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HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Asian equity and oil traders were sent running Tuesday after the head of Moderna warned current coronavirus vaccines might be less effective at fending off the Omicron variant, fuelling fears that countries could be forced back into economically painful lockdowns. Stocks had mostly been edging up after a two-day sell-off that followed news Friday of the new variant, which some observers said was overdone as billions of people have […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Existing Covid-19 jabs will struggle against the Omicron variant and it will take months to develop a new shot that works, the head of US vaccine manufacturer Moderna has told the Financial Times. Stephane Bancel told the newspaper in an interview published Tuesday that data would be available on the effectiveness of current vaccines in the next two weeks but scientists were not optimistic. “All the scientists I’ve talked […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Pfizer has already started working on a version of its Covid-19 vaccine specifically targeting the new Omicron variant in case the current inoculation is not effective against the latest strain, the US drugmaker’s CEO Albert Bourla said Monday. Bourla told CNBC that his company on Friday began testing the current vaccine against the Omicron variant, which was first reported in South Africa and has reignited fears of a […]
by Sofia CHRISTENSEN Agence France Presse JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — The newly-discovered Omicron variant is likely to fuel a surge in South Africa’s coronavirus cases that could see daily infections treble this week, a top epidemiologist warned Monday. Health monitors reported over 2,800 new infections on Sunday, up from a daily average of 500 in the previous week and 275 the week before. “We can expect that higher transmissibility is likely and so […]
by Joris FIORITI with Danny KEMP in The Hague and AFP bureaus Agence France Presse SCHIPHOL, Netherlands (AFP) — Several European nations on Saturday announced their first cases of a highly infectious new coronavirus strain, as governments worldwide began pulling down the shutters to contain the new Omicron variant. Britain, Germany and Italy confirmed their first cases of the new Covid-19 strain, while Dutch authorities quarantined 61 passengers from South Africa who tested positive […]
by Daniel Woolls with AFP bureaus The United States, Brazil, Canada, and Saudi Arabia became the latest countries Friday to restrict travel from southern Africa, where a new Covid strain labelled a “variant of concern” has been discovered in a potentially heavy blow to the world’s efforts to end the coronavirus pandemic. The World Health Organization said the new variant is more infectious than the dominant, highly transmissible Delta strain, and renamed this B.1.1.529 strain […]
by Paul RICARD Agence France Presse It is, scientists say, the most worrying Covid-19 variant since delta and perhaps ever. Here is what we know — and what we don’t — about the strain thought to have originated in Southern Africa. – How worrying? “This one is worrying and I’ve not said that since delta,” British virologist Ravi Gupta said on Twitter, about the variant labelled B.1.1.529. Concerns among disease experts stem from the variant’s […]
by Agnès PEDRERO Next week’s World Trade Organization ministerial conference, the global trade body’s biggest gathering in four years, was postponed at the last minute Friday due to the new Omicron Covid-19 variant. The WTO hoped the four-day gathering in Geneva would breathe new life into the crippled organisation, which has been stuck for years trying to make progress on resolving issues like fishery subsidies. New director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was also hoping, against the odds, […]
High number of mutations of B.1.1.529 raise alarm bells, as PHL eases restrictions for fully vaccinated passengers from “green” countries starting Dec. 1 (Eagle News) – The Philippines is closely monitoring the developments in South Africa and in Hong Kong where a new variant of the COVID-19 virus has been detected, given the name B.1.1.529, which is found to have a “very high number of mutations, with a concern for predicted immune invasion […]
Total active cases only 0.7 percent of total COVID-19 cases reported since the pandemic began (Eagle News) — The Philippines posted only 984 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, Nov. 22, as the country continued to show gains in its fight against the virus pandemic. The COVID-19 positivity rate is at 2.8 percent for the second straight day, the lowest so far since the pandemic began March last year. The country’s aggressive vaccination rollout and […]
European governments on Friday eyed unpopular Covid curbs, with the Netherlands opting for Western Europe’s first partial lockdown of the winter as EU experts said 10 countries in the bloc were causing “very high concern”. Dutch premier Mark Rutte announced at least three weeks of lockdown measures targeting restaurants, shops and sporting events to curb a record spike in coronavirus infections. The “annoying and far-reaching” measures came as the EU’s diseases agency said 10 countries […]
(Eagle News) – The Philippines targets to vaccinate at least 15 million individuals in the three days of National Covid-19 Vaccination campaign scheduled on Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 this year, Malacanang said on Thursday, Nov. 11. Around five million Filipinos are expected to be vaccinated in each day of the National COVID-19 Vaccination Day, according to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr., “Bayanihan po ang konsepto natin dito, kung saan ang kooperasyon ng lahat ay […]
