COVID digest: Australian Prime Minister tests positive

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has tested postive for COVID-19, he announced on Tuesday. He said he was experiencing mild "flu-like symptoms" and would keep up his duties remotely while self-isolating.

Morrisson said he would still be focusing on the government's response to devastating floods in the state of Queensland, as well as Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Cases across Australia have reached a plateau after a massive spike in January brought on by the arrival of the omicron variant and the end of Australia's long "zero COVID" policy.

Morrison was one of the first Australians to get vaccinated last year, and has received two booster shots.

Here are the latest major coronavirus developments from around the world:

Asia

Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam appealed for calm across the city as residents emptied supermarkets amid fears of a strict government lockdown.

The Hong Kong area has been experiencing an explosion of COVID-19 cases related to the omicron variant. Before the variant's arrival, Hong Kong only had 2,000 total coronavirus infections in the first two years of the pandemic. Now, the city is reaching daily case rates in the tens of thousands and hospitals are overcrowding.

A top scientist in China has said that Beijing was mulling moving away from its "zero COVID" strategy "in the near future," as the policy becomes less feasible due to the emergence of variants, the rest of the world opening up, and falling rates of death and serious illness as vaccination coverage spreads.

Europe

UK Health Minister Sajid Javid said that the government was dropping a vaccine mandate for healthcare workers. The measure was supposed to take effect in April.

Britain also announced an end to a vaccine requirement for personnel at elderly care homes that had already taken effect. This mandate is to end on March 15.

Javid said extensive consultations with the public and those affected were taken into consideration before reaching the decision, which was also based on the lower fatality numbers related to the omicron variant and the high vaccine uptake in the UK.

Middle East

In Israel, which has one of the highest rates of vaccine uptake in the world, unvaccinated travelers were allowed into the country on Tuesday for the first time since strict restrictions were put in place to combat the spread of COVID-19.

"We are seeing a steady decline in the morbidity data; therefore, this is the time to gradually open what we were the first in the world to close," Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said of the decision.

Unvaccinated arrivals will still have to present a negative PCR test to enter Israel.

French-Austrian vaccine producer Valneva announced that Bahrain has become the first country to approve its coronavirus jab on an emergency basis. The Valneva vaccine is novel in that it is the only one currently available that uses inactivated virus as well as an adjuvant — a substance that enhances the immune system's response to the presence of an antigen. It makers hope this will create a stronger immune response.

North America

The administration of US President Joe Biden has said that federal institutions can drop indoor mask mandates, according to a memo seen by Reuters news agency. At the same time, the attending physician for the US Congress dropped a masking rule for the legislature just ahead of Biden's first State of the Union address.

es/msh (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)