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BEIJING, China (AFP) — A Chinese province of more than 37 million declared an “emergency state” on Wednesday to snuff out a handful of Covid-19 cases, as the country moved decisively to contain infections. China had largely brought the coronavirus under control since its emergence in Wuhan late in 2019. But recent weeks have seen smatterings of cases, prompting localized lockdowns, immediate travel restrictions and widespread testing of tens of millions of people. More than […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — The NBA and its players union updated Covid-19 health and safety protocols on Tuesday as positive tests and game postponements mounted. The Washington Wizards’ home game against the Utah Jazz scheduled for Wednesday was postponed on Tuesday night, the sixth game to be scrubbed in the three-week old season. Earlier Tuesday the league said Wednesday’s game between the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic would be postponed. Boston’s scheduled Tuesday […]
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AFP) — The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) appealed on Tuesday for emergency aid of $35 million to fight hunger in southern Madagascar, hit by the coronavirus pandemic and a third consecutive year of drought. “Some 1.35 million people are projected to be food insecure — 35 percent of the region’s population,” the WFP said in a statement. “With severe malnutrition rates continuing to spiral and many children forced to beg in […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesian investigators said Wednesday they were hopeful of retrieving a crashed passenger jet’s second black box, as they seek to explain why the plane with 62 people aboard slammed into the sea minutes after takeoff. Divers just off the coast of the capital Jakarta hauled the jet’s flight data recorder to the surface Tuesday, with the hunt now focused on finding its cockpit voice recorder on the wreckage-littered seabed. The devices […]
by Sébastien VUAGNAT with Laurent BANGUET in Los Angeles APPLE VALLEY, United States (AFP) — As Covid-19 tears through southern California, small hospitals in rural towns like Apple Valley have been overwhelmed, with coronavirus patients crammed into hallways, makeshift ICU beds and even the pediatric ward. When AFP visited St Mary hospital in this desert town of 70,000 people this week, palliative care supervisor Kari McGuire said her team were seeing “astronomical numbers of patients […]
OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — Canada announced Tuesday a deal to secure an additional 20 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, which would allow for more than half of Canadians to be inoculated before summer. The American and German pharmaceutical giants will also accelerate deliveries of their jointly-developed vaccine over the coming months, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference. “Between mid-April and June, we will have enough doses to vaccinate up to 20 […]
OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — Canada’s Ontario province, the country’s most populous and its economic engine, on Tuesday ordered residents to stay home as projections showed the number of Covid-19 cases could soon explode, overwhelming hospitals. “Our province is in crisis,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford told a news conference, at which he declared a month-long state of emergency. “The (health care) system is on the brink of collapse. It’s on the brink of being overwhelmed,” he […]
LISBON, Portugal (AFP) — Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has now tested negative for coronavirus after a positive test that saw him cancel all public engagements, his office said Tuesday, two weeks before an election he is set to win. The 72-year-old head of state had returned an “asymptomatic” positive test, officials said Monday, and he went into isolation in the presidential palace in Lisbon. However, according to the latest statement, the result […]
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — The Chinese-developed Coronavac Covid-19 vaccine has demonstrated a 50 percent efficacy following tests in Brazil, the organization in charge of its production in the South American country said on Tuesday. Coronavac has been given to frontline health care workers in close contact with coronavirus patients. The Butantan Institute repeated its claim from last week that the vaccine is 78 percent effective in preventing mild cases that needed treatment and showed […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan is working to isolate and analyze a new variant of the coronavirus detected in four people who arrived from Brazil, a health ministry official said Tuesday. Japan announced the detection of the new variant on Sunday, but officials have been at pains to emphasize there is no evidence yet that it is any more transmissible or dangerous than others. “In order to further analyze the variant, we need to isolate […]
LISBON, Portugal (AFP) — Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has tested positive for coronavirus and cancelled all public engagements, his office announced late Monday just two weeks before a presidential election he is expected to win. The 72-year-old head of state was “asymptomatic” and isolating in the presidential palace in Lisbon, his office said in a statement. Last Wednesday, he had spent a few hours in “administrative isolation” after a member of his […]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia’s king Tuesday declared a nationwide state of emergency to fight a surge in coronavirus cases that threatens to overwhelm the country’s healthcare system. Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah “is of the opinion that the Covid-19 outbreak in the country is at a very critical stage and that there was a need for the emergency,” said a statement from the national palace. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had requested an emergency […]
