Beibei sleeps beside thousands of strangers in rows of cots in a high-ceilinged exhibition center. The lights stay on all night, and the 30-year-old real estate saleswoman has yet to find a hot shower. Beibei and her husband were ordered into the massive National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai last Tuesday after spending 10 days isolated at home following a positive test. Their 2-year-old daughter, who was negative, went to her grandfather, while her nanny also went into quarantine. Residents show “no obvious symptoms,” Beibei, who asked to be identified only by her given name, told The Associated Press in an interview by video phone. Also read: COVID outbreak 'extremely grim' as Shanghai extends lockdown “There are people coughing,” she said. “But I have no idea if they have laryngitis or omicron.” The convention center, with 50,000 beds, is one of more than 100 quarantine facilities set up in China's most populous city for those such as Beibei who test positive but have few or no symptoms. It's part of official efforts to contain China’s biggest coronavirus outbreak since the 2-year-old pandemic began. But it's also testing patience of people increasingly fed up with China's harsh “zero-COVID” policy that aims to isolate every case. “At the beginning people were frightened and panicked,” Beibei said. “But with the publication of daily figures, people have started to accept that this particular virus is not that horrible.” Beibei was told she was due to be released Monday after two negative tests while at the convention center. Most of Shanghai shut down starting March 28 and its 25 million people were ordered to stay home. That led to complaints about food shortages and soaring economic losses. Anyone who tests positive but shows few or no symptoms is required to spend one week in a quarantine facility. Beibei said she had a stuffy nose and briefly lost part of her senses of taste and smell, but those symptoms passed in a few days. On Sunday, China reported 26,155 new cases, all but 3,529 of which had no symptoms. Shanghai accounted for 95% of the total, or 24,820, including 3,238 with no symptoms. The city has reported more than 300,000 cases since late March. Shanghai began easing restrictions last week, though a health official warned the city didn’t have its outbreak under control. At the convention center, residents are checked twice a day for fever and told to record health information on mobile phones, according to Beibei. Most people pass the time by reading, square dancing, taking online classes or watching videos on mobile phones. Also read: COVID-19 cases rise in Shanghai with millions under lockdown The 420,000-square-meter (4.6 million-square-foot) exhibition center is best known as the site of the world’s biggest auto show. Other quarantine sites include temporary prefabricated buildings. Residents of other facilities have complained about leaky roofs, inadequate food supplies and delays in treatment for medical problems. “We haven’t found a place with a hot shower,” Beibei said. “Lights are on all night, and it’s hard to fall asleep.” A video obtained by AP showed wet beds and floors due a leaky roof in a different facility in a prefabricated building. “Bathrooms are not very clean,” Beibei said. “So many people use them, and volunteers or cleaners can’t keep up.”

New Zealand’s government on Thursday said it will end its quarantine requirements for incoming travelers and reopen its borders, a change welcomed by thousands of citizens abroad who have endured long waits to return home. Since the start of the pandemic, New Zealand has enacted some of the world’s strictest border controls. Most incoming travelers need to spend 10 days in a quarantine hotel room run by the military, a requirement that has created a bottleneck at the border. The measures were initially credited with saving thousands of lives and allowed New Zealand to eliminate or control several outbreaks of the coronavirus. Read: New Zealand to start reopening borders to world from January But, increasingly, the border controls have been viewed as out-of-step in a world where the virus is becoming endemic, and in a country where the omicron variant is already spreading. The bottleneck forced many New Zealanders abroad to enter a lottery-style system to try and secure a spot in quarantine and passage home. The shortcomings of the system were highlighted over the past week by pregnant New Zealand journalist Charlotte Bellis, who was stranded in Afghanistan after New Zealand officials initially rejected her application to return home to give birth. After international publicity, officials backed down and offered her a spot in quarantine, which she has accepted. The border changes mean that vaccinated New Zealanders returning from Australia will no longer need to go into quarantine from the end of this month, and vaccinated New Zealanders returning from the rest of the world can skip quarantine by mid-March. They will still be required to isolate at home. However, most tourists will need to wait until October before they can enter the country without a quarantine stay. And anybody who isn’t vaccinated will still be required to go through quarantine. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she knows many people associate the border controls with heartache but they have undeniably saved lives. “There is no question that for New Zealand, it has been one of the hardest parts of the pandemic,” she said. “But the reason that it is right up there as one of the toughest things we have experienced is, in part, because large-scale loss of life is not.” She said the controls “meant not everyone could come home when they wanted to. But it also meant that COVID could not come in when it wanted to, either.” Read:US to reopen land borders in November for fully vaccinated Ardern said the restrictions had allowed New Zealand to build its defenses against the virus by achieving high levels of vaccination while also keeping the economy running strongly. About 77% of New Zealanders are fully vaccinated, according to Our World in Data. That rises to 93% among those aged 12 and over, according to health officials. New Zealand has reported just 53 virus deaths among its population of 5 million. New Zealand’s economy did return to growth quickly after a pandemic dip, and unemployment decreased to 3.2% in the latest quarter, the lowest level since record-keeping began in 1986. But the government has also increased borrowing sharply and home prices have skyrocketed. Opposition leader Christopher Luxon said the reopening of the border was welcome news, and his National Party had long called for the government to “end the lottery of human misery.” Ardern said it was a first step toward normality. “There was life before, and now life with COVID, but that also means there will be life after COVID too, a life where we have adapted, where we have some normality back, and where the weather can once again take its rightful place as our primary topic of conversation,” Ardern said. “We are well on our way to reaching that destination. We’re just not quite there yet.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday explained the scientific rationale for shortening its COVID-19 isolation and quarantine recommendations, and clarified that the guidance applies to kids as well as adults. The CDC also maintained that, for people who catch COVID-19, testing is not required to emerge from five days of isolation — despite hints from other federal officials that the agency was reconsidering that. The agency announced the changes last week, halving the isolation time for Americans who catch the coronavirus and have no symptoms or only brief illnesses. Isolation should only end if a person has been fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications and if other symptoms are resolving, the CDC added. It similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine, from 10 days to five. CDC officials previously said the changes were in keeping with evidence that people with the coronavirus are most infectious in the two days before and three days after symptoms develop. Some experts have questioned how the new recommendations were crafted and why they were changed amid a spike in cases driven largely by the highly contagious omicron variant. Some also expressed dismay that the guidelines allowed people to leave isolation without getting tested to see if they were still infectious. Also read: Snow storms and pandemic ground flights, delay holiday's end On Tuesday, the CDC posted documents designed to address those — and other — questions about the latest recommendations. The new guidance applies to school children as well as adults, the CDC said, responding to questions raised by school leaders around the country. In laying out the scientific basis for the revisions, the agency said more than 100 studies from 17 countries indicate that most transmission happens early in an infection. The CDC acknowledged the data come from research done when delta and other pre-omicron variants were causing the most infections. But the agency also pointed to limited, early data from the U.S. and South Korea that suggests the time between exposure and the appearance of symptoms may be shorter for omicron than for earlier variants. The CDC also took up the question of why it didn’t call for a negative test before people emerge from isolation. On Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci — the White House’s top medical adviser — said the CDC was considering including the negative test as part of its guidance. Also read: FDA paves way for Pfizer COVID-19 vaccinations in young kids The agency said lab tests can show positive results long after someone stops being contagious, and that a negative at-home test may not necessarily indicate there is no threat. That’s why, the agency said, it was recommending that people wears masks everywhere for the five days after isolation ends. It did offer tips for those who have access to the tests and want to check themselves before leaving isolation. Dr. Eric Topol, the head of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, accused the agency of furthering confusion. He agreed that it is appropriate to shorten isolation time, but only with testing. “We do need to come up with a strategy that limits isolation time, but we don’t want it to be one that’s adding to the spread of the virus and unwittingly leading to the virus circulating,” he said. Yale University’s Dr. Howard Forman said the updated recommendations were communicated poorly last week, but he also applauded the CDC for trying to be more nimble while dealing with limited science, a short supply of tests and an intensifying wave of infections. Under the previous isolation and quarantine recommendations, “it was obvious that ... society was literally going to be disrupted. If you expected people to comply with those (old) rules, you might as well have a lockdown,” said Forman, a radiologist who teaches public health policy. The agency acknowledged people weren’t following the longer recommendations: Research suggests only 25% to 30% of people were isolating for a full 10 days under the older guidance, the CDC said. The CDC also suggests that people exposed to the virus quarantine for five days, unless they have gotten booster shots or recently received their initial vaccine doses. The agency said anyone exposed — regardless of vaccination status — should get tested five days later, if possible.  

U.S. health officials on Monday cut isolation restrictions for asymptomatic Americans who catch the coronavirus from 10 to five days, and similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said the guidance is in keeping with growing evidence that people with the coronavirus are most infectious in the two days before and three days after symptoms develop. The decision also was driven by a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, propelled by the omicron variant. Early research suggests omicron may cause milder illnesses than earlier versions of the coronavirus. But the sheer number of people becoming infected — and therefore having to isolate or quarantine — threatens to crush the ability of hospitals, airlines and other businesses to stay open, experts say. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the country is about to see a lot of omicron cases. “Not all of those cases are going to be severe. In fact many are going to be asymptomatic,” she told The Associated Press on Monday. “We want to make sure there is a mechanism by which we can safely continue to keep society functioning while following the science.” Last week, the agency loosened rules that previously called on health care workers to stay out of work for 10 days if they test positive. The new recommendations said workers could go back to work after seven days if they test negative and don’t have symptoms. And the agency said isolation time could be cut to five days, or even fewer, if there are severe staffing shortages. Read: 3 teens killed, 1 injured in gas station shooting in U.S. Texas Now, the CDC is changing the isolation and quarantine guidance for the general public to be even less stringent. The change is aimed at people who are not experiencing symptoms. People with symptoms during isolation, or who develop symptoms during quarantine, are encouraged to stay home. The CDC’s isolation and quarantine guidance has confused the public, and the new recommendations are “happening at a time when more people are testing positive for the first time and looking for guidance,” said Lindsay Wiley, an American University public health law expert. Nevertheless, the guidance continues to be complex. ISOLATION The isolation rules are for people who are infected. They are the same for people who are unvaccinated, partly vaccinated, fully vaccinated or boosted. They say: —The clock starts the day you test positive. —An infected person should go into isolation for five days, instead of the previously recommended 10. —At the end of five days, if you have no symptoms, you can return to normal activities but must wear a mask everywhere — even at home around others — for at least five more days. —If you still have symptoms after isolating for five days, stay home until you feel better and then start your five days of wearing a mask at all times. QUARANTINE The quarantine rules are for people who were in close contact with an infected person but not infected themselves. For quarantine, the clock starts the day someone is alerted they may have been exposed to the virus. Previously, the CDC said people who were not fully vaccinated and who came in close contact with an infected person should stay home for at least 10 days. Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh begins booster vaccination Now the agency is saying only people who got booster shots can skip quarantine if they wear masks in all settings for at least 10 days. That’s a change. Previously, people who were fully vaccinated — which the CDC has defined as having two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine — could be exempt from quarantine. Now, people who got their initial shots but not boosters are in the same situation as those who are partly vaccinated or are not vaccinated at all: They can stop quarantine after five days if they wear masks in all settings for five days afterward. FIVE DAYS Suspending both isolation and quarantine after five days is not without risk. A lot of people get tested when they first feel symptoms, but many Americans get tested for others reasons, like to see if they can visit family or for work. That means a positive test result may not reveal exactly when a person was infected or give a clear picture of when they are most contagious, experts say. When people get infected, the risk of spread drops substantially after five days, but it does not disappear for everyone, said Dr. Aaron Glatt, a New York physician who is a spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “If you decrease it to five days, you’re still going to have a small but significant number of people who are contagious,” he said. That’s why wearing masks is a critical part of the CDC guidance, Walensky said. VARYING RECOMMENDATIONS The new CDC guidance is not a mandate; it’s a recommendation to employers and state and local officials. Last week, New York state said it would expand on the CDC’s guidance for health care workers to include employees who have other critical jobs that are facing a severe staffing shortage. It’s possible other states will seek to shorten their isolation and quarantine policies, and CDC is trying to get out ahead of the shift. “It would be helpful to have uniform CDC guidance” that others could draw from, rather than a mishmash of policies, Walensky said. Given the timing with surging case counts, the update “is going to be perceived as coming in response to pressure from business interests,” Wiley said. But some experts have been calling for the change for months, because shorter isolation and quarantine periods appeared to be sufficient to slow the spread, she said. The move by CDC follows a decision last week by U.K. officials to reduce the self-isolation period for vaccinated people who test positive for COVID-19.

U.S. health officials on Monday cut isolation restrictions for Americans who catch the coronavirus from 10 to five days, and similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said the guidance is in keeping with growing evidence that people with the coronavirus are most infectious in the two days before and three days after symptoms develop. The decision also was driven by a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, propelled by the omicron variant. Early research suggests omicron may cause milder illnesses than earlier versions of the coronavirus. But the sheer number of people becoming infected — and therefore having to isolate or quarantine — threatens to crush the ability of hospitals, airlines and other businesses to stay open, experts say. Also read: No self-isolation in Britain for fully jabbed Bangladeshi travellers CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the country is about to see a lot of omicron cases. "Not all of those cases are going to be severe. In fact many are going to be asymptomatic,” she told The Associated Press on Monday. “We want to make sure there is a mechanism by which we can safely continue to keep society functioning while following the science." Last week, the agency loosened rules that previously called on health care workers to stay out of work for 10 days if they test positive. The new recommendations said workers could go back to work after seven days if they test negative and don’t have symptoms. And the agency said isolation time could be cut to five days, or even fewer, if there are severe staffing shortages. Now, the CDC is changing the isolation and quarantine guidance for the general public to be even less stringent. The change is aimed at people who are not experiencing symptoms. People with symptoms during isolation, or who develop symptoms during quarantine, are encouraged to stay home. The CDC’s isolation and quarantine guidance has confused the public, and the new recommendations are “happening at a time when more people are testing positive for the first time and looking for guidance,” said Lindsay Wiley, an American University public health law expert. Nevertheless, the guidance continues to be complex. ISOLATION The isolation rules are for people who are infected. They are the same for people who are unvaccinated, partly vaccinated, fully vaccinated or boosted. They say: —The clock starts the day you test positive. —An infected person should go into isolation for five days, instead of the previously recommended 10. —At the end of five days, if you have no symptoms, you can return to normal activities but must wear a mask everywhere — even at home around others — for at least five more days. —If you still have symptoms after isolating for five days, stay home until you feel better and then start your five days of wearing a mask at all times. Also read: Airlines cancel flights due to Covid staffing shortages QUARANTINE The quarantine rules are for people who were in close contact with an infected person but not infected themselves. For quarantine, the clock starts the day someone is alerted they may have been exposed to the virus. Previously, the CDC said people who were not fully vaccinated and who came in close contact with an infected person should stay home for at least 10 days. Now the agency is saying only people who got booster shots can skip quarantine if they wear masks in all settings for at least 10 days. That’s a change. Previously, people who were fully vaccinated — which the CDC has defined as having two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine — could be exempt from quarantine. Now, people who got their initial shots but not boosters are in the same situation as those who are partly vaccinated or are not vaccinated at all: They can stop quarantine after five days if they wear masks in all settings for five days afterward. FIVE DAYS Suspending both isolation and quarantine after five days is not without risk. A lot of people get tested when they first feel symptoms, but many Americans get tested for others reasons, like to see if they can visit family or for work. That means a positive test result may not reveal exactly when a person was infected or give a clear picture of when they are most contagious, experts say. When people get infected, the risk of spread drops substantially after five days, but it does not disappear for everyone, said Dr. Aaron Glatt, a New York physician who is a spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “If you decrease it to five days, you're still going to have a small but significant number of people who are contagious,” he said. That's why wearing masks is a critical part of the CDC guidance, Walensky said. VARYING RECOMMENDATIONS The new CDC guidance is not a mandate; it’s a recommendation to employers and state and local officials. Last week, New York state said it would expand on the CDC’s guidance for health care workers to include employees who have other critical jobs that are facing a severe staffing shortage. It’s possible other states will seek to shorten their isolation and quarantine policies, and CDC is trying to get out ahead of the shift. “It would be helpful to have uniform CDC guidance” that others could draw from, rather than a mishmash of policies, Walensky said. Given the timing with surging case counts, the update “is going to be perceived as coming in response to pressure from business interests,” Wiley said. But some experts have been calling for the change for months, because shorter isolation and quarantine periods appeared to be sufficient to slow the spread, she said. The move by CDC follows a decision last week by U.K. officials to reduce the self-isolation period for vaccinated people who test positive for COVID-19.

Amid the global scare over the new Omicron variant of Covid-19, Bangladesh has announced new travel rules, making a 14-day institutional quarantine mandatory for all travellers from seven African countries. The countries are Botswana, Eswatini, Ghana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) said on Thursday in its updated travel restriction notification. The order will come into effect Saturday. Neighbouring India Thursday reported its first two known Covid-19 cases of the Omicron variant, discovered in two men in the southern state of Karnataka. According to the new travel rules in Bangladesh, all passengers from these seven African countries will need to stay at government-designated hotels at their own expense. Also read: Omicron unravels travel industry's plans for a comeback On the seventh and 14th day of quarantine, they will have to undergo RT-PCR tests at their own expense, it said.

Thailand will allow fully vaccinated travellers from Bangladesh from November 1 without quarantine under the ‘Sandbox Scheme’ in the designated tourism areas of Thailand. On spending a week in those designated areas, travellers will be allowed to move in any areas of the country. The Embassy of the Kingdom of Thailand is expected to share the information detailing the new arrangement. READ: Bangladesh can sign FTA with Thailand to boost trade: Thai envoy Newly appointed Ambassador of Thailand to Bangladesh Makawadee Sumitmor gave the updates when she met State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday.

Argentina walked off the field Sunday after only seven minutes of its World Cup qualifier against host Brazil after health officials came onto the pitch following coronavirus concerns about three Argentina players. Argentina tweeted that the game, which was at 0-0, would not resume. Antonio Barra Torres, the president of Brazil’s health agency, said four Argentina players will be fined and deported for allegedly not following the country’s COVID-19 protocols. Read: Covid cases top 220 million globally Four of Argentina’s players from the English Premier League had been ordered to quarantine by Brazil’s health agency ahead of the match. Despite that order, three of the four started for Argentina. Aston Villa players Emiliano Martinez and Emiliano Buendia, and Tottenham duo Giovanni Lo Celso and Cristian Romero, came to play for Argentina despite the Premier League not wanting players to be released for international duty due to the need to quarantine for 10 days in a hotel on their return. Now they have been caught up in Brazilian quarantine restrictions. Martinez, Romero and Lo Celso started the match. Buendia was not included in the squad.

Despite the extension of travel ban to India through land ports till July 31, passport-holding passengers are now allowed to travel through Benapole land port every day and return on only three weekdays. Collecting Covid-19 negative certificates and NOCs from Bangladesh High Commission in India passengers can return through the land port on Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday, said the Benapole immigration authority on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the police immigration process will remain open from 8am to 3pm every day. Also read: Benapole to allow entries from India on 3 days a week Before the travel ban imposed nine to ten thousand passengers used to move through the Beanpole land port. This has now decreased to 60 to 70 passengers a day.  Officer-in-Charge of Benapole immigration Ahsan Habib said only the passengers who have passes issued from the Home Ministry and Bangladesh High Commission in India are moving through the port on applied conditions now. In general travel for all passengers will not be possible yet considering the extension of border closure, he said. India returnee passengers have to remain in a minimum of 14-day institutional quarantine in hotels of Benapole and Jashore, he added. Sub Director of beanpole port Mamun Tarafdar said, BGB police and port security patrol the area to ensure Indian truck drivers remain within the port area. Also read: 304 enter through Benapole after fresh regulations Commissioner of Benapole Customs house Azizur Rahman said, export-import trade through the land port has remained normal, maintaining all the health guidelines.

The Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment (MoEWOE) will provide Tk 25000 as subsidy for the Saudi Arabia-bound Bangladeshi expatriate workers to bear quarantine cost.  Workers who stayed or will stay in compulsory institutional quarantine at their own expense from 20 May 2021 to 30 June 2021 as per Saudi Arabia government guidelines would get this subsidy money, said a MoEWOE media release. READ: Bishwanath UNO to construct Expatriate Square honouring expatriates Wage Earners Welfare Board under MoEWOE has decided to provide the money upon workers’ application. This subsidy money would be sent to the bank account of the concerned worker or the nominee. The concerned employees could download the application form from MoEWOE website-www.probashi.gov.bd, Wage Earners Welfare Board website- www.wewb.gov.bd or Manpower Employment and Training Bureau website- www.bmet.gov.bd. The form could also be collected from the Expatriate Welfare Desk at three international airports of the country. The form can be submitted to the Expatriate Welfare Desk at the airports from June 7. READ: Expatriate Bangladeshis in South Korea urged to come forward to build "Sonar Bangla" The expatriate workers have to submit the form along with the documents mentioned in the form. Saudi expatriate workers who have already left for the country and have completed or are completing the quarantine at their own expense must submit the relevant application form by June 30 to the Bangladesh Embassy in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh or Bangladesh Consulate General in Jeddah by post, the release also said.