Category: PCR

Beijing Human Rights Activist Immobilized by COVID-19 App

TAIPEI, Taiwan—Wang Yu, hailed by the United States as an International Woman of Courage, has already been arrested, imprisoned, and harassed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for her work as a human rights lawyer representing activists, Uyghur scholars, and Falun Gong practitioners. This year, her movements within her home country also have been restricted…


Paul Chan COVID Test Positive, but Exempt From Isolation

Hong Kong Financial Secretary (FS) Paul Chan was listed as a COVID-19 “recovered case” after returning to Hong Kong from an overseas trip. As such, he did not require isolation and immediately attended the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit. However, after the summit, the Hong Kong Government (HKgov) announced that Chan had tested positive. However,…


Canada’s COVID Alert App Will Be Discontinued as PCR Testing Becomes Rare

Canada’s COVID Alert app will be discontinued in the coming days, a federal government source tells The Canadian Press. The app was launched in the summer of 2020 as the pandemic began and billed as a way to alert people if they’ve been in close contact with someone who’s been infected with COVID-19, without collecting…


New Institutes of Health Study Suggests ‘Long Covid’ May Not Exist

A new study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) suggests that people who report symptoms of a medical condition known as “Long Covid” may actually be suffering from depression and anxiety, particularly women. The NIH conducted the study between June 30, 2020, and July 2021. The study’s findings appear in the May 24 “Annals…


US Virgin Islands’ Tannenbaum Watches Dream Slip Away in Isolation

As her rivals thundered down the sinuous Yanqing sliding track on Tuesday preparing for the chance of glory later this week, Katie Tannenbaum was stuck in he COVID-19 isolation room for the seventh day, watching her Olympic dream slide away. The sole representative of the U.S. Virgin Islands is desperate to get out. Tannenbaum tested…


Live Q&A: Fauci Suggests Negative COVID-19 Tests to Leave Quarantine, CDC Says That May Take 12 Weeks

Anthony Fauci, the White House pandemic advisor, told ABC News on Sunday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now evaluating a recent rule revision that allows people who tested positive to leave if they haven’t received a negative COVID-19 test. This comes after the CDC shortened isolation time from 10 days…


Ontario Changes COVID-19 Testing and Quarantine Rules

The Ontario government has changed eligibility for PCR testing and reduced the quarantine period for fully vaccinated people who have tested positive for COVID-19. The province’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, announced the latest changes during a Dec. 30 press conference as the province experiences surging COVID-19 cases and the spread of…


Australia Cuts Booster Dose Gap From Five to Four Months

Australians will be eligible for a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine earlier after the nation’s immunisation body recommended a shorter time frame. Health Minister Greg Hunt announced on Friday that from Jan. 4, booster shots will be brought forward to four months after the second dose, from five months currently. Then from Jan. 31,…


Politicians Pressure Queensland Over PCR Tests Rules for Border Crossing

Australian federal and state politicians have put pressure on the Queensland state government to reconsider its new PCR test rules for domestic travellers wishing to enter the state once domestic borders reopen. Until 90 percent of Queenslanders are double vaccinated—which is expected in January 2022—the state has declared that travellers from all interstate hotspots must…


UK Government Warns 80 PCR Travel Test Firms on ‘Cowboy’ Pricing

One fifth of the UK’s officially-sanctioned travel testing firms have been issued with a two-strike warning over pricing, as the government said it was clamping down “cowboy behaviour.” A health department review of providers of PCR tests—which are now a legally-required, private expense for travellers—found that 82 of the firms charged customers more than was…