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by Robin MILLARD GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization gave emergency use approval to AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccines on Monday, meaning distribution can start to poorer countries starved of doses to fight the pandemic. The AstraZeneca-Oxford jab forms the bulk of batches being lined up through Covax, the global program aimed at procuring and shipping out vaccines equitably around the world, regardless of wealth. It is only the second Covid-19 jab to have received […]
by Carol VALADE, with Philippe SIUBERSKI in Dakar CONAKRY, Guinea (AFP) — Five people have died of Ebola virus in Guinea, the health agency said on Monday, as the government and aid groups began to roll out their response to the outbreak. Guinea announced the outbreak on Saturday — the first in West Africa since a 2013-2016 epidemic that left more than 11,300 dead in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. According to an epidemiological report […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — A factfile on the Ebola virus that has plunged Guinea into an “epidemic situation” according to a senior health official, and which has killed more than 15,000 people since 1976. – Origins – Ebola was first identified in central Africa in 1976. The tropical virus was named after a river in the Democratic Republic of Congo — then known as Zaire. Five of the virus species are known to cause […]
CONAKRY, Guinea (AFP) — The head of Guinea’s health agency said Sunday that the country was in the midst of an Ebola “epidemic situation” with seven cases confirmed in the West African nation, including three deaths. “Very early this morning, the Conakry laboratory confirmed the presence of the Ebola virus,” Sakoba Keita said after an emergency meeting in the capital. Health Minister Remy Lamah had earlier spoken of four deaths. It was not immediately […]
LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Peru’s foreign minister resigned Sunday, the second top official to step down amid a growing scandal over politicians receiving Covid-19 vaccinations well before the general public. The South American nation has been badly hit by the pandemic, with its hospitals overwhelmed and a targeted vaccination program for health workers rolling out only from February 8. Public resentment over officials receiving vaccinations — despite there being no date for a wider […]
by Mouctar Ba with Philippe Siuberski in Dakar CONAKRY, Guinea (AFP) — West Africa faced its first known Ebola resurgence since the end of a devastating outbreak in 2016 on Sunday, with Guinea responding to what its health chief called an “epidemic” after seven cases were confirmed. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic stretching health resources across the world, Guinea and the World Health Organization (WHO) say they are better prepared to deal with Ebola now than […]
by Joe JACKSON in London and AFP bureaus LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain’s coronavirus vaccination programme passed the 15 million mark on Sunday, hours after New Zealand, so far largely spared by the pandemic, ordered its largest city into lockdown. The European Union, facing criticism over the sluggish roll-out of its own programme, meanwhile, confirmed it would fast-track approval of vaccines updated to target variants of the original virus. Germany partially closed its borders […]
by Marc Preel with Agence France Presse bureaus STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) — The head of the EU’s disease control agency warned Friday that the novel coronavirus could last indefinitely even as global infections slowed by nearly half in the last month and vaccine rollouts gathered pace in parts of the world. In an interview with AFP, ECDC chief Andrea Ammon urged European countries in particular not to drop their guard against a virus that “seems […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Hard-hit Brazil’s drive to vaccinate its population against Covid-19 has stumbled this week as a lack of doses forced authorities to slow or halt immunization in several key areas. Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo state and the northeastern city of Salvador have all run into vaccine shortages, fueling frustration with the government, which already faced criticism for President Jair Bolsonaro’s erratic handling of the pandemic. Brazil got its immunization […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US biotech firm Moderna said Friday it was seeking clearance with regulators around the world to put 50 percent more coronavirus vaccine into each of its vials as a way to quickly boost current supply levels. The company issued a statement after The New York Times first reported the US Food and Drug Administration had already cleared it to increase levels by 40 percent. “In order to better maximize resources […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British scientists announced on Friday they had developed a test to detect womb cancer using urine samples, explaining the method could replace a painful and invasive procedure currently in use. At present, clinicians diagnose the cancer by taking a biopsy, a process which requires a narrow telescope called a hysteroscope, to examine inside of the uterus and remove cells. Nearly a third of women who undergo the procedure have […]
by Roland JACKSON LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain’s economy shrank by a record 9.9 percent last year on the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic despite managing strong growth in the second half, official data showed Friday. Finance minister Rishi Sunak said the economy had suffered a “serious shock” from the Covid-19 global health crisis. The data came one week after the Bank of England forecast economic recovery on the back of Britain’s successful ongoing […]
