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WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Half of the US population is now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the White House said Friday, as inoculations rise in response to the surging Delta variant of the coronavirus. “50% of Americans (all ages) are now fully vaccinated. Keep going!” Cyrus Shahpar, the White House’s Covid-19 data director, tweeted. That means more than 165 million people have received either the two-dose Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, or the one-and-done Johnson & […]
by Gerard Martinez MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Greater numbers of American children are being swept up in a wave of coronavirus infections driven by the Delta variant, causing renewed anxiety for parents and a bitter political fight as schools prepare to reopen within weeks. Much of the surge is concentrated in the southeastern state of Florida, where some school districts are defying an order by the Republican governor forbidding mask mandates, in the latest […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s state of New South Wales reported another record day of Covid-19 cases Saturday, as authorities in the country’s second city of Melbourne rushed to trace the source of its outbreaks. Australia’s three largest cities were in lockdown on Saturday, as New South Wales recorded 319 community cases of the virus and five more deaths — a third straight day of record case numbers. With the virus continuing to spread through […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Jeremy Lin has tested positive for Covid-19 and is receiving treatment in Shanghai, the former NBA guard and first Asian-American to win an NBA title said in a social media post Saturday. Lin announced in June he was rejoining the Chinese Basketball Association’s Beijing Ducks after a failed NBA comeback. He tested positive for coronavirus on his third day in quarantine after flying to Shanghai from San Francisco, the 32-year-old posted […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: Sydney’s new daily record Australia’s hope of returning to “Covid zero” suffers a fresh blow as Sydney reports another record number of new infections and authorities warn residents to brace for worse to come. Manila lockdown The Philippine capital Manila returns to lockdown as authorities seek to slow the spread of the hyper-contagious Delta variant and ease pressure on hospitals while trying […]
by Andrew BEATTY SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s coveted status as a haven from the pandemic could be at an end, with experts warning that a sustained Delta outbreak makes a return to “Covid zero” unlikely. After long stretches with zero local cases — what Australians once jokingly referred to as “doughnut days” — a Sydney outbreak has now grown to 4,610. Record numbers of new cases are being reported each day despite widespread lockdowns. […]
by Rosa SULLEIRO BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) — Staff in the intensive care unit at Barcelona’s Hospital del Mar are battling exhaustion as they grapple with a new surge in Covid-19 patients that is straining the region’s health system. Ten new intensive care beds have been added at this one hospital alone, bringing the total to 30. All of them are full — and it is overwhelmingly unvaccinated, and younger, patients who are occupying them. Nurses […]
by Jonah Mandel JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Thursday that Israel was doing the world a “great service” by administering Covid vaccine booster shots, despite the World Health Organization’s plea for a moratorium. Nearly 60 percent of Israel’s 9.3 million people have had two jabs, mostly of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, with the government recently rolling out a third shot for the over-60s. The WHO has called for a moratorium on booster […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China will “strive to provide” two billion Covid-19 vaccine doses to the world this year and donate $100 million to the international vaccine distribution system known as Covax, President Xi Jinping said Thursday. The pledge came in a written message by Xi to a video forum on vaccine cooperation as China battles a fresh outbreak fuelled by the highly contagious Delta variant. Delta has now been detected in parts of China, […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — More than 200 million cases of Covid-19 cases have now been registered worldwide since the novel coronavirus emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 0700 GMT on Thursday. At least 200,065,905 cases have been officially recorded, but the actual number is believed to be even higher, since a large number of the less severe or asymptomatic cases remain undetected, despite intensified […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Tokyo reported another large jump in virus cases on Thursday, again shattering records, as the government expanded restrictions to eight more regions just days before the Olympics ends. Tokyo is already under a virus state of emergency but is seeing an exponential growth in cases, driven by the more contagious Delta variant. On Thursday, the city reported 5,042 cases, up from 3,865 a week earlier, and 1,979 the week before that. […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — France will offer Covid booster shots to the elderly and vulnerable from September, joining a growing list of countries offering third vaccine shots to fight new virus variants, President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday. “Yes, we will probably need a third dose, not for everyone straight away but at any rate for the elderly and the most vulnerable,” Macron said in the latest in his series of explanatory videos on the government’s […]
