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by Holly ROBERTSON BRISBANE, Australia (AFP) — New coronavirus cases popped up in cities across Australia on Monday, prompting local authorities to impose restrictions in areas not used to living under strict Covid-19 rules. Australia has been broadly successful in containing virus clusters, but is now battling flare-ups in at least four cities across the vast continent nation. Brisbane, Darwin, Perth and Sydney have all reported new cases of the highly contagious Delta variant, which […]
HAGATNA, Guam (AFP) — The US Pacific territory of Guam will offer visitors a Covid-19 vaccination with their tropical holiday, in a bid to restart its struggling tourism industry. Dubbed ‘Air V&V’ — vacation and vaccination — the programme is primarily aimed at US expatriates in the Asia-Pacific region, although other nationalities can participate. Guam has limited Covid-19 infections and a high vaccination rate among the local population thanks to one of the most effective […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — A skydiving instructor and their customer died Sunday after falling from a plane before a tandem jump in Australia. Police said two people died in the accident at Goulburn, about two hours’ drive southwest of Sydney, after the aircraft began experiencing “difficulty”. “Two parachutists fell from the aircraft and landed near the runway of the airport. They were located unresponsive and unable to be revived,” police said in a statement. Scott […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Sydney streets were nearly deserted on Saturday at the start of a beefed-up two-week lockdown to contain the highly contagious Delta coronavirus variant sweeping Australia’s largest city. More than 80 Covid-19 cases have been reported so far in an infection surge linked to an international flight crew transported to a quarantine hotel from the airport. The flare-up was a shock for a city that had returned to relative normality after […]
by Andrew LEESON Agence France Presse Dubbo, Australia (AFP) — After surviving years of crippling drought, farmers in eastern Australia are locked in a months-long battle with hordes of mice that are pouring through fields and devouring hard-earned crops. Farmer Col Tink uses a broom to skittle hundreds of roving mice toward a makeshift industrial trap — essentially a large tub of water where they drown. It is a brutally simple attempt to slow […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Sydneysiders were largely banned from leaving the city Wednesday as Australian authorities rushed to stop a growing outbreak of the highly contagious Delta Covid-19 variant from spreading to other regions. More than 30 people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 since the cluster emerged in the city’s Bondi Beach area last week, the latest in a string of flare-ups that highlight Australia’s difficulty in extinguishing outbreaks. New South Wales state Premier Gladys […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — A mouse plague ravaging Australia’s farmlands forced the evacuation of hundreds of inmates from a rural jail on Tuesday, as the rodents broke in and chewed through essential infrastructure. Scores of mice have gnawed through ceiling panels and wiring at a New South Wales prison, prompting authorities to scale back operations for repairs. “The health, safety and wellbeing of staff and inmates is our number one priority, so it’s important for […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — A magnitude 6.3 earthquake shook the area around New Zealand’s Kermadec Islands early Monday, the US Geological Survey reported. The quake, which struck at 1705 GMT Sunday, had an epicenter located 938 kilometers northeast of Ngunguru, on New Zealand’s North Island, at a depth of 10 kilometers, the USGS said. There were no immediate reports of damage or a tsunami. The tiny Kermadec Islands are mostly uninhabited. © Agence France-Presse
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia recommended that AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 jab should not be given to people under 60 on Thursday, a fresh blow to the country’s glacial vaccine rollout. Health Minister Greg Hunt said concerns over possible links to blood clots meant Pfizer was now “the preferred vaccine” for everyone under 60 years old. Australian authorities had already restricted the AstraZeneca shot to those over 50 in April, after several cases of severe blood clots […]
by Andrew LEESON DUBBO, Australia (AFP) — After surviving years of crippling drought, farmers in eastern Australia are locked in a months-long battle with hordes of mice that are pouring through fields and devouring hard-earned crops. Farmer Col Tink uses a broom to skittle hundreds of roving mice toward a makeshift industrial trap — essentially a large tub of water where they drown. It is a brutally simple attempt to slow the plague that has […]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Five million Melbourne residents will exit lockdown Thursday after Australian authorities said their adherence to strict rules had “changed the course” of a coronavirus outbreak in the city. After two weeks under stay-at-home orders, the toughest restrictions in Australia’s second-biggest city will be lifted from 11:59 pm Thursday, after just one new virus case was recorded on Tuesday. “This is a good day. Everyone should be absolutely proud of what we […]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — A coronavirus lockdown of Australia’s second-biggest city will be extended by another seven days, authorities announced Wednesday, as they attempt to stamp out a cluster of cases in Melbourne. “We have right now 60 cases and over 350 exposure sites and a variant of the virus that is quicker and more contagious than we have ever seen before,” said James Merlino, the acting premier of the state of Victoria. © Agence […]
