Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
PARIS, France (AFP) — French Prime Minister Jean Castex tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday evening, his office told AFP, adding that he would isolate for 10 days while continuing to work. Castex “immediately carried out a PCR test” after finding out that one of his daughters had tested positive, his office said. Castex had been in Brussels on Monday morning, where he met his Belgian counterpart Alexander De Croo. He was accompanied on the […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Pfizer and BioNTech said Monday their Covid-19 vaccine remained 100 percent effective in children 12 to 15 years old, four months after the second dose. The companies said that the new data, which involved 2,228 trial participants, will help support their applications for full approval in the United States and worldwide. No serious safety concerns were observed in individuals with at least six months of follow-up after the second dose. […]
by Michelle FITZPATRICK with Denise HRUBY in Vienna BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germans faced the stark warning Monday that they would be either “vaccinated, cured or dead” from Covid by the end of winter, while Austria returned to a partial lockdown as Europe battles a fourth wave of the pandemic. Belgium and the Netherlands meanwhile condemned clashes that rocked weekend protests against new anti-Covid measures, aimed at containing a surge in infections sweeping parts of […]
The Covid-19 pandemic took a turn for the worse last week, fuelled by fast deteriorating situations in western Europe and the United States. Here is the global state of play based on an AFP (Agence France Presse) database. – Half a million a day – The number of new daily coronavirus cases increased sharply by nine percent globally to 517,600, according to an AFP tally to Thursday. There were however wide disparities between regions. […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Fifth-wave coronavirus infections in France are rising at an alarming rate, the government reported Sunday, with new daily Covid cases close to doubling over the past week. The seven-day average of new cases reached 17,153 on Saturday, up from 9,458 a week earlier, according to the health authorities, an increase of 81 percent. “The fifth wave is starting at lightning speed,” government spokesman Gabrial Attal told media. The latest seven-day increase […]
by Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — Violence broke out at a protest against anti-Covid measures in Brussels on Sunday, in which police said tens of thousands of people took part. The march began peacefully but police later fired water cannon and tear gas in response to protesters throwing projectiles, an AFP photographer witnessed. AFP also saw at least two police injured in the events, as officers in riot gear charged the crowd backed by […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday he had had a third dose of a Covid vaccine, as the country struggles with a fresh wave of the virus. “I had it two hours ago,” Putin said on state television channel Rossiya 24, assuring viewers that his booster injection of the Sputnik vaccine had been painless. The authorities are struggling to convince people to get vaccinated against Covid, even as a fresh […]
by Julia ZAPPEI Agence France Presse VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — Austria on Friday became the first EU country to announce it would make coronavirus vaccinations mandatory and will next week impose a partial lockdown in the face of spiralling infections. The lockdown, which comes into effect on Monday, constitutes the toughest restrictions introduced in Europe in recent weeks as Covid-19 cases surge continent-wide, fuelled by vaccine resistance. Austrians will not be allowed to leave […]
by Issam AHMED Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States authorized the Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccine boosters for all people aged 18 and older on Friday, as the world’s hardest-hit country enters a new winter wave of the pandemic. Boosters were previously available to the immune compromised, people over 65, those at high risk of severe disease, and people in high risk occupations. The new decision “helps to […]
by Kyoko HASEGAWA TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a record $490 billion stimulus for the world’s third-largest economy Friday as he looks to shore up the country’s patchy pandemic recovery. The 56 trillion yen injection, the third since the Covid crisis struck last year and expected to be approved by the cabinet later in the day, “is enough to deliver a sense of safety and hope to the Japanese people”, […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The first case of Covid-19 identified in Wuhan, China and presented as such by the World Health Organization was actually days later than previously believed and at an animal market, a top scientist said in the journal Science Thursday. Rather than the original patient being a man who had never been to the Wuhan market where wild and domestic animals were sold, the first known case of Covid-19 turns out […]
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AFP) — The Czech government on Thursday announced it would introduce new measures to encourage Covid 19 vaccinations after a fresh record in daily infections. Starting Monday, only the vaccinated and those who have had Covid in the last six months will be allowed access to bars, restaurants, hotels and other services. A negative Covid test result will no longer suffice. “We were inspired by the Bavarian model, whose basis is that […]
