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MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Work-from-home restrictions were reimposed in Moscow on Monday as Russia tried to contain a deadly coronavirus wave fuelled by the Delta variant, while several Asian nations also tightened curbs to contain growing outbreaks. While many wealthy countries have brought down infections through rapid vaccinations, outbreaks are still raging from Bangladesh and Indonesia to South America — many fuelled by the highly contagious Delta variant that was first detected in India. […]
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) — Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven resigned on Monday, one week after he lost a vote of no confidence, leaving it up to the speaker of parliament to begin the search for a replacement. Lofven could have either called a snap election or resigned following the no-confidence vote last week. He told a press conference a snap election was “not what is best for Sweden,” pointing to the difficult situation the Covid-19 […]
by Jan FLEMR PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AFP) — A rare tornado tore through several Czech villages and towns, killing at least five people and injuring dozens, rescuers said Friday as they cleaned up the wreckage in the storm’s aftermath one official described as a “living hell”. Retirement home and zoo were badly damaged after tennis-ball-sized hail battered a number of towns Thursday evening, also causing extensive power outages and traffic disruptions after a major motorway […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — All of Italy became a mask-free, “low-risk” zone for coronavirus Monday, marking a dramatic milestone for the first European country to be hit by the global pandemic in February 2020. In a decree that took effect Monday, the health ministry for the first time classified each of Italy’s 20 regions as “white”, signifying low risk, under the country’s color-coded classification system that evaluates Covid-19 risk. That means facemasks will no longer […]
by Damian MCCALL PERROS-GUIREC, France (AFP) — French police appealed for witnesses Sunday as they launched a probe into the giant domino-effect pile-up that marred the opening stage at the Tour de France, caused by a spectator who leant into the path of the speeding peloton holding up a sign. The woman held up a sign with ‘Granny and Grandad’ written in German and looked up the road towards the race’s motorbike cameras, crucially, with […]
by Hélène DAUSCHY STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) — The highly contagious Delta variant could soon account for 90 percent of new coronavirus cases in the EU, the bloc’s disease control agency said Wednesday, urging members to spur vaccination drives. While the Alpha variant first discovered in the UK is the predominant strain now circulating in the European Union, that is expected to change quickly, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said. “It is very […]
by Thomas CABRAL LISBON, Portugal (AFP) — Portugal fears a fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic may take hold with the highly contagious Delta variant now accounting for more than 60 percent of new cases in the capital. Lisbon is among a dozen places that did not move into the final phase of easing the lockdown that much of the country has enjoyed. Travel between the capital region and the rest of Portugal was banned […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia’s capital Moscow on Friday registered 9,056 new coronavirus infections in 24 hours, a record since the start of the pandemic, according to government statistics. Some 9,056 new cases were recorded in the megapolis of 12 million in the past 24 hours, up from 3,000 two weeks ago and a new daily record since the Covid-19 pandemic began in early 2020, according to official statistics. Country-wide, 17,262 new cases were […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain on Thursday recorded 11,007 new daily coronavirus cases, with the emergence of the Delta variant pushing the figure above 10,000 for the first time since late February. The government on Monday announced it was delaying steps to lift restrictions due to concern over the spread of the new strain, first detected in India. The government said a four-week delay would give it time to fully vaccinate millions more. The […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — France on Wednesday said it was ending the obligation to wear masks outside and would bring forward the lifting of a nighttime curfew, as Covid infections fall and the country’s vaccine drive picks up. Prime Minister Jean Castex said the requirement for people to wear masks outdoors in much of the country would be lifted from Thursday, with some exceptions, while an unpopular 11:00 pm Covid curfew will be scrapped on […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — A coronavirus vaccine being developed by Germany’s CureVac has shown disappointing results in an interim analysis of its effectiveness, the company said Wednesday. “In the unprecedented context of at least 13 variants circulating within the study population subset assessed at this interim analysis, CVnCoV demonstrated an interim vaccine efficacy of 47 percent against Covid-19 disease of any severity and did not meet prespecified statistical success criteria,” CureVac said in a statement. […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Astronauts Thomas Pesquet of France and Shane Kimbrough of the United States spacewalked outside the International Space Station on Wednesday as they began the painstaking process of installing new solar panels to boost the orbital outpost’s deteriorating power systems. It was the first of several excursions to augment the ISS’s existing eight solar arrays, with the first pair operating continuously since December 2000. The spacewalking duo were installing the first […]
