World

HCMC Covid-19 Resuscitation Hospital, the city’s largest ICU, is expected to add 300 beds with the number of severe patients rising. The hospital, which specializes in treating Covid-19 patients reliant on intensive care, has recently received at least 30-35 patients daily, its deputy head Tran Thanh Linh said Wednesday. Its …

Hanoi can only go ahead with its plan to ban motorbikes by 2025 if it can rapidly create infrastructure for public transport, experts have said. The Hanoi People’s Committee plans to reduce congestion by banning motorcycles in core districts in 2025, five years earlier than according to a previous plan …

China’s drug authority has granted emergency approval for the country’s first specialized treatment against Covid-19, found in clinical trials to significantly reduce hospitalizations and deaths among high-risk patients. The move comes as regulators around the world give the green light to treatments — particularly for high-risk groups — amid worries …

Chef Ilhani used to serve up Japanese cuisine to holidaymakers every night, now he makes just $3 a day selling fried snacks on the near empty streets of once bustling Gili Trawangan. The coronavirus pandemic has shuttered almost all the resorts and restaurants across Indonesia’s Gili Islands, famed for their …

Three doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine appear effective against the Omicron variant, a lab test indicated — encouraging news, even as Denmark and Britain announced new restrictions to stem surging caseloads. In preliminary results published on Wednesday, the US and German companies behind one of the world’s foremost shots …

Canada joined Australia, Britain and the United States in a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing on Wednesday, with China calling the boycotts “political posturing” and a smear campaign. The United States was the first to announce the boycott this week, saying on Monday that its government officials …

Lawmakers elected Social Democrat Olaf Scholz as German chancellor on Wednesday, ending 16 years of conservative rule under Angela Merkel and paving the way for a pro-European coalition government that has promised to boost green investment. Scholz, 63, who served as vice chancellor and finance minister in coalition with Merkel, …

A military helicopter carrying Indian defence chief General Bipin Rawat crashed near the town of Coonoor in southern India on Wednesday, the Indian Air Force said. Two defence sources said they were currently trying to ascertain Rawat’s status. Rawat was appointed as India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) by …

Japan’s economy shrank 3.6 percent in the third quarter, worse than the initial estimate of a 3.0 percent contraction, revised government data showed on Wednesday, posting a decline as private spending took a hit from a resurgence in Covid-19. The revised figure for gross domestic product (GDP) released by the …

South Korea’s new daily Covid-19 cases rose above 7,000 for the first time, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said on Wednesday, putting hospital capacity under strain as deaths and severe cases rise. Infections in South Korea have skyrocketed this month after the government began to ease restrictions under a so-called “living …