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by AFP Bureaus France and Belgium further relaxed their Covid-19 restrictions Wednesday, allowing restaurants and cafes to serve indoors, while the United States eased travel warnings for dozens of countries as vaccinations boost hopes of a return to normal life. The pandemic’s impact on life around the planet was also illustrated Wednesday with a shake-up of the list of the world’s most liveable cities, with Auckland rocketing to the top on the back of […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The head of Pfizer said in an interview aired Thursday that people will “likely” need a third dose of his company’s Covid-19 shot within six to 12 months of vaccination, while elsewhere defending the relatively higher cost of the jab. CEO Albert Bourla also said annual vaccinations against the coronavirus may well be required. “We need to see what would be the sequence, and for how often we need […]
by Agence France Presse bureaus Europe passed the grim milestone of one million coronavirus deaths on Monday, as the World Health Organization warned that infections are rising exponentially despite widespread efforts aimed at stopping them. The death toll across Europe’s 52 countries, compiled by AFP from official sources, totalled at least 1,000,288 by 1830 GMT. “We are in a critical point of the pandemic right now,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead […]
by Agence France Presse Bureaus BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — The European Union on Wednesday tightened vaccine export controls in a bid to ramp up its stuttering inoculation campaign while the United States said its inoculation drive was already showing results for over-65s. Under the EU’s new rules, the bloc’s European Commission executive will weigh how needy countries are as well as how readily they export doses to the EU before approving shipments. “Open roads […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Trust in AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine in many European countries has plunged following controversy around the jab in recent weeks, according to a new survey unveiled Monday by British pollsters YouGov. A majority of people in the biggest European Union member states, including Germany, France, Spain and Italy, now see the inoculation as unsafe, the recent poll found. However, views of the Anglo-Swedish pharma giant’s jab remain overwhelming positive in […]
by Katy LEE with AFP bureaus PARIS, France (AFP) — Several European countries introduced new lockdown measures Saturday as they battled surging coronavirus infections, while Tokyo Olympics organizers were forced to announce an “unavoidable” ban on overseas fans to keep the Games safe. Residents in Poland, parts of France and Ukraine’s capital Ukraine all faced new restrictions, with most shops shut and people urged to work from home. Elsewhere in Europe, frustrations with Covid-19 curbs […]
by Deborah COLE Agence France Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Coronavirus cases in Germany are rising at a “very clearly exponential rate”, a top public health institute said Friday, as the EU’s biggest country debated tightening a shutdown. The vice president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases, Lars Schaade, told reporters that highly contagious virus variants were getting the upper hand, wiping out progress seen last month in containing the pandemic. […]
by Agence France Presse Bureaus Coronavirus restrictions were reimposed across much of Italy on Monday, while Ireland and the Netherlands became the latest countries to suspend AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 shots over blood clot fears despite the firm and the WHO insisting there is no risk. More than 350 million vaccine doses have been administered globally so far, and the AstraZeneca shot — among the cheapest available — is crucial to roll-outs in poorer parts of the […]
OSLO, Norway (AFP) — Norwegian health officials reported three more cases of blood clots or brain haemorrhages in younger people who received the AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab, but said they could not yet say they were vaccine-related. The Norwegian Medicines Agency said similar incidents had been reported in other European countries. While there was no proof of a link to the vaccine, anyone under 50 who felt unwell and developed large blue patches after vaccination should […]
by Danny KEMP Agence France Presse THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — The Netherlands and parts of Germany were blanketed on Sunday by a snowstorm that disrupted planes and trains and put some coronavirus testing on hold. Britain was also bracing for heavy snow from what Dutch meteorologists have called Storm Darcy, which is packing winds of up to 90 kilometres (55 miles) an hour. People rushed outdoors to enjoy sledging and playing in the snow […]
by Camille BAS-WOHLERT Agence France Presse Europe and pharma groups must work together to speed up Covid-19 vaccinations, the head of the European branch of the World Health Organization said Friday, expressing concern about the effectiveness of vaccines on virus variants. “We need to join up to speed up vaccinations,” WHO Europe director Hans Kluge told AFP in an interview, as Europe bids to overcome a slow start to its vaccination campaign amid tensions […]
by Deborah COLE Agence France Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — The pandemic in Germany is still out of control, the head of its disease control institute said Friday, dampening hopes of a quick easing of its partial lockdown despite declining infection numbers. Robert Koch Institute (RKI) chief Lothar Wieler told reporters that the emergence of new, more contagious variants of the coronavirus posed a real danger to tentatively successful German efforts to curb its […]
