Weekly news at a glance

(Worldwide) World’s weekly deaths drop 10% to lowest level

COVID-19 deaths are at the lowest level since the pandemic began more than two years ago with cases the fewest in five months though there are some hotspots, including Mainland China where the pandemic originated.

Coronavirus’ seven-day moving average of deaths was 2,301, the lowest since 1,911 on March 25, 2020, according to tracking by Worldometers.info. That includes 1,366 reported Saturday with 1,691 April 18. The record was 17,006 Jan. 20, 2021, amid the Delta variant surge.

Infections and fatalities decreased on every continent except cases up in North America and Africa, and deaths rising in Oceania.

A subvariant, BA.2.12.1, along with another version of Omicron, called BA.2.12, has led to a spike but illnesses are not as severe or even as deadly.

(Worldwide) Italy, Greece relax COVID-19 restrictions

For travelers heading to Europe, summer vacations just got a whole lot easier.

Italy and Greece relaxed some COVID-19 restrictions on Sunday before Europe’s peak summer tourist season, in a sign that life was increasingly returning to normal.

Greece’s civil aviation authority announced that it was lifting all COVID-19 rules for international and domestic flights except for the wearing of face masks during flights and at airports. Previously, air travelers were required to show proof of vaccination, a negative test or a recent recovery from the disease.

As of Sunday, visitors to Italy no longer have to fill out the EU passenger locator form, a complicated online ordeal required at airport check-in.

Italy also did away with the health pass that had been required to enter restaurants, cinemas, gyms and other venues. The green pass, which showed proof of vaccination, recovery from the virus or a recent negative test, is still required to access hospitals and nursing homes.

(Worldwide) Shanghai hits milestone in COVID battle

Shanghai has detected no new COVID-19 cases outside quarantine areas for Friday, hitting a key milestone in its battle to contain the virus, which has paralysed the city of 25 million and seen Beijing scramble to avert a similar crisis.

Scenes of homes and buildings in China’s most populous city being caged to prevent residents leaving have grabbed global headlines in recent weeks at a time when most other major cities in the world are learning to live with coronavirus.

Although Shanghai city officials did not discuss the milestone at their daily news conference on Saturday, it was cheered on Chinese social media, with the topic “Shanghai sees zero-COVID transmission at the community level” receiving more than 190,000 views on Saturday morning on the Weibo platform.

(AUS) Hospitals and ambulances under record pressure

New government data shows that Victorian hospitals and ambulances were under extreme levels of pressure at the start of this year, due to the COVID-19 Omicron wave. An increase in patient call-outs combined with staff shortages contributed to the impact on these health services. 

Statistics from the Victorian Health Services Performance unit show that approximately one third of urgent ambulance patients waited more than the target time, during the March quarter.

The target wait time for these urgent Code One patients is fifteen minutes. The number of call-outs also rose during the same period, which was combined with a record number of paramedics unable to work after being exposed to COVID-19.

(AUS) Victoria and NSW maintain ban on student exchange

Victoria and New South Wales are maintaining a ban on exchange programs for secondary school students, despite universities welcoming back international arrivals. Exchange programs allow high school students to attend another school abroad for up to a year, but were stopped in early 2020. 

The Council of Australian Student Exchange Organisations is calling on both states to end the ban. President of the council Sandeep Agarwal, said the student exchange body had submitted its COVID-safe plans to the Victorian and NSW governments in February but was still awaiting approval.

(AUS) Victoria gets first flu season in 3 years

Influenza is returning to Victoria, with the state recording more cases of flu in recent days than for the entirety of last year. In 2021, Victoria did not record a single community transmitted case of the flu. 

Former deputy chief health officer Professor Allen Cheng, says there have been more than fifty cases of the flu admitted to Australian hospitals this year so far, most of them in recent weeks. Health authorities continue to urge people to receive both a flu vaccination as well as getting up-to-date with their COVID-19 shots.