U.S. reports cases of new COVID variant NB.1.8.1 behind surge in China

Published by: CBS News
Published on: May 23, 2025
By Alexander Tin

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s airport screening program has detected multiple cases of the new COVID-19 variant NB.1.8.1, which has been linked to a large surge of the virus in China.

Cases linked to the NB.1.8.1 variant have been reported in arriving international travelers at airports in California, Washington state, Virginia and the New York City area, according to records uploaded by the CDC’s airport testing partner Ginkgo Bioworks.

Details about the sequencing results, which were published in recent weeks on the GISAID, or Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data, virus database, show the cases stem from travelers from a number of countries, including Japan, South Korea, France, Thailand, the Netherlands, Spain, Vietnam, China and Taiwan. The travelers were tested from April 22 through May 12, the records show.

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Japan

Japan COVID deaths 14 times that of flu after guidelines lifted

Published October 24, 2024

Published by: Kyodo News+
Published on: October 24, 2024

More than 30,000 people in Japan died of COVID-19 in the first year after most coronavirus-related guidelines were lifted in May 2023, a figure over 14 times higher than deaths caused by influenza during the same period, government data showed Thursday.

Coronavirus infections led to 32,576 deaths during the 12 months, with those aged 65 or older accounting for 97 percent of the total, while the number of influenza fatalities reached 2,244, according to the health ministry’s vital statistics.

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Singapore

Singapore facing new Covid-19 wave; vaccination recommended especially for seniors: Ong Ye Kung

Published May 18, 2024

Published by: The Straits Times
Published on: May 18, 2024
By Chin Soo Fang

Singapore is seeing a new Covid-19 wave, with rising cases of infection in the last two weeks, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on May 18.

“We are at the beginning part of the wave where it is steadily rising,” said Mr Ong. “So I would say the wave should peak in the next two to four weeks, which means between mid- and end of June.”

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said that to protect hospital bed capacity and as a precaution, public hospitals have been asked to reduce their non-urgent elective surgery cases and move suitable patients to facilities like transitional care facilities or back home through Mobile Inpatient Care@Home.

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heart failure

Data: Heart-failure patients have 82% better odds of living longer if vaccinated against COVID

Published May 13, 2024

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on: May 13, 2024
By Mary Van Beusekom

The first study of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness in a large population of adult heart-failure patients suggests that vaccinated participants are 82% more likely to live longer than their unvaccinated peers, according to an analysis presented over the weekend at the Heart Failure 2024 scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in Lisbon, Portugal.

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Tag: Asia