Tag: health

Philippines lifts suspension on AstraZeneca vaccine for under 60s

MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — The Philippines has lifted a suspension on the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine for people under 60, an official said Monday, arguing “the benefits outweigh the risk” as the country battles record infections. Several countries suspended use of the drug after it was linked to rare but serious blood clotting. Most have subsequently resumed after the European Medicines Agency, emphasised the benefits of the jab, judging it “safe and effective”. Philippine Health Undersecretary […]

Continue Reading →

Greece lifts quarantine for some vaccinated travellers

ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — Greece said Monday that travellers from the EU and five other countries who are fully vaccinated or have a recent negative Covid test will no longer have to quarantine on arrival. Visitors from the EU, Britain, the United States, Israel, Serbia and the United Arab Emirates will not be subjected to a week-long quarantine, the civil aviation authority said in a statement. Travellers must present proof they are fully vaccinated or […]

Continue Reading →

Fauci sees decision on US resuming J&J vaccine by Friday

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A decision on whether to end a US pause in vaccinations with the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 shot is likely by Friday, top US pandemic advisor Anthony Fauci said Sunday. A government-convened expert panel has been assessing the vaccine’s possible links to a clotting disorder seen in a half-dozen relatively young women, none with previously known clotting disorders. Meantime, the European Medicines Agency said Friday it expected to rule […]

Continue Reading →

Virus case forces Fiji cities into lockdown

SUVA, Fiji (AFP) — Fiji ordered two of its largest cities into lockdown Monday after the Pacific island nation recorded its first case of Covid-19 community transmission in 12 months. Health authorities said the case was a 53 year-old woman who was a close contact of a soldier who contracted the virus at a quarantine facility in Nadi. “To aid rapid contact tracing and reduce the likelihood of further transmission, we are announcing a lockdown […]

Continue Reading →

Hugs, tears as New Zealand-Australia travel bubble opens

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Emotions ran high Monday as excited passengers set off on the first flights to take advantage of a quarantine-free travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand, allowing families split by the pandemic to finally reunite. “(I’ll) yell, scream cry, hug, kiss, (feel) happy — all of these emotions at once,” Denise O’Donoghue, 63, told AFP at Sydney airport as she prepared to board her flight. The arrangement means that for the […]

Continue Reading →

Covid death toll passes three million as India cases surge

by AFP bureaus PARIS, France (AFP) — The global Covid-19 death toll passed three million on Saturday as the pandemic speeds up despite vaccination campaigns, leading countries like India to impose new lockdowns to fight spiralling infection numbers. It is the latest grim milestone since the novel coronavirus first surfaced in central China in December 2019 and went on to infect more than 139 million people, leaving billions more under crippling lockdowns and ravaging the […]

Continue Reading →

Canada records second case of rare blood clot after AstraZeneca shot

  TORONTO, Canada (AFP) — Canadian health authorities said Saturday the country has recorded a second case of rare but serious blood clotting linked to AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, but still recommend the shot for use. The patient, who lives in the western province of Alberta and received a version of the AstraZeneca vaccine supplied by the Serum Institute of India, “has received treatment and is recovering,” Canadian health authorities wrote on Twitter. Canada reported its […]

Continue Reading →

COVID-19 death toll worldwide passes 3 million, as total cases breach 140 million

  (Eagle News) — More than 3 million people have died due to COVID-19, as more infectious variants of the virus swept countries across the globe with total cases as of Saturday night, April 17, (Philippine time) breaching 140 million. The United States still leads countries with the most cases and deaths.  Total cases in the US reached over 31.5 million, and total deaths at over 566,000.  US is followed by India in terms of […]

Continue Reading →

Covid lockdown empties Delhi streets amid deadly surge

  by Bhuvan Bagga with Sailendra Sil in Kolkata Agence France Presse NEL DELHI, India (AFP) — New Delhi led major cities across India into a weekend lockdown Saturday as the country confronts a fierce new coronavirus wave, with more than 230,000 fresh daily cases and families clamouring for drugs and hospital beds. Hopes that South Asia might have beaten the pandemic have been dashed with India seeing over two million new cases this month […]

Continue Reading →

In Brazil, graveyard shift reveals staggering cost of pandemic

  by Paula RAMON Agence France Presse SAO Paulo, Brazil (AFP) — In almost three decades of working in Sao Paulo’s largest cemetery, the oldest gravediggers can’t remember performing more than 10 night burials. But since the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic swept across Brazil, that exception has become the rule. The vertiginous rise in deaths in Sao Paulo in recent months has forced the mayor of the country’s richest and most populous city […]

Continue Reading →

China’s Coronavac 80% effective at preventing Covid deaths: Chile results

SANTIAGO, Chile (AFP) — China’s Coronavac vaccine was 67 percent effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 and 80 percent at preventing death, according to real-life results unveiled Friday from Chile’s inoculation campaign. “These figures should convey peace of mind to the country,” Health Minister Enrique Paris told journalists as he announced the outcome of two months’ of vaccination in Chile, in February and March. The results were obtained from a comparison between vaccinated and non-vaccinated people […]

Continue Reading →

Canada waiting on J&J jabs despite US pause, first AstraZeneca clot found

  OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — Canada continues to expect its first shipment of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines at month’s end despite US and EU pauses over blood clot fears, officials said Tuesday, while also announcing a first Canadian clotting case linked to the AstraZeneca jab. US health authorities earlier recommended pausing the Johnson & Johnson shot while the company said it would delay its European rollout, after six American women aged between 18 and […]

Continue Reading →
1 … 132 133 134 135 136 … 370