they didn’t identify, and it would be the first time daily infections have crossed the four-digit threshold.

Thailand’s New Daily Covid Cases Jump (9:20 a.m. HK)

Thailand reported 13,182 new Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, the highest single-day count since Sept. 23, as the Southeast Asian nation considers further easing of border curbs to lure more foreign visitors. The government plans to hold travel bubble talks this month with China and Malaysia, the country’s largest source of visitors, a government spokesman said Monday.

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Australia Records Covid Death Surge (9:16 a.m. HK)

Australia officially recorded 1,582 Covid-19 deaths in January, more than the annual totals for both 2020 and 2021, driven by an omicron-fuel wave that’s expected to result in 10% more deaths than predicted from all causes, according to the Actuaries Institute, a professional body.

“For the month of January 2022, if there had been no pandemic, we would have expected around 13,500 to 14,000 deaths,” Jennifer Lang, convenor of the Actuaries Institute’s Covid-19 Working Group said in a statement. “However, the surge in Covid-19 deaths without any corresponding reduction in other deaths means that in January 2022 we expect to see excess mortality of around 10% once the complete death data is available.”

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Hong Kong’s Reopening (8:56 a.m. HK)

Bernard Chan, a financier and convener of Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s advisory Executive Council, said he’s “very optimistic” the city will reopen to the world within the next year, as the financial hub races to get its population vaccinated. Asked if the city could reopen to the world within the next year, Chan said once Hong Kong had a “fully vaccinated community” and a better knowledge of omicron he was “very optimistic” the former British colony could meet that target. Chan also said the city won’t go into a full lockdown.

South Korea Reports Record Surge (8:49 a.m. HK)

South Korea confirmed 49,567 more cases, rising 35% from a day earlier and more than doubling from a week ago. Daily new cases have doubled every week for the past three weeks with the omicron becoming the dominant variant. Mortality rate and severe cases remain low; 21 deaths were reported with 285 patients in critical condition.

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New York Set to Drop Mask Mandate: NYT (8:14 a.m. HK)

Governor Hochul will drop the state’s stringent indoor mask mandate on Wednesday, ending a requirement that businesses ask customers for proof of full vaccination or require mask-wearing at all times, and marking a turning point in the state’s coronavirus response, the New York Times reported, citing three people briefed on her decision. The mandate was set to expire on Thursday and would have required renewing. It’s unclear whether Hochul would renew a separate mask mandate in New York schools that expires in two weeks, according to the report.

Auto Supply Chain Stretched (8:09 a.m. HK)

Protesters blocking traffic between the U.S. and Canada to oppose vaccine rules are further stretching an auto supply chain already worn thin by pandemic-related labor shortages and a scarcity of chips. Protesters halted traffic Monday night at the Ambassador Bridge that connects Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, the busiest border link for goods moving between Canada and the U.S. and a crucial artery for the automotive supply chain. Traffic to Canada appeared to be largely blocked as of Tuesday afternoon though it was moving again, slowly, on lanes headed to the U.S.

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Brexit Border Chaos Looming (8:01 a.m. HK)

Border controls since the end of the Brexit transition period have piled costs on U.K. businesses, hit trade flows and may cause passenger chaos this year as normal cross-border travel returns with the end of Covid restrictions, a committee of lawmakers warned. Although it is not clear exactly how much of the decline in trade in 2021 was the result of Brexit rather than the pandemic, “the new controls have created additional costs for businesses and affected international trade flows,” according to a report by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.

Canada-Style Protest in the U.S.: NYT (7:22 a.m. HK)

Plans for a demonstration by truckers in the U.S. similar to the one in Canada appear to be gaining momentum, aided by online supporters, the New York Times reported. The route and timing of the demonstration, meant to protest pandemic restrictions in the U.S., was set to be announced on Tuesday evening, said Brian Brase, a trucker who is organizing the American effort.

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Gates Writes Book on Pandemic Prevention (2 p.m. NY)

Bill Gates, the billionaire philanthropist whose foundation has focused on efforts to fight the coronavirus, is planning a May 3 release for a book on how to ensure that the Covid-19 pandemic is the last great global plague.

“Whenever I see the suffering that Covid has created — every time I read about the latest death toll or hear about someone who lost their job or drive by a school that is closed — I can’t help but think: We don’t have to do this again,” he wrote in a blog post announcing the publication of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.”

The book will cover lessons learned from the pandemic, as well as tools and innovations needed to save lives and stop pathogens early. It will discuss his views on vaccines and on what it has felt like to become the target of conspiracy theories.

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Canada Vaccine Protests Widen (9:45 a.m. NY)

Protests over vaccine mandates and Covid-19 restrictions widened across Canada, with truck blockades halting commercial traffic at critical border crossings including the Ambassador Bridge into Detroit.

The structure that connects to Windsor, Ontario, was shut down in both directions late Monday. The land crossing is the most important link for goods moving between Canada and the U.S. and a crucial artery for auto parts suppliers and manufacturers. 

Another border crossing at Coutts, Alberta, which had already been partly blocked by truckers, was also completely closed for a time, the Canadian border agency said. It’s the main route for the province’s commercial vehicles bound for the U.S. and one of the busiest border posts in western Canada. 

The blockades represent a potentially dramatic escalation for protests that began in late January when a convoy of truckers moved into Ottawa, paralyzing Canada’s capital. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned that the demonstrators threatened to hobble the economy and undermine democracy. 

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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