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21:16
NSW, Australia, to lift restrictions for unvaccinated
Updated
20:52
Some distressing news for football fans has just come in, as Covid continues to wreck havoc on sporting matches and events.
England’s Manchester United game has been called off as the Premier League is hit by a record 42 Covid cases.
The Tuesday game at Brentford is now off with the possibility of more postponements to come.
Forty-two Premier League players and officials tested positive for the virus in the seven days that ended on Sunday, a record for a single week since testing began and more than three times the 12 of the previous week.
Manchester United are among the teams affected, with the club announcing on Monday evening that their away game at Brentford had been called off. “Our Premier League fixture at Brentford on Tuesday 14 December has been postponed and will be rescheduled in due course,” a club statement said.
Following PCR confirmation of positive LFT Covid-19 tests among the first-team staff and players, the outbreak requires ongoing surveillance. A decision was taken to close first-team operations at Carrington for 24 hours to help minimise risk of further infection, and individuals who tested positive are isolating in line with Premier League protocols.”
“Given cancellation of training and disruption to the squad, and with the health of players and staff the priority, the club requested the match to be rearranged … The Premier League board took the decision to postpone based on guidance from medical advisors.”
Updated
20:26
Mainland China reports first Omicron case
Mainland China has reported its first Omicron case in the northern city of Tianjin, as the country’s eastern province of Zhejiang has been battling a rise in new infections of the Delta variant in recent weeks.
The Guardian’s China correspondent, Vincent Ni, provides an update on the situation in the country.
Chinese authorities reported that the Omicron case was detected from an overseas returnee, who showed no symptoms upon arrival on 9 December. The patient is now being quarantined and treated in a designated hospital.
Nearby Beijing is gearing up for the Winter Olympics, which is to be held in February. The Guardian understands the patient is not related to the Games.
China’s eastern Zhejiang province – a province with a population of 65 million – is battling against its first domestic Covid cluster outbreak this year. Among the 80 new locally transmitted cases with symptoms in mainland China on 12 December, 74 were identified in Zhejiang. In October, the province reported just one local case.
The outbreak in Zhejiang – home to the e-commerce giant Alibaba – has led more than a dozen publicly listed companies to halt production on Monday. Their shares fell sharply as a result.
The companies said that they would comply with the anti-virus control measures imposed by the local government, which will decide when production can be resumed.
20:18
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