Covid-19 Origins

Most children in Beijing will not return to school next week as originally planned, Chinese officials said on Saturday, after an emerging Covid-19 outbreak prompted authorities to partly reverse a decision to resume in-person teaching.

Border areas in China's northeastern province of Jilin, which shares a long frontier with coronavirus-hit North Korea, reported domestically transmitted COVID-19 infections of unknown origin, a Chinese health official said on Friday.

WhatsApp users in India can now access DigiLocker through the government's MyGov Helpdesk chatbot that debuted in 2020. It will allow users to use WhatsApp to create and authenticate their DigiLocker account as well as download documents such as PAN card, driving licence, and insurance policy documents, among others.

China reported 2,388 new local COVID-19 cases with confirmed symptoms on March 17, official data showed on Friday, almost double the count a day earlier, as the country battles its biggest outbreak since the one originating in Wuhan in 2020.

A Russian-European mission to land a rover on Mars is "very unlikely" to launch this year due to sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, the European Space Agency said.

Naseem Shah, who was originally a travelling reserve, has been included in the Pakistan squad for the first Test against Australia after Haris Rauf was ruled out after testing positive for COVID-19, Pakistan Cricket Board announced on Tuesday

A subvariant of the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus strain, which some studies indicate could be even more infectious than the original version, has been detected in 57 countries, the WHO said Tuesday.

Mission: Impossible fans will have to wait a little longer to watch Tom Cruise back in action. The actor's highly-anticipated movies Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8 have been delayed again due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

London-based restaurateur Amritpal Singh Maan is best known as the MD of Punjab Restaurant in London's Covent Garden.

Amritpal Singh Maan, a philanthropist who has provided over 200,000 meals to those in need since the COVID-19 pandemic began, has been awarded OBE in recognition for his services to charity and community.

The omicron variant infects around 70 times faster than delta and the original Covid-19 strain, though the severity of illness is likely to be much lower, according to a University of Hong Kong study.

A Canadian molecular biologist told cross-party members of Parliament on the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee that a leak from a laboratory in Wuhan region of China is now "more likely" origin of COVID-19 global pandemic.

India's tour of South Africa will go ahead "as originally scheduled" despite concerns over a new COVID-19 variant, Cricket South Africa confirmed through a press release on Saturday.

Meta said on Wednesday that it has blocked Facebook and Instagram accounts of an influence operation originating in China that promoted claims of a fake "Swiss biologist" saying the United States was interfering in the search for COVID-19's origins.

Sri Lanka on Friday detected a new sub-lineage of the Delta variant of COVID-19, scientifically named B.1.617.2. AY 104, making it the third mutation of the coronavirus to have originated in the island nation.

Most children in Beijing will not return to school next week as originally planned, Chinese officials said on Saturday, after an emerging Covid-19 outbreak prompted authorities to partly reverse a decision to resume in-person teaching.

Border areas in China's northeastern province of Jilin, which shares a long frontier with coronavirus-hit North Korea, reported domestically transmitted COVID-19 infections of unknown origin, a Chinese health official said on Friday.

WhatsApp users in India can now access DigiLocker through the government's MyGov Helpdesk chatbot that debuted in 2020. It will allow users to use WhatsApp to create and authenticate their DigiLocker account as well as download documents such as PAN card, driving licence, and insurance policy documents, among others.

China reported 2,388 new local COVID-19 cases with confirmed symptoms on March 17, official data showed on Friday, almost double the count a day earlier, as the country battles its biggest outbreak since the one originating in Wuhan in 2020.

A Russian-European mission to land a rover on Mars is "very unlikely" to launch this year due to sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, the European Space Agency said.

Naseem Shah, who was originally a travelling reserve, has been included in the Pakistan squad for the first Test against Australia after Haris Rauf was ruled out after testing positive for COVID-19, Pakistan Cricket Board announced on Tuesday

A subvariant of the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus strain, which some studies indicate could be even more infectious than the original version, has been detected in 57 countries, the WHO said Tuesday.

Mission: Impossible fans will have to wait a little longer to watch Tom Cruise back in action. The actor's highly-anticipated movies Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8 have been delayed again due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

London-based restaurateur Amritpal Singh Maan is best known as the MD of Punjab Restaurant in London's Covent Garden.

Amritpal Singh Maan, a philanthropist who has provided over 200,000 meals to those in need since the COVID-19 pandemic began, has been awarded OBE in recognition for his services to charity and community.

The omicron variant infects around 70 times faster than delta and the original Covid-19 strain, though the severity of illness is likely to be much lower, according to a University of Hong Kong study.

A Canadian molecular biologist told cross-party members of Parliament on the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee that a leak from a laboratory in Wuhan region of China is now "more likely" origin of COVID-19 global pandemic.

India's tour of South Africa will go ahead "as originally scheduled" despite concerns over a new COVID-19 variant, Cricket South Africa confirmed through a press release on Saturday.

Meta said on Wednesday that it has blocked Facebook and Instagram accounts of an influence operation originating in China that promoted claims of a fake "Swiss biologist" saying the United States was interfering in the search for COVID-19's origins.

Sri Lanka on Friday detected a new sub-lineage of the Delta variant of COVID-19, scientifically named B.1.617.2. AY 104, making it the third mutation of the coronavirus to have originated in the island nation.