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NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India’s coronavirus death toll passed 200,000 on Wednesday with more than 3,000 fatalities reported in 24 hours for the first time, official data showed. A total of 201,187 people have now died, 3,293 of them in the past day, according to health ministry data, although many experts suspect that the true toll is higher. India has now reported 18 million infections, an increase of 360,000 in 24 hours, which is […]
by Maud Watine BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) — Six people out of 5,000 who attended an indoor trial concert last month in Barcelona reported testing positive for Covid-19 afterwards, organisers said on Tuesday, giving hope for the revival of the live music industry. Ahead of the show, everyone underwent mass screening and antigen tests. There were no mass tests afterwards, but 15 days later only six people reported testing positive for Covid-19 according to public medical […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain said Tuesday it will impose a 10-day quarantine on all travelers arriving from India in response to the emergence of a fast-spreading coronavirus variant in the country. The measure, which will take effect on Wednesday, will apply to people who travelled via third countries since there are no direct flights between India and Spain, government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said. “This is a measure which our country has already adopted […]
by Sebastian Smith WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Americans vaccinated against Covid-19 no longer need to mask up outdoors when there is no crowd, President Joe Biden said Tuesday, before celebrating by taking his first short walk at the White House without the face covering. Biden told the nation in televised remarks from the leafy North Lawn that “stunning progress” has been made in getting vaccines administered and that stringent mask recommendations can now be […]
by AFP bureaux NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Bodies of Covid victims lay burning Tuesday in funeral pyres cramming New Delhi’s sidewalks and car parks amid an explosion of new cases, as foreign aid began arriving to surging hotspot India in efforts to keep the pandemic at bay. While rising vaccinations in the United States have allowed the country that was once the worst hit by coronavirus to relax its mask-wearing in some locations, India […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — One dose of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines reduces the chances of someone infected with coronavirus from spreading it to other household members by up to 50 percent, according to a English study published Wednesday. The Public Health England (PHE) research found that those who became infected three weeks after receiving their first jab were between 38 and 49 percent less likely to pass the virus on to their household […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization said Tuesday that a variant of Covid-19 feared to be contributing to a surge in coronavirus cases in India has been found in over a dozen countries. The UN health agency said the B.1.617 variant of Covid-19 first found in India had as of Tuesday been detected in over 1,200 sequences uploaded to the GISAID open-access database “from at least 17 countries”. “Most sequences were uploaded from […]
by Aidan JONES BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Thailand’s prime minister was fined for not wearing a mask Monday after new Covid-19 restrictions came into force to try to halt the country’s spiralling outbreak. Wearing masks is now compulsory in public spaces in 49 provinces and the capital, Bangkok — where the latest outbreak has been traced back to a nightlife district. Some locations are backing up that requirement with a 20,000 baht ($640) fine. After […]
by Romain FONSEGRIVES PARIS, France (AFP) — Millions of French children returned to the classroom on Monday as primary schools reopened after a three-week shutdown ordered to combat a severe third wave of Covid-19 infections. Kindergartens also reopened as President Emmanuel Macron’s government began easing restrictions imposed when France entered its third nationwide lockdown on April 3. Secondary schools will reopen in a week’s time and restrictions on people travelling beyond a 10-kilometre (six-mile) radius […]
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — More than 500 health workers have died in Venezuela since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, a nongovernmental organization said Monday. “The number of deaths in the health sector with criteria for Covid-19 is accelerating. Information is received of 14 new deaths to reach 513,” Medicos Unidos de Venezuela said on Twitter. Since the first cases were reported in March 2020, health care unions and NGOs have decried precarious conditions in […]
SUVA, Fiji (AFP) — A Covid-19 outbreak that forced Fiji’s capital into lockdown after the island nation avoided transmission for a year was confirmed as the Indian variant Tuesday, with health officials saying they feared a “tsunami” of cases. The Pacific country had largely dodged community transmission before a cluster emerged this month centred on a quarantine facility in Nadi, the city that is home to Fiji’s international airport. The permanent secretary for health and […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — The first shipment of Covid medical supplies from Britain to India, including 100 ventilators and 95 oxygen concentrators, arrived early Tuesday, the foreign ministry said. Foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi tweeted photos of the equipment being unloaded from a German Lufthansa aircraft in New Delhi, calling it “international cooperation at work”. Britain, one of several countries to announce sending help as India’s health care system buckles under a huge surge […]
