China passed 'extraordinary' virus test, says bullish Xi
BEIJING, China — China has passed "an extraordinary and historic test" with its handling of the coronavirus, President Xi Jinping said Tuesday at a triumphant awards ceremony for medical professionals decorated with bugle calls and applause.
The nation's propaganda machine has churned out praise for the Chinese government's Covid-19 response, reframing the public health crisis as an example of the agility and organisation of the Communist leadership.
Xi doled out gold medals to four "heroes" from the medical field in front of hundreds of applauding delegates on Tuesday, all wearing face masks and strikingly large red flower pins.
"We have passed an extraordinary and historic test," Xi said, praising the country for a "heroic struggle" against the disease.
"We quickly achieved initial success in the people's war against the coronavirus... We are leading the world in economic recovery and in the fight against Covid-19."
China has come under intense global scrutiny over its response to the virus, with the United States and Australia leading accusations against Beijing that it covered up the origins and severity of the virus.
Xi had stern words for China's doubters saying "selfish moves, any buck-passing and deeds that confuse right and wrong" risked inflicting damage across the world.
Tuesday's lavish ceremony in the Great Hall of the People began with a minute's silence for those who lost their lives during the outbreak.
The four awardees included 83-year-old Zhong Nanshan -- the country's most famous medical expert who emerged as the face of China's fight against the contagion.
He was awarded China's top national medal by Xi, who placed it around Zhong's neck.
"We will join hands with the... world's medical workers to continue the fight in tracing the origins of the virus," said Zhong.
Beijing has insisted the source of the virus -- which first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year -- is still unknown.
Three others were given the honorary title of "The People's Hero" -- biochemical expert Chen Wei, the head of a hospital in Wuhan, and a 72-year-old expert in traditional Chinese medicine.
Some delegates were in tears during a series of speeches.
There was no mention however of whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang, who was among the first to be silenced for raising the alarm about the outbreak and later died from the disease.
Before the ceremony, state broadcaster CCTV showed a video montage of Wuhan at the peak of the outbreak set to rousing music, including images of medical staff in hazmat suits and crowded hospitals.
According to official numbers there have been 4,634 deaths in China from Covid-19. The government has largely contained the outbreak through a series of strict lockdowns and travel restrictions.
Follow this page for updates on a mysterious pneumonia outbreak that has struck dozens of people in China.
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says on Sunday that he had contracted COVID-19, testing positive at a key point in his flailing campaign for re-election.
Hipkins saYS on his official social media feed that he would need to isolate for up to five days -- less than two weeks before his country's general election.
The leader of the centre-left Labour Party said he started to experience cold symptoms on Saturday and had cancelled most of his weekend engagements. — AFP
The World Health Organization and US health authorities say Friday they are closely monitoring a new variant of COVID-19, although the potential impact of BA.2.86 is currently unknown.
The WHO classified the new variant as one under surveillance "due to the large number (more than 30) of spike gene mutations it carries", it wrote in a bulletin about the pandemic late Thursday.
So far, the variant has only been detected in Israel, Denmark and the United States. — AFP
The World Health Organization says on Friday that the number of new COVID-19 cases reported worldwide rose by 80% in the last month, days after designating a new "variant of interest".
The WHO declared in May that Covid is no longer a global health emergency, but has warned that the virus will continue to circulate and mutate, causing occasional spikes in infections, hospitalisations and deaths.
In its weekly update, the UN agency said that nations reported nearly 1.5 million new cases from July 10 to August 6, an 80% increase compared to the previous 28 days. — AFP
The head of US intelligence says that there was no evidence that the COVID-19 virus was created in the Chinese government's Wuhan research lab.
In a declassified report, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) says they had no information backing recent claims that three scientists at the lab were some of the very first infected with COVID-19 and may have created the virus themselves.
Drawing on intelligence collected by various member agencies of the US intelligence community (IC), the ODNI report says some scientists at the Wuhan lab had done genetic engineering of coronaviruses similar to COVID-19. — AFP
Boris Johnson deliberately misled MPs over Covid lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street when he was prime minister, a UK parliament committee ruled on Thursday.
The cross-party Privileges Committee said Johnson, 58, would have been suspended as an MP for 90 days for "repeated contempts (of parliament) and for seeking to undermine the parliamentary process".
But he avoided any formal sanction by his peers in the House of Commons by resigning as an MP last week.
In his resignation statement last Friday, Johnson pre-empted publication of the committee's conclusions, claiming a political stitch-up, even though the body has a majority from his own party.
He was unrepentant again on Thursday, accusing the committee of being "anti-democratic... to bring about what is intended to be the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination".
Calling it "beneath contempt", he said it was "for the people of this to decide who sits in parliament, not Harriet Harman", the veteran opposition Labour MP who chaired the seven-person committee. — AFP
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