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LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Los Angeles County were at their highest level at the weekend since the pandemic began, as 15 children were diagnosed with a rare and potentially deadly virus-related inflammatory syndrome. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Sunday listed 2,216 people in hospital, topping the previous record of 2,193 on July 15. Of those currently hospitalized, 26 percent are in intensive care […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis pleaded Monday for COVID-19 survivors to donate blood plasma to help save lives, as hospitals rapidly fill up and supplies of antiviral drugs run short. The situation in the Sunshine State is dire, with more than 9,500 coronavirus patients hospitalized and just 18 percent of intensive care beds available. Lines of people hoping to get a test can stretch for almost a mile and the results […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — The latest round of COVID-19 testing at the NBA’s campus in Orlando found zero positive cases out of 346 players tested, the NBA said on Monday. In a brief statement, the NBA said the latest figures related to testing carried out since July 13, when results of the last wave of tests were announced. “In the event that a player on the NBA campus returns a confirmed positive test in […]
by Patrick GALEY Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — An aerosol-based treatment could drastically reduce the number of new coronavirus patients dying from the disease or requiring intensive care, according to preliminary results released Monday by a British biotech firm. In a randomized trial of 100 patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, those who received an inhaled formula of the protein interferon beta were at 79 percent lower risk of developing severe disease […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un berated officials for their “careless” construction of a flagship hospital in Pyongyang and ordered those responsible to be sacked, state media reported Monday. The North has long used giant infrastructure projects to try to burnish the government’s credibility, including housing developments in Pyongyang and the continuing Wonsan-Kalma tourism development, but critics say speed is often prioritised over quality. The latest scheme is the Pyongyang […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia’s 84-year-old ruler King Salman was admitted to hospital in Riyadh Monday for gall bladder inflammation, the royal court said, prompting the postponement of the Iraqi prime minister’s high-profile visit. It is rare for Saudi Arabia to report on the health of the ageing monarch, who has ruled the top oil exporter and the Arab world’s biggest economy since 2015. The king was “admitted today to King Faisal specialist […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain has secured access to 90 million doses of potential coronavirus vaccines in deals with biotech firms BioNTech, Pfizer and Valneva, the government said Monday. Business Secretary Alok Sharma said Britain would now have access to three different types of vaccines being developed domestically and around the world, and it had also launched a website for volunteers to sign up for vaccine studies. “The hunt to find a vaccine is […]
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — South Africa’s death toll from coronavirus has passed the 5,000 mark, according to official figures released on Sunday by the continent’s hardest hit country. South Africa registered 85 new deaths from the virus in the previous 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 5,033. A total of 13,449 new infections were also officially diagnosed, taking the number to 364,328, figures released by the health ministry showed. Minister of Health Zweli […]
by Cecil Morella, with Aishwarya Kumar in New Delhi Agence France Presse MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — Indian ship worker Tejasvi Duseja is desperate to go home after months stranded offshore by coronavirus border closures and lockdowns that have left more than 200,000 seafarers in limbo. From engineers on cargo ships to waiters on luxury cruise liners, ocean-based workers around the world have been caught up in what the United Nations warns is a growing humanitarian […]
by Junior KANNAH / Samir TOUNSI à KINSHASA MBANDAKA, DR Congo (AFP) — The Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo’s northwest is growing, according to health officials, sounding the alarm weeks after the country officially declared an end to a separate Ebola epidemic which claimed over 2,000 lives. There have been 54 confirmed cases since June 1 in Mbandaka, a transport hub in Equateur province, including 22 deaths, according to figures released by the country’s […]
by Abhaya SRIVASTAVA NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Coronavirus cases in India passed one million on Friday, official data showed as authorities struggle to check the spread of the deadly pandemic across the world’s second-most populous nation. With over 600 Indians dying daily, lockdowns are being re-imposed across the country of 1.3 billion following an easing of restrictions in recent weeks on hopes the outbreak was under control. Health ministry data released Friday put the […]
by Chris Lefkow WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Florida is the new epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic in the United States and is shaping up as a key battleground in a partisan-tinged fight playing out nationally over reopening schools in the fall. While cities such as Houston, Los Angeles and New York plan to begin the school year virtually or on a restricted basis, Florida governor Ron DeSantis is insisting schools reopen fully in August. […]
