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LISBON, Portugal (AFP) — Portugal has followed the lead of other EU countries and stopped rolling out AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine after reports of “serious but rare” side effects, health chief Graca Freitas said on Monday. The decision was taken “as a precaution” pending advice from the EU’s regulator, said Freitas, head of Portugal’s public health agency the DGS. The European Medicines Agency will hold a special meeting on Thursday to decide whether measures are needed […]
BRASILIA, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil has ordered 100 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine and another 38 million of Johnson & Johnson’s, the health minister said Monday, seeking to accelerate the hard-hit country’s lagging immunization campaign. Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said Brazil had secured a total of 563 million vaccine doses by the end of the year — some single- and some double-dose vaccines — and defended his handling of the pandemic, as rumors […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Intensive care doctors in Germany warned Monday that the country would need to make an “immediate return” to partial lockdown if it is to avoid stumbling into a dangerous third wave of the coronavirus pandemic. “From the data we currently have and with the spread of the British mutation, we would argue strongly to return immediately into a lockdown to avoid a strong third wave,” Christian Karagiannidis, director of Germany’s […]
by Agence France Presse Bureaus Coronavirus restrictions were reimposed across much of Italy on Monday, while Ireland and the Netherlands became the latest countries to suspend AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 shots over blood clot fears despite the firm and the WHO insisting there is no risk. More than 350 million vaccine doses have been administered globally so far, and the AstraZeneca shot — among the cheapest available — is crucial to roll-outs in poorer parts of the […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Beijing was cloaked by a thick yellow smog on Monday with pollution surging to hazardous levels as a sandstorm swept across China’s capital. City residents used goggles, masks and hair nets to protect themselves from the choking air, with landmarks including the Forbidden City and the distinctive headquarters of state broadcaster CCTV partly obscured behind an apocalyptic-looking pall of smog. The city government ordered all schools to cancel outside sport and […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — New York, the US city most bereaved by the coronavirus, paid a moving tribute Sunday to its 30,258 dead, one year after the start of the pandemic. “More New Yorkers lost than in World War Two, Vietnam, Hurricane Sandy and 9/11 put together. Every family touched in some way, and for so many families a pain, a pain that is raw,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a live […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Myanmar’s junta late Sunday imposed martial law in two densely populated Yangon townships after at least 18 protesters were killed in one of the deadliest days since the February 1 coup. Sunday’s violence brings the number of people killed in mass protests since the military wrenched civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power to around 100, though activists and rights groups believe it could be higher. The junta has […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden sidestepped questions Sunday on whether New York Governor Andrew Cuomo should resign over sexual misconduct allegations, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the state leader should “look inside his heart” to decide if he can govern. The pair stopped short of joining a growing list of other politicians, including many fellow Democrats, in demanding Cuomo’s resignation. Exiting Marine One Sunday, Biden told a reporter that “the […]
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — Dutch health officials said they had suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine on Sunday for two weeks after “possible side effects” were reported in Denmark and Norway. “Based on new information, the Dutch Medicines Authority has advised, as a precautionary measure and pending further investigation, to suspend the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine,” the Health Ministry said in a statement. “The crucial question is whether these are complaints after […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy’s northern Piedmont region on Sunday suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine after the death of a teacher who had received it the day before, the regional health authority said. The woman, who age has not been disclosed, died Sunday at Biella, a town north of Turin. “This is an extreme precautionary measure, while waiting to see if there exists a causal link between the vaccination and the death,” said a […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — At least three people were killed when demonstrators took to the streets again across Myanmar Saturday, after a deadly overnight crackdown as hundreds defied a curfew to hold vigils in honour of those killed since the military seized power. The junta has deployed increasing force against daily protests since the February 1 coup, with more than 70 people killed according to the UN’s top rights expert on the country. But hundreds […]
AMMAN, Jordan (AFP) — The director and four other officials of a Jordanian hospital treating coronavirus patients were detained on Sunday over deaths at the facility after it ran out of oxygen, judicial sources said. A prosecutor decided to place them in custody for a week for questioning after seven patients died Saturday in the hospital in Salt, near the capital Amman, they said. Public anger over the deaths led to the resignation of health […]
