China has firmly denied that its Wuhan Institute of Virology conducted gain-of-function studies on coronavirus, rejecting allegations that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) funded such research at the lab. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, emphasized that the lab has never engaged in gain-of-function research, designed, made, or leaked COVID-19. China has also reiterated its stance on the origins-tracing of COVID-19, stating that the pandemic was "extremely unlikely" to have originated from a lab leak, as concluded by the WHO-China joint mission.
China has delivered a second advanced submarine to Pakistan, part of a larger deal to bolster the South Asian nation's naval capabilities in the Indian Ocean. The move underscores China's growing influence in the region and its strategic partnership with Pakistan.
Former Everton midfielder and national team coach Li Tie was sentenced to 20 years in prison for giving and receiving bribes.
Year after year, the number of yoga practitioners participating in the official and unofficial events on International Yoga Day in different cities is growing, especially the young people, officials say.
The outbreak of a new strain of coronavirus, first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan, in Hubei province, has led to massive efforts to quarantine major cities and halt the spread. As of Thursday, the nationwide death toll from China's novel coronavirus epidemic has jumped to 170 with 38 more fatalities while confirming more than 1,700 new infections. Since then, it has been described as a "ghost town" with residents staying home, cars banned from the roads and store shelves emptied of masks, disinfectants and even full body suits. Here are some scenes from Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus outbreak.
China has seen a surge in COVID-19 cases since the government lifted its strict zero tolerance measures to contain the virus and hospitals in many cities with severe COVID-19 outbreaks have been overwhelmed by the increase in patients.
The coronavirus outbreak began in Wuhan, capital of China's Hubei province, in December and has now spread across the globe. The Chinese authorities are trying to contain the epidemic while other countries, including India, are working on plans to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan and other cities in Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak.
The six students may have to undergo tests to determine whether they have symptoms of the coronavirus. Ahead of the evacuation, the Indian Embassy had informed the Indians that they will be tested before the flight and undergo 14 day quarantine after reaching India.
The vaccination, available at 48 designated clinics in 15 districts, began on December 24, targeting certain groups of people aged between 18 and 59 years, He Zhenyu, deputy director of the centre for disease control and prevention in Wuhan, told the media in Wuhan.
The overall confirmed cases on the mainland have reached 80,881 by the end of Monday.
The city, which reported the first case of COVID-19 in late 2019, has also upgraded its epidemic response measure, locking down the area where local COVID-19 infections have been reported while upgrading its risk levels, Chinese state media Global Times reported.
The outbreak has resulted in Chinese cities being largely deserted, with tourist attractions shut and a few eateries requiring temperature checks and masks.
The government has downgraded the risk level of Wuhan for Covid-19 outbreak from high to medium, according to official media reports.
So far about 124 positive cases have been reported in a host of countries, including India where the first case was confirmed in Kerala.
President Xi, who attended a meeting in Beijing to double efforts in coordinating the prevention and control of the COVID-19 outbreak, said the epidemic 'has the fastest transmission, widest range of infection and has been the most difficult to prevent and control'.
However, a total of 34 new COVID-19 cases were reported on the Chinese mainland.
All the 27 deaths occurred in the virus-hit central Hubei province, China's National Health Commission (NHC) said. The confirmed cases for the first time fell below 50 since COVID-19 surfaced in Hubei province in January.
The overall confirmed infection cases have climbed to 75,465, Chinese health officials said on Friday.
Rediff.com takes a look inside the capsized Eastern Star ferry and finds remnants of the ruination of over 400 lives in its detritus.
The overall confirmed cases on the mainland have reached 81,518 as of Monday, which included 3,305 people who died of the of disease.
Doubles specialist Markis Kido won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics partnering Hendra Setiawan, a year after the pair won the men's doubles title at the world championship in Kuala Lumpur.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said India has noted European Commission's clarification that the EU Parliament's views don't reflect the official position of the grouping.
The city has prepared a 10-day plan to test all its residents after six new coronavirus cases were reported in a residential community.
Hantaviruses are a family of viruses spread mainly by rodents and can cause varied disease syndromes in people worldwide, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which is the leading national public health institute of the United States.
India's largest airline has also told its crew members -- who are working on flights connecting India with East Asian countries like Thailand and Singapore -- to wear N95 masks at all times when they are on ground.
Xi, also the general secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China, arrived in Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus outbreak, on Tuesday for an inspection of the epidemic prevention and control work in Hubei province and its capital city Wuhan, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Narendra Modi also conveyed to Xi his appreciation for facilitating evacuation of around 650 Indian citizens from the Hubei province last week.
Chinese officials say imported cases are on the rise as hundreds of people are returning to the country from various COVID-19 hotspots abroad, even though the deadly virus has been contained in epicentres of Hubei province and its capital Wuhan.
The death toll in the Chinese cruise ship that capsized in the mighty Yangtze river on Saturday jumped to nearly 400 as hundreds more bodies were found by disaster teams, making it China's deadliest boat disaster in 70 years.
In what appears to be an astonishing revelation, a US-based scientist who worked at a controversial research lab in China's Wuhan, has said that Covid-19 was a "man-made virus" that leaked from the facility.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for undiminished vigilance on the prevention and control work of the COVID-19 as the situation in the Wuhan City and Hubei Province remains severe
'FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed that the Bureau has assessed that the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic likely originated from a lab incident in Wuhan, China,' tweeted the FBI.
Ashish Kurme, an MBBS student studying at a university near Wuhan, tells the grim story of ground zero of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Wuhan lockdown was lifted even as epidemiologists warned that it is not the time to completely lower the guard and ease on full-scale restrictions, considering the looming asymptomatic patients and possible rebound in infections, the official media reported.
Speaking at a press conference, Peter Ben Embarek, the head of the WHO mission in Wuhan, stated four hypotheses on how the virus spread but reiterated that "laboratory incident hypothesis is extremely unlikely to explain the introduction of the virus into the human population".
Shanghai on Monday reported 425 confirmed and 8,581 asymptomatic domestically transmitted cases, the highest daily increases since the latest outbreak, bringing the total number of COVID-19 infections in the city to over 60,000.
The affected nurse is being treated and is recovering well, junior foreign minister V Muraleedharan said. Meanwhile, China has locked down five cities, including Wuhan, suspending all public transport in an unprecedented move to contain the coronavirus that has infected over 630 people and left 17 others dead.
He underwent 13 days of therapy, which included treatment with anti-viral drugs, plasma transfusions, and traditional Chinese medicine.
The World Health Organization on Thursday had said that a sharp rise in reported COVID-19, (official name for coronavirus) cases in China was due to a change in counting methods and it did not represent a big shift in the epidemic.
An Air India flight was sent to Wuhan on Friday to bring back the Indian students stuck in Hubei province, the epicentre of coronavirus.
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