Tag: covid

Scientists scramble to assess mutated coronavirus

by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — As dozens of countries blocked the flow of people and goods from Britain to avoid a new and more contagious strain of coronavirus, scientists raced to understand how it emerged and the scope of its threat. Here are some of the key questions they are asking, and the answers that have emerged so far. – How often do viruses mutate? – All the time, but […]

Galvez set to start negotiations with Moderna by Dec. 30 for vaccine allocations to PHL – Locsin

  (Eagle News) — On or before December 30, the country’s vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., will start negotiating with the US-based biotech firm, Moderna, so the Philippines can get vaccine doses for its mass vaccination campaign next year. This was according to Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr, in an interview with CNN Philippines’ ‘The Source.’ Galvez is going to start negotiations with Moderna “on or before Wednesday next week,” Locsin said in the […]

WHO Europe urges stronger action to contain new virus strain

  COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — The World Health Organization is calling on its members in Europe to step up measures against coronavirus in the face of the new variant circulating in Britain, its European branch said Sunday. Outside Britain, nine cases of the new strain have been reported in Denmark, as well as one case in the Netherlands and another in Australia, according to the WHO. “Across Europe, where transmission is intense and widespread, countries […]

Europe starts ban on flights from UK as Britain warns new virus strain ‘out of control

  by Agence France Presse Bureaus LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — European countries started banning flights coming from the UK on Sunday as government in London warned that a potent new strain of the virus was “out of control”. Following the example of the Netherlands, where a ban on all UK passenger flights came into effect on Sunday, a German government source said Berlin, too, was considering a similar move as “a serious option” for […]

Britain says new COVID virus strain ‘out of control’ as new lockdown imposed

  LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Sunday that the government has imposed a strict lockdown in London and southeast England because a new strain of the coronavirus was “out of control”. Hancock warned that the strict measures that affect almost a third of England’s population could stay in place until the virus vaccine is fully rolled out. “We acted very quickly and decisively,” Hancock told Sky News, justifying the […]

Netanyahu gets coronavirus jab, starting Israel rollout

  by Nir Kafri in Ramat Gan and Stephen Weizman in Jerusalem Agence France Presse Ramat Gan, Israel (AFP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a Covid-19 vaccine jab on Saturday, kicking off a national rollout over the coming days. Netanyahu, 71, and Israel’s health minister were injected with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine live on TV at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv. “I asked to be vaccinated first, together with Health […]

Slovak PM tests positive for Covid-19

  BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AFP) — Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic said Friday he had tested positive for Covid-19, a week after he attended an EU summit in Brussels. The summit is believed to be where French President Emmanuel Macron caught the virus, leading a host of European leaders and top French officials to go into self-isolation. “Today, I am one of you,” Matovic wrote on his Facebook page, attaching a screenshot of a text message […]

DOH says COVID cases starting to spike; warns NCR cases may reach 4k daily after holidays

Interventions needed to prevent high number of daily cases   https://youtu.be/XdjmHTvB1iU (Eagle News) — The Department of Health warned the public that COVID-19 cases are starting to spike again due to more movement of people, and more people disregarding health protocols with the start of the holiday season. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that COVID-19 cases can rise to as many as 4,000 per day in Metro Manila alone if there would be no […]

Burundi ex-president Buyoya dies from Covid-19

  NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) — Burundi’s former president Pierre Buyoya has died in Paris of Covid-19 at the age of 71, relatives said Friday, just weeks after he resigned as the African Union’s special envoy to Mali and the Sahel. Buyoya, who was credited with helping push democracy in the small African country but was accused of involvement in his successor’s assassination, was hospitalised in Mali’s capital Bamako on Wednesday, a family member told AFP. […]

New virus restrictions threaten Hong Kong’s last true junk boat

  by Celia CAZALE Agence France Presse HONG KONG, China (AFP) — The red sails of the “Dukling” junk boat have glided across Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour for more than six decades. But the wooden ship has been docked after new measures to stem a fourth wave of the coronavirus were introduced earlier this month, threatening the city’s last remaining antique junk. Strict social distancing rules were brought back after daily cases repeatedly spiked to […]

Saudi Arabia kicks off coronavirus vaccination campaign

  RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia kicked off a three-phase Covid-19 vaccination programme Thursday, with the health minister among those inoculated after the first shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in the kingdom. Along with Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah, a woman in a wheelchair and another man were among the first to be administered the vaccine at a centre in Riyadh, an AFP photographer reported. “This is the beginning of the end of […]

Vietnam’s pharmaceutical firm starts human trial of coronavirus vaccine

  HANOI, Vietnam (AFP) — A Vietnamese pharmaceutical company began testing a coronavirus vaccine on volunteers in Hanoi on Thursday, as developing countries jostle with richer nations to access affordable inoculations. Nanogen’s Nanocovax is one of four under development in Vietnam, and a company representative said it is expected to cost around $5 a dose. Three volunteers received the jab on Thursday and will be monitored for 72 hours at the Vietnam Military Medical University. […]