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By Gnaneshwar Rajan and Nandita Bose (Reuters) – Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the Biden administration had pressured the company to “censor” COVID-19 content during the pandemic, apparently referring to White House requests to take down misinformation about the coronavirus and vaccines. In a letter dated Aug. 26, Zuckerberg told the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee that he regretted not speaking up about this pressure earlier, as well as other decisions he had […]
By Paula Ramon with Danny Kemp in Washington LAS VEGAS, July 18, 2024 (AFP) – US President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid with mild symptoms Wednesday, shortly after conceding he would consider dropping his reelection bid if doctors diagnosed him with a serious medical condition. The 81-year-old Democrat gave reporters the thumbs up and said “I feel good” as he cut short a campaign trip to Las Vegas and flew to his beach home […]
By Robin MILLARD GENEVA, March 25, 2024 (AFP) – Here are 10 key dates on the pathway towards the signing of an international accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response: May 19, 2020 World Health Organization member states call for an “impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” of the handling of Covid-19 which will “make recommendations to improve capacity for global pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response”. July 9, 2020 WHO launches the Independent Panel for Pandemic […]
By Daniel Lawler PARIS, March 11, 2024 (AFP) – Covid-19 caused the average life expectancy of people worldwide to fall by 1.6 years during the first two years of the pandemic, a more dramatic decline than previously thought, a major study said Tuesday. This marked a sharp reversal during a decades-long rise in global life expectancy, according to hundreds of researchers sifting through data for the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). “For […]
MADRID, Jan 5, 2024 (AFP) – The Spanish government on Friday called for the wearing of masks to be obligatory in medical facilities as cases of flu and Covid-19 surge with the onset of winter. With the increase in respiratory infections, “we are calling” for the return of obligatory mask-wearing in hospitals and health centres, Health Minister Monica Garcia said on X, formerly Twitter. The minister said she would bring up the subject on Monday […]
WASHINGTON, Nov 29, 2023 (AFP) – Americans’ life expectancy rose in 2022 after two years of sharp decline, although it did not return to pre-pandemic levels, health officials said Wednesday. Life expectancy at birth in the United States rose by 1.1 years between 2021 and 2022, and stood at 77.5 years, according to initial estimates from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC). “The increase… primarily resulted from decreases in mortality due to Covid-19,” […]
By Issam AHMED WASHINGTON, Oct 2, 2023 (AFP) – From developing a one-and-done coronavirus shot to overcoming misinformation and global vaccine inequity, Nobel prize winner Drew Weissman says that at 64, he’s only “speeding up.” The University of Pennsylvania immunologist was awarded the biggest accolade in medicine on Monday for his pioneering research on messenger RNA, the technology behind Covid-19 vaccines that changed the course of the pandemic. “What happened is I got a cryptic […]
WELLINGTON, Oct 1, 2023 (AFP) – New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said on Sunday that he had contracted Covid-19, testing positive at a key point in his flailing campaign for re-election. Hipkins said on his official social media feed that he would need to isolate for up to five days — less than two weeks before his country’s general election. The leader of the centre-left Labour Party said he started to experience cold symptoms […]
WASHINGTON, Sept 5, 2023 (AFP) – US First Lady Jill Biden on Monday tested positive for Covid-19, the White House said. President Joe Biden tested negative. The 72-year-old first lady is experiencing “only mild symptoms,” her office said, and will remain in the couple’s home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Jill Biden last tested positive for Covid a year ago. President Biden, 80, was administered a Covid test Monday evening and tested negative, the White House […]
THE HAGUE, Aug 30, 2023 (AFP) – The EU’s drug watchdog on Wednesday approved an updated version of Pfizer and BioNTech’s anti-Covid jab to counter an infectious subvariant of the virus as winter approaches. The World Health Organisation in May said it no longer considered Covid-19 a global health emergency, but the virus is still circulating — and new variants are being tracked. The European Medicines Agency said it “has recommended authorising an adapted Comirnaty […]
WASHINGTON, June 24, 2023 (AFP) – The head of US intelligence said Friday that there was no evidence that the Covid-19 virus was created in the Chinese government’s Wuhan research lab. In a declassified report, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said they had no information backing recent claims that three scientists at the lab were some of the very first infected with Covid-19 and may have created the virus themselves. Drawing […]
GENEVA, May 5, 2023 (AFP) – The Covid-19 pandemic, which for over three years has killed millions of people, wreaked economic havoc and deepened inequalities, no longer constitutes a global health emergency, the WHO said Friday. It is “with great hope that I declare Covid-19 over as a global health emergency”, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters, estimating that the pandemic had killed “at least 20 million” people — nearly three times the under […]
