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MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia said Wednesday 1,028 people died of Covid over the past 24 hours, a new record, as President Vladimir Putin mulls introducing nationwide restrictions to curb the spread of the disease. The country recorded 34,074 new coronavirus cases, according to a government tally. Russian officials have been accused of downplaying the severity of the pandemic, but even the official figures bring the country’s official Covid-19 death toll to 226,353 — the […]
ZURICH, Switzerland (AFP) — US-based Atea Pharmaceuticals said Tuesday its plans to develop an orally administered drug to treat coronavirus patients together with Swiss pharma giant Roche have suffered a set back in clinical trials. The drug “did not meet its primary endpoint, showing no significant reduction in viral load,” Atea said in a statement. When compared to a placebo administered to some of the hospitalised patients in the trial “no meaningful difference was seen […]
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel has confirmed a case of a subvariant of the Delta strain of the coronavirus previously reported in some European countries, the health ministry said. “The variant AY 4.2. that has been discovered in a number of countries in Europe has been identified in Israel,” a ministry statement said late Tuesday. An 11-year-old boy arriving from Europe was the carrier, the ministry said, adding that the case was identified at Ben Gurion […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain on Tuesday said it was monitoring a subvariant of the Delta strain of the coronavirus, which has been seen in a growing number of cases. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said the government was keeping a “close eye” on the AY.4.2 variant but said there was no evidence it spreads more easily. “As you would expect, we are monitoring it closely and won’t hesitate to take action if necessary,” […]
by Claire SAVAGE WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Social media posts claim that Colin Powell’s death from complications caused by Covid-19 means vaccines against the disease are ineffective. But Powell had a type of cancer that experts say undermines the efficacy of the shots, and data shows his age left him especially vulnerable. “PROOF this Vaccine does NOT EVEN WORK, or-and is NOT EVEN a REAL VACCINE,” said a Facebook post sharing an article about […]
SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Singapore on Tuesday began quarantine-free entry for fully vaccinated passengers from eight countries, part of a plan to ease restrictions as the business hub gears up to live with the coronavirus. The latest easing expanded a programme that began with vaccinated air travel lanes with Germany and Brunei last month, and is now open to passengers from the United States, Canada, Britain, Denmark, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. Singapore Airlines […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — New Zealand recorded its highest number of daily coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic on Tuesday as a Delta-variant outbreak that dashed the nation’s “Covid Zero” hopes showed no signs of easing. Health authorities announced 94 new virus cases, exceeding the previous daily record of 89 set in April last year during the first wave of Covid-19 infections. While case numbers remain low by most international standards, they […]
by James PHEBY LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain has repeatedly trumpeted its mass vaccination program against Covid-19, hailing its early approval of jabs as a key part of the long struggle to return to normal life. But infection rates remain stubbornly high, contrasting sharply with its European neighbors and prompting fresh questions of the government. For two weeks, the number of new cases has wavered between 35,000 and 40,000 a day, and on Monday […]
SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia (AFP) — Russia’s second city, Saint Petersburg, announced Monday it would tighten restrictions to battle a surge in Covid-19 cases, introducing a health pass to regulate access to crowd events. From November 1, people will need to present a QR barcode to get into sports and cultural events where more than 40 people are gathering, the city’s deputy governor Boris Piotrovski said in a Telegram post. Only people who have been fully […]
MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — Pfizer-BioNTech submitted an authorization request to Health Canada on Monday for the use of its Covid-19 vaccine in children aged 5-11, the companies and the Canadian government said. “This is the first submission Health Canada has received for the use of a Covid-19 vaccine in this younger age group,” it said in a statement. The authorization request is based on data from trials conducted on 2,268 children in this age group […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Colin Powell, a US war hero and the first Black secretary of state who saw his legacy tarnished when he made the case for war in Iraq in 2003, has died from complications from Covid-19. He was 84. “We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American,” the family said in a statement posted to social media on Monday. The retired four-star general and former […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The European Union has exported “over one billion” doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the past 10 months, the bloc’s chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday. “Very clearly, the European Union is the largest exporter of Covid-19 vaccines,” she said, announcing the “important milestone” in a brief broadcast and statement. Von der Leyen said that 87 million of the doses had been funnelled through the WHO-led Covax scheme to mid- […]
