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BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — At least 10 people were injured Sunday when an explosion rocked a warehouse storing gas canisters near Lebanon’s border with Syria, the Lebanese Red Cross and the army said. The Red Cross said it dispatched several teams of rescuers to the village of Al-Qasr in the eastern Hermel region where the explosion occurred and rushed the injured to hospitals. “We have responded to an explosion in a warehouse that stores gas […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia on Sunday announced the reopening of borders and the resumption of international flights after a two-week suspension aimed to stem the spread of a new Covid-19 strain. The government ordered the lifting of “precautionary measures related to the spread of a new variant of coronavirus”, the Ministry of the Interior said, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. Saudi Arabia has recorded more than 363,000 cases, including […]
CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — Egypt has approved the use of a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharma giant Sinopharm with its rollout to start later in January, the health minister said. “The Egyptian pharmaceutical authority approved on Saturday the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine,” Hala Zayed said late Saturday, on the local MBC Masr channel. The first batch of the vaccine was delivered in December, with further doses expected this month. “The second shipment of this vaccine […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India has authorized the emergency use of two coronavirus vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and by local pharmaceutical firm Bharat Biotech, the country’s drug regulator said Sunday. “The… vaccines of Serum Institute (AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine) and Bharat Biotech are being approved for restricted use in emergency situations,” the Drugs Controller General of India, V.G. Somani, said at a briefing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that the fast-track approvals […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India on Saturday staged nationwide drills to start one of the world’s biggest coronavirus vaccination programmes as the drug regulator prepared to approve the first vaccine. A government panel on Friday recommended emergency use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford University shot and the first injections could be given in the coming week after the Drugs Control Authority of India gives final approval. India, which has the world’s second highest number of pandemic […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Tokyo reported over 1,300 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, a daily record, as officials warned that a state of emergency might be needed to tackle spiking cases. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga held emergency talks with ministers late Thursday but did not immediately outline plans for any new measures. “The trend is clearly increasing. I regard this as very serious,” Suga told reporters, as he urged people to wear masks, wash […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China has granted “conditional” market approval to a Sinopharm vaccine with a reported 79 percent efficacy rate against Covid-19, health authorities said Thursday, a major stride towards inoculating the world’s largest population. The Sinopharm jab, which has surged ahead of a raft of Chinese competitors during Phase 3 trials, could signal a breakthrough in the battle to squash the pandemic in Asia. Around 4.5 million doses of largely unproven emergency […]
by Mohamed Abdelhakim with Fawaz Al Haidari in Abu Dhabi Agence France Presse Aden, Yemen (AFP) — At least 26 people were killed when explosions rocked Yemen’s Aden airport moments after a new unity government flew in, in what some officials charged was a “cowardly” attack by Iran-backed Huthi rebels. Although all government ministers were reported to be unharmed in Wednesday’s attack, more than 50 people were wounded, medical and government sources told AFP […]
by Patrick BAERT Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — The number of coronavirus cases in the Chinese city where the pathogen was first detected may have been 10 times higher than official figures suggest, according to a study by health authorities in Wuhan. About 4.4 percent of the city’s 11 million residents had developed antibodies against the virus causing Covid-19 by April, the report by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control (CDC) said. […]
SINGAPORE (AFP) — Singapore began a coronavirus vaccination campaign Wednesday with a nurse receiving the first jab, making it among the first Asian nations to roll out inoculations. The city-state, which has suffered a mild outbreak, became the first country in Asia to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine earlier this month, and its programme kicked off with healthcare workers. Nurse Sarah Lim, 46, whose work includes screening suspected Covid-19 patients, was the first to be […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Phase 3 trials of a Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine found it was 79 percent effective, the Chinese pharma giant said Wednesday, lower than rival jabs developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna but a potential breakthrough in the battle to stem the pandemic in Asia. China has been racing against the West to develop its own Covid-19 vaccines, with five already in large-scale Phase 3 clinical trials. But Wednesday’s announced was the first […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russian rescuers on Tuesday were continuing to search for 17 missing fishermen after their trawler capsized during a storm and sank in the freezing Barents Sea a day earlier. The spokesman for the maritime and river transport agency Rosmorrechflot, Alexei Kravchenko, told AFP that rescuers were conducting the operation by air and sea. “We are formally continuing the search and rescue operation,” Kravchenko said, adding that two ships and an An-74 […]
