Ted Regencia

Com­mu­ni­ty lock­downs, curbs on mass gath­er­ings present chal­lenges as cam­paign­ing starts for May 9 polls.

Dis­si­dents join rights groups in warn­ing against any ef­fort by Bei­jing to use Games as ‘sports-wash­ing op­por­tu­ni­ty’.

Sta­tis­tics of­fice has record­ed more than 105,000 to­tal COVID deaths as the coun­try hits a new record for ac­tive cas­es.

COVID news from Jan­u­ary 15: UN-backed vac­cine-shar­ing pro­gramme has de­liv­ered one bil­lion dos­es to 144 na­tions.

COVID news from Jan­u­ary 12: Biden ad­min­is­tra­tion warns it could act in re­sponse to Chi­na’s can­cel­la­tions of US flights.

COVID news from Jan­u­ary 11: UN health agency calls for new vac­cines that bet­ter pro­tect amid emerg­ing vari­ants.

The Omi­cron vari­ant’s ad­vance ex­pect­ed due to its con­ta­gious na­ture as it be­comes dom­i­nant in France, Por­tu­gal and UK.

France, Italy, Ar­genti­na and Greece also re­port­ed record dai­ly highs as WHO warned of COVID ‘tsuna­mi’.

France’s third straight day of record cas­es comes amid thou­sands of flights can­celled world­wide on Christ­mas week­end.

Hol­i­day trav­el dis­rupt­ed as Thai­land re­ports first Omi­cron clus­ter, Ecuador makes vac­cines com­pul­so­ry.