Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia reported 41 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide tally to 2,907, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Sunday.

Among the new cases, 40 were locally transmitted, and the remaining one was a Mongolian citizen who returned home from Russia via Altanbulag border point, the NCCD said.

Over 77 percent of all the patients in the country have recovered from the disease, it added.

The disease has claimed six lives in Mongolia since it confirmed its first case in March last year.

The Asian country launched a COVID-19 vaccination campaign across the country early this week, with the aim of vaccinating at least 60 percent of its 3.3 million population.

A total of 7,460 frontline workers have been vaccinated against the virus so far, according to the country's health ministry.

Ulaanbaatar /MONSAME/ On February 25, Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene received Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Czech Republic to Mongolia Jiri Brodsky.

The PM said, “I am delighted with current level of bilateral traditional friendly ties and cooperation. We attach great importance to expanding the cooperation especially in economic area. It is worth to mention that Czechoslovakia has made big contributions in our country’s development not only until 1990s but also the country has been rendering development aid to Mongolia and implementing social and economic projects and programs since 1990.”

Then the PM asked the Ambassador to support on the establishment of Intergovernmental Agreement on Social Protection as well as Agreement on International Auto Transport Relations.

For his part, Ambassador Jiri Brodsky congratulated PM L.Oyun-Erdene on his appointment and handed over congratulatory letter from the Czech Premier.

The Ambassador informed that the Czech Government has re-imposed a state of emergency to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. Moreover, the Czech intends to donate hospital equipment to Mongolia within the frame of COVAX program. The Ambassador also expressed his satisfaction with successful organization of virtual meeting between Mongolia-Czech Parliamentary Group last week.

The sides also conferred to carry on the project on relocating Przewalski’s horse, open international flight in route Ulaanbaatar-Prague and actively cooperate further in making investment in energy sector.

Mongolian Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene is reported to be considering plans to open the country’s borders to vaccinated foreign tourists by May. PM L.Oyun-Erdene has held a meeting with representatives from the country’s tourism and hotels sector. He noted that Mongolia could generate revenue of USD 450 million from receiving three million tourists a year by 2029.

D.Gantumur, President of Mongolian Tourism Association said that the country of three million has the capacity of receiving 7.5 million tourists a year. He asked the PM to open Mongolia’s borders to tourists from 1 May. According to him, Mongolia can still receive 400 thousand tourists the summer by opening its borders in May.

S.Munkhbat of the Mongolian Hotel Association explained that the number of hotels actively decreased to 430 in 2020 after 30 hotels closed and the number of employees in the sector was cut by 46 percent. Simultaneously, the number of visitors to hotels sharply decreased by 95 percent; only a few hotels were allowed to work as quarantine centres through the pandemic. Most hotels have been closed since January, 2020. The sector has received a body blow, from which it must urgently recover; hotels pay a whopping MNT 600 billion of taxes a year!

US regulators have formally approved the single-shot Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, the third jab to be authorised in the country.

The vaccine is set to be a cost-effective alternative to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and can be stored in a refrigerator instead of a freezer.

Trials found it prevented serious illness but was 66% effective overall when moderate cases were included.

The vaccine is made by the Belgian firm Janssen.

The company has agreed to provide the US with 100 million doses by the end of June. The first doses could be available to the US public as early as next week.

The UK, EU and Canada have also ordered doses, and 500 million doses have also been ordered through the Covax scheme to supply poorer nations.

President Joe Biden hailed it as "exciting news for all Americans, and an encouraging development", but warned that the "fight is far from over".

"Though we celebrate today's news, I urge all Americans - keep washing your hands, stay socially distanced, and keep wearing masks," he said in a statement.

"As I have said many times, things are still likely to get worse again as new variants spread, and the current improvement could reverse."

The authorisation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) came after an external committee of experts unanimously backed the vaccine on Friday.

Results from trials conducted in the US, South Africa and Brazil showed it was more than 85% effective at preventing serious illness, and 66% effective overall when moderate cases were included.

Notably, there were no deaths among participants who had received the vaccine and no hospital admissions after 28 days post-vaccine.

Overall protection was lower in South Africa and Brazil, where virus variants have become dominant, but defence against severe or critical illness was "similarly high".

South Africa began administering the unapproved Johnson & Johnson jab to healthcare workers as part of a study earlier this month. It came after early trials suggested the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine offered "minimal protection" against mild disease from the variant dominant in large parts of the country.

So far the only other country to approve the vaccine for emergency use is Bahrain, which gave it the green light on Thursday.

Because the vaccine will require fewer doses than its two-shot Pfizer and Moderna counterparts, it will also require fewer vaccine appointments and medical staff.

Who else has ordered the Johnson & Johnson jab?

UK - 30 million doses

EU - 200 million doses

Canada - 38 million doses

Covax nations - 500 million doses

Relations between China and Mongolia have entered into fast-track in recent years with fruitful results gained through practical cooperation, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Wednesday.

Wang made the remarks in a telephone conversation with the newly-appointed Mongolian Foreign Minister Batmunkh Battsetseg.

China attaches great importance to the friendly neighborship with Mongolia, and always puts this relation at a specially significant place in China's neighborhood diplomacy, he noted.

This year is historically meaningful for both China and Mongolia as people of each country will respectively greet the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China and Mongolian People's Party, Wang said.

Both sides should jointly implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of both countries, promoting greater development of the China-Mongolia comprehensive strategic partnership and bringing about more benefits to both peoples, he added.

In the face of the unexpected COVID-19 pandemic, governments and peoples of China and Mongolia have shared the weal and woe, and reached out to each other with assistance and support, lifting the bilateral ties to a new level, Wang said.

Noting that the touching story of Mongolia donating 30,000 sheep to China is widely known in both countries and the vaccines sent by China has arrived recently in Mongolia, Wang said he expects the two sides can further strengthen anti-pandemic cooperation until the pandemic is completely defeated.

Economic and trade cooperation is an important support for China-Mongolia relations, Wang said, adding that the two sides need to speed up the synergy between China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Development Road Initiative of Mongolia, expand the areas and upgrade the level of cooperation so as to compensate for the losses caused by the pandemic as soon as possible.

For her part, Battsetseg thanked China for its selfless help to her country in fighting the pandemic, saying that the two countries have maintained the development momentum of bilateral ties and continuously strengthened practical cooperation amid the pandemic, setting a good example of how countries support each other in response to adversities.

The new Mongolian administration attaches great importance to developing the comprehensive strategic partnership with China, hoping to enhance political mutual trust, deepen BRI cooperation and push for sustained rapid development of their bilateral ties, she said. Enditem

Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Nineteen people have been killed in home fires in Mongolia since the beginning of the year, local media reported Thursday, citing a government agency

Eight of those killed in the fires were children, said Bor Dulamsuren, public relations officer at the National Emergency Management Agency.

Leaving children at home unattended, negligence and electrical short-circuits were the main causes of the fires, Dulamsuren said, urging citizens to prevent possible fires in their own homes. Enditem

Production had begun at ATO in April 2020 and the resource will be used for an upcoming feasibility study, looking to more than double output from about 60,000oz to 150,000oz a year.

"This dramatic increase in the ATO resource further underpins the long life attributes of the project," president and CEO Bataa Tumur-Ochir said.

The updated resource comprises a measured and indicated 1.39Moz gold and 20.48Moz silver, or 2.24Moz Au-eq, and an inferred 208,000oz Au-eq.

The boost was mainly due to drilling at the ATO 4 deposit and the initial resource for the Mungu deposit.

Tumur-Ochir said the update supported the phase two expansion project and showed ample resources for a 2.5 million tonne per annum fresh ore development.

"The bankable feasibility study remains on schedule to be released Q2 2021 and we are optimistic that this study will bear out a robust economic result and a further 10 plus years of production at 150,000oz Au-eq with a focus on the fresh rock ores," he said.

ATO had produced 25,731oz of gold and 11,494oz of silver in the six months to September 30.

Executive chairman Matthew Wood said Steppe planned to ramp up exploration this year and had an internal target of 3-5Moz across its licences.

Steppe is planning a secondary listing on the Mongolian Stock Exchange, with proceeds of a proposed placement expected to be used for the phase two expansion.

Its Toronto-listed shares (TSX: STGO) have ranged between C63c-$3.14 over the past year and closed up 3.3% yesterday to $2.48, valuing it at $156 million (US$125 million).

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has recently announced its ‘TOP-30’ 3x3 team ranking for 2021, in which three Mongolian teams ‘Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy,’ ‘Sansar MMC Energy’ and ‘Zaisan MMC Energy’ were included.

Earlier the TOP-30 included ‘Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy’ and ‘Sansar MMC Energy’, this time the Mongolian team ‘Zaisan MMC Energy’ was added to it as it takes 28th place.

The ranking was topped by Serbia with its five teams in the TOP-30, followed by Mongolia and Russia, each has three teams in the ranking.

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ According to the Ministry of Health, 46 people were confirmed with coronavirus through PCR testing conducted nationwide in the last 24 hours.

These cases were all reported in Ulaanbaatar city. 21 infection cases were detected from close contacts of the confirmed cases in the clusters while one person was diagnosed positive when tested within the “One door-one test” campaign.

Mongolia now has 2,801 registered cases of COVID-19. 27 people have recovered in the last 24 hours and discharged from hospital, bringing the number of recovered people at 2,097. In other words, 74.8 percent of total cases have been recovered.

Furthermore, senior specialist of the Ministry of Health D.Narangerel provided information on the progress of the vaccination against the coronavirus.

"Two days have been passed since the launching of vaccination in Mongolia. We planned to involve 14,092 people of 16 target organizations in the first place. And 22 percent of them or 3,112 people have been involved in the vaccination so far."

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Today, February 25, Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene together with five Cabinet Ministers held a meeting with representatives of tourism industry, discussing pressing issues and exchanged views on how to resume operations of the sector.

During the meeting, representatives put proposals to the Cabinet Head to announce the definite period when the country’s border will be re-opened as well as to renew regulations to be adhered to operations. In response, PM L.Oyun-Erdene said “The issue related to re-opening of the country’s border from May 1 will be studied and discussed at the Cabinet meeting next week. The decision will depend on how well the citizens will adhere to infection protection regime and get vaccinated. We planned to vaccinate over 50 percent of entire population in a very short period of time. As the situation is unpredictable, I cannot give a promise, but the Government will do its best for it."

At the meeting, representatives of entities and associations operating in the industry expressed their positions and presented the situation created by the pandemic.

President of the Mongolian Restaurant Association M.Yesunmunkh said “The tourism industry brought income of MNT 1.6 trillion or USD 607 million to Mongolia in 2019. It makes up 7.2 percent of gross domestic product. The figure stands at 30-35 percent in countries where tourism has developed. Mongolia welcomed 577 thousand tourists in 2019. While the industry’s income went down by 65.8 percent in 2020. A total of 2,300 entities are operating in tourism sector and 88,700 people or 6.7 percent of Mongolia’s total work force are employed in the sector.”

Board Member of the Mongolian Tourism Association B.Barsbold said that 570 tour operator companies ran their operations in 2019, earning USD 240 million of income. Unfortunately, 98 percent of the sector’s operation halted in 2018 due to the pandemic, leading 49 percent of total workers to be unemployed. Workplace for the rest is at risk as well. To revive the tourism sector there are necessities to re-open the country's border in the nearest future, provide financial support, increase civil aviation capacity and to give support from the Government on strengthening marketing service and human resource capacity.

At the end of the meeting, PM L.Oyun-Erdene said the Government will render support in five directions, taking into consideration the issues raised at the meeting. These include:

To provide financial support to overcome the difficulties of COVID-19

To make liberalization in air transport sector

To study and resolve the proposal to re-open border from May 1 of this year

To digitize visa service and create legal environment to operate digital consul

To collaborate on implementing integrated marketing at the sectorial level