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BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The European Commission has ordered 30,000 treatment doses of the antiviral medication remdesivir from US drugs giant Gilead, it announced Wednesday. Sold under the brand name Veklury, remdesivir is the first medicine to be approved by the EU to treat victims of the COVID-19 pandemic in EU member states and Britain. It is hoped the drug will shorten recovery times for patients with severe infections and it will be made available […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The spread of the novel coronavirus does not appear to be impacted by seasonality, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, warning against false beliefs that summer is safer. “Season does not seem to be affecting the transmission of this virus,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told reporters in a virtual briefing. She pointed out that some of the hardest-hit countries are currently in the midst of different season. While it is summer […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Madrid moved to make mask-wearing obligatory at all times in public Tuesday as Spain grappled with the fallout from a spike in virus cases that has triggered several international travel warnings. Wearing masks in public has been obligatory in Spain since May 21 where social distancing was not possible, but in recent weeks almost all of its 17 regions have made it compulsory at all times, with Madrid one of the […]
by Barney Spender with AFP bureaus PARIS, France (AFP) — Governments across the world imposed new restrictions Tuesday in a bid to cool coronavirus hotspots as new infections shot up in some countries, sparking fears of a second wave. The World Health Organization warned that the virus does not appear to be affected by seasonality and the global death toll from the pandemic passed 654,000 Tuesday, nearly a third of that number in Europe, according […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — A new coronavirus cluster in a port city in northeast China has spread to other provinces and prompted fresh restrictions, authorities said Tuesday, as Beijing scrambles to prevent a second wave of infections. China had largely brought the virus under control since it first emerged in the country late last year, through a series of strict lockdowns and travel restrictions. But in recent months a number of small outbreaks have given […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The International Monetary Fund on Monday said it had approved $4.3 billion in aid to South Africa to help it fight the coronavirus pandemic. “The IMF approved $4.3 billion in emergency financial assistance under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to support the authorities’ efforts in addressing the challenging health situation and severe economic impact of the COVID-19 shock,” the Washington-based crisis lender said in a statement. South Africa is the […]
HONG KONG, China A strong 6.3 magnitude quake struck early Monday in China’s Tibet region, the US Geological Survey reported. The quake struck in a sparsely populated area at 2007 GMT Monday, the USGS said. Its epicenter was nearly 600 kilometers (350 miles) northeast of Llasa at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers, according to USGS data. There were no immediate reports of casualties. © Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States and Australia on Monday opened top-level talks in which they are expected to seek a common front amid soaring tensions between Washington and Beijing. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper welcomed to Washington their Australian counterparts, Marise Payne and Linda Reynolds, for two days of talks that will include a news conference on Tuesday. The annual talks come as President Donald Trump’s […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons guarantee its safety, state media reported Tuesday, signalling once again that it will not give up its arsenal. Kim was addressing a conference of veterans on the 67th anniversary of the 1953 armistice that ended Korean War hostilities, the official Korean Central News Agency said. Up to three million Koreans died in the three-year conflict, in which the armistice […]
by Agence France Presse bureaus Officials around the world reintroduced a raft of restrictions Monday — from beach closures to quarantine measures — to try to damp down coronavirus hotspots as the official death toll passed 650,000. European countries trying to repair the economic damage caused by the earlier lockdowns, struggled to balance keeping the lifeline of tourism open while guarding against fresh flare-ups of infection. Spain’s tourism industry faced fresh misery after British […]
by Su Xinqi HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Everyone in Hong Kong will have to wear masks in public from this week, authorities said Monday, as they unveiled the city’s toughest social distancing measures yet to combat a new wave of coronavirus infections. The ramped-up rules came as authorities revealed China would help officials build an emergency field hospital to help deal with a surge in patients. “The epidemic situation in Hong Kong is remarkably […]
by Ronen ZILBERMAN HONOLULU, Hawaii (AFP) — Hurricane Douglas swept north of Hawaii late Sunday, sparing Honolulu but still posing a threat to Kauai on the northwestern end of the Pacific island chain. The storm was expected to skirt north of Kauai as it barrels past the Hawaiian islands, packing 90 mile per hour (150 kph) winds, the National Hurricane Center said. Hurricane warnings for Oahu were cancelled but remained in effect for Kauai and […]
