Tag: health

Vaccine doses pass one billion mark as global cases top new record

by AFP Bureaus PARIS, France (AFP) — The number of Covid-19 jabs administered globally surpassed the one billion mark on Saturday, offering hope even as the number of virus cases worldwide hit a new daily record mainly due to an explosion of infections in India. At least 1,002,938,540 vaccine doses have been administered in 207 countries and territories, according to an AFP tally. Nevertheless, the number of new infections topped 893,000 worldwide on Friday, a […]

Indian Covid variant detected in Greece

ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — Greece has become the latest European nation to detect a case of the Covid-19 variant that has helped drive an explosion in infections in India, authorities said Sunday. The country’s public health agency said in a statement that the virus strain was detected in a foreign woman aged 33 who lives in the Athens area and had travelled to Dubai on April 4. The woman had a negative PCR virus test […]

UK sending ‘vital medical equipment’ to India to aid Covid fight

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain said Sunday it was sending life-saving medical equipment to India, including ventilators and oxygen concentrators, as the south Asian country reels from record numbers of daily Covid-19 infections and deaths. London will ship more than 600 pieces of equipment to New Delhi to support its fight against the virus, following a request from India and Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledging the UK would do “all it can” to help. […]

US to send virus-hit India Covid supplies ‘immediately’: W.House

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States will “immediately” make supplies of material to make vaccines, as well as therapeutics, tests, ventilators and protective equipment available to India, facing a Covid-19 surge, the White House said Sunday. “The United States has identified sources of specific raw material urgently required for Indian manufacture of the Covishield vaccine that will immediately be made available for India,” a White House statement said. It listed other initiatives Washington […]

France to provide ‘significant’ oxygen assistance to India

PARIS, France (AFP) — France plans to offer India “significant” extra oxygen capacity in the coming days to help the country cope with a record surge in Covid-19 infections, the French presidency said on Sunday. The assistance is to include badly needed oxygen ventilators, a source told AFP without providing further details. France joins other countries such as Germany, Britain and the United States in coming to the aid of India, which with a new […]

Fire kills 82 at Iraqi Covid hospital, health minister suspended

  by Ammar Karim and Salam Faraj Agence France Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — More than 80 people died Sunday when a fire ripped through a Baghdad hospital for Covid-19 patients, sparking outrage and the suspension of top officials overseeing Iraq’s crumbling health services. The blaze at eastern Baghdad’s Ibn al-Khatib hospital began when badly stored oxygen cylinders blew up, medics said. Many of the victims were on respirators and were burned or suffocated in […]

Canada PM Trudeau and wife get AstraZeneca Covid jabs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Gz6dLz2g4 OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau received a first dose of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine on Friday, seeking to reassure Canadians it is safe despite very rare but serious blood clots in a handful of cases among millions vaccinated. The Canadian leader arrived at an Ottawa pharmacy with his wife Sophie, took off his shirt in front of cameras, and told the masked woman giving out jabs that he was eager to […]

Percentage of active COVID-19 cases decrease to 9 percent, lowest since March 16

9,661 new COVID cases added on Saturday; total cases at almost 990k, could breach 1M by Monday   (Eagle News) – The percentage of active cases compared to total COVID-19 cases continued its decline from 10.5 percent on Friday, April 23, to just 9 percent on Saturday, April 24, with the addition of 9,661 cases. This brought the total active cases to 89,485. The 9 percent active cases is the lowest percentage of COVID-19 active […]

Australian city orders new lockdown after virus escapes quarantine hotel

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australian authorities ordered a snap, three-day lockdown in the western city of Perth Friday after the coronavirus escaped from a quarantine hotel housing infected international travellers. Western Australia state Premier Mark McGowan said a man who was allowed to leave the hotel on April 17 after testing negative for the virus at the end of the standard 14-day quarantine period tested positive several days later. One of his close contacts in […]

UAE suspends flights from India as Covid cases spike

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — The United Arab Emirates on Thursday suspended all flights from India, including transit passengers, as coronavirus cases in the country spiked to global records. Some 300 flights a week were operating between the UAE and India before the ban was announced, according to local media, making the air corridor one of the busiest in the world. “The decision to suspend flights came after studying and evaluating the epidemiological situation […]

Singapore quarantines migrant workers after virus cases

SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Singapore has quarantined about 1,200 migrant workers from a dormitory after coronavirus cases were discovered among men thought to have already recovered from infections, officials said. Vast dormitories housing mostly South Asian workers were at the centre of Singapore’s initial outbreak last year, with the majority of the city-state’s cases in the self-contained complexes. The country’s outbreak has largely been brought under control with just a handful of infections detected daily, […]

Japan faces new virus emergencies, three months before Olympics

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s government is to declare virus states of emergencies in Tokyo and three other regions on Friday, exactly three months before the Olympic opening ceremony, as new infections surge. The measures will be stricter than Japan’s last state of emergency, imposed in parts of the country from January, but still fall short of the harsh lockdowns seen in some parts of the world. “We have a strong sense of crisis,” Japan’s […]