COVID-19

There were 14.9 million excess deaths associated with Covid-19 by the end of 2021, the UN body said on Thursday.

The official count of deaths directly attributable to Covid-19 and reported to WHO in that period, from January 2020 to the end of December 2021, is slightly more than 5.4m.

The WHO's excess mortality figures reflect people who died of Covid-19 as well as those who died as an indirect result of the outbreak, including people who could not access healthcare for other conditions when systems were overwhelmed during huge waves of infection.

So they've ordered a mass clean-up - an army of people disinfecting thousands of compounds and residential areas aiming to eradicate the virus.

Then China's financial capital will open up, but it will be gradual, tentative, cautious.

The brutal "war" against Omicron has left a scarred city. People as old as 100 were among those who tested positive and were taken to quarantine centres. There were very few exceptions.

Doctors Without Borders, an international humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation, is leading the initiative which is responding to the Omicron outbreak that started in February.

Kiribati has recorded more than 3000 cases and 13 Covid-related deaths.

Medical coordinator Alison Jones said they're identifying gaps in the health care system.

As the Ministry of Health continues with surveillance, testing and vaccination numbers in Tongatapu has dropped on a daily basis.

Vaccination for children within the five to 11-year old group started this week with seven per cent of total numbers of children in this group having had their vaccination so far.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Saia Piukala said the Ministry is grateful to members of the public, the media and all frontliners for working together in the campaign against Covid-19 here.

An official notice from local Communist Party officials in an area in the north of the city details orders to transfer residents to quarantine facilities more than 100 miles (160km) away.

The plan is to move people from their homes in Pingwang to the neighbouring province of Zhejiang, where they will stay for at least a week. Young children, the elderly and those with disabilities could be excluded, according to the notice.

The programme started Tuesday, with children lining up to receive their first doses at the Queen Salote Memorial Hall in Nuku'alofa.

According to the latest update from Tonga's Ministry of Health, 90 percent of the Kingdom's eligible population (aged 12 and over) are double vaccinated, and only 2 percent remain unvaccinated.

There are 1,522 active cases with 11 officially recognised Covid deaths.

Photo Ministry of Health  Caption: Pfizer vaccine rollout for children at Queen Salote Hall 

The unofficial number might have reached that milestone even sooner.

NSW Health yesterday recorded 15,683 new Covid cases, taking the state's tally to over 2m since the start of the pandemic.

It's an official number, but the actual number of cases is probably far higher.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said on Wednesday - shortly before he contracted the virus - that cases were estimated to be under-reported by about 50 percent owing to people not being symptomatic or not reporting mild cases.

The move comes more than two years into the pandemic, and just days after free testing ended in England.

However, the NHS cautions that many of the new symptoms "are very similar" to those for colds and flu.

The original signs of a Covid infection that were recognised in the UK were:

But in recent days the usually bustling financial centre has been stopped in its tracks after a spike in coronavirus cases.

With little notice, officials imposed two staggered waves of lockdowns on the city's more than 26m residents. The eastern side of Shanghai has just been through four days of tight restrictions. The western part began its four-day isolation on 1 April.

The latest round of quarantining is China's largest since the coronavirus outbreak was first identified in Wuhan at the end of 2019.

The kingdom was unranked before the week-long competition, and a new team of uncapped players had to be hastily put together following disruptions due to the volcanic eruption and Covid pandemic.

Tonga laid down a marker with a crushing 85-42 triumph over Papua New Guinea in the opening round before upset wins over World Cup regulars Fiji (68-54) and Samoa (60-56).

The 2019 Pacific Games silver medallists beat Singapore 65-53 in their final group match before defeating the Fiji Pearls 60-52 in Saturday's grand final.