Beijing is under pressure to finalise a licensing deal on production of Paxlovid before the Lunar New Year, when millions of Chinese will travel to rural areas to visit their families

Concern about Beijing's Covid data has aggravated ties with governments that said visitors from China must undergo Covid tests before arriving in their country.

US officials said on Tuesday they may impose new Covid regulations for people on flights from China because of concerns over the "lack of transparent (health) data" from Beijing

Hospitals have been swamped by people seriously ill with Covid, while the country has also seen a rush of queries from people wanting to travel again, as quarantine rules will end on January 8

Prime Minister Kishida Fumio said all travellers from China will be tested for Covid-19 on arrival because people are getting worried about the huge surge of Covid on the mainland

A new study says Covid deaths in China "could be cut to less than 200,000" if Chinese authorities boost vaccination rates of elderly people with mRNA vaccines and other measures

Stocks in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo all rose on Tuesday after Beijing dropped its quarantine requirement for inbound travellers; the US dollar also eased

Health officials say China's Covid crisis – said to be causing thousands of deaths a day – is likely to strain its fragile health system for at least two months

BioNTech vaccine shipment comes after China agreed to allow Germans in the country to get the shot following a deal during Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visit in Beijing last month

There is worry about the threat of a huge number of deaths, while the US voiced concern about virus mutations and the economic impacts, both at home and abroad

China's rocky exit from zero-Covid has forced banks and financiers to dust off plans devised to cope with the health crisis, injecting greater of unpredictability into markets

Health officials are concerned about rural areas, which are likely to see the return of many family members next month, but have had little exposure to the virus since the pandemic erupted