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LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain will on Monday set out plans to restart international travel, using a “traffic-light” system as the country cautiously emerges from lockdown. The announcement comes as the UK has set a tentative date of May 17 to relaunch international travel. Travel destinations will be ranked green, amber or red according to virus risk, Downing Street said in a statement late Saturday, with the government to provide more details on Monday. […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — France’s government deficit will deepen and public debt rise after a lingering Covid crisis smashed hopes of a rapid economic rebound, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday. The annual deficit, which has spiralled as President Emmanuel Macron’s government tries to prop up the struggling economy with massive spending, is now expected to reach nine percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021, he told reporters. This compares to […]
MUMBAI, India (AFP) — Bollywood star Akshay Kumar said Sunday he has tested positive for Covid-19, becoming the latest Indian celebrity to contract the virus as the vast nation battles a new wave of cases. India reported 93,249 new daily infections on Sunday, according to health ministry data, the highest increase since September, taking the total known cases to almost 12.5 million. “I wish to inform everyone that, earlier this morning, I have tested positive […]
by Adam PLOWRIGHT PARIS, France (AFP) — In the Covid-19 intensive care unit of the Antony Private Hospital south of Paris, no bed stays free for long and medics wonder when their workload will finally peak. As one recovered elderly patient is being wheeled out of the ward, smiling weakly, boss Jean-Pierre Deyme is on the phone arranging the next arrival and calling out instructions to staff. Louisa Pinto, a nurse of nearly 20 years’ […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia on Friday reported a decline in virus-related deaths in February on the previous month, as authorities say the worst of the pandemic has passed and aim to lift remaining curbs by the end of the summer. The figures published by the Rosstat statistics agency showed 14,171 Russians died due to the coronavirus in February, while a further 9,198 people died with the virus but primarily of other causes. That […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The UK medical regulator said Saturday that out of 30 people who suffered blood clots after receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, seven have died. The British acknowledgement of deaths comes as several European countries have paused the use of the AstraZeneca jab over a potential link to blood clots. The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said in a statement that “Out of the 30 reports up to and including […]
by Shaun Tandon with AFP bureaus WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States reaped the fruits Friday of its vaccination campaign against Covid-19 as it became the first nation to reach 100 million people, but Europe’s rollout faced fresh impediments and South America tightened restrictions in the face of Brazil’s soaring infections. The United States reported surging job growth and loosened travel curbs as it reached around half of its adult population with at […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Thirty cases of rare blood clotting have been recorded in Britain among more than 18 million people who have had the AstraZeneca vaccination, the national medicines regulator said Friday. “The benefits of the vaccines against Covid-19 continue to outweigh any risks,” the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said, urging the public to keep taking the vaccine. Up to 24 March, 22 reports of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) […]
by AFP Bureaus SANTIAGO, Chile (AFP) — South American nations severely tightened coronavirus travel curbs including shutting their borders with Brazil, where infections are spiralling, as the WHO slammed Europe’s “unacceptably slow” vaccine rollout. Many European Union nations are reeling from dramatic spikes in cases that have forced the reimposition of unpopular restrictions, including in Belgium where police used water cannon to disperse thousands who had gathered in violation of Covid-19 rules. Spikes in South […]
CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — Egypt has received over 854,000 coronavirus vaccines through the Covax facility for lower and middle income countries, the World Health Organization said Thursday. The AstraZeneca vaccines, the first to be provided through COVAX to Egypt, were delivered by plane to Cairo late Wednesday, WHO said in a statement. Egypt has registered more than 200,000 cases of coronavirus, including some 12,000 deaths. The health ministry has said frontline health workers, the […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese biopharmaceutical firm Sinovac said Friday a third production line for its Covid-19 vaccine has been put into use, doubling its annual capacity of the jabs to two billion doses. Its CoronaVac is one of four domestic vaccines given conditional approval by Chinese authorities, which helps rush emergency drugs to market. On Wednesday, experts from the World Health Organization said an interim analysis of clinical trial data from two Chinese vaccines, […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — EU nations fell out Thursday over how to divide up 10 million extra doses of coronavirus vaccine with Austria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic refusing to help five struggling countries. A deal was agreed late in the day to distribute nearly three million doses to “those most in need”, said Portugal, which holds the rotating European Union presidency. But Austria, Slovenia and the Czechs had insisted on receiving their full quota […]
