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WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States is ready to start vaccinating children aged 5-11 against Covid-19 starting next month, the White House said Wednesday, a move that will make 28 million more Americans eligible for shots. “Our planning efforts mean that we will be ready to begin getting shots in arms in the days following a final CDC recommendation,” the White House said, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Drugmaker […]
BRISBANE, Australia (AFP) — A tropical north Australian town has been pounded by “record-breaking” hailstones the size of mangoes or grapefruit, with some shattering car windscreens. The giant hailstones measured more than 16 centimetres (six inches) in diameter, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said Wednesday. They hit Yalboroo when a storm swept through the small town about 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) north of Brisbane late Tuesday. Social media images showed the icy monsters spilling out of […]
by Ola CICHOWLAS MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia reported Wednesday a record 1,028 Covid deaths in a single day, with President Vladimir Putin expected to introduce new nationwide restrictions in Europe’s worst affected country. The new figures bring Russia’s official death toll to 226,353 — the highest on the continent even as authorities have been accused of vastly downplaying the severity of the pandemic. The country also recorded 34,074 new virus cases, according to an […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Healthcare leaders urged the British government Wednesday to reinstate some coronavirus restrictions to ease pressures on hospitals because of spiralling case numbers. But ministers remain opposed to reintroducing any curbs, arguing the situation is still far better than earlier this year and the country is learning to “live with the virus”. A total of 223 deaths from Covid-19 were registered on Tuesday — the highest 24-hour toll since March — […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia said Wednesday 1,028 people died of Covid over the past 24 hours, a new record, as President Vladimir Putin mulls introducing nationwide restrictions to curb the spread of the disease. The country recorded 34,074 new coronavirus cases, according to a government tally. Russian officials have been accused of downplaying the severity of the pandemic, but even the official figures bring the country’s official Covid-19 death toll to 226,353 — the […]
ZURICH, Switzerland (AFP) — US-based Atea Pharmaceuticals said Tuesday its plans to develop an orally administered drug to treat coronavirus patients together with Swiss pharma giant Roche have suffered a set back in clinical trials. The drug “did not meet its primary endpoint, showing no significant reduction in viral load,” Atea said in a statement. When compared to a placebo administered to some of the hospitalised patients in the trial “no meaningful difference was seen […]
FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) — Germany said Wednesday it “vehemently condemns” the test of a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile by North Korea. “With this test, North Korea has once again violated its obligations under relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and endangered international and regional security and stability,” a spokesman for the foreign ministry said in a statement. The test, carried out on Tuesday near Sinpo, the site of a major naval […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Wednesday announced an investment of up to $120 million in an effort to speed up low-income countries’ access to a new anti-Covid drug. The treatment, a pill called molnupiravir developed by US lab Merck, reduces the risk of hospitalization by half in Covid-19 patients who take it in their first few days of infection, the company has said, and could be even more […]
by Youssef Karwashan with Omar Haj Kadour in Ariha DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — A bomb attack on an army bus in Damascus killed 14 people Wednesday in the bloodiest such attack to strike the Syrian capital in four years, the SANA state news agency reported. There was no immediate claim for the bombing but moments later shelling by government forces killed eight people in the Idlib region controlled by groups that have claimed such attack […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s Mount Aso erupted Wednesday, spewing a giant column of ash thousands of metres into the sky as hikers rushed away from the popular tourist spot. No injuries were immediately reported after the late-morning eruption in southwest Japan, which sent rocks flying in a dramatic blast captured by nearby CCTV cameras. People were warned not to approach the volcano as it ejected hot gas and ash as high as 3,500 […]
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel has confirmed a case of a subvariant of the Delta strain of the coronavirus previously reported in some European countries, the health ministry said. “The variant AY 4.2. that has been discovered in a number of countries in Europe has been identified in Israel,” a ministry statement said late Tuesday. An 11-year-old boy arriving from Europe was the carrier, the ministry said, adding that the case was identified at Ben Gurion […]
by Mahesh Pandey with Paavan Mathema in Kathmandu Agence France Presse DEHRADUN, India (AFP) — More than 100 people have died in several days of massive flooding and devastating landslides that swept away roads and houses in India and Nepal, officials said Wednesday, with scores more missing. In Uttarakhand in northern India, officials said that 46 people had died in recent days with 11 missing. In Kerala in the south chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said […]
