Five years after the World Health Organization first described the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic, its effects are still being felt on the global economy.

US lawmakers concluded a two-year investigation Monday into the Covid-19 outbreak that killed 1.1 million Americans -- backing the theory that the virus likely leaked from a Chinese laboratory.

The Saudi health ministry has informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about three human cases, including one death, of the deadly and highly contagious Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus between 10 and 17 April.

According to the study, carried out by the Beijing University of Chemical Technology, the virus was similar to Sars-CoV-2 and discovered in 2017 in pangolins before the Covid outbreak.

China, still reeling from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, now faces a new threat: a mysterious pneumonia outbreak sweeping through its educational institutions.

In the study, Shi Zhengli and colleagues from the Wuhan Institute of Virology evaluated the human spillover risk of 40 coronavirus species.

The mortality rate among those infected with the Nipah virus is much higher compared to those infected with Covid, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) chief Dr Rajiv Bahl said on Friday.

China's ruling Communist Party has claimed to have scored a "decisive victory" over the coronavirus pandemic by minimising the casualties and staunchly defended its much-criticised zero-COVID policy.

New Year's Eve in China prompted an outpouring of reflection online, some of it critical, about the strict zero-COVID policy the country adhered to for almost three years.

China's sudden COVID-19 outbreaks "demonstrate a lack of effectiveness of its vaccines", prompting global concerns, particularly in nations where Beijing's vaccines have been accepted, Tibet Press reported.

China's economy continued to slow in December as the massive Covid-19 outbreak spread across the country, with activity slumping as more people stay home to try and avoid getting sick or to recover.

China is seeing Covid spreading unabated across the country, with cities and provinces reporting hundreds of thousands of daily infections surpassing the official national tally and predicting that outbreaks will peak during January.

China is currently dealing with its biggest coronavirus outbreak and people are finding new ways to deal with the growing spread of the virus.

Nearly 37 million people in China may have been infected with Covid-19 on a single day this week, according to estimates from the government's top health authority, making the country's outbreak by far the world's largest.

After years of enforcing harsh measures to stamp out the coronavirus, President Xi Jinping's abrupt abandonment of zero-COVID in the face of protests and a widening outbreak has left China scrambling to avert a collapse of its public health system.

In view of a fresh outbreak of COVID-19 in countries like China, the state government had said it would review its preparedness and the measures to be taken.

Chinese officials are also requesting people not to hoard medical supplies if they have no Covid-19 symptoms.

In the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak nearly three years ago and where thousands died, residents cautiously greeted a relaxation of lockdown measures by authorities this week.

Tired of being cooped up to comply with China's strict anti-COVID rules, people awaited clarity on an easing of restrictions that could be announced as soon as Wednesday, while the more cautious rushed to buy cold medicines and home test kits.

As a large Beijing street protest against strict COVID curbs reached a climax late last Sunday, several protesters shouted the unspeakable for China's

China's capital Beijing posted a record number of new Covid cases on Tuesday, with the city hunkering down under a tightening chokehold of restrictions that have sent schools online, closed many restaurants and forced employees to work from home.

China is the last major country committed to a zero-tolerance Covid strategy, responding to dozens of outbreaks with lockdowns and sending entire neighbourhoods out to makeshift quarantine facilities.

Around 16 million people in the Chinese city of Chengdu will be effectively under lockdown from Thursday as authorities race to snuff out a new Covid-19 outbreak.

Authorities in the southern city of Shenzhen said on Monday they have closed the world's largest electronics market, in Huaqiangbei, as a COVID-19 prevention measure.