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RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) –Brazil’s death toll from Covid-19 surpassed a quarter-million Thursday, a year after the first case was confirmed in the country, which is struggling with vaccine shortages and a devastating second wave. The new coronavirus has now killed 251,498 people in Brazil, according to health ministry figures — the second-highest toll worldwide, after the United States, where the number passed half a million Monday. This has been the deadliest week yet […]
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — A senior World Health Organization official on Thursday urged national authorities to make a priority of understanding the long-term consequences of coronavirus infections as some people show worrying symptoms months later. “It’s a clear priority for WHO, and of the utmost importance. It should be for every health authority,” Hans Kluge, regional director for WHO Europe, told a press conference. While some studies are beginning to shed light on the illness, […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine has proven 94 percent effective in a study involving 1.2 million people in Israel, the first peer-reviewed real world research confirming the power of mass immunization campaigns to bring the pandemic to a close. The paper, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, also demonstrated there is likely a strong protective benefit against infection, a crucial element in breaking onward transmission. […]
by Kent Mensah, with AFP bureaus ACCRA, Ghana (AFP) — Ghana became the first country to receive vaccines from the global Covax scheme Wednesday, paving the way for poorer nations to catch up with inoculation drives in wealthier parts of the world to stamp out the coronavirus pandemic. But Europe’s vaccine rollout faced fresh problems after AstraZeneca said it would only be able to deliver half its promised doses to the EU, deepening tensions with […]
by Robin MILLARD Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization on Monday blasted wealthy countries for not only hogging Covid vaccines but in doing so, hindering the pathway for poorer nations to get them too. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said some rich countries’ direct deals with manufacturers had meant that previously-agreed vaccine allocations for poorer countries, via the Covax programme, were being reduced. The UN health agency chief said […]
EDINBURGH, United Kingdom (AFP) — Data from two separate studies published in the UK on Monday, one in England and another in Scotland, have shown vaccines against Covid-19 are effective in cutting disease transmission and hospitalizations from the first dose. Analysis from Public Health England has shown the vaccine manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech reduces the risk of catching infection by more than 70 percent after a first dose. That risk is reduced by 85 percent after […]
by Jitendra JOSHI Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set Monday to start unwinding England’s third and potentially final coronavirus lockdown, as a quickening UK-wide inoculation drive relieves pressure on overstretched hospitals. In a statement to parliament, Johnson will confirm the reopening of all English schools on March 8 in the first big step towards restoring normal life, nearly a year after he imposed the first stay-at-home […]
SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia (AFP) — Forty homeless people in Saint Petersburg received coronavirus vaccine jabs on Sunday, under a charity initiative that has received the backing of local officials. “Here there are many people at risk. It is important for them to be vaccinated,” said Taysia Suvorova, of the Nochlezhka non-governmental that organisation provides aid to the homeless in Russia’s second city. The 40 people receiving the vaccine are currently housed by the charity. According […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout began Sunday, with top officials among a small group receiving the first jabs a day before the vaccination programme starts in earnest. Prime Minister Scott Morrison was injected with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at a medical centre in Sydney’s northwest, in what the government said was an effort to boost public confidence in the vaccinations. Jane Malysiak, an aged care resident and WWII survivor in her 80s, […]
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — Argentina’s health minister resigned late Friday after it emerged that friends of his had been able to skip the line for a Covid-19 vaccination. Health Minister Gines Gonzalez Garci stepped down after President Alberto Fernandez called on him to quit in the wake of the scandal. “Responding to your express request, I present my resignation from the position of minister of health,” Gonzalez Garcia, a 75-year-old doctor, wrote in […]
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany’s BioNTech and its US partner Pfizer on Friday said tests have shown that their coronavirus vaccine can stand warmer temperatures than initially thought, potentially simplifying the jab’s complex cold-chain logistics. The companies said they have asked the US Food and Drug Administration to allow for the vaccine to be stored for up to two weeks at minus 25 to minus 15 degrees Celsius (minus 13 to five […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil, the country with the second-highest coronavirus death toll, passed the 10-million mark for reported infections Thursday, amid a deadly second wave and problems with its vaccination campaign. The country became the third to reach the grim mark — after the United States and India — with more than 51,900 new infections in 24 hours, according to official data. Over the same one-day period, 1,367 people died, bringing the […]
