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LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Delayed second and third doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine boost immunity against Covid-19, a study by Oxford University, which developed the jab with the British-Swedish firm, said on Monday. An interval of up to 45 weeks between the first and second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine led to an enhanced immune response, rather than compromising immunity, the study said. Giving a third dose of the jab more than six months […]
Total COVID-19 cases at over 2.1M, while total deaths reach 57,138 JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia set a new record for daily coronavirus cases on Sunday with more than 21,000, as hospitals are flooded with patients in Jakarta and other Covid-19 hotspots across Southeast Asia’s hardest-hit nation. The figure brings the country’s tally for the pandemic to more than 2.1 million coronavirus cases with 57,138 deaths. But the real number is believed to be […]
by Holly ROBERTSON BRISBANE, Australia (AFP) — New coronavirus cases popped up in cities across Australia on Monday, prompting local authorities to impose restrictions in areas not used to living under strict Covid-19 rules. Australia has been broadly successful in containing virus clusters, but is now battling flare-ups in at least four cities across the vast continent nation. Brisbane, Darwin, Perth and Sydney have all reported new cases of the highly contagious Delta variant, which […]
HAGATNA, Guam (AFP) — The US Pacific territory of Guam will offer visitors a Covid-19 vaccination with their tropical holiday, in a bid to restart its struggling tourism industry. Dubbed ‘Air V&V’ — vacation and vaccination — the programme is primarily aimed at US expatriates in the Asia-Pacific region, although other nationalities can participate. Guam has limited Covid-19 infections and a high vaccination rate among the local population thanks to one of the most effective […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — All of Italy became a mask-free, “low-risk” zone for coronavirus Monday, marking a dramatic milestone for the first European country to be hit by the global pandemic in February 2020. In a decree that took effect Monday, the health ministry for the first time classified each of Italy’s 20 regions as “white”, signifying low risk, under the country’s color-coded classification system that evaluates Covid-19 risk. That means facemasks will no longer […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford on Sunday began new trials to test a modified vaccine against the Beta variant, which first emerged in South Africa. The ‘booster’ vaccine’s trial will involve around 2,250 participants from Britain, South Africa, Brazil and Poland. They include people who have been fully vaccinated with two doses of the original Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine or an mRNA vaccine such as Pfizer as well as those who […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Over a dozen fully vaccinated doctors have died of Covid-19 in Indonesia, a medical association said Friday, as the Southeast Asian country battles a rash of severe cases in inoculated medical workers and highly infectious new virus strains. Infections have surged in the nation of 270 million people in the past week, passing two million cases on Monday as hospital occupancy rates soared to over 75 percent in Jakarta and other […]
PRETORIA, South Africa (AFP) — South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday reimposed restrictions for two weeks to combat a surge in the highly contagious coronavirus Delta variant. The worst-hit country on the continent “is facing a massive resurgence of infection,” the president said in a televised address to the nation. “Our health facilities are stretched to the limit… ICU beds are in short supply,” he said as he placed the country on alert level […]
TEL AVIV, Israel (AFP) — The Israeli health ministry reimposed a requirement Friday for masks to be worn in enclosed public places following a surge in Covid cases since it was dropped 10 days ago. The spike in new infections is a blow for a country which has prided itself on one of the world’s most successful vaccine rollouts. The head of Israel’s pandemic response taskforce, Nachman Ash, told public radio the requirement came […]
by Catherine SCHENCK SOWETO, South Africa (AFP) — A 19-coach train pulled into the Dube station of South Africa’s emblematic Soweto township early in the morning to bring desperately-needed and virtually free medical services to poor residents. Equipped with instruments and gear for optometry, dentistry, general medicine, psychology and a pharmacy — the Phelophepa clinic-on-rails criss-crosses the country for nine months a year. Law student Retshepile Mosena, 18, was among the hundreds that thronged the […]
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil set a new record for Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, with 115,228 new cases identified within 24 hours, the Health Ministry said, confirming the arrival of a third wave of the pandemic. During the same period 2,392 new deaths were recorded, bringing the total to 507,109. Brazil is the second worst-hit in the world in absolute numbers of fatalities, behind the United States which has suffered more than 600,000 deaths. […]
JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Israel announced Wednesday a delay to the renewed entry of individual tourists and said it could take other steps to counter the spread of the Delta variant of coronavirus despite the country’s high vaccination rate. “Due to concern over the potential spread of the Delta variant, the government has postponed the entry of individual tourists by one month to August 1,” the tourism ministry said. Israel will however continue to allow […]
