COVID fever and emergency hospitalisations have peaked in China, and the number of hospitalised COVID patients is continuing to decline, a Chinese health official said on Saturday.
Nationwide, "the number of fever clinic visitors is generally in a declining trend after peaking, both in cities and rural areas," Jiao Yahui, an official from the National Health Commission, told a news conference.
Jiao said the number of emergency treatment patients was also declining, and the ratio of patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 was steadily falling as well.
She added that the number of severe cases has also peaked, though it remained at a high level, and patients were mostly elderly.
Wen Daxiang, a Shanghai Health Commission official, said China would strengthen health monitoring and management of the high-risk population.
He added that China would bolster the supply of drugs and medical equipment and beef up the training of grassroots medical workers to combat COVID in rural regions.
U.S. President Donald Trump fired General Timothy Haugh as director of the National Security Agency on Thursday, according to two officials familiar with the decision, and congressional Democrats denounced the removal of the nonpartisan official from a top security post.
Israel stepped up airstrikes on Syria, declaring the attacks a warning to the new rulers in Damascus as it accused their ally Turkey of trying to turn the country into a Turkish protectorate.
The Trump administration moved forward with the sale of more than 20,000 US-made assault rifles to Israel last month, according to a document seen by Reuters, pushing ahead with a sale that the administration of former president Joe Biden had delayed.