Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's COVID-19 death toll has reached 2,001 after two more related deaths were registered over the past 24 hours, the country's health ministry said on Monday.

Meanwhile, 649 new COVID-19 infections, including 10 imported ones, were recorded across the country in the past day, raising the national tally to 396,456, the ministry said.

Less than 400 infections had been reported a day in the country until Jan. 4, when the number of daily infections has been resurging due to New Year celebrations.

The Asian country confirmed its first 12 imported cases of the Omicron variant on Friday, and its first five local cases of the Omicron variant on Sunday.

So far, 66.6 percent of the country's total population have received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, while 936,906 people aged over 18 have received a third dose.

Starting from Friday, the country has offered a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to its citizens on a voluntary basis.

In December 2021, the gold purchase of the Bank of Mongolia (BoM) was 780 kg, raising the BoM’s total precious metal purchase of 2021 to 21 tons.

In December, the BoM branches in Darkhan-Uul and Bayankhongor aimags bought 8.2 kg and 46.4 kg of precious metals respectively.

The average price of BoM’s purchase of 1 gram of gold was MNT 163,695.6 last month.

On January 5, the Prime Minister issued an order to establish a working group in charge of enhancing the operations of border checkpoints and accelerating the transport of export and import products during the pandemic.

In connection, Deputy Prime Minister S.Amarsaikhan on January 7, received Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to Mongolia Chai Wenrui to exchange views on ways to keep operations running at the two countries’ border checkpoints without interruption.

At the start of the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister highlighted that he has been appointed as the head of a newly-established working group in charge of ensuring normal operations at border checkpoints, and expressed the country’s interest in urgently launching container transportation between the two countries. “As preparations have been completed for the side of Mongolia, I am confident that you will provide support in resolving the matter by informing the People’s Government of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The resolution of the matter concerning the transportation of goods and products between the two countries’ borders will serve as a significant measure for the two countries’ friendly relations and cooperation,” he highlighted.

He then informed the Chinese Ambassador about the interest in organizing a virtual meeting of the two countries’ intergovernmental commission in the near future to discuss increasing the number of border checkpoints and launching preparatory works for the Zamyn-Uud Free Economic Zone.

In turn, Ambassador Chai Wenrui told the Deputy Prime Minister that he will pass on the request to the corresponding organization, and put in all his efforts to have active cooperation between Zamiin-Uud and Erlian. He then agreed that organizing regular meetings between the two countries’ professional institutions would create the conditions for normal operations to be carried out during the time of the pandemic.

Mongolia has begun to administer the fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine to its people on voluntary basis on January 7. Currently 66.6 per cent of the population have received two shots of coronavirus vaccine while 28.7 per cent have had the third shot.

Mongolia is one of leading countries in the world with its early and active vaccination program and has passed the coronavirus waves not imposing strict quarantine and with less loss. The country also has experienced significantly less deaths caused by coronavirus compared to that of developed countries. Specifically the US have had 2501 deaths per 1 million, the Great Britain 2194 while Mongolia- 650.

Amid a worldwide surge in Omicron variant infections, the Government of Mongolia adheres a strategy to widely involve the population in the third dose of coronavirus vaccine and administer the fourth dose on voluntary basis to pass the new wave, avoiding from imposing strict lockdown.

The citizens will voluntarily get the fourth dose after three months since their third dose. In addition, coronavirus infected citizens, who had the third dose can receive their fourth dose after 21 days since their recovery. Citizens will be vaccinated with the fourth shot, choosing from Pfizer’s Comirnaty vaccine and ‘CorV’ vaccine developed by Sinopharm.

Also, children born in 2010 who will turn 12 this year are being offered a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Citizens who will turn 18 this year can be involved in their third dose of the immunization.

The city of Tianjin in northern China has begun conducting PCR tests on all residents, after two cases of coronavirus infection with the Omicron variant were identified in the city.

The state-run China Central Television reported that the infected are a 29-year-old woman and a 10-year old girl.

They are not from the same family and had not left the city in the 14 days before being tested.

The authorities believe they are the cases of community transmission.

Eighteen people who were in close contact with the two have tested positive.

Omicron infections have been found in mainland China among those who arrived from overseas and their close contacts.

City authorities began PCR testing on Sunday with the aim of covering all of its more than 13 million residents.

Tianjin is close to Beijing, where the winter Olympic Games will be held in February.

China has been seeing a resurgence of COVID-19 infections recently.

About 2,000 cases have been confirmed in the inland city of Xi'an in Shaanxi Province since December.

Authorities put the city under strict restrictions, forcing residents to stay home.

Infections are also spreading this month in Henan Province.

Mongolia registered 1,040 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, exceeding the 1,000 mark for the first time since Nov. 11, bringing the national tally to 394,797, the country's health ministry said on Saturday.

Among the latest confirmed infections, 45 were imported from abroad, the ministry said.

Less than 400 infections had been reported daily in the country until Tuesday, when the number of daily infections resurged due to New Year celebrations.

The viral disease has claimed 1,997 lives after two more patients aged over 40 died in the past day.

In addition, the Asian country on Friday confirmed its first 12 cases of the Omicron variant.

So far, 66.5 percent of Mongolia's population of 3.4 million have received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, while 934,120 people aged over 18 have received the third dose.

Starting from Friday, the country has offered a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to its citizens on a voluntary basis.

The iron ore price rose on Friday as traders returned from the New Year holidays feeling optimistic about potential demand recovery in China.

According to Fastmarkets MB, benchmark 62% Fe fines imported into Northern China were changing hands for $128.03 a tonne during morning trading, up 0.3% compared to Thursday’s closing, the highest since October 12.

Iron ore’s most-active May contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange ended daytime trading 1.4% higher at 719 yuan ($112.78) a tonne, rising for a fourth straight session and touching 725.50 yuan earlier in the day.

“The current rise in raw materials and the limited production during the Winter Olympics have boosted steel prices to a certain extent, but the demand side is still weak,” Sinosteel Futures analysts said in a note.

China is expected to curb mills’ operations in its steel production hubs to ensure clean air during the Beijing 2022 Olympics next month.

But analysts said hopes for an easing of steel production controls after the Games have helped underpin iron ore, along with some restocking demand ahead of the Chinese Spring Festival holidays starting January 31.

“After the Winter Olympics, there is an opportunity to relax the production limit (for steel),” analysts at Zhongzhou Futures said in a note.

(With files from Reuters)

Nevada-based Allegiant Air has said it will buy 50 new Boeing 737 MAX jets as the ultra-low-cost airline, which mainly relies on used Airbus aircraft, aims to switch supplier and strategy amid a post-pandemic travel rebound.

The jets are worth $5.5 billion and will be delivered in several steps. The airline will take delivery of an initial batch of planes next year, while the remaining deliveries are scheduled throughout 2024 and 2025, Chief Financial Officer Greg Anderson told Reuters on Wednesday.

According to Anderson, the new jets are expected to add seating capacity and 20% fuel savings compared to Allegiant’s older Airbus aircraft.

The carrier reportedly agreed to purchase 30 737 MAX 7 aircraft and 20 737 MAX 8-200 aircraft, making it the launch customer for that larger variant in the US.

The company “has experienced one of the strongest recoveries of US airlines,” Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu said, as quoted by the agency, adding that the latest order is evidence of post-pandemic confidence in leisure travel “vastly outperforming corporate travel.”

“With this deal, and these new MAX aircraft, it will provide the ability to grow into 400 more routes,” Anderson said.

For Boeing, the deal is a much-needed boost after two of its key medium-haul customers, Qantas and several affiliates of Air France-KLM, switched to Airbus in December. Shares of the aerospace giant surged 1.3% on the news, while the stock of airline parent Allegiant Travel dropped around 8%.

The 737 MAX was universally banned from taking to the skies after two deadly accidents in late 2018 and early 2019, which claimed 346 lives.

In October 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after takeoff, killing 189 people. In March 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed near the town of Bishoftu just six minutes after takeoff, killing all 157 people on board.

It took Boeing several years to get the troubled aircraft back in the sky by addressing security concerns and obtaining vital approvals from aviation regulators across the world.

I thought I knew what it was to be black in American until I met a reindeer herder in a more remote part of Mongolia. A grandmother there was so fascinated by the three members of the group with dark skin that she pulled us out from the rest of the group and gestured to take a picture.

I could tell the rest of the group felt extremely awkward. Race and culture is a very touchy subject in the U.S. and the conversation about how we continue living with those differences continues. But I realized this wasn’t the U.S. and the attention strangers were paying to my race was about something else.

Taking a step back, I was able to put things into context. For all I knew, I may have been the only black woman in Mongolia at the time. I thought about what my best friend told me to remember before I left home: “Ignorance does not mean harm.” It was not the fault of the young girl in the market that she had never seen anyone that looked like me and wanted to touch my hair. This didn’t make the old woman a bad person because she wanted to take a photo of black people. In her long life, she had never seen anyone who looked like me. It was an exposure that she did not understand because she had never seen it.

As one of three black students on the trip, my biggest challenge was navigating the reaction of people native Mongolians to my race.

Mongolia is a landlocked country between Russia and China and has one of the smallest population densities in the world. The capital Ulaanbaatar is the only major city and the overall population is very homogeneous.

It was my third day in an environment that was still completely foreign to me. We were shopping at the well-known Black Market, a huge flea market in the middle of Ulaanbaatar where you could buy anything from traditional Mongolian deels, a tunic-like garment, to sunglasses and food. It is also a hotspot for pickpockets. That is why I was nervous when I felt something tickle the back of my head. However, as I turned around, I saw a young girl holding onto the bottom of my braid. She wore glasses and a light pink dress. Her family stood behind her, watching for my reaction. I felt shocked and confused, uncomfortable suddenly being the center of attention. In that moment, there was nothing I could do but smile awkwardly. When I look back, I think that even without a language barrier between us, I would have still reacted the same way.

These experiences gave me another purpose in Mongolia. As the only black person the Mongolians who I encountered may ever meet, it was up to me to teach them about my culture. It also broadened my perspective on race outside of the American context, which is all I had ever known up to that point.

Being in Mongolia forced me to learn about cultural appreciation, respecting differences and educating others. I went from feeling singled-out to seeing an opportunity to engage with the Mongolian people in a different, unexpected and important way.

Jadeen Samuels is a senior high school student in New York.