Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
PARIS, France (AFP) — Covid treatments using plasma taken from the blood of recovered coronavirus patients should not be given to people with mild or moderate illness, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. Convalescent plasma showed some early promise when given intravenously to people sick with Covid-19. But in advice published in the British Medical Journal, the WHO now says that “current evidence shows that it does not improve survival nor reduce the need for […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia has registered its first two cases of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus in its nationals returning from South Africa — where the variant was first detected — the country’s health agency said on Monday. “Two citizens who returned to Russia from South Africa have been diagnosed with the Omicron coronavirus strain,” the Rospotrebnadzor health agency said in a statement. The agency said that all Russians […]
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AFP) — Iceland on Monday raised the alert level for a possible eruption of its most active volcano after several small earthquakes were registered earlier in the day. Located in an uninhabited and remote area of central Iceland, the Grimsvotn volcano is situated under a massive glacier. Experts have been monitoring Grimsvotn for several weeks after its glacier lake burst, an event that could trigger a volcanic eruption. In the latest eruption in […]
WINDHOEK, Namibia (AFP) — Namibia’s President Hage Geingob announced Monday that the first cases of the Omicron Covid-19 variant had been detected in the country, which was forced to dispose of 150,000 expired vaccine doses. Geingob called on citizens to get booster jabs after 18 Omicron cases were identified in the country, which neighbours South Africa where the variant was first discovered last month. Only 12.1 percent of Namibia’s 2.4 million people are fully vaccinated […]
Myanmar’s junta jailed ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday for four years for incitement against the military and breaching Covid rules, a government spokesman told AFP, the first of a series of possible sentences that could see the Nobel laureate imprisoned for decades. Suu Kyi, 76, has been detained since the generals staged a coup and ousted her government on February 1, ending the Southeast Asian country’s brief period of democracy. She has […]
by Haeril Halim LUMAJANG, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia’s Mount Semeru spewed more ash on Monday, forcing rescuers to suspend the search for survivors as aerial images showed the extent of the devastation unleashed by the volcano’s deadly weekend eruption. The biggest mountain on the island of Java thundered to life Saturday, ejecting a mushroom of volcanic ash high into the sky and raining hot mud as thousands of panicked people fled their homes. At least […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The UK government has announced that those travelling into the country will need to show a negative coronavirus test pre-departure as it reintroduces Covid-19 restrictions due to the Omicron variant. From 0400 GMT on Tuesday, anyone travelling to the UK will have to show evidence of a negative lateral flow or PCR test taken within the last 48 hours before boarding a flight, the health ministry said late Saturday. This […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — France on Saturday said more than 50,000 people had tested positive for coronavirus in the past 24 hours, as Covid-19 cases rocketed despite millions receiving a vaccine booster shot. The country recorded 51,624 new daily cases of Covid, health authorities said. France has recorded an average of almost 41,000 new cases a day over the past week, compared to less than 28,000 a week ago. Some 694 people had been admitted […]
NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) — Divers recovered seven more bodies Sunday from a bus that was swept off a bridge by a flooding river in Kenya, bringing the death toll from the tragedy to more than 30. The bus was taking a church choir and other revellers to a wedding in Kitui County on Saturday when it keeled over and sank beneath fast-flowing waters as the driver tried to navigate a submerged bridge. Twelve passengers managed […]
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — Denmark’s health authorities said Sunday the country had seen a “concerning” jump to 183 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19. The number represented a tripling of confirmed cases in 48 hours, from 18 confirmed and 42 suspected cases on Friday, according to data from the SSI public health institute. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) had previously tallied just 182 cases across all of the European […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia on Sunday cleared the first Covid-19 vaccine for children aged five to 11, with the next stage of its vaccine rollout expected to start in early 2022. Health Minister Greg Hunt said medical regulators had granted provisional approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to be administered to younger children for the first time. It follows similar decisions in the European Union, the United States, Israel and Canada. Hunt said the vaccination […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Ten Covid-19 cases have been detected among crew members and passengers on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship returning to New Orleans on Sunday with thousands on board, a US health authority said. “The Norwegian Breakaway departed from New Orleans on Nov. 28 and stopped in Belize, Honduras and Mexico on its voyage,” the Louisiana Department of Health tweeted Saturday. “There are more than 3,200 individuals onboard.” The health department said […]
