What you need to know about the coronavirus right now

April 20 (Reuters) – Here’s what you need to know about the pandemic right now:

Shanghai hopes COVID tide turning

China’s commercial capital of Shanghai reported no new COVID-19 infections outside quarantine areas in two districts on Wednesday, fanning hopes that the tide is turning in its pandemic battle, as some factories began to resume operations. read more

State media trumpeted the resumption of production by electric car company Tesla at its Shanghai plant on Tuesday, after a halt of more than three weeks. read more

Taiwan may see 10,000 daily cases by month-end

Taiwan may see domestic COVID-19 infections top 10,000 a day by the end of the month, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said on Wednesday, calling on people to exercise caution and stick to wearing face masks.

The island of 23 million people moved early to control the pandemic, adopting measures such as closing its borders and tracing the contacts of those infected, but it has seen a rise in infections since the beginning of the year. read more

Biden administration will appeal lifting of mask mandate, if CDC agrees

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration said on Tuesday it would appeal a judge’s ruling ending a mask mandate on airplanes if public health officials deem it necessary to stem the spread of COVID-19.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to whom the administration was deferring, said it would continue to study whether the mandates were still needed. The mandates apply to planes, trains and other public transportation and, prior to Monday’s ruling, had been due to expire on May 3. read more

Canada to keep mask mandate

Canada’s government said on Tuesday it has no plans to stop requiring masks on planes.

“We are taking a layered approach to keeping travelers safe, and masks remain an incredibly useful tool in our arsenal against COVID-19,” a spokesperson for Canada’s Transport Minister wrote in an email. read more

Omicron BA.2 makes up over 90% of COVID variants in U.S. – CDC

The BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron and its sublineage BA.2.12.1 is estimated to make up more than 90% of the coronavirus variants in the United States as of April 16, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.

Overall cases have dropped sharply nationally since hitting record levels in January, but infections have been on the rise during the last few weeks, particularly in Northeast states like New York and Connecticut. read more

Unvaccinated children hospitalized at twice the rate during Omicron surge – U.S. study

Hospitalization rates for unvaccinated children ages 5 to 11 were twice as high as among those who were vaccinated during the record COVID-19 surge caused by the Omicron variant, according to a U.S. study released on Tuesday.

For every 100,000 unvaccinated children in the age group, 19.1 per were hospitalized with COVID-19 between mid-December and late February, compared with 9.2 per 100,000 vaccinated kids, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. read more

Israel scraps indoor mask order for second time

Israel told its citizens on Wednesday they could stop wearing masks indoors, its second such revision after the measure was briefly dropped and then restored last year in response to a rise in COVID-19 cases.

The scrapping of mandatory masks in closed public venues will go into force on Saturday, subject to approval by a parliament oversight committee, a government statement said. read more

Compiled by Linda Noakes; Editing by Bernadette Baum

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