COVID-19

“It was quite secretive — you couldn’t see the lights on the second floor from the outside.”

The seven-day average of new infection cases stood at 12,467.1 in Tokyo, up 6% week on week.

Health risk analysis firm Airfinity has predicted as many as 2.1 million COVID-19 fatalities at current immunity levels.

Unlike the whack-a-mole pattern of outbreaks that took place in the U.S. and Europe over months and years, China is likely to see a wave of infections engulf the country all at once.

China’s ending nearly three years of severe COVID-19 restrictions will bring an uptick in cases and deaths, creating political challenges for the government.

The comments come as Beijing makes concerted steps toward dismantling its zero-tolerance approach to the virus.

The seven-day average of new cases came to 12,136.9, about the same level as the previous week’s 12,004.4.

Gross domestic product shrank an annualized 0.8% in the three months to the end of September from the previous period, revised figures from the Cabinet Office showed Thursday.

It is almost unheard of for protesters to target the country’s leader, including Xi Jinping. Such actions carry a high level of personal risk and virtually no chance of success.

The seven-day average of new infection cases stands at 11,883.3 in Tokyo, up 7.6% week on week.

By jettisoning key tenets of the virus elimination strategy, China’s switch in COVID-19 policy is suddenly moving faster than expected.

The seven-day average of new cases came to 11,805.6, compared with 10,827.0 a week earlier.