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LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — A coalition of UK aid agencies warned Monday that the Covid-19 pandemic is worsening the “dire humanitarian” crisis in fragile states and raising the risk of famine, including in Yemen. Parts of Yemen and South Sudan are already on the brink of famine, while Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo are at risk, driven by the pandemic’s economic impact, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) said in a new report. […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain announced Sunday that it has given more than 20 million people at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, with the rapid rollout providing hope in a country with Europe’s highest death toll. Prime Minister Boris Johnson called it “a huge national achievement” while praising National Health Service staff and others involved for “tireless work”. Health Secretary Matt Hancock made the announcement in a video message on Twitter, saying: […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Queen Elizabeth II said on Thursday that her coronavirus jab “didn’t hurt at all” and urged those wary of receiving the vaccine to “think about other people”. The 94-year-old monarch was vaccinated along with her husband Prince Philip in January, telling health officials leading the rollout in a video call that she now felt “protected”. “It was very quick, and I’ve had lots of letters from people who have been […]
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AFP) — A powerful earthquake on Wednesday rocked southwestern Iceland, including the capital Reykjavik, triggering increased volcanic activity but causing no serious injuries or damage, authorities said. The epicentre of the quake was located near Mount Keilir, a small mountain of 378 metres (1,240 feet) on the Reykjanes peninsula, some 30 kilometres (19 miles) south of Reykjavik, authorities added. The US Geological Survey measured one tremor at a magnitude of 5.6 some […]
by Marthe BOSUANDOLE and Bienvenu-Marie BAKUMANYA GOMA, DR Congo (AFP) — Italy’s ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo was among three people killed on Monday when a UN convoy was ambushed in the country’s troubled east, violence the DRC’s president called a “terrorist attack” and that was blamed on a Rwandan Hutu rebel group. Luca Attanasio died of his wounds after a World Food Programme (WFP) convoy came under gunfire near Goma while he […]
EDINBURGH, United Kingdom (AFP) — Data from two separate studies published in the UK on Monday, one in England and another in Scotland, have shown vaccines against Covid-19 are effective in cutting disease transmission and hospitalizations from the first dose. Analysis from Public Health England has shown the vaccine manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech reduces the risk of catching infection by more than 70 percent after a first dose. That risk is reduced by 85 percent after […]
by Jitendra JOSHI Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set Monday to start unwinding England’s third and potentially final coronavirus lockdown, as a quickening UK-wide inoculation drive relieves pressure on overstretched hospitals. In a statement to parliament, Johnson will confirm the reopening of all English schools on March 8 in the first big step towards restoring normal life, nearly a year after he imposed the first stay-at-home […]
by Deborah COLE Agence France Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Doctors and public health officials pleaded with Germans Thursday to take up AstraZeneca vaccines against the coronavirus after muddled communication about the efficacy of the British-made jabs hit demand. Despite a raging debate about a sluggish EU rollout of vaccines, German healthcare facilities have reported several hundred thousand AstraZeneca vials sitting unused and rampant no-shows at scheduled appointments. Officials in Italy, Austria and Bulgaria […]
by Robin MILLARD GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The number of new cases of Covid-19 reported worldwide fell by 16 percent last week to 2.7 million, the World Health Organization said. The number of new deaths reported also fell 10 percent week-on-week, to 81,000, the WHO said late Tuesday in its weekly epidemiological update, using figures up to Sunday. Five of the six WHO regions of the world reported a double-digit percentage decline in new cases, […]
by Robin MILLARD GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization gave emergency use approval to AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccines on Monday, meaning distribution can start to poorer countries starved of doses to fight the pandemic. The AstraZeneca-Oxford jab forms the bulk of batches being lined up through Covax, the global program aimed at procuring and shipping out vaccines equitably around the world, regardless of wealth. It is only the second Covid-19 jab to have received […]
by Joe JACKSON in London and AFP bureaus LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain’s coronavirus vaccination programme passed the 15 million mark on Sunday, hours after New Zealand, so far largely spared by the pandemic, ordered its largest city into lockdown. The European Union, facing criticism over the sluggish roll-out of its own programme, meanwhile, confirmed it would fast-track approval of vaccines updated to target variants of the original virus. Germany partially closed its borders […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest son and heir Prince Charles, who contracted Covid-19 last year, has received a first vaccine dose, his office said on Wednesday. The 72-year-old Prince of Wales and his wife Camilla, 73, both received the shot as health authorities urged those over the age of 70 to get a jab. Britain, which was the first Western nation to roll out Covid jabs in the general population, […]
