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NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — The Indian government on Monday slammed huge crowds at popular northern tourist spots, saying such “gross violations” of Covid-19 health measures could spark a new surge in infections. The vast nation of 1.3 billion people was hit by a record-breaking wave in cases and deaths in April and May that pushed the healthcare system to its breaking point. The crisis has since eased, with numerous states removing restrictions and reopening […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany’s health agency said on Monday it would lift a ban on most travellers from the UK, India and three other countries hit by the Delta variant of Covid-19. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said India, Nepal, Russia, Portugal and the UK, currently listed as so-called virus variant countries, would be reclassified from Wednesday as “high-incidence areas”. The change eases a ban on entry for travellers who are not German residents […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — France could see a new spike in Covid cases by the end of July due to the spread of the more contagious Delta variant of the virus, the government spokesman said Monday. “Over the past week the epidemic is again gaining ground,” Gabriel Attal told France Inter radio, with the Delta variant now accounting for 30 percent of new infections in the country. A fourth wave of infections is “a possibility” […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia on Monday called for the nation’s oxygen supplies to be sent to hospitals overflowing with coronavirus patients as fresh cases and deaths hit new records. Oxygen producers had been told to allocate their stocks to the medical sector as the country is battered by an unprecedented wave of infections driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, said senior minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. “We have enough oxygen supply, but demand is […]
by Charlie CHARALAMBOUS NICOSIA, Syria (AFP) — Firefighters in Cyprus said Monday they had brought under full control the island’s worst blaze on record, which ripped through mountain forests and farmland, killing four people and destroying scores of homes. Water-bombing planes from Greece and Israel and British aircraft from bases on the Mediterranean island helped douse the huge fire, which blackened 55 square kilometres (21 square miles) of the Troodos Mountains. The Cyprus Forestry Department […]
by Jitendra JOSHI LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday revealed plans to lift most of England’s coronavirus restrictions, including face masks and social distancing from July 19, urging personal responsibility rather than government edict. His announcement came as experts in Israel, which led the way in vaccination, expressed concern that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine widely used there might be less effective against the dangerous Delta variant. Data collated by AFP meanwhile […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — President Hassan Rouhani expressed fears Saturday that Iran will be hit by a new wave of Covid-19 due to an outbreak of the Delta variant in the Middle East’s hardest-hit country. “It is feared that we are on the way to a fifth wave throughout the country,” Rouhani told a meeting of Iran’s anti-virus taskforce, warning the public to be careful as “the Delta variant” had entered the country from the […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia has suspended flights to three countries, including the neighbouring United Arab Emirates, to protect against a coronavirus variant, the interior ministry said Saturday. The move comes seven weeks after the oil-rich kingdom permitted fully immunized citizens to travel abroad, after a ban on foreign trips that lasted more than a year. The UAE, and especially Dubai, is a key leisure destination for Saudis. Flights to and from the […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain’s Queen Elizabeth will award the UK’s state-run National Health Service (NHS) the country’s highest civilian honour in recognition of health workers’ service during the pandemic, the government announced Monday. The award of the George Cross, which is the civilian equivalent of Britain’s Victoria Cross for extraordinary military heroism, comes amid outcry from medical professionals over pay and working conditions in the NHS, which has been pushed close to breaking […]
by Anna SMOLCHENKO MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia on Sunday counted more than 25,000 new daily infections after a week of record death tolls as the highly contagious Delta variant propels a global resurgence of the pandemic. The coronavirus has killed nearly four million people worldwide, forcing numerous nations to reimpose restrictions well over a year after the outbreak of the pandemic. Moscow has so far ruled out a new lockdown, but Sunday’s 25,142 infections […]
Washington, United States — ( AFP)Johnson and Johnson’s single-shot Covid-19 vaccine is effective against the highly contagious Delta variant, with an immune response lasting at least eight months, the company said Thursday. The antibodies and immune system cells in the blood of eight people vaccinated with the J&J jab effectively neutralized the Delta strain, which was first identified in India, researchers found. A second study with 20 vaccinated patients at Boston’s Beth Israel Medical Center […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India became the third country to pass 400,000 Covid-19 deaths, official data showed Friday, as the country’s vast vaccination drive slows. Total deaths are 400,312, according to the health ministry — behind only the United States and Brazil — with total cases almost 30.5 million. Many experts suspect India’s true death toll is more than a million, after a devastating spike in cases in April and May that overwhelmed […]
