The Chinese government said it would begin taking applications for new tourism passports in the second week of January on Tuesday, after halting passport issuance in early 2020 at the start of the COVID pandemic to stop people from leaving as well as entering the country and spreading the virus. China has of late experienced the world’s largest explosion of COVID infections, at an estimated million-plus per day, according to minutes released from a December meeting of China’s National Health Commission. The news comes as the country braces for the Lunar New Year holiday, which starts Jan. 21.
In the U.S., the seven-day average of new U.S. COVID cases stood at 59,342 on Tuesday, according to a New York Times tracker. That’s flat from two weeks ago and below the recent peak of 70,508 on Christmas Eve. The daily average for hospitalizations was down 11% at 41,280. The average for deaths was 537, up 73% from two weeks ago. The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 667.6 million on Wednesday, while the death toll rose above 6.72 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. leads the world with 101.7 million cases and 1,100,609 fatalities.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
0
0
