Asian nations toughen Covid curbs

Countries in Asia were stepping up their fight against the coronavirus yesterday to suppress a contagion they had previously tamed, as warnings grew in Europe over a new fast-spreading variant.

Japan declared a state of emergency in Tokyo as the capital region clocked a 24-hour record of almost 2,500 infections, while China imposed emergency measures to tackle an outbreak in the northern city of Shijiazhuang.

The restrictions follow a slew of new lockdowns and other restrictions announced in Europe this week and Canada ordering its first curfew of the pandemic.

The global outbreak shows no signs of abating, with more than 1.8 million people known to have died worldwide from 87 million confirmed cases.

Japan's outbreak has not been as severe as those in Europe and the US, but the government was forced to announce a month-long crackdown in the capital region yesterday with new rules targeting restaurants and bars.

China reported 63 new infections yesterday -- the highest daily tally since July -- as authorities tried to stamp out an outbreak in a city of 11 million near Beijing.

The government in Shijiazhuang, in China's northern Hebei province, has closed schools, cut travel links and begun mass testing, reports AFP.

More Americans were hospitalised with Covid-19 on Wednesday than at any time since the pandemic began, as total infections crossed the 21 million mark, deaths soared across much of the United States and a historic vaccination effort lagged.

Experts see mass vaccinations as the best route back to normality, but the first rollouts have coincided with alarming spikes in deaths and caseloads across many parts of the world.

Moderna's chief executive Stephane Bancel said yesterday its Covid-19 mRNA vaccine is likely to offer protection of up to a couple of years, even though more data is still needed to make a definitive assessment, reports Reuters.

"The nightmare scenario that was described in the media in the spring with a vaccine only working a month or two is, I think, out of the window," Bancel said at an event organised by financial services group Oddo BHF.

"The antibody decay generated by the vaccine in humans goes down very slowly (...) We believe there will be protection potentially for a couple of years."

The EU on Wednesday cleared the Moderna vaccine for use in the 27-nation bloc, following the approval last month of the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.

Several European governments have been criticised for slow rollouts, France managing just a few hundred in a week and the Netherlands taking 10 days to begin its campaign.