(Reuters) – Hopes of an improvement in key economic growth metrics in China have increased as more COVID-19-related restrictions ease in the country, including the scheduled reopening of the Universal Beijing Resort next week.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
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ASIA-PACIFIC
* China’s exports are expected to have expanded at a faster pace in May as factories reopened and supply chain disruptions calmed after Shanghai began to emerge from a lockdown, while imports also likely rose, a Reuters poll showed.
* The Universal Beijing Resort will reopen on June 15 after being closed more than a month to comply with China’s COVID-19 prevention measures, but it will cap the number of visitors at no more than 75% of capacity.
* North Korea reported 61,730 more people with fever symptoms amid its first-ever coronavirus outbreak, North Korean state media KCNA said on Tuesday.
EUROPE
* Poland hopes to get up to about $2.81 billion in COVID-19 recovery funds from the European Union this year, the finance minister told news agency ISBnews, after Brussels cleared the way for Warsaw to receive the money.
* Tourism is rebounding more quickly in Portugal than in some parts of Europe, but the number of foreign visitors this year is still expected to lag the 2019 pre-pandemic record, the country’s hotel association AHP said.
AMERICAS
* U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tested positive for COVID-19 and was experiencing mild symptoms.
* Uruguay President Luis Lacalle Pou said he will not attend the U.S.-hosted Summit of the Americas and was “cancelling all of his activities for the coming days” after testing positive for COVID-19.
AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
* The European Investment Bank has committed 75 million euros ($80 million) to finance construction of a new facility in Senegal that will produce COVID-19 and other vaccines for use across Africa.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* New data presented at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago suggests that blood cancer patients have strong T-cell responses to COVID-19 vaccines despite a significantly weaker antibody response to the shots than patients with solid tumours.
* Pfizer Inc said it would spend $120 million to expand manufacturing of its COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid at its Michigan plant, as demand ramps up.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* China’s services activity contracted for a third straight month in May, pointing to a slow recovery ahead despite the easing of some COVID-19 lockdowns in Shanghai and neighbouring cities, a private business survey showed.
(Compiled by Dina Kartit, Shailesh Kuber and Uttaresh.V; Edited by Bill Berkrot and Shounak Dasgupta)
