Beijing says it’s taken all necessary coronavirus safety measures for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Positive cases have been reported at the Games, including amongst arriving athletes and officials. So what safety measures are in place, and how successful has China’s policy of “zero Covid” been? Stricter measures than at Tokyo Olympics China has gone to great lengths to keep the virus out. Foreign spectators are barred and tickets are not on sale to the general public. Groups of local spectators are being “invited” to events and will have to observe strict Covid prevention measures “before, during and after watching the

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has slammed protests in the capital city against Covid-19 vaccine mandates as “an insult to memory and truth”. Protestors are demonstrating for a third consecutive day over a cross-border vaccine mandate for truckers imposed by the Liberal government. Ottawa police asked the public to avoid the downtown area on Monday, citing “traffic, noise and safety issues”. Some downtown stores, including a shopping mall, will also be closed. Demonstrators at the so-called Freedom Convoy have been mostly peaceful but the behaviour of some members of the crowd has been strongly criticised. Police have opened investigations into

Tonga will go into lockdown after several cases of Covid were recorded in the capital city Nuku’alofa. Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni said on Tuesday two port workers had tested positive. Officials later confirmed three more cases in family members. The South Pacific nation had previously managed to stay virus-free. The outbreak comes as Tongans try to recover from a deadly volcanic eruption and tsunami which left three dead and damaged homes and infrastructure. Tonga had avoided Covid outbreaks by closing its borders to the outside world in early 2020. But since the eruption it has since been heavily dependent on

Scientists in South Africa have made a copy of the Moderna Covid vaccine, a move which they say could help boost vaccination rates across Africa. The continent currently has the lowest uptake of Covid shots in the world. The company behind the new vaccine – Afrigen Biologics – says it hopes to start clinical trials in November. Moderna previously said it would not enforce the patents on its vaccine, allowing scientists in Cape Town to make their own version of it. The researchers were backed by the World Health Organization (WHO). Petro Terblanche, director of Afrigen Biologics, said they were