There has been a resurgence in Covid-19 cases in the country, with the highest numbers surfacing in Karachi.

Here is an 8am bulletin update:

• 541 cases
• 1 death
• 3.50% positivity rate
• 15,462 tests

Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday recommended a change in the design of COVID-19 booster shots this fall in order to combat more recently circulating variants of the coronavirus.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

ASIA-PACIFIC

• China slashed the quarantine time for inbound travellers by half, in a major easing of COVID-19 curbs that have deterred cross-border travel and resulted in international flights running at just 2% of pre-pandemic levels.

• North Korea’s Kim Jong Un presided over another meeting of the ruling party to tighten discipline, state media said, as Pyongyang continues to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and gears up for potential flood damage from heavy rains.

EUROPE

• Ireland agreed to put the army on standby to help with security at Dublin airport should staffing be hit by a resurgence of COVID-19.

• Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr apologised to its employees and customers for travel chaos caused by labour shortages as demand has soared during the summer amid the lifting of restrictions.

• Players at this year’s French Open contracted the COVID-19 virus but did not make it public and there was an understanding among them not to self-test despite having symptoms, French player Alize Cornet said at Wimbledon.

• Matteo Berrettini, runner-up at last year’s Wimbledon, became the second top player to pull out of the championships, after testing positive for COVID-19.

AMERICAS

• A U.S. appeals court panel said on Monday it would convene a full panel to reconsider President Joe Biden’s executive order requiring civilian federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, and set aside the order pending that hearing.

• The fast-spreading BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of Omicron are estimated to make up a combined 52% of the coronavirus cases in the United States as of June 25, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

• Pfizer and Moderna said they will be ready with COVID-19 vaccines designed to combat the BA.1 Omicron variant that was dominant last winter earlier than those designed to target currently dominant subvariants.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

• China’s economy has recovered to some extent, but its foundation is not solid, state media quoted Premier Li Keqiang as saying.