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LONDON, United States (AFP) — More than 10 million people have received a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine across Britain, according to government figures published on Wednesday. The health ministry said 10,021,471 people have had a jab since the start of a mass vaccination campaign in early December. A further 498,962 have had a second dose. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has set a target of vaccinating 15 million of the most vulnerable by […]
by Joe JACKSON Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Health officials said Monday they will urgently increase testing in eight areas across England where nearly a dozen South African Covid-19 variant cases have been identified in the last week. The 11 cases, detected in genomic sequencing carried out on random samples of positive coronavirus results, cannot be traced back to international travel, prompting concerns of localised transmission. The move in the areas […]
by Jerome TAYLOR / Yan ZHAO Agence France Presse HONG Kong, China (AFP) — A new visa scheme offering millions of Hong Kongers a pathway to British citizenship will go live later on Sunday as the city’s former colonial master opens its doors to those wanting to escape China’s crackdown on dissent. From Sunday afternoon, anyone with a British National (Overseas) passport and their dependents will be able to apply online for a visa […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany’s government on Sunday threatened legal action against laboratories failing to deliver coronavirus vaccines to the European Union on schedule, amid tension over delays to deliveries from AstraZeneca. “If it turns out that companies have not respected their obligations, we will have to decide the legal consequences,” Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told German daily Die Welt. “No company can favour another country over the EU after the fact,” he added. […]
by Véronique DUPONT Agence France Presse Only a few weeks ago, Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca was being applauded for the speed with which it developed its Covid-19 vaccine. Experts heralded the launch of the jab as a turning point in the pandemic, not least because it can be transported and stored more easily than its Pfizer/BioNTech counterpart. The Anglo-Swedish firm also won plaudits for promising to provide the vaccine on a non-profit basis to […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The EU backtracked Friday over threats to restrict vaccine exports to Northern Ireland after London voiced “grave concerns” over the proposed move. A furious row over shortages of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine has risked stoking conflict with the UK just weeks after London and Brussels sealed a Brexit trade agreement. The EU had warned it would invoke Article 16 — overriding part of a deal with London allowing the free-flow of […]
by Jan HENNOP with AFP Bureaus Agence France Presse The European Union on Friday approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for use on all adults, as concerns grow around the world over the effectiveness of different jabs against new strains of Covid-19. Brussels’ announcement after a green light from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) marks the third vaccine approved for use in the EU, following the jabs made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. The pharma giant’s […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British citizens returning home from roughly 30 countries deemed at “high risk” from new coronavirus variants could soon have to quarantine in hotels, reports said on Wednesday. Beefed-up rules will require the travellers to stay in hotels near airports for 10 days, according to the Times and BBC. Non-UK arrivals from the targeted destinations — which include South America, Portugal, Cape Verde and South Africa — are already barred […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain on Wednesday announced 1,820 fatalities from Covid-19 in a 24-hour period, breaking the previous day’s record toll and taking its total death toll to 93,290. Recent weeks have seen the UK register the highest tallies of daily deaths since the pandemic began, as a virus variant believed to be more contagious has swept the country and threatened to overwhelm hospitals. © Agence France-Presse
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain’s annual inflation rate jumped in December partly on higher transport costs as Covid restrictions temporarily eased, official data showed Wednesday. The rate, as measured by the UK’s Consumer Prices Index, rose to 0.6 percent last month from 0.3 percent in November, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. Analysts’ consensus forecasts had been for a rise to 0.5 percent. “Transport costs… as well as petrol prices rose […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — An estimated 12 percent of people in England had been infected with coronavirus by December last year, up from nine percent in November, according to official antibody data released Tuesday. One in 10 people in Wales, one in 13 in Northern Ireland and one in 11 in Scotland were also estimated to have caught the virus, according analysis of random blood test results published by the Office for National […]
by Callum PATON LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain on Monday extended its coronavirus vaccination campaign to people over the age of 70, as new, tougher restrictions for all arrivals to the country came into force. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said some four million people across the country had been vaccinated — half of them aged over 80, and another 50 percent care home workers and residents. The speed of the rollout — Britain’s biggest […]
