Asia

Indian Covid-19 variant found in at least 53 territories: WHO

by Robin MILLARD GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The coronavirus variant first detected in India has now been officially recorded in 53 territories, a World Health Organization report showed Wednesday. Additionally, the WHO has received information from unofficial sources that the B.1.617 variant has been found in seven other territories, figures in the UN health agency’s weekly epidemiological update showed, taking the total to 60. The report said B.1.617 had shown increased transmissibility, while disease severity […]

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Two million rushed to shelters as India braces for another cyclone

KOLKATA, India (AFP) — A powerful cyclone headed for eastern India Tuesday, forcing the evacuation of nearly two million people just a week after another huge storm claimed at least 155 lives on the west coast. Cyclone Yaas in the Bay of Bengal is expected to slam into West Bengal and Odisha states around midday on Wednesday, the India Meteorological Department said, and could bring winds of up to 165 kilometres (100 miles) per hour. […]

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Indonesia arrests four for stealing vaccines meant for prisoners

MEDAN, Indonesia (AFP) — Four people have been arrested in Indonesia for allegedly stealing Covid-19 vaccines marked for prisoners and selling them to the public, authorities said Tuesday. The suspects took more than 1,000 doses made by China’s Sinovac from the prisoners’ quota, offering them to buyers in the capital Jakarta and in North Sumatra’s Medan city for around 250,000 rupiah ($17) each. The four arrested included a doctor at a prison in Medan and […]

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‘No change’ on Olympics, Japan says after US virus travel warning

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A new US travel warning for Japan over virus risks will not affect this summer’s pandemic-postponed Olympic Games, the Japanese government and Tokyo 2020 organizers said Tuesday. The US State Department advisory released Monday urges citizens to avoid travel to Japan, where the borders are already closed to almost all foreigners. It cites government health advice, as well as “secondary factors such as commercial flight availability, restrictions on US citizen entry, […]

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Singapore Airlines says rerouting flights to avoid Belarus

SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Singapore Airlines said Tuesday it was rerouting flights to avoid Belarus after Minsk forced a jet to land to arrest a dissident. “We are currently rerouting our flights that are bound for Europe to avoid the Belarusian airspace, and we will continue to closely monitor the situation,” a spokesperson told AFP. © Agence France-Presse

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Hong Kong could soon throw away millions of unused vaccine doses, including Pfizer jabs

Some 2 million Pfizer doses still to be used   by Jerome TAYLOR Agence France Presse HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong may soon have to throw away millions of coronavirus vaccine doses because they are approaching their expiry date and not enough people have signed up for the jabs, an official warned Tuesday. Hong Kong is one of the few places in the world fortunate enough to have secured more than enough doses […]

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China rejects claim of illness at Wuhan lab in late 2019

BEIJING, China (AFP) — China on Monday dismissed as “totally untrue” reports that three researchers in Wuhan went to hospital with an illness shortly before the coronavirus emerged in the city and spread around the globe. Since infecting its first victims in the central Chinese city in late 2019, the pathogen has afflicted almost every country in the world, killing more than 3.4 million people and pummelling national economies. Beijing has always fiercely fought the […]

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British woman dies in Cyprus after AstraZeneca jab

  NICOSIA, Cyprus (AFP) — A 39-year-old British woman died in a Cypriot hospital after a blood clotting incident after receiving the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, the official Cyprus News Agency said Monday. Charalambos Charilaou, the spokesperson for the state health services, told CNA that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) would investigate the death. The woman, treated at Nicosia General Hospital’s intensive care unit, received the first dose of the vaccine on May 6 in the […]

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Japan opens mass vaccination centres ahead of Olympics

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan opened its first mass vaccination centres on Monday in a bid to speed up a cautious Covid-19 inoculation programme with just two months until the virus-postponed Tokyo Olympics. The two military-run centres in Tokyo and Osaka will administer thousands of shots daily, initially to elderly residents of the cities, as the country battles a fourth wave of virus cases. Just two percent of Japan’s population of 125 million are fully […]

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Myanmar’s Suu Kyi defiant in first comments since coup

YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Detained Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said her ousted party would “exist as long as the people exist” during her first in-person court appearance since a February coup, her lawyer told AFP Monday. Since the February 1 putsch, Myanmar has been in uproar with near-daily protests and a nationwide civil disobedience movement, with more than 800 killed by the military, according to a local monitoring group. “We met with Amay […]

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Jack Ma to step down as president of his business school: FT

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, founder of ecommerce giant Aibaba, is going to step down as president of the elite business school he founded after having been caught in a Beijing clampdown on tech titans, the Financial Times reported Monday. Ma, formerly one of China’s most flambouyant entrepreneurs, has largely disappeared from public view since Alibaba’s fintech arm was investigated and fined by regulators for alleged monopolistic practices. The Financial Times report […]

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India passes 300,000 Covid-19 deaths

NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India said Monday it had passed more than 300,000 coronavirus deaths, the third country after the United States and Brazil to hit the figure as it battles a huge wave of infections. The South Asian nation has been hitting record single-day rises in infections and fatalities in recent weeks, with its healthcare system overwhelmed by the Covid-19 wave. India’s toll now stands at 303,720 after adding 50,000 deaths in just […]

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