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WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday hailed his government’s “stunning” achievement in administering 200 million Covid-19 vaccine shots across the United States ahead of schedule. Biden said the landmark had been reached a week before he hits his administration’s 100-day mark — the deadline he’d announced for meeting the 200 million doses challenge. “Today we did it, today we hit 200 million shots,” he said in a televised speech from the […]
MUMBAI, India (AFP) — Twenty-two Covid-19 patients at a hospital in India were killed on Wednesday when the oxygen supply to their ventilators was disrupted by a leak. The tragedy comes as India battles severe shortages of medical supplies during a fierce second wave of coronavirus infections. The 30-minute leak from an oxygen tanker stationed outside Dr Zakir Hussain Hospital in Nashik, about 200 kilometres north of Mumbai, cut off supply to the ventilators of […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Covid-19 infections in Iraq surpassed one million on Wednesday, the health ministry said, a figure unmatched in the Arab world, in a country that has long faced medical shortages. The ministry reported 8,696 new coronavirus infections and 38 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total since the start of the country’s outbreak in February last year to 1,001,854, including 15,098 deaths. The ministry has said it carries out around […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — The Italian government said Wednesday it plans to gradually lift Covid-19 restrictions from next week, with restaurants and movie theatres set to reopen. Authorities said restaurants will be allowed to serve patrons outdoors from Monday, but only in yellow zone areas where the risk of contagion is deemed low. Cinemas, theatres and concert halls can also reopen the same day with 50 percent capacity. Schools and universities will be allowed to […]
BAB AL-HAWA, Syria (AFP) — A first batch of Covid-19 vaccine doses was expected to arrive Wednesday in war-torn northwestern Syria, where millions of people live in dire humanitarian conditions, a UN official said. The 53,800 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were dispatched to the rebel-dominated region as part of the Covax facility, which ensures the world’s poorest economies get access to jabs for free. “Once the vaccines arrive, we are prepared to start vaccination […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday vowed that Russia, one of the world’s oil and gas producing giants, would do its part to fight climate change and develop carbon recycling. “We must respond to the challenges of climate change, create a carbon recycling industry,” Putin said in his annual state of the nation address. © Agence France-Presse
HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — Finland could start lifting coronavirus curbs on businesses and youth activities from next week but borders will stay closed to tourists for at least the coming months, ministers said on Wednesday after agreeing an “exit plan”. A decision to lift the state of emergency, which allows the government to shut businesses and restrict movement, could be made next week “if the situation continues improving,” Prime Minister Sanna Marin told a press […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — France plans to lift travel restrictions and ease a nationwide curfew on May 2 on expectations that daily Covid-19 cases will soon begin falling, a source close to the presidency told AFP. President Emmanuel Macron also intends to stick to a goal of allowing restaurants to serve patrons outdoors from mid-May, while also reopening cinemas, theatres and museums with reduced capacity, the source said. Non-food businesses will also open their doors […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia is aiming for herd immunity against the coronavirus by the autumn and hailed his country’s development of three vaccines. “Vaccination is now of paramount importance… to allow herd immunity to develop in the fall,” Putin said during his annual state of the nation address. “Our scientists have made a real breakthrough. Now Russia has three reliable vaccines against the coronavirus,” he added. The […]
by Danny KEMP THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — Blood clots should be listed as a “very rare” side effect of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine but its benefits still outweigh the risks, the EU’s drug watchdog said Tuesday. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said in a statement that it had found a “possible link” between the J&J jab and the clots, following eight such cases in the United States, one of which was fatal. […]
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday received his first dose of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine and urged all senior citizens to be immunized, reassuring them it was safe. “It doesn’t hurt and it also helps a lot. It protects us all,” the 67-year-old said shortly after getting the injection in front of the media following his daily news conference. “I appeal again to all older adults to get […]
by Bhuvan BAGGA NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Prime Minister Narendra Modi late Tuesday called on Indians to step up their efforts to battle the coronavirus so that fresh lockdowns are not necessary, as the vast nation reels from an explosion of cases and the capital runs dangerously short of oxygen supplies. In his first address since the start of the record-breaking new wave of infections, Modi acknowledged that the nation of 1.3 billion people […]
