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by AFP Bureaus MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — The number of coronavirus cases recorded worldwide topped 18 million on Monday with the illness continuing its march, after Australia’s second-largest city imposed a curfew to halt the spread. Six months after the World Health Organization declared a global emergency, the virus has killed more than 687,000 people since it first emerged in China late last year, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources. Fresh clusters […]
by Leila MACOR MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Isaias roared closer to the Florida coast Sunday, threatening to bring strong winds, flash flooding and storm surges but no longer expected to regain hurricane strength. The tropical storm was packing sustained winds of 70 miles (110 kilometers) per hour Sunday evening as it moved northwest off the state’s east coast, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Florida’s coast was experiencing heavy wind gusts. The NHC said […]
by Susan NJANJI Agence France Presse JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — South Africa has now registered more than 500,000 cases of coronavirus, the health ministry announced Saturday, making it by far the hardest-hit country in Africa. The country has become the epicentre of the deadly pandemic on the continent, accounting for more than half of Africa’s diagnosed infections. “Today South Africa has exceeded the half-a-million mark with a cumulative total of 503,290 confirmed COVID-19 […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States counted 61,262 new coronavirus cases in the 24 hours leading up to 8:30 pm Saturday (0030 GMT Sunday), according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. It was the fifth consecutive day with more than 60,000 infections recorded, according to the Baltimore-based university. There were also 1,051 deaths in the 24-hour period. The US has now tallied more than 4.6 million cases and 154,319 deaths, making it […]
by Heather Scott with AFP Bureaus WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The scale of economic devastation from the pandemic was laid bare on Thursday as Western economies recorded historic slumps, just as resurgent caseloads forced many countries into agonising new trade-offs between health and financial stability. Six months after the World Health Organization declared a global emergency, the novel coronavirus has infected more than 17 million people worldwide. The WHO warned Thursday that young people […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Fresh off a bout of COVID-19, President Jair Bolsonaro said Friday nearly everyone will probably end up catching the new coronavirus, urging Brazilians to “face up to it” and saying there was nothing to fear. The far-right leader’s latest bid to downplay the pandemic came as Brazil closed in on the grim milestone of 100,000 people killed by the virus, the second-highest death toll in the world, after the […]
OSLO, Norway (AFP) — At least 33 crew members confined on a Norwegian cruise ship have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the company Hurtigruten said on Saturday. Arriving at the northern Norwegian port of Tromso from the archipelago of Svalbard, the crew of the MS Roald Amundsen was quarantined on board the ship on Friday after four staff members tested positive for the virus and were hospitalized. Of the 158 crew members on board, […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s Okinawa region has declared a state of emergency and asked people to stay home for two weeks as the popular tourist destination sees an “explosive spread” of coronavirus cases. Governor Denny Tamaki on Friday asked residents to avoid non-essential outings following a record new daily addition to the southern island’s total cases, the majority of which have been detected among US forces based there. “We’re seeing an explosive spread of […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump said Friday he will bar fast-growing social media app TikTok from the United States as American authorities have raised concerns the service could be a tool for Chinese intelligence. US officials and lawmakers in recent weeks have voiced fears of the wildly popular video platform being used by Beijing for nefarious purposes, but the company has denied any links to the Chinese government. Media reports circulated earlier […]
by Leila MACOR MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Hurricane Isaias lashed the Bahamas as it churned toward Florida, bringing new dangers to a US state suffering record deaths from an unrelenting coronavirus outbreak. The category one storm, packing winds of up to 85 miles (136 kilometers) an hour, gained strength after sweeping over the Dominican Republic. As of 0600 GMT Saturday, it was an expansive storm, moving northwest at a speed of 14 mph, kicking […]
by Shatha Yaish DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — The oil-rich United Arab Emirates on Saturday announced the startup of its Barakah nuclear power plant, scoring another first for the Arab world. The announcement, coinciding with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, comes hot on the heels of the UAE’s launch of the Arab world’s first probe to Mars. “UAE first nuclear reactor at the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant has achieved first criticality and successfully […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Japan has signed a deal to secure 120 million doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine, German pharmaceutical group BioNTech, which is developing the drug with US pharma giant Pfizer, said Friday. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, with BioNTech saying the terms were based on the timing of the delivery and volume of doses. But an agreement announced recently between the labs and the United States put the price […]
