Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Oct 15, 2025

Progress against coronavirus in China as new cases wane in epidemic hot zone

Progress against coronavirus in China as new cases wane in epidemic hot zone

China is pressing ahead with vaccine development and one may be ready for emergency use next month.
Signs of progress against the coronavirus epidemic emerged in China on Friday with epicentre Hubei province reporting no new cases of infection outside the provincial capital and scientists pointing to advances in the development of vaccines and drugs.

In Beijing, Zheng Zhongwei, director of the National Health Commission’s Science and Technology Development Centre, said China was moving full steam ahead to develop vaccines for the coronavirus, which has sickened more than 90,000 people and killed over 3,000 worldwide.

“Our different approaches [to vaccines] are steadily advancing and [we are] following national laws and regulations [in our development],” Zheng said. “According to our estimates, we are hopeful that in April some of the vaccines [that are being developed] will enter clinical research or they would be of use in emergency situations.”

Under national regulations, vaccines developed for major public health emergencies can be deployed for urgent use under specified conditions, if the National Medical Products Administration considers that the benefits of the treatment outweigh the risks.

A sense of optimism was evident among Chinese officials as they outlined plans to ease draconian lockdowns imposed to stop the spread of the disease, which has been reported in more than 80 countries around the world since it erupted in Wuhan, the provincial capital, in December.

In Wuhan, Ding Xiangyang, deputy secretary general of the State Council, said he was confident that the control measures would end soon but he stopped short of giving a specific date.

“When I left home this morning, I saw that the cherry trees outside were blooming,” said Ding, a member of a special task force sent by Beijing to Hubei to oversee the containment of the disease. “This tells us that winter is over and spring is here.

“I am confident the day that everyone is waiting for will not be too far away.”

While China remained the most seriously hit country by the coronavirus, South Korea is also grappling with a surge in cases, with 6,593 confirmed cases and 42 deaths so far.

Iran announced 1,234 new infections and 17 deaths on Friday, bringing the country’s total of confirmed cases to 4,747 and the death toll to 124.

In Germany, the number of confirmed cases has tripled since Tuesday, bringing the country’s total to 534. Meanwhile, an 86-year-old man in the Netherlands became the country’s first fatality from the virus.

Bhutan, Cameroon and Serbia were among the countries to report their first cases.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
×