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PARIS, France (AFP) — The French government’s top advisor on Covid-19 warned Friday that a new variant of the disease would “probably” emerge in the winter months this year. The country is currently battling an unprecedented spike in new cases caused by the more infectious Delta variant, which was first recorded in India. “We will probably have another variant arrive during the winter,” Jean-Francois Delfraissy, head of the French government’s scientific council, told the […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday she was concerned about Germany’s rising Covid-19 infections, urging Germans to get vaccinated. “The infection figures are rising again and with a clear and worrying dynamic,” Merkel told a press conference in Berlin. “We are seeing exponential growth,” she said, adding that “every vaccination… is a small step towards a return to normality”. Germany has seen low infection numbers over the summer compared to […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia announced Wednesday that a batch of its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine was produced for the first time in Vietnam, which is battling a new wave of Covid-19 infections. The test batch was produced in partnership with Vietnam’s state-owned pharmaceutical company Vabiotech, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which financially backed Sputnik V, said in a statement. The first samples from the batch will be shipped to the vaccine’s developer — […]
KAMPALA, Uganda (AFP) — At least 800 people in Uganda were given fake coronavirus vaccines — some injected with water — in a scam that involved “unscrupulous” doctors and health workers, government officials said Wednesday. The counterfeit jabs were administered over May and June during a deadly surge of the coronavirus in the East African nation, when new infections soared to record highs of about 1,700 cases per day. The fraudsters targeted people looking to […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — New York City will require public hospital workers to get vaccinated or take a weekly coronavirus test, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday as the metropolis faces an uptick in cases fueled by the Delta variant. The order will go into effect from August 2 and apply to the some 30,000 employees in the city’s 11 public hospitals. “This is the first step — everyone should do this now […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19 is expected to become the dominant strain of the virus over the coming months, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. Delta, which was first detected in India, has now been recorded in 124 territories — 13 more than last week — and already accounts for more than three-quarters of sequenced specimens in many major countries, the WHO said. “It is expected that it will […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India recorded more than 45,000 cases of the deadly “black fungus” over the last two months, the health ministry said, as a nationwide outbreak sweeps through Covid-19 patients. The country’s junior health minister Bharati Pravin Pawar told parliament on Tuesday that over 4,200 people had died of the fungus — scientific name mucormycosis. The infection was previously considered very rare but cases have ballooned during the pandemic, usually striking patients […]
by Amir HAVASI TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran sought to contain a new record surge in Covid cases, with government offices, banks and many businesses shut in the capital Tehran on Tuesday. Already hit by the deadliest outbreak in the Middle East, the Islamic republic has been gripped by what authorities warned would be a “fifth wave” driven by the aggressive Delta variant. To contain it, the national virus taskforce ordered government offices and banks […]
by Agnes Anya, with AFP bureaus JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia, Iran and France were suffering alarming surges in coronavirus cases Tuesday, as governments raced to vaccinate populations in a bid to outpace the highly-contagious Delta variant wreaking havoc across the globe. The new cases come as the head of the Olympics admitted Tuesday he suffered “sleepless” nights leading up to the Tokyo Games, due to open Friday and already marred by outbreaks. Nearly 3.7 […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A vaccinated White House official has tested positive for Covid-19, a spokeswoman said Tuesday, adding that the person had not had contact with President Joe Biden or other top-level staff. “I want to confirm that yesterday a fully vaccinated White House official tested positive for Covid-19 off campus,” Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki said at a briefing, adding that the official, who has not been identified, had mild symptoms. She […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche said Tuesday that Japan had become the first country to fully approve its Ronapreve antibody treatment for patients with mild to moderate Covid-19. The approval was based on phase 3 trials finding that the antibody cocktail dramatically reduced the likelihood that mild or moderate Covid patients would develop into serious illness causing hospitalization or death. Ronapreve, developed in cooperation with US biotech firm Regeneron, was approved by […]
by Jitendra JOSHI LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The British government on Monday lifted pandemic restrictions on daily life in England, scrapping all social distancing rules in a step slammed by scientists and opposition parties as a dangerous leap into the unknown. From midnight (2300 GMT Sunday), nighclubs reopened and other indoor venues were allowed to run at full capacity, while legal mandates covering the wearing of masks and working from home were scrapped. Prime […]
