Lockdowns, protests and Omicron – what happened around the world with COVID-19 in 2022?

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2 years ago

December 30, 2022

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Next year could see the end of COVID-19 as an emergency worldwide, but global healthcare systems are still at risk of being overwhelmed, the World Health Organisation has told Sky News.

From lockdown protests in China, to the long-awaited reopening of Japan, to President Joe Biden declaring the pandemic over in the US, coronavirus remained in the headlines worldwide in 2022.

Now as we close out the third year of the pandemic, and look towards the fourth, Sky News looks at how different regions have dealt with everything from vaccines to disinformation – and what to expect in 2023.

One of the biggest storylines this year was the growth of the Omicron strain, which has come to dominate the global COVID-19 caseload.

“We reached a peak of more than 23 million cases reported in a week,” the WHO’s Dr Maria Van Kerkhove told Sky News.

“We had to re-draw our scale. On the one hand while we saw that huge increase in transmission, on average Omicron was not as severe as Delta but still in some countries caused more deaths because of just the sheer number of cases.”

Omicron may have become the dominant variant, Dr Van Kerkhove says, but it is still evolving and changing, with around 500 sub-lineages in circulation.

She added: “And this is why surveillance needs to continue.

“We need to track the known variants. We need to be able to detect new ones.”

But despite the changes with Omicron, the original vaccines are continuing to hold up against severe disease, Dr Van Kerkhove says.

There is more to do in terms of vaccine coverage worldwide however, she added.

While more than 13 billion doses of vaccines have been administered globally, the WHO target of 70% of populations in each country has not been reached.

This is one of the areas where inequalities in access can be seen.

Worldwide some 79% of people aged 60 or over have received their primary vaccine, but that number is only 60% in Africa.

“We’re not reaching those targets. And we have to in every single country, but predominantly in lower income countries, we’re missing those individuals.”

Dr Van Kerkhove urged those who have yet to get the vaccine to do so, saying that it is not too late.

“And what we see right now is the people that are requiring hospitalisation, the people who are dying, are the people who have either not received any vaccine at all or they haven’t received the full number of doses that they need.”

Looking back at 2022, she says the year was marked by countries adjusting their strategies as they opened up and sought to live with COVID-19.

Some countries in the Asia and Pacific regions, for instance, had been much more closed off during the pandemic as they sought to seal themselves off while rolling out vaccination programmes.

Thailand, which is highly dependent on tourism, was one of the first Asian countries to open up, while Japan and Hong Kong were some of the last.

There remains a prevalence of mask wearing in those regions, which has been largely abandoned in other parts of the world.

Protests in China over the country’s strict lockdowns have spread into some of the most significant unrest the regime has seen since Tiananmen Square.

But after most zero-COVID restrictions were suddenly reversed in the wake of the protests, the virus swept through the country largely unchecked.

The new wave led some leading scientists in recent weeks to warn it could be too soon to declare the end of the pandemic.

“It’s clear that we are in a very different phase [of the pandemic], but in my mind, that pending wave in China is a wild card,” Dutch virologist Marion Koopmans, who sits on a WHO committee tasked with advising on the status of the COVID emergency, said this December.

Canada saw its own protests earlier in the year, as trucks rolled into the nation’s capital in a demonstration against mandatory vaccines that turned into a larger protest against government overreach.

This inspired others across the Atlantic in France and Belgium, with a “freedom convoy” demanding an end to COVID-19 restrictions.

A great unknown in Asia is what is happening in the secretive North Korea, which was reluctant to report having any cases at all.

India, however, has seen very little impact from coronavirus this year compared to the devastation it caused in 2021.

Markets, schools, colleges, factories, manufacturing units, government and private offices are all open, while work from home has been largely withdrawn after becoming the norm.

This has been helped by the country’s large-scale vaccination programme that has seen 2.2 billion vaccines administered, covering almost 70% of the population with two jabs.

In the US, President Joe Biden declared that the “pandemic is over” in September.

This was despite hundreds of Americans dying with the virus every day at the time – down from more than 3,000 deaths a day earlier in his presidential term.

However despite more countries opening up in 2022, Dr Van Kerkhove said there remains a risk that healthcare systems could be overwhelmed.

“In countries around the world the virus is spreading unchecked and healthcare systems right now are extremely fragile everywhere.

“Health workers are absolutely exhausted. Many have retired. Many have left. And we don’t see that strength in the system that we need to see.”

But she added that despite COVID-19 being here to stay, next year could see an important change in the way the virus is viewed.

“We’re hopeful next year we can end this as an emergency everywhere because countries are better at dealing with it.

“The big wildcard is the virus. The wildcard is the mutations and the evolution of this virus.”

Long COVID is a “significant concern” and will be a big emphasis going forward as more research is done into what it is and how to treat it, she said.

Another huge issue that remains is around disinformation and partisan politics about the virus.

“So trust is really at an all time low because of what everyone has gone through with the politicisation, attacks on science, misinformation.

“And we have to work really hard to build that. It’s so hard won, but easily lost.”

World

Donald Trump confirms Mexico and Canada tariffs – prompting a stock sell-off

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3 hours ago

March 4, 2025

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Donald Trump confirms Mexico and Canada tariffs - prompting a stock sell-off

Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada have come into effect, as has an additional 10% on Chinese products, bringing the total import tax to 20%.

The US president confirmed the tariffs in a speech at the White House – and his announcement sent US and European stocks down sharply.

The tariffs will be felt heavily by US companies which have factories in Canada and Mexico, such as carmakers.

Mr Trump said: “They’re going to have a tariff. So what they have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things in the United States, in which case they have no tariffs.”

There’s “no room left” for a deal that would see the tariffs shelved if fentanyl flowing into the US is curbed by its neighbours, he added.

Mexico and Canada face tariffs of 25%, with 10% for Canadian energy, the Trump administration confirmed.

And tariffs on Chinese imports have doubled, raising them from 10% to 20%.

Canada announced it would retaliate immediately, imposing 25% tariffs on US imports worth C$30bn (£16.3bn). It added the tariffs would be extended in 21 days to cover more US goods entering the country if the US did not lift its sanctions against Canada.

China also vowed to retaliate and reiterated its stance that the Trump administration was trying to “shift the blame” and
“bully” Beijing over fentanyl flows.

Mr Trump’s speech stoked fears of a trade war in North America, prompting a financial market sell-off.

Stock market indexes the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite fell by 1.48% and 2.64% respectively on Monday.

The share prices for automobile companies including General Motors, which has significant truck production in Mexico, Automaker and Ford also fell.

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Consumers in the US could see price hikes within days, an expert has said.

Gustavo Flores-Macias, a public policy professor at Cornell University, New York, said “the automobile sector, in particular, is likely to see considerable negative consequences”.

This is due to supply chains that “crisscross the three countries in the manufacturing process” and ” because of the expected increase in the price of vehicles, which can dampen demand,” he added.

The Trump administration is gearing up to bring in other tariffs in the coming weeks.

On 2 April, reciprocal tariffs will take effect on all countries that impose duties on US products.

He is also considering 25% tariffs on goods from the EU “very soon” after claiming the bloc was created to “screw the United States”.

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More than 30 killed in Bolivia bus crash – second deadly collision within days

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3 hours ago

March 4, 2025

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More than 30 killed in Bolivia bus crash - second deadly collision within days

A truck has collided with a bus in southern Bolivia, killing at least 31 people, according to police – just two days after a deadly crash claimed at least 37 lives.

Officers said the bus rolled some 500m (1,640ft) down a ravine after the collision on Monday, which took place on the highway between Oruro, in the Bolivian Altiplano, and the highland mining city of Potosi.

The driver of the truck has been arrested, while the cause of the accident is under investigation.

Police spokesperson Limbert Choque said men and women were among the dead, and 22 people suffered injuries.

Bolivia’s President, Luis Arce, expressed condolences for the victims on social media: “This unfortunate event must be investigated to establish responsibilities,” he said in a post on Facebook.

“We send our most sincere condolences to the bereaved families, wishing them the necessary strength to face these difficult times.”

On Saturday morning, a crash between two buses killed more than three dozen people in the same region.

It happened between Colchani and the city of Uyuni, a major tourist attraction and the world’s largest salt flat.

Coincidentally, one of the buses was heading to Oruro, where one of the most important carnival celebrations in Latin America is currently taking place.

More than 30 people were also killed after a bus crash on 17 February.

In that crash, police said the driver appeared to have lost control of the vehicle, causing it to drop more than 800m (2,600ft) off a precipice in the southwestern area of Yocalla.

Bolivia’s mountainous, undermaintained and poorly supervised roads are some of the deadliest in the world, claiming an average 1,400 fatalities every year.

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The Pope has had ‘two episodes of acute respiratory failure’, Vatican says

Published

3 hours ago

March 4, 2025

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The Pope has had 'two episodes of acute respiratory failure', Vatican says

The Pope has had two episodes of “acute respiratory failure”, the Vatican has said.

The 88-year-old has been in hospital since 14 February with a severe respiratory infection that triggered other complications.

The Vatican said the respiratory failures were caused by “significant accumulation” of mucus in his lungs and a “bronchospasm”, akin to an asthma attack.

Doctors were then required to perform two bronchoscopies – a test which sees medics use a long, thin, telescope with a light to look into the lungs – to evaluate the Pope’s air passages, the statement said.

“In the afternoon, non-invasive mechanical ventilation was resumed,” the Vatican continued. “The Holy Father has always remained vigilant, oriented and collaborative. The prognosis remains reserved.”

Vatican sources said the situation had been calm this morning, before becoming worse this afternoon.

The respiratory issues the Pope suffered today are due to an ongoing infection rather than a new one but he is not out of danger, they added.

Asked if the Pope is in good spirits, they gave no answer. When asked if the Vatican’s apartment is getting ready to welcome Francis back, the source said it was too premature to discuss this.

His clinical picture remains complex, they said.

Earlier on Monday, Pope Francis issued a written message after Vatican officials begged him to let his voice be heard following more than two weeks out of public view.

He thanked his doctors for their care and well-wishers for their prayers, before praying for peace in Ukraine and elsewhere.

“From here, war appears even more absurd,” he wrote.