South Korea

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/02/world/covid-19-coronavirus#canada-will-require-incoming-international-air-passengers-to-test-negative-before-boarding-and-other-news-from-around-the-world

Canada will require passengers seeking to board international flights into the country to show their airline proof of a negative coronavirus test, in addition to entering an already existing, mandatory 14-day quarantine on arrival.

The new rule, which the government announced on Thursday, will take effect on Jan. 7 and will require proof of a negative PCR test taken in the previous 72 hours. PCR tests must be sent to a lab and can take several days to process, unlike the rapid antigen test, which gives a result in about 30 minutes.

In early September, officials in South Korea announced an ambitious plan to vaccinate 30 million people against the flu — 10 million more than last year, an increase aimed at keeping down rates of the flu while the country battled the coronavirus.

But as The Times reported last week, the internet soon got in the way. As the vaccine was distributed, a few logistical problems popped up, and South Koreans began circulating grave stories online — pictures of vaccine boxes that looked like they had been stored unsafely, reports of vaccine contaminated with mysterious white particles.

Left vacant by COVID-19, can offices become homes to fix housing shortages? The coronavirus pandemic has increased pressure on governments to address shortages in housing and allowed authorities more freedom to convert empty offices, urban experts said on Tuesday. Rina Chandran U.S.

BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The coronavirus pandemic has increased pressure on governments to address shortages in housing and allowed authorities more freedom to convert empty offices, urban experts said on Tuesday.