Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — A 5.5 magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey on Sunday, the US Geological Survey said, with initial reports indicating no immediate casualties. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said there were no reports of material damage or casualties so far. The USGS said the quake was registered in the Sivrice district in Elazig province at 0637 GMT and struck at a depth of 10 kilometres. The Turkish government’s disaster agency AFAD reported a […]
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — Turkey will receive its first shipment of China’s Sinovac coronavirus vaccine within days as preliminary domestic tests showed it was 91% effective, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Thursday. Ankara in the next few days will also sign a deal with Pfizer/BioNTech for 4.5 million doses, with the option to buy 30 million more from the US pharmaceutical giant and its German partner, Koca said Turkey will initially receive […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia on Thursday registered record numbers for daily infections and deaths from the coronavirus, as the country avoids reimposing a nationwide lockdown. Health officials reported 29,935 new infections, bringing the country’s caseload to 2,963,688 — the fourth-highest in the world. They also registered 635 deaths, increasing total fatalities to 53,096 since the beginning of the pandemic. Russia’s death rate is much lower than that of other badly hit countries, raising […]
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel announced Thursday that it will impose a nationwide lockdown from next week, its third of the Covid-19 pandemic, just days after it began vaccinations against the virus. “A general lockdown will be imposed from 17:00 (1500 GMT) on Sunday for two weeks,” a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. “There is an option to extend the lockdown for an additional two weeks, unless the basic reproduction number (for […]
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Clinical trials of the CoronaVac coronavirus vaccine developed by Chinese laboratory Sinovac have “reached the efficacy threshold” demanded by the World Health Organization, the Brazilian institute charged with its production and distribution said on Wednesday. However, the Butantan Institute didn’t publish the results of those trials — the last before authorization. “We’re reached the efficacy threshold that allows us to seek an emergency use” authorization from Brazil’s Anvisa […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan reported its first local coronavirus transmission Tuesday, blaming a foreign pilot for ending 253 days of being virus-free. Health authorities said a woman in her thirties had tested positive after contact with the pilot, a New Zealander working for a Taiwan airline. Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said the pilot had failed to “truthfully declare” his contacts and activities to authorities once he had been confirmed as a carrier. Authorities […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan reported its first local coronavirus transmission Tuesday, ending 253 days of being virus-free in a major blow for an island that has been lauded for its pandemic response. Health authorities said a woman in her thirties had tested positive for the coronavirus after coming into contact with a “foreign pilot” working for a Taiwanese airline who was a carrier. “Health units arranged for her to be tested and she was […]
DOHA, Qatar (AFP) — Qatar received its first novel coronavirus vaccines on Monday, just hours after regulators approved the jab for use in the Gulf state, which says it will innoculate all residents free of charge. A shipment of 14 boxes of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine landed at Doha’s Hamad International Airport aboard a Qatar Airways passenger Boeing 787 from Brussels shortly after 2000 GMT, according to AFP correspondents on site. Authorities have not said how […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea banned gatherings of more than four people in the capital and surrounding areas Monday as the country recorded its highest daily coronavirus death toll since the epidemic began. While South Korea has suffered relatively lightly compared to other nations, officials said a surge in infections had left hospitals in the capital region with a chronic shortage of intensive care beds. The country reported 926 new coronavirus cases Monday, […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong on Monday said it would ban all flights from Britain following the discovery of a new and highly infectious strain of the coronavirus there. “From midnight there will be no more passenger flights arriving in Hong Kong from the United Kingdom,” health secretary Sophia Chan told reporters. Anyone arriving in Hong Kong who has been the UK in the last 14 days will also have to undergo a […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia on Sunday halted international flights and suspended entry through its land and sea ports for at least a week, after a new fast-spreading strain of coronavirus appeared in Britain. The kingdom is “temporarily suspending all international flights — except in exceptional cases — for a period of one week, which can be extended by another week,” the official Saudi Press Agency said. “Entry to the kingdom through land […]
by Nir Kafri in Ramat Gan and Stephen Weizman in Jerusalem Agence France Presse Ramat Gan, Israel (AFP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a Covid-19 vaccine jab on Saturday, kicking off a national rollout over the coming days. Netanyahu, 71, and Israel’s health minister were injected with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine live on TV at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv. “I asked to be vaccinated first, together with Health […]
