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.
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.
So far about 124 positive cases have been reported in a host of countries, including India where the first case was confirmed in Kerala.
As the virus continued to spread at an alarming rate, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday warned officials of punishment if they shirked responsibility in tackling the virus outbreak.
'For the Premier League champions, their appearance in China was nothing more than a commercial obligation, and their lack of enthusiasm and the indifferent treatment of their hosts stands in stark contrast to representatives of other clubs'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi left behind a "thirsty" and "frustrated" Bangladesh as the two countries could not reach an accord on the Teesta river water sharing issue during his visit to Dhaka, Chinese official media said on Monday.
The remarks by China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, Geng Shuang, came during an emergency meeting of the Security Council on the situation in Afghanistan on Monday after the sudden and rapid takeover of the Afghanistan government by the Taliban insurgents.
However, a total of 34 new COVID-19 cases were reported on the Chinese mainland.
At least 150 people were killed and dozens injured when a powerful 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck southwest China's Yunnan province on Sunday.
The six-wheeled solar-powered rover named Zhurong, resembling a blue butterfly and with a mass of 240 kg, slowly trundled off a ramp on the lander to hit the red, sandy soil of Mars, starting its journey to explore the fourth planet from the Sun.
It can also lead to obesity.
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.
China's badminton superstar Lin Dan said he hopes world number one Lee Chong Wei, who is embroiled in a doping scandal, is able to return to the sport soon, state media reported.
Global Times, the Chinese Communist Party government's mouthpiece, said that the broadcaster is responsible "for falsified reporting" on China's handling of the coronavirus in the country.
The New York Times quoted Google as saying that it did not know why the site had been blocked. But a report by the official Xinhua news agency of China on Tuesday said supporters of the Dalai Lama had fabricated a video that appeared to show Chinese police officers brutally beating Tibetans after riots last year in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.
China has smothered most outbreaks within its borders, keeping new case numbers low.
Beijing views the India-based Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, as a separatist trying to split the Himalayan region from China.
China may accord recognition to the new government in Kabul at an early opportunity, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
The Wuhan local administration earlier announced that people who are not quarantined and seeking special treatment or stranded in the city can leave in batches.
An explosion on Wednesday rocked a railway station in Urumqi, capital of China's volatile Muslim-majority Xinjiang province. Details about the blast and casualties are unclear, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, citing officials.
Wang Xinghuan, the head of the Wuhan Leishenshan (Thunder God Mountain) Hospital, advocated the use of facial masks specially in cities like New York which are experience a higher rate of cases and casualties of coronavirus.
The total deaths from the more than two-month-old outbreak as reported on Thursday stood at 1,367, with the total number of confirmed cases mounting to 59,804, health officials were quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
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.
The highlight of the occasion, according to officials, is an address to a special gathering in the morning by President Xi Jinping, who cast himself in the mould of Mao Zedong, the founder of the Communist Party of China as it is officially called.
A fire accident in a sulphur mine in a northwest China province killed ten miners, rescuers said on Wednesday.
Talks between Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to improve the relations got off on a rough note at the northeastern Chinese port city of Tianjin, with Xie launching a blistering attack on Washington, accusing it of being the "owner of coercive diplomacy".
Amid the Sikkim standoff, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Thursday held talks with his Chinese Counterpart and State Councillor Yang Jiechi on the sidelines of the BRICS NSAs meeting.
Fan Bingbing, who has been ordered to pay $130 million (Rs 952 crore) for tax evasion, was reportedly kept at a "holiday resort" used by investigators in a suburb in the coastal province of Jiangsu.
The prime minister started off his remarks at the meeting in Tamil, welcoming China to the talks, which were held right after one-on-one discussions between Modi and Xi at the Taj Fisherman's Cove Hotel.
A massive fire engulfed a private nursing home for senior citizens in central China, killing at least 38 residents who were charred beyond recognition and prompting authorities to order nationwide safety checks of public buildings.
Shanghai-based military analyst Ni Lexiong said the overhaul marked a significant strategic shift from having a homeland-based defensive force to one with the capacity to allow Beijing to flex its muscles beyond its national borders and to protect its interests overseas.
The first priority for the new Tibetan administration in Dharamsala should be to look at Tibetan recruitment in the PLA, suggests Claude Arpi.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has bestowed special honours on a PLA battalion posted in Tibet close to Arunachal Pradesh for its "outstanding performance in safeguarding borders".
Thousands of medical workers deployed in the capital of central Hubei province from across the nation also left Wuhan after completing their mission.
The death toll in twin blasts in this eastern Chinese port city on Sunday rose to 112 after authorities recovered more bodies from the debris, as 95 people are still missing, officials said.
The death toll due to nCoV rose to 1,016 and the confirmed cases have gone up to 42,638, according to the commission.
'Modi forgot to ask Trump for anything that India may need -- and there is so much shortfall all around!', states Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The government has downgraded the risk level of Wuhan for Covid-19 outbreak from high to medium, according to official media reports.
It is the country's second aircraft carrier, after the Liaoning, and the first to be made domestically.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has underlined the need for building a combat-ready army and accelerate the building of the theatre joint combat command system, amidst the People's Liberation Army flexing its muscles in the disputed South China Sea.
