China Reports Latest COVID Situation in Meeting with WHO

Patients lie on beds in a hallway in the emergency department of Zhongshan Hospital, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Shanghai, China January 3, 2023. REUTERS/Staff
Patients lie on beds in a hallway in the emergency department of Zhongshan Hospital, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Shanghai, China January 3, 2023. REUTERS/Staff
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China Reports Latest COVID Situation in Meeting with WHO

Patients lie on beds in a hallway in the emergency department of Zhongshan Hospital, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Shanghai, China January 3, 2023. REUTERS/Staff
Patients lie on beds in a hallway in the emergency department of Zhongshan Hospital, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Shanghai, China January 3, 2023. REUTERS/Staff

Officials and experts from China on Thursday attended an online meeting with the World Health Organization (WHO), China's national health commission said in a statement.

During the meeting Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention officials and experts from Southeast University reported on China's latest COVID-19 prevention and control measures, its monitoring of mutated virus strains, vaccination efforts and the treatment of infections, the health commission said.

The WHO's emergencies director, Mike Ryan, said on Wednesday that Chinese officials were under-representing data on several fronts, some of the UN agency's most critical remarks to date.

China has played down the severity of the situation. The state-run Global Times wrote on Wednesday that COVID had peaked in Beijing and several cities, citing interviews with doctors.

China's CanSino Biologics Inc reported on Thursday "positive" interim data on its experimental COVID-19 mRNA booster vaccine in a mid-stage clinical trial.

The clinical study was to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity for adults aged 18 years and above, the pharmaceutical firm said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The vaccine, called CS-2034, was tested as a booster on people who had received three doses of an inactivated vaccine, it said. Such vaccines, like those made by Sinopharm and SinoVac, are the type used in China.

China has nine domestically-developed COVID vaccines approved for use, but none are based on the messenger RNA technology used in the shots developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

The Chinese shots have also not been updated to target the highly infectious Omicron variant.

CanSino obtained approval to start the clinical trial on mRNA vaccine in April.



UK Police Arrest Man for Arson after Fire at PM's House

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leads a roundtable discussion at the Border Security Summit in London, Britain March 31, 2025. Kin Cheung/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leads a roundtable discussion at the Border Security Summit in London, Britain March 31, 2025. Kin Cheung/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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UK Police Arrest Man for Arson after Fire at PM's House

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leads a roundtable discussion at the Border Security Summit in London, Britain March 31, 2025. Kin Cheung/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leads a roundtable discussion at the Border Security Summit in London, Britain March 31, 2025. Kin Cheung/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

British police said on Tuesday they had arrested a 21-year-old man on suspicion of arson after counter-terrorism officers launched an investigation into three fires, including one at a property owned by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Police were called to reports of a fire in the early hours of Monday morning at the property in Kentish Town, Camden, north London, the area that Starmer represents in parliament.

The man was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday in connection with the fire and two further incidents, Reuters quoted police as saying.

They are investigating whether a vehicle fire in the same district on 8 May and a fire at the entrance of a property in a nearby area on 11 May are linked to the incident on Monday.

The man, arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life, remains in custody, police said.

Officers from London's Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command were leading the investigation due to the property's connections with a high-profile public figure, police said.

Starmer lived in the house on a quiet street with his family before he moved into Number 10 Downing Street when he became prime minister last July.