https://www.scmp.com/rss/507492/feed Latest news and updates on the impact of a new strain of coronavirus on the United States. The virus causes the disease Covid-19 and the World Health Organisation has declared the spread of the infection a pandemic. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Associated Press Associated Press A man has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of an elderly Thai man whose 2021 killing in San Francisco helped spark a national movement against anti-Asian-American violence. A jury did not find Antoine Watson, 24, guilty of murder when it returned a verdict on Thursday for the January 2021 attack on Vicha Ratanapakdee, 84. Jurors found Watson guilty on the lesser charges of involuntary manslaughter and assault. The office of San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3340234/man-found-guilty-involuntary-manslaughter-san-francisco-thai-grandfather?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3340234/man-found-guilty-involuntary-manslaughter-san-francisco-thai-grandfather?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Jan 2026 23:51:32 +0000 Khushboo Razdan Khushboo Razdan In 2025, even as US President Donald Trump sought to stabilise trade ties with Beijing, two Republican-led states were moving in the opposite direction, securing nearly US$50 billion in federal lawsuits for what they say was economic damage caused by China’s deliberate stripping of US hospitals and businesses of essential Covid-19 supplies. Using a new reading of the “commercial activity” exception to a 50-year-old US law that generally blocks lawsuits against foreign governments, a federal... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3339384/why-lawsuits-wont-cure-pandemics-financial-ills-between-us-states-and-chinese-government?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3339384/why-lawsuits-wont-cure-pandemics-financial-ills-between-us-states-and-chinese-government?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Jan 2026 15:59:08 +0000 Reuters Reuters A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that several major medical organisations can move forward with their lawsuit challenging policies adopted under US Health Secretary Robert ‌F. Kennedy Jnr that they say will lower vaccination rates. US District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston rejected ‍arguments by lawyers for US President Donald Trump’s administration that the groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, lack legal standing to pursue the case because they could not show they were harmed by... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3338967/judge-allows-lawsuit-against-rfk-jnrs-covid-19-vaccine-policies-proceed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3338967/judge-allows-lawsuit-against-rfk-jnrs-covid-19-vaccine-policies-proceed?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Jan 2026 16:00:09 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press A former aide to two New York governors went on trial on Wednesday on charges she sold her influence to the Chinese government and illegally profited from the state’s bulk purchase of face masks during the Covid-19 pandemic. Linda Sun and her husband, Chris Hu, were arrested last year during a US crackdown on alleged Chinese secret agents. They were charged again in June as part of the government’s efforts to root out pandemic fraud. “Linda Sun was for sale,” prosecutor Amanda Shami told jurors... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3332560/ex-ny-governors-aide-linda-sun-trial-acting-chinese-agent?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3332560/ex-ny-governors-aide-linda-sun-trial-acting-chinese-agent?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Nov 2025 22:59:55 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Members of Robert F. Kennedy Jnr’s family are calling for him to step down as health secretary following a contentious congressional hearing this past week, during which the Trump cabinet official faced bipartisan questioning about his tumultuous leadership of federal health agencies. Kennedy’s sister, Kerry Kennedy, and his nephew, Joseph P. Kennedy III, issued scathing statements on Friday, calling for him to resign as head of the Health and Human Services Department. The calls from the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3324624/rfk-jnrs-family-members-say-hes-threat-americans-health-call-his-resignation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3324624/rfk-jnrs-family-members-say-hes-threat-americans-health-call-his-resignation?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Sep 2025 19:18:43 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jnr said on Thursday that firing a top government scientist was “absolutely necessary”, as he faced blistering criticism from Democrats urging him to resign over his steps to curb vaccines. The Senate hearing, marked by sharp exchanges that often erupted into shouting matches, came days after the ousting of Sue Monarez, the former director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Her dismissal, accompanied by several high-level resignations... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3324395/rfk-jnr-defends-cdc-shake-democrats-call-his-resignation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3324395/rfk-jnr-defends-cdc-shake-democrats-call-his-resignation?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Sep 2025 17:49:44 +0000 Reuters Reuters US CDC Director Susan Monarez was fired on Wednesday after resisting changes to vaccine policy that were advanced by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jnr and that she believed contradicted scientific evidence, a close associate said on Thursday. The revelation and interviews with top officials who resigned in the wake of the director’s firing underscored the growing division over the US approach to public health and the upheaval at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which protects... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3323561/fired-us-cdc-director-clashed-kennedy-vaccine-policy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3323561/fired-us-cdc-director-clashed-kennedy-vaccine-policy?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Aug 2025 22:29:33 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press A Georgia man who opened fire on the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters, shooting dozens of rounds into the sprawling complex and killing a police officer, had blamed the Covid-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal, a law enforcement official said on Saturday. The 30-year-old shooter also tried to get into the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta but was stopped by guards before driving to a pharmacy across the street and opening fire late Friday afternoon, the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3321339/us-cdc-shooter-had-distrust-covid-vaccines-neighbour-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3321339/us-cdc-shooter-had-distrust-covid-vaccines-neighbour-says?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Aug 2025 17:45:42 +0000 Thomas O. Falk Thomas O. Falk When US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jnr removed the vaccine advisory panel of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), he framed it as a move for the “restoration of public trust”. But the implications stretch far beyond domestic politics. In dismantling one of the world’s most respected sources of vaccine expertise, the United States is not just undermining its public health, it is ceding global scientific authority to China. Trump’s elevation of figures like Pete Hegseth,... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3314065/us-vaccine-sceptics-are-now-charge-thats-bad-news-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3314065/us-vaccine-sceptics-are-now-charge-thats-bad-news-world?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Jun 2025 12:30:07 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jnr on Monday removed every member of a scientific committee that advises the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on how to use vaccines and pledged to replace them with his own picks. Doctors and public health groups criticised the move to oust all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices. Kennedy, who was one of the nation’s leading anti-vaccine activists before becoming the nation’s top health official, has not said who he... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3313768/robert-f-kennedy-jnr-ousts-cdc-vaccine-committee-pledges-replace-own-picks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3313768/robert-f-kennedy-jnr-ousts-cdc-vaccine-committee-pledges-replace-own-picks?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Jun 2025 23:01:26 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse The United States will limit Covid-19 boosters to people over 65 or those at risk of serious illness, while requiring vaccine makers to run fresh clinical trials before offering shots to younger and healthier individuals, officials said Tuesday. Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Food and Drug Administration’s Vinayak Prasad and Commissioner Martin Makary framed the policy shift as “evidence-based” and would align the US more closely with guidance in Europe. But it comes as US... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3311141/us-limits-covid-19-boosters-over-65s-or-those-high-risk?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3311141/us-limits-covid-19-boosters-over-65s-or-those-high-risk?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 May 2025 23:30:28 +0000 China’s National Health Commission (NHC) on Wednesday accused the US of fabricating the idea that the coronavirus came from a Wuhan laboratory – a theory it said had “no scientific basis”. “More and more clues and evidence showed an earlier appearance of Covid-19 in the United States,” the commission said after the White House pushed the Wuhan lab source theory in a revamped website about the origins of Covid-19. “The next step of tracing the origin should be carried out in the United States,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3307652/china-fires-back-after-white-house-site-pushes-covid-19-lab-leak-theory?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3307652/china-fires-back-after-white-house-site-pushes-covid-19-lab-leak-theory?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Apr 2025 13:59:32 +0000 A US federal website that used to feature information on vaccines, testing and treatment for Covid-19 has been transformed into a page supporting the theory that the pandemic originated with a lab leak. The covid.gov website shows a photo of US President Donald Trump walking between the words “lab” and “leak” under a White House heading. It mentions that Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus first began spreading, is home to a research lab with a history of conducting virus research with... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3307136/trump-turns-white-house-covid-information-site-page-pushing-chinese-lab-leak-theory?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3307136/trump-turns-white-house-covid-information-site-page-pushing-chinese-lab-leak-theory?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Apr 2025 19:03:10 +0000 US President Donald Trump, whose dramatic reversal on global trade tariffs sent markets reeling this week, is no stranger to the U-turn. Here are some notable examples. TikTok ban At the end of his first term, Trump unsuccessfully tried to ban social media network TikTok, accusing the popular platform of siphoning American user data for Beijing’s benefit. But on the campaign trail in 2024, while courting Gen Z votes, Trump said “I like TikTok” and declared: “I’m going to save TikTok.” He now... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3306067/flip-flopper-chief-trumps-biggest-u-turns?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3306067/flip-flopper-chief-trumps-biggest-u-turns?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Apr 2025 23:03:11 +0000 The top vaccine official with the US Food and Drug Administration has resigned and criticised the nation’s top health official for allowing “misinformation and lies” to guide his thinking behind the safety of vaccinations. Peter Marks sent a letter to Acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner on Friday saying that he would resign and retire by April 5 as director of the Centre for Biologics Evaluation and Research. In his letter, which was obtained by Associated Press, Marks said he was “willing to... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3304438/top-us-vaccine-official-quits-slams-trump-health-chief-rfk-jnrs-misinformation-and-lies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3304438/top-us-vaccine-official-quits-slams-trump-health-chief-rfk-jnrs-misinformation-and-lies?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Mar 2025 17:49:48 +0000 Andrew Cuomo announced on Saturday he is running to become mayor of New York, more than three years after he resigned in disgrace as governor of New York after being accused of sexually harassing a number of women who worked for him and misleading the public about Covid-19 deaths. Cuomo, 67, denies the allegations. He is among the most well-known of a number of candidates challenging embattled Mayor Eric Adams to become the Democratic Party’s nominee in the primary election in June. “I know what... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3300704/andrew-cuomo-running-new-york-mayor-after-resigning-governor-post-disgrace?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3300704/andrew-cuomo-running-new-york-mayor-after-resigning-governor-post-disgrace?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Mar 2025 18:33:39 +0000 The head of the World Health Organization insisted on Monday it was “now or never” to strike a landmark global accord on tackling future pandemics, after the United States withdrew from negotiations. WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said no country could protect itself from the next pandemic on its own – three days after US President Donald Trump’s administration told the UN health agency it was leaving the pandemic agreement talks. “We are at a crucial point as you move to... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3299053/who-chief-urges-pandemic-accord-action-after-us-withdrawal-negotiations?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3299053/who-chief-urges-pandemic-accord-action-after-us-withdrawal-negotiations?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Feb 2025 17:33:50 +0000 The Republican-controlled US Senate approved Robert F. Kennedy Jnr as health secretary on Thursday, disregarding alarm from the medical community over his history of promoting vaccine misinformation and denying scientific facts. Known widely as “RFK Jnr”, the 71-year-old nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy secured the nomination by a vote of 52-48, becoming the latest contentious addition to US President Donald Trump’s cabinet. Former Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell voted no,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3298597/vaccine-sceptic-robert-f-kennedy-jnr-confirmed-trumps-health-secretary?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3298597/vaccine-sceptic-robert-f-kennedy-jnr-confirmed-trumps-health-secretary?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 13 Feb 2025 17:07:39 +0000 Robert F. Kennedy Jnr came under withering attack from Democratic senators on Wednesday over his history of promoting vaccine misinformation and his sudden embrace of anti-abortion policies during a high-stakes confirmation hearing to become US President Donald Trump’s health secretary. The 71-year-old Kennedy scion and former environmental lawyer is vying to lead a department overseeing more than 80,000 employees and a US$1.7 trillion budget, just as scientists warn of the growing threat of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3296746/trumps-health-pick-rfk-jnr-grilled-over-vaccines-and-abortion-us-senate?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3296746/trumps-health-pick-rfk-jnr-grilled-over-vaccines-and-abortion-us-senate?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Jan 2025 22:02:20 +0000 The US Central Intelligence Agency has assessed that the Covid-19 pandemic is “more likely” to have emerged from a lab rather than from nature, an agency spokesperson said on Saturday. The agency had for years said it could not conclude whether Covid-19 was the result of a lab incident or it originated in nature. But in the final weeks of the Biden administration, former CIA director William Burns asked CIA analysts and scientists to make a clear determination, stressing the pandemic’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3296301/cia-now-says-covid-19-more-likely-have-come-lab?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3296301/cia-now-says-covid-19-more-likely-have-come-lab?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Jan 2025 19:27:59 +0000 US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he has revoked security protection for Anthony Fauci, his former Covid-19 adviser who has received death threats over his handling of the pandemic. “You can’t have a security detail for the rest of your life because you worked for government,” Trump told reporters in North Carolina, where he was on a visit to inspect flood damage. Trump withdrew Secret Service protection earlier this week from his former national security adviser John Bolton. The New... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3296238/trump-revokes-protection-covid-adviser-anthony-fauci-despite-death-threats?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3296238/trump-revokes-protection-covid-adviser-anthony-fauci-despite-death-threats?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Jan 2025 19:29:29 +0000 The World Health Organization is urging Beijing to share information that will shed light on the origins of Covid-19, five years after the virus first surfaced and reshaped the global geopolitical landscape. At least 7.1 million people, including 1.2 million in the US, have died from the virus, according to the WHO, which began publicising data reported by its 194 member states on December 31, 2019 – the day the health committee in Wuhan released its first statement on the cases of “viral... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3292810/five-years-who-urges-china-share-covid-19-origins-data?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3292810/five-years-who-urges-china-share-covid-19-origins-data?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Dec 2024 18:11:20 +0000 NFL star Aaron Rodgers is a notorious figure in the pop culture sphere, and the recent release of his Netflix documentary series, Enigma, is further proof of that. The New York Jets quarterback is prone to controversy and, more often than not, his polarising statements are to blame. From accusing Jimmy Kimmel of being involved with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to giving false impressions about his vaccination status during the Covid-19 pandemic – claiming he was “immunised” when he was... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3291750/meet-controversial-nfl-star-aaron-rodgers-brother-jordan-playing-and-commentating-college-football?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3291750/meet-controversial-nfl-star-aaron-rodgers-brother-jordan-playing-and-commentating-college-football?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Dec 2024 22:00:16 +0000 President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic and is pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes. It is the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history. The commutations announced on Thursday are for people who have served out home confinement sentences for at least one year after they were released. Prisons were uniquely bad for spreading the virus and some... https://www.scmp.com/news/us/article/3290539/biden-commutes-1500-sentences-pardons-39-people-biggest-single-day-act-clemency?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/us/article/3290539/biden-commutes-1500-sentences-pardons-39-people-biggest-single-day-act-clemency?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Dec 2024 10:25:02 +0000 US hotels and travel companies are aiming to tap a surge in Indian tourists to boost revenue as domestic leisure spending falters and demand from East Asian countries remains below pre-pandemic levels. Nearly 1.9 million Indian tourists visited the US in the first 10 months of 2024, a nearly 48 per cent rise from 2019, according to data from the US National Trade and Tourism Office (NTTO). The surge was driven by a 50 per cent jump in visas issued for business visits and 43.5 per cent increase... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3290394/us-hotels-welcome-indian-tourist-boom-fill-gap-lower-east-asian-demand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3290394/us-hotels-welcome-indian-tourist-boom-fill-gap-lower-east-asian-demand?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Dec 2024 15:47:38 +0000 US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden on Sunday hosted Aids survivors, advocates, and family members who lost loved ones to the disease for a display of the Aids Memorial Quilt at the White House, the first time it has been shown there in its decades-long history. The event, marking World Aids Day, featured remarks by the Bidens and Jeanne White-Ginder, whose teenage son Ryan White died of Aids in 1990. Both Bidens grew emotional during their remarks, empathising with those in the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3288903/aids-memorial-quilt-display-white-house-first-time?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3288903/aids-memorial-quilt-display-white-house-first-time?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Dec 2024 23:48:26 +0000 The presidential race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris comes at a time of rising geopolitical tensions on multiple fronts. In the fifth of an in-depth series, Sylvie Zhuang examines the shift in Chinese attitudes towards American elections over the decades. United States presidential elections and their representation of the American dream have long intrigued Mandy Huang, a Beijing-based finance worker in her 40s. Her favourable view of the US political system continued as she worked in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3282844/why-us-elections-are-losing-their-shine-educated-chinese-once-drawn-democratic-process?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3282844/why-us-elections-are-losing-their-shine-educated-chinese-once-drawn-democratic-process?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Oct 2024 14:00:32 +0000 Then-US president Donald Trump secretly sent Covid-19 test kits to Vladimir Putin despite a US shortage during the pandemic, and spoke multiple times with the Russian leader after leaving office, Bob Woodward says in an explosive new book. In excerpts of War published on Tuesday by The Washington Post, where Woodward is an associate editor, he says Trump retains a personal relationship with Putin even as he campaigns for another term and the Russian president conducts a war against US ally... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3281610/trump-sent-russias-putin-secret-covid-tests-2020-new-bob-woodward-book-claims?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3281610/trump-sent-russias-putin-secret-covid-tests-2020-new-bob-woodward-book-claims?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Oct 2024 16:00:18 +0000 As the Democratic Party unites behind US Vice-President Kamala Harris, the nation’s first Asian-American and African-American woman to be nominated for president by a major political party, many Asian-Americans say they feel increasingly emboldened and optimistic that their voices will be heard. Democrats in general have been energised since US President Joe Biden, 81, stepped aside a month ago following a disastrous debate performance against the Republican candidate, former president Donald... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3275390/asian-americans-see-kamala-harris-nomination-their-time-shine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3275390/asian-americans-see-kamala-harris-nomination-their-time-shine?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Aug 2024 20:14:32 +0000 A US federal grand jury handed down new charges on Thursday for the man accused of being behind the California lab that regulators said was illegally distributing misbranded Covid-19 test kits as the owners lied to investors. Jia Bei Zhu, 62, previously faced three counts of lying to regulators and distributing misbranded medical devices, but the grand jury on Thursday returned a new 12-count superseding indictment. The new charges filed in the Eastern District of California courtroom in Fresno... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3274677/jia-bei-zhu-owner-secret-chinese-run-california-lab-faces-new-us-charges?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3274677/jia-bei-zhu-owner-secret-chinese-run-california-lab-faces-new-us-charges?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Aug 2024 22:25:25 +0000 Joe Biden can’t catch a break. Hot on the heels of his Covid diagnosis, American news outlets are now reporting that his ex-boss Barack Obama recently told allies that the US president’s path to re-election has greatly diminished. Obama thinks Biden needs to seriously consider the viability of his candidacy, The Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing multiple people briefed on the ex-US president’s thinking. Associated Press also reported that Obama privately expressed concerns to... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3271005/biden-faces-intensified-calls-step-aside-while-ill-covid-19?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3271005/biden-faces-intensified-calls-step-aside-while-ill-covid-19?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Jul 2024 16:30:10 +0000 US President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid-19 while travelling on Wednesday in Las Vegas and is experiencing “mild symptoms” from the infection, the White House said. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden will fly to his home in Delaware, where he will “self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time”. “I feel good,” 81-year-old Biden said, giving reporters the thumbs up as he leaned out of his limousine dubbed “The Beast” before boarding Air... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3270872/joe-biden-tests-positive-covid-19-white-house-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3270872/joe-biden-tests-positive-covid-19-white-house-says?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Jul 2024 22:24:14 +0000 The Asian-American community has reacted angrily to an early erroneous report stating that the shooter involved in an attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump over the weekend was Chinese. The rush to judgment played out in the New York Post, a tabloid newspaper, that initially said the shooter was “identified as a Chinese man” before reporting a little over an hour later that the gunman was “identified only as a white male”. The suspected gunman was identified as Thomas Matthew... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3270567/asian-american-community-angered-erroneous-report-donald-trump-shooter-was-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3270567/asian-american-community-angered-erroneous-report-donald-trump-shooter-was-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Jul 2024 19:40:14 +0000 A world renowned virologist once again refuted Republican-led allegations that he and other scientists deliberately altered or hid conclusions related to Covid-19’s origins. Speaking at a US Senate homeland security committee hearing on Tuesday, Robert Garry, a professor and associate dean at Tulane University’s School of Medicine, said he abided by the scientific method in concluding that the virus causing Covid-19 was likely the result of a natural spillover from animals to humans and not... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3267147/us-senate-panel-scientist-defends-his-rejection-covid-19-lab-leak-theory?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3267147/us-senate-panel-scientist-defends-his-rejection-covid-19-lab-leak-theory?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Jun 2024 22:04:36 +0000 Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease expert until 2022, pushed back on Monday against Republican-led accusations that he had helped fund research that sparked the coronavirus pandemic. Under heated questioning, Fauci, 83, who was the highest-profile public health official steering the US government’s pandemic response, also challenged allegations that he covered up the possibility that the virus causing the illness originated in a laboratory. “The accusation being circulated that I... https://www.scmp.com/news/article/3265255/anthony-fauci-testifies-publicly-house-panel-covid-19-origins-and-controversies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/article/3265255/anthony-fauci-testifies-publicly-house-panel-covid-19-origins-and-controversies?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Jun 2024 19:43:49 +0000 The US Treasury on Tuesday sanctioned three Chinese individuals and three Thai companies for involvement in a cybercrime network that it said made bomb threats and fraudulent applications for Covid-related aid, costing the government billions of dollars. The individuals and the Thai-based companies were sanctioned for activities related to the 911 S5 botnet, a service that compromised computers and resulted in cybercrimes being traced back to victims’ computers instead of the perpetrators’... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3264485/us-sanctions-chinese-individuals-over-covid-related-fraud-and-bomb-threats?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3264485/us-sanctions-chinese-individuals-over-covid-related-fraud-and-bomb-threats?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 May 2024 22:33:45 +0000 A notable scientist who was the lone American citizen on a World Health Organization coronavirus fact-finding mission in China three years ago refuted allegations that his “dangerous research” collaborating with a lab in Wuhan caused the pandemic. Grilled by US lawmakers at a House select subcommittee hearing in Washington on Wednesday, Peter Daszak, president of New York-based EcoHealth Alliance, said its work in China “provided direct public health benefits to the American people”. “Viruses... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3261106/american-who-team-probing-covid-19-origins-china-denies-his-dangerous-research-caused-pandemic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3261106/american-who-team-probing-covid-19-origins-china-denies-his-dangerous-research-caused-pandemic?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 May 2024 22:10:10 +0000 US President Joe Biden’s administration will help 50 countries identify and respond to infectious diseases, with the goal of preventing pandemics like the Covid-19 outbreak that suddenly halted normal life around the globe in 2020. US government officials will offer support in the countries, most of them located in Africa and Asia, to develop better testing, surveillance, communication and preparedness for such outbreaks in those countries. The strategy will help “prevent, detect and effectively... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3259249/joe-biden-unveils-new-partnership-50-countries-stifle-future-pandemics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3259249/joe-biden-unveils-new-partnership-50-countries-stifle-future-pandemics?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Apr 2024 17:57:11 +0000 The number of round-trip passenger flights between China and the United States will increase to 100 per week from March 31, China’s civil aviation authority confirmed on Thursday. The reciprocal policy by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), which allows American airlines to increase their weekly round trips from 35 to 50, came three days after the US Department of Transportation announced the same flight volume growth from China. The measures will bring the number of flights back... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3253701/china-us-flights-continue-rebound-weekly-round-trips-still-fraction-pre-pandemic-levels?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3253701/china-us-flights-continue-rebound-weekly-round-trips-still-fraction-pre-pandemic-levels?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Feb 2024 12:00:14 +0000 Washington’s “small yard, high fence” approach to restrict economic engagement in certain high tech sectors with China is not in the fundamental interests of either side, Chinese Premier Li Qiang told a US business group in Beijing on Wednesday. The US strategy and any sort of decoupling will “only bring huge losses to businesses and economy of the two countries, and even to global development,” Li told the delegation led by Suzanne Clark, the chief executive of the influential US Chamber of... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3253583/chinese-premier-meets-us-business-group-beijing-part-charm-offensive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3253583/chinese-premier-meets-us-business-group-beijing-part-charm-offensive?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Feb 2024 20:24:51 +0000 China withheld publication of a Sars-CoV-2 gene sequence in December 2019, delaying by about two weeks the release of information about the pathogen that causes Covid-19, lawmakers on a Republican-led US congressional committee said on Wednesday. An inquiry led by Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s chair, showed that a sequence of Sars-CoV-2 was submitted to GenBank – the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) genetic sequence database operated by the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3248837/china-delayed-publication-covid-19-gene-sequence-early-days-pandemic-us-congressional-panel-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3248837/china-delayed-publication-covid-19-gene-sequence-early-days-pandemic-us-congressional-panel-says?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Jan 2024 20:36:35 +0000 Jimmy Kimmel is clapping back at Aaron Rodgers after the NFL star made comments alleging the TV personality would appear in court documents associated with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to NBC News. Last week, Rodgers appeared on ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show, saying “There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, who’s really hoping that doesn’t come out”– referring to the then-unreleased court documents related to Epstein. Kimmel used his opening monologue on Jimmy Kimmel... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3248196/4-aaron-rodgers-biggest-controversies-besides-jimmy-kimmel-jeffrey-epstein-claims-theres-nfl-stars?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3248196/4-aaron-rodgers-biggest-controversies-besides-jimmy-kimmel-jeffrey-epstein-claims-theres-nfl-stars?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Jan 2024 10:00:22 +0000 The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday classified the JN.1 coronavirus strain as a “variant of interest”, but said it did not pose much threat to public health. “Based on the available evidence, the additional global public health risk posed by JN.1 is currently evaluated as low,” WHO said. At least two experts told Reuters that while the strain can evade the immune system and transmit more easily than other currently circulating variants, it has not shown any signs of more severe... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3245667/who-classifies-jn1-coronavirus-strain-variant-interest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3245667/who-classifies-jn1-coronavirus-strain-variant-interest?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Dec 2023 17:30:54 +0000 Five Republican senators led by Marco Rubio on Friday asked US President Joe Biden’s administration to ban travel between the United States and China after a spike in Chinese respiratory illness cases. “We should immediately restrict travel between the United States and [China] until we know more about the dangers posed by this new illness,” said the letter signed by Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. The rise in cases became a global issue last week when the World... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3243594/5-us-senators-ask-joe-biden-impose-china-travel-ban-after-respiratory-illness-cases?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3243594/5-us-senators-ask-joe-biden-impose-china-travel-ban-after-respiratory-illness-cases?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Dec 2023 18:27:48 +0000 The Chinese owner of an unauthorised central California lab that fuelled conspiracy theories about China and biological weapons has been arrested on charges of not obtaining the proper permits to manufacture tests for Covid-19, pregnancy and HIV, and mislabelling some of the kits. Jia Bei Zhu, 62, was arrested on Thursday after an investigation by the US Food and Drug Administration, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California. He is also charged with making... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3238728/jia-bei-zhu-chinese-owner-lab-caught-us-bioweapons-rumours-arrested-breaking-health-rules?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3238728/jia-bei-zhu-chinese-owner-lab-caught-us-bioweapons-rumours-arrested-breaking-health-rules?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Oct 2023 21:09:09 +0000 Long Covid remains common after coronavirus infection, even as cases of the syndrome have decreased since the start of the pandemic, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, data increasingly suggests that getting vaccinated reduces the risk of long Covid among children and adults – a factor health officials have cited as part of the rationale behind recommending virtually all Americans get a newly formulated vaccine this year. “Those who do not get a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3234842/terror-long-covid-remains-common-even-pandemic-eases-data-shows?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3234842/terror-long-covid-remains-common-even-pandemic-eases-data-shows?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Sep 2023 07:15:17 +0000 A US House select committee on China’s Communist Party has concluded that firms that ran an unlicensed laboratory in central California are linked to Chinese companies. The development came after the panel last week issued its first subpoena as part of its ongoing inquiry into the medical warehouse. In March, local and federal officials began a months-long investigation into the facility housing lab mice, medical waste and hazardous materials in the city of Reedley in Fresno county. At least 20... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3234602/unlicensed-california-lab-housing-pathogens-tied-china-companies-us-house-panel-concludes-after?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3234602/unlicensed-california-lab-housing-pathogens-tied-china-companies-us-house-panel-concludes-after?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Sep 2023 20:40:23 +0000 The US approved updated Covid-19 vaccines on Monday, hoping to rev up protection against the latest coronavirus strains and halt any surge this autumn and winter. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decision opens the newest vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer and its partner BioNTech to most Americans even if they have never had a coronavirus vaccination. It is part of a shift to treat autumn updates of the Covid-19 vaccine much like getting a yearly flu vaccination. There is still another... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3234192/coronavirus-us-fda-approves-updated-covid-19-vaccines-increase-protection-autumn?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3234192/coronavirus-us-fda-approves-updated-covid-19-vaccines-increase-protection-autumn?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Sep 2023 18:55:08 +0000 The United States announced indictments on Thursday of nine Russians allegedly part of the Trickbot cybercrime group which plied ransomware schemes to extort businesses including hospitals during the Covid-19 pandemic. The nine, some of whom were alleged to have links to Russian intelligence services, were named in a series of indictments in Ohio, Tennessee and California, where a number of their extortion targets were located. In parallel, the US Treasury and the State Department, along with... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3233797/us-indicts-nine-russians-behind-trickbot-malware?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3233797/us-indicts-nine-russians-behind-trickbot-malware?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Sep 2023 22:01:00 +0000 When Joe Biden was criticised this week for failing to mask up after his wife caught Covid-19, he didn’t just put a brave face on it. Rather, the 80-year-old US president did it again – and then flaunted the fact that he was breaking the guidance. And by laughing it off the Democrat, who is running for re-election in 2024, showed he was in touch with Americans who are fed up with the pandemic. Biden first raised eyebrows on Tuesday by removing his mask while draping the Medal of Honour around... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3233659/maskless-joe-biden-laughs-pandemic-guidance-despite-first-lady-having-covid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3233659/maskless-joe-biden-laughs-pandemic-guidance-despite-first-lady-having-covid?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Sep 2023 22:39:41 +0000