Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Switzerland announced on Thursday a three-stage easing of restrictions imposed to suppress the COVID-19 pandemic, with some stores and services allowed to reopen from April 27. “In light of epidemiological developments and the recommendations of scientists, the Federal Council has decided to relax measures to protect the population against the new coronavirus from April 27,” the government said in a statement. © Agence France-Presse
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain’s coronavirus death toll soared past 19,000 on Thursday after another 551 people died of COVID-19, with the numbers reflecting a slowdown after nearly five weeks on lockdown. One of the worst-hit countries in the world, Spain has seen the increase in the number of deaths and infections come down over the past fortnight, with the overnight fatalities taking the toll to 19,130. But there are growing concerns that the toll […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Wednesday he had still not decided whether to tap an EU economic rescue package designed to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. EU member states ended weeks of wrangling and agreed on the 500-billion-euro ($545-billion) emergency plan last Thursday. It includes the use of a 420-billion-euro European Stability Mechanism (ESM) bailout fund created during the eurozone debt crisis in 2012. But the ESM is politically toxic […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Over 17,000 people have now died in France from COVID-19, a top health official said on Wednesday, but the total number currently hospitalized has fallen for the first time since the epidemic began. A total of 17,167 people are now confirmed to have died in France in hospitals and nursing homes, Jerome Salomon told reporters, compared with a total toll of 15,729 the day earlier. But he said the difference between […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain recorded 523 deaths from the coronavirus on Wednesday, a decline from the previous day, but the number of new daily confirmed cases was the highest in six days. The new deaths reported by the health ministry take the total number of fatalities to 18,579 — officially third in the world behind the United States and Italy. Spain recorded 567 deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday. The number of new confirmed infections […]
by Boris CAMBRELENG Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Rich nations appeared Tuesday to be moving towards a temporary debt relief deal to help poor countries weather the coronavirus pandemic. Finance ministers and central bankers from G7 countries said Tuesday they favor a temporary halt to debt payments from the world’s poorest countries, but only if G20 governments also agree. Noting that poor countries face the most hardship in trying to deal with the […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — France on Tuesday reported 762 more COVID-19 deaths in hospitals and nursing homes, bringing its total toll from the epidemic to 15,729. The number of confirmed cases in France now exceeds 100,000, health official Jerome Salomon told reporters, adding however that the total number of patients in intensive care fell for the sixth day in a row, by 91 to 6,730 Despite the heavy new death toll, Salomon said that the […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Pharma giants Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline will join forces to work on a coronavirus vaccine they hope will enter clinical trials this year, potentially making it available in the second half of 2021, the companies said Tuesday. The vaccine will combine a Sanofi-developed antigen, which stimulates the production of germ-killing antibodies, with GSK’s adjuvant technology, a substance that boosts the immune response triggered by a vaccine, they said in a statement. “The […]
BUCHAREST, Romania (AFP) — Romania on Tuesday extended its nationwide lockdown for another month in a bid to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. The government will maintain previously enforced restrictions, including allowing citizens to go outside only for work and essential shopping during day time, closing schools and barring most foreigners from entering the country. “The danger hasn’t pass. Relaxing restrictions… would lead to a drastic increase in new cases and pressure on […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain’s death toll from the novel coronavirus topped 18,000 on Tuesday, as the rise in new infections dropped to its lowest level since the country imposed a nationwide lockdown last month. The 567 new deaths reported by the health ministry were slightly up from Monday’s death toll and they take the total number of fatalities to 18,056 — officially third in the world behind the United States and Italy. The number […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The WHO said its emergency committee would meet Tuesday to discuss whether the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo still constitutes an international health emergency after fresh cases were detected. The meeting comes a day after DR Congo had been expected to announce that the outbreak in the east of the country that began in August 2018 was over. The epidemic has killed 2,276 people to date. For […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy’s death toll from the novel coronavirus topped 20,000 on Monday but its number of critically ill patients dropped for the 10th successive day. The 566 new deaths reported by the civil protection service take Italy’s fatalities total to 20,465 — officially second in the world behind the United States. The drop in patients in intensive care from a peak of 4,068 on April 3 to 3,260 on Monday confirmed a […]
