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BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany on Saturday confirmed its first two cases of the new Omicron strain of Covid-19, in travellers who arrived at Munich airport from South Africa, regional officials said. “Two suspected cases of the new virus variant Omicron classified by the World Health Organization as a variant of concern have been confirmed in Bavaria,” the health ministry of the southern state said in a statement. The people, who arrived back in Germany […]
by Joris FIORITI with Jan HENNOP in The Hague SCHIPHOL, Netherlands (AFP) — Dutch health authorities said Saturday the new Omicron strain of Covid-19 was “probably” among some of the 61 passengers who tested positive after arriving on two flights from South Africa. The cases — more than one tenth of the 600 people on the two planes — were quarantined in a hotel near Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, one of Europe’s biggest international air travel […]
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AFP) — The regional hospital in the northern Czech city of Liberec confirmed the new Omicron strain of Covid-19 in a female patient, its spokesman Vaclav Ricar told Czech Television Saturday. “My colleagues from the department of genetics and molecular diagnostics confirmed the strain with 90-percent probability after a sequence analysis,” said Ricar. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said earlier Saturday that the woman had been in Namibia and flew back to […]
An anti-Covid pill developed by Merck has proved effective in treating the disease, the US Food and Drug Administration said Friday in a much-awaited preliminary report. But the report, from an FDA advisory panel, cautioned that pregnant women should not use the drug, known as molnupiravir, saying the potential benefits do not outweigh the risks for those patients. The report is meant to provide guidance to an FDA experts panel convening Tuesday to consider whether […]
by Daniel Woolls with AFP bureaus The United States, Brazil, Canada, and Saudi Arabia became the latest countries Friday to restrict travel from southern Africa, where a new Covid strain labelled a “variant of concern” has been discovered in a potentially heavy blow to the world’s efforts to end the coronavirus pandemic. The World Health Organization said the new variant is more infectious than the dominant, highly transmissible Delta strain, and renamed this B.1.1.529 strain […]
by Paul RICARD Agence France Presse It is, scientists say, the most worrying Covid-19 variant since delta and perhaps ever. Here is what we know — and what we don’t — about the strain thought to have originated in Southern Africa. – How worrying? “This one is worrying and I’ve not said that since delta,” British virologist Ravi Gupta said on Twitter, about the variant labelled B.1.1.529. Concerns among disease experts stem from the variant’s […]
The new Covid variant, dubbed Omicron and originally detected in South Africa, poses a “high to very high” risk to Europe, the EU health agency warned on Friday. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) noted in a threat assessment report that there was still “considerable uncertainty related to the transmissibility, vaccine effectiveness, risk for reinfections and other properties of the Omicron variant.” However, the overall risk that Omicron posed to the European […]
SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Hundreds of flights were cancelled, some schools shut and tour groups suspended on Friday after three coronavirus cases were reported in Shanghai, as China continues its strict zero-Covid policy. Beijing has largely succeeded in controlling the spread of the coronavirus within its borders through travel restrictions and snap lockdowns, but frequent domestic flare-ups have tested its no-tolerance strategy in recent months. The three positive cases are friends who travelled to the […]
BRAZZAVILLE, Congo (AFP) — Only a quarter of health workers in Africa are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the World Health Organization said Thursday warning that majority of the continent’s frontline medical workforce were dangerously exposed. By contrast, a recent study of 22 predominantly high-income countries revealed that more than 80 percent of healthcare workers there were fully vaccinated against coronavirus, according to the WHO. “The majority of Africa’s health workers are still missing out on […]
by Susan NJANJI Agence France Presse JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — Scientists in South Africa said Thursday they had detected a new Covid-19 variant with a large number of mutations, blaming it for a surge in infection numbers. The number of daily infections in Africa’s hardest-hit country has increased tenfold since the start of the month. “Unfortunately we have detected a new variant which is a reason for concern in South Africa,” virologist Tulio […]
by Jan Flemr PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AFP) — Czech President Milos Zeman returned to hospital hours after being released Thursday as he tested positive for Covid-19, his spokesman Jiri Ovcacek said in a statement. Zeman was expected to appoint centre-right leader Petr Fiala as prime minister on Friday, but Ovcacek said his programme would now be put on hold. The 77-year-old veteran leftwinger was hospitalised on October 10, a day after a general election, and […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain on Thursday said it would ban travel from six southern African countries, after South Africa detected a new Covid-19 variant with a large number of mutations. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said all flights would be suspended from South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswana from 1200 GMT Friday. © Agence France-Presse
