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PARIS, France (AFP) — France could see a new spike in Covid cases by the end of July due to the spread of the more contagious Delta variant of the virus, the government spokesman said Monday. “Over the past week the epidemic is again gaining ground,” Gabriel Attal told France Inter radio, with the Delta variant now accounting for 30 percent of new infections in the country. A fourth wave of infections is “a possibility” […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia on Monday called for the nation’s oxygen supplies to be sent to hospitals overflowing with coronavirus patients as fresh cases and deaths hit new records. Oxygen producers had been told to allocate their stocks to the medical sector as the country is battered by an unprecedented wave of infections driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, said senior minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. “We have enough oxygen supply, but demand is […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — An explosion near Thai capital Bangkok’s international airport Monday left a plastics factory in flames, killing at least one firefighter and wounding 29 people, officials said. Heavy plumes of black smoke could be seen rising up to the sky from the city’s downtown 35 kilometres (21 miles) away, as helicopters continued to dump fire suppression foam from the air on the site. The blast occurred around 3 am at Taiwan-based Ming […]
by Charlie CHARALAMBOUS NICOSIA, Syria (AFP) — Firefighters in Cyprus said Monday they had brought under full control the island’s worst blaze on record, which ripped through mountain forests and farmland, killing four people and destroying scores of homes. Water-bombing planes from Greece and Israel and British aircraft from bases on the Mediterranean island helped douse the huge fire, which blackened 55 square kilometres (21 square miles) of the Troodos Mountains. The Cyprus Forestry Department […]
HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — After battering Cuba with a dangerous storm surge, mudslides and “flooding rains,” Tropical Storm Elsa gained slightly in intensity on Monday as it headed north toward the Florida Keys, the US National Hurricane Center reported. The storm left a trail of destruction through the Caribbean, claiming at least three lives. But Florida appeared to be getting a bit of a break, as forecasters shifted its likely path westward, suggesting not the […]
by Jitendra JOSHI LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday revealed plans to lift most of England’s coronavirus restrictions, including face masks and social distancing from July 19, urging personal responsibility rather than government edict. His announcement came as experts in Israel, which led the way in vaccination, expressed concern that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine widely used there might be less effective against the dangerous Delta variant. Data collated by AFP meanwhile […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — A Chinese city near the border with Myanmar has imposed a lockdown and started mass testing after three coronavirus cases were reported on Monday, with officials rushing to curb another outbreak. It is the second time in four months that Ruili, home to more than 210,000 people, has been locked down after the discovery of cases imported from Myanmar. Ruili is a major crossing point from Muse in neighbouring Myanmar, […]
by Sebastian Smith Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Joe Biden celebrated US Independence Day on Sunday with an upbeat assessment of a country he said is roaring back to post-pandemic life, even if Covid-19 has yet to be fully “vanquished.” Speaking before a festive crowd of 1,000 guests on the White House South Lawn, Biden drew a comparison between the declaration of independence from the British Empire in 1776 and […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — President Hassan Rouhani expressed fears Saturday that Iran will be hit by a new wave of Covid-19 due to an outbreak of the Delta variant in the Middle East’s hardest-hit country. “It is feared that we are on the way to a fifth wave throughout the country,” Rouhani told a meeting of Iran’s anti-virus taskforce, warning the public to be careful as “the Delta variant” had entered the country from the […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia has suspended flights to three countries, including the neighbouring United Arab Emirates, to protect against a coronavirus variant, the interior ministry said Saturday. The move comes seven weeks after the oil-rich kingdom permitted fully immunized citizens to travel abroad, after a ban on foreign trips that lasted more than a year. The UAE, and especially Dubai, is a key leisure destination for Saudis. Flights to and from the […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Twenty-five anti-junta fighters and civilians were killed during clashes with the military in central Myanmar, villagers said Sunday, as locals increasingly take up arms against the regime in the coup-wracked country. Myanmar has been in turmoil since a February coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government, with 890 people killed in a junta crackdown on dissent, according to a local monitoring group. In some areas civilians have formed “defence forces” […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain’s Queen Elizabeth will award the UK’s state-run National Health Service (NHS) the country’s highest civilian honour in recognition of health workers’ service during the pandemic, the government announced Monday. The award of the George Cross, which is the civilian equivalent of Britain’s Victoria Cross for extraordinary military heroism, comes amid outcry from medical professionals over pay and working conditions in the NHS, which has been pushed close to breaking […]
