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TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Two US Marine bases in Japan’s Okinawa have been put into lockdown after dozens of coronavirus infections, with local officials criticising the American military’s containment efforts. Additional restrictions are also in place at the seven other Marine bases in the region after the spike in cases, a spokesman confirmed. There are tens of thousands of US servicemen stationed on the southern Japanese island, which has recorded roughly 150 civilian COVID-19 […]
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — Argentina has registered more than 100,000 COVID-19 cases, its Ministry of Health said Sunday, despite the Buenos Aires area — the country’s coronavirus hot spot — being under extended shutdown. The country now has recorded 1,845 deaths from the pandemic with 100,153 positive cases and almost 43,000 people recovered. The shutdown in the Buenos Aires area, the most populated region of the country, is due to end on […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States, the country hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, on Sunday recorded 59,747 new cases over the last 24-hour period, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University. The number of cases in the US has rocketed in recent weeks, hitting a record of 66,528 in 24 hours on Saturday. The country has now registered a total of 3,301,820 infections, the Baltimore-based university said in its latest […]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — Emirates airline has cut a tenth of its workforce during the novel coronavirus pandemic in layoffs that could rise to 15 percent, or 9,000 jobs, its president said, according to a report on Saturday. The Middle East’s largest carrier, which operates a fleet of 270 wide-bodied aircraft, halted operations in late March as part of global shutdowns to stem the spread of the virus. It resumed two weeks later […]
by Patrick GALEY Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — There is “strong evidence” that COVID-19- positive mothers can pass the virus on to their unborn infants, scientists said Thursday, in findings that could affect how pregnant women are shielded during the pandemic. While there have been isolated cases of babies infected with the virus, the findings show the strongest link yet between mother and infant transmission. Researchers in Italy studied 31 pregnant women […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — The Paris prosecutor’s office said Friday that it was investigating “massive fraud” across France by people falsely claiming temporary wage assistance for employees laid off during the coronavirus lockdown. As the crisis hit, the government quickly introduced a system to pay around 84 percent of net salary for people no longer able to work. Thousands of firms applied for the payments, allowing millions of people to avoid a sudden drop […]
by Ryan Smith with Robin Millard in Geneva and AFP bureaus MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Millions of people in Australia’s second-biggest city went into lockdown on Thursday to battle another coronavirus outbreak, as the number of infections worldwide surged past 12 million. Caseloads and death tolls have risen relentlessly in many of the world’s biggest nations, with the virus now claiming over 550,000 lives across the planet. In Melbourne, five million people began a new […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — NBA commissioner Adam Silver reiterated Tuesday that a “significant spread” of coronavirus could burst the league’s safety “bubble” and cause a second shutdown of the season. Silver said he fully expects some players who gather in Florida to resume the suspended season will test positive for coronavirus, especially as teams first arrive in Orlando from their home markets. But he said fresh outbreaks after players go through quarantine procedures […]
by Alexandra Vardi TEL AVIV, Israel (AFP) — Israeli scientists have come up with a “simple” and low-cost method to turn waste into ethanol for use as sanitisers in the battle against the novel coronavirus. Professor Hadas Mamane of Tel Aviv University (TAU) and her team have been working for the past five years on recycling waste and transforming it into alcohol. Now, in response to the global demand for hand sanitisers, they have focused […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese state media has offered a rare glimpse of the lab at the heart of coronavirus conspiracy theories, as it seeks to push back against claims the facility was the source of the global pandemic. President Donald Trump and other US figures have repeatedly suggested the virus could have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, or even been deliberately produced there. Footage broadcast by state-run CCTV is believed to be […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — United Airlines warned Wednesday it could lay off as many as 36,000 workers on October 1 as the US carrier fights for survival amid the coronavirus crisis. The big US airline emphasized that it must cut costs due to a severe drop in demand for air travel, but although it will notify frontline employees of the potential job cuts, it does not expect everyone who receives the notice to […]
by Harumi OZAWA TOKOROZAWA, Japan (AFP) — Olympic boxing hopeful Arisa Tsubata is used to taking blows in the ring but it is during her work as a nurse that she faces her toughest opponent: coronavirus. The 27-year-old juggles a brutal training regime in boxing gloves with long, irregular hours in surgical gloves at a hospital near Tokyo. Tsubata mainly treats cancer patients but she said the virus was a constant threat, with medical experts […]
