Football: Premier League fixtures hit by Covid-19 as postponements rise
LONDON, ENGLAND (REUTERS) – The Premier League fixture list was thrown into chaos on Thursday (Dec 16) as six games were postponed because of Covid-19 outbreaks, taking the total for the past week to nine. Leicester City’s home game against Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday was the first to go followed by Manchester United’s clash with... » read more
Football: Four Chelsea players including Lukaku, Werner test positive for Covid-19
LONDON (REUTERS) – Chelsea’s Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner, Callum Hudson-Odoi and the injured Ben Chilwell have tested positive for Covid-19 while Kai Havertz is unwell, manager Thomas Tuchel said ahead of their Premier League home match against Everton later on Thursday (Dec 16). “Kai feels unwell, he’s not positive yet but we’re waiting for test... » read more
Football: Vaccination a sign of ‘solidarity’, says Liverpool manager Klopp
LONDON (AFP) – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said he believes taking the coronavirus vaccine is about “solidarity, loyalty and togetherness” as he revealed his whole squad has been at least double vaccinated. From Wednesday (Dec 15), fans in the Premier League will have to show proof of vaccination or a negative test result in the... » read more
Football: Manager of virus-hit Spurs warns it poses a ‘big problem’ to all teams
LONDON (AFP, REUTERS) – Antonio Conte on Wednesday (Dec 15) spoke of the “big problem” managers will face in future after confirming Tottenham Hotspur’s Premier League clash at Leicester City today will go ahead as scheduled, following two postponed matches due to a Covid-19 outbreak in his camp. Spurs’ Europa Conference League game against Rennes... » read more
Covid-19 vaccination bookings for P3 to 5 pupils to open next week if doses arrive as scheduled
SINGAPORE – More than 300,000 children aged five to 11 will progressively be able to book their Covid-19 vaccination appointments from next week, if the delivery of the paediatric doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty vaccine arrives as scheduled. The vaccination exercise will start from the end of December for the older children in Primary 3 to... » read more
S’pore approves Pfizer Covid-19 jab for children aged 5 to 11; booster shots for 18- to 29-year-olds from Dec 14
SINGAPORE – Children from five to 11 years old will be able to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccine from the end of the month. Vaccination for this group will begin once new batches of the vaccine are received, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a statement on Friday (Dec 10) night. Those aged between... » read more
Football: Tottenham’s Brighton clash postponed after Covid-19 outbreak
LONDON (AFP) – Tottenham’s Premier League game at Brighton on Sunday has been postponed due to a severe coronavirus outbreak at the north London club. Eight Tottenham players and five staff members have tested positive for the virus, forcing the postponement of Thursday’s (Dec 9) Europa Conference League tie against Rennes. Tottenham asked Premier League... » read more
Football: Spurs game against Rennes postponed, Uefa confirms
LONDON (REUTERS) – Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa Conference League game at home to Stade Rennais on Thursday (Dec 9) will not go ahead as planned, Uefa has announced, after a Covid-19 outbreak at the Premier League club. Spurs said on Wednesday the match had been called off after manager Antonio Conte confirmed that there had been... » read more
Football: Leicester without seven players for Napoli game
LONDON (REUTERS) – Seven Leicester City players have not travelled to Italy for Thursday’s Europa League game against Napoli because of Covid-19 or illness, manager Brendan Rodgers said. Leicester are top of Group C in the second-tier European competition with eight points from five matches. The Premier League club will be through to the last... » read more
Retail takes off at airport terminals and Jewel amid looming headwinds
SINGAPORE – Shops at the airport terminals and those at Jewel Changi Airport mall are starting to see some signs of life again, bolstered by the easing of social restrictions and the launch of vaccinated travel lanes (VTLs). But the looming threat of the Omicron variant has some retail staff concerned, even though there has not... » read more
Vaccination status checks begin at libraries, queue outside Bishan library
SINGAPORE – Queues formed outside libraries on Wednesday (Dec 1) – the first day that vaccination-differentiated safe management measures kicked in at these locations. When The Straits Times visited Bishan Public Library at 10am, a counter had been set up at the entrance for staff to check the inoculation status of patrons. A queue of... » read more
Olympics: China says Omicron will ‘lead to challenges’ for Winter Games
BEIJING (AFP) – China warned on Tuesday (Nov 30) that the fast-spreading Omicron Covid-19 variant would cause challenges in hosting next February’s Winter Olympics in Beijing. Although China has largely quashed the coronavirus within its borders through travel restrictions and snap lockdowns, recurrent domestic outbreaks linked to the Delta variant have put the authorities on... » read more
Rugby: Munster team hit by nine more Covid-19 cases in South Africa
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – The Munster rugby team, stranded in South Africa, have discovered nine more coronavirus cases in their ranks, the Irish province said on Tuesday (Nov 30). They will join one other team member in a quarantine hotel in Cape Town until the end of their isolation period. The Irish government has already said... » read more
Pandemic preparedness can no longer be defined by static benchmarks, say experts
SINGAPORE – Countries that have been agile and able to scale up their responses to national level, as well as react quickly to the shifting circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic, have likely fared well thus far. The measure of a nation’s pandemic preparedness can no longer be defined by static benchmarks – such as the... » read more
Football: Unvaccinated Bayern star Kimmich back in Covid-19 quarantine
BERLIN (AFP) – Unvaccinated Bayern Munich midfielder Joshua Kimmich returned to house quarantine on Friday (Nov 19) after having private contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19, ruling him out of at least the next two games. Bundesliga leaders Bayern confirmed the news on Friday, when Kimmich sat out their Bundesliga match at Augsburg.... » read more
Football: Positive coronavirus test scuppers Howe’s debut as Newcastle manager
LONDON (AFP) – Eddie Howe will miss what should have been his first match as Newcastle manager, at home to Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday, after testing positive for Covid-19. “I’m very disappointed that I won’t be there with you all at St James’ Park tomorrow, but it is incredibly important that I... » read more
Covid-19 ICU patients who chose to be unvaccinated could face median bill of $25,000 before subsidies: MOH
SINGAPORE – Covid-19 patients who are unvaccinated by choice and end up in the intensive care unit (ICU) could be looking at a bill of around $25,000 before subsidies. With subsidies, the amount payable is significantly lower, the Ministry of Health (MOH) told The Straits Times. The $25,000 is the median acute hospital bill size for... » read more
Updated SafeEntry check-in shows green background, animated otter for cleared individuals
SINGAPORE – An animated otter against a green background will now show up on the SafeEntry check-in pass of some TraceTogether app users when they clear vaccination and test status checks. In an update on the TraceTogether website at around 10.20am on Thursday (Nov 11), GovTech said this applied to those who are using version 2.11... » read more
Tennis: Tsitsipas retires with arm injury as seeds fall in Paris
PARIS (AFP) – French Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas headed a long list of seeds to exit the Paris Masters on Wednesday (Nov 3) as an arm injury forced him to retire from a match for the first time in his career. The 23-year-old Greek was clearly out of sorts from the beginning of his second-round... » read more