Tag: Hospital

Taiwan probing if lab mouse bite behind coronavirus infection

  TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan on Friday said it was investigating whether a mouse bite may have been responsible for a worker at a high-security laboratory testing positive for the coronavirus, the island’s first local infection in weeks. Health officials are scrambling to work out how a female employee at Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s top research institute, contracted the virus last month. Thanks to largely closed borders and strict quarantines, Taiwan has managed to stay […]

Three dead in fire on coronavirus ward in Bulgaria

  SOFIA, Bulgaria (AFP) — Three patients died in a fire that broke out early Sunday on a coronavirus ward in a hospital in southeast Bulgaria, the rescue services said. The three male patients, aged 66, 70 and 81, were all ill with Covid-19 and died on the fourth floor of a hospital in the city of Sliven, the head of the local rescue services, Vladimir Demirev, told Bulgarian television. Six other patients on neighbouring […]

Two Covid patients die in Romania’s latest hospital fire

BUCHAREST, Romania (AFP) — A fire at a Romanian hospital killed two patients early Thursday, officials said, the fourth such deadly blaze in a year in the EU member known for its dilapidated infrastructure. The blaze ripped through a hospital for infectious diseases in the southern city of Ploiesti shortly after 4:00 am local time. “The fire was extinguished fast, but unfortunately two people died”, Health Minister Cseke Atilla told local media, adding that an […]

Queen Elizabeth II spent night in hospital: Buckingham Palace

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Queen Elizabeth II spent a night in hospital after being advised to rest and cancel a visit to Northern Ireland this week, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday. “Following medical advice to rest for a few days, The Queen attended hospital on Wednesday afternoon for some preliminary investigations, returning to Windsor Castle at lunchtime today (Thursday), and remains in good spirits,” a statement said. Britain’s domestic Press Association news agency said […]

Bill Clinton leaves hospital after five nights

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Former US president Bill Clinton, 75, was released from a California hospital Sunday after spending five nights in treatment for an infection. Clinton, arm in arm with his wife and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, gave a thumbs up after he walked slowly out of the hospital and shook hands with staff in front of television cameras. “President Clinton was discharged from UC Irvine Medical Center today,” said a […]

JUST IN: Former US President Bill Clinton in hospital with non-Covid infection

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Former US president Bill Clinton has been hospitalized with a non-Covid-related infection, a spokesman said Thursday evening. Clinton, 75, was admitted to a hospital in Irvine in southern California on Tuesday evening, Angel Urena tweeted. He gave no details other than to say the infection was not Covid-related. “He is on the mend, in good spirits and is incredibly thankful to the doctors, nurses, and staff providing him with […]

France suspends 3,000 unvaccinated health workers

PARIS, France (AFP) — Thousands of health workers across France have been suspended without pay for failing to get vaccinated against Covid-19 ahead of a deadline this week, Health Minister Olivier Veran said Thursday. “Some 3,000 suspensions were notified yesterday to employees at health centres and clinics who have not yet been vaccinated,” Veran told RTL radio. He added that “several dozens” had turned in their resignations rather than sign up for the jabs. That […]

Ten dead in fire at Covid hospital in North Macedonia: health minister

SKOPJE, Republic of North Macedonia (AFP) — Ten people died in a fire Wednesday at a hospital treating coronavirus patients in North Macedonia, the country’s health minister said. The fire — the cause of which is not yet known — broke out in a Covid-19 clinic in Tetovo in the northwest of the Balkan country, health minister Venko Filipce wrote on Twitter. “A terrible accident has happened in Tetovo. At the moment, 10 people are […]

17 patients die after floods hit Mexican hospital

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — At least 17 patients died after floods swept through a hospital in central Mexico, disrupting the power supply and oxygen therapy, authorities said Tuesday. The facility in the town of Tula in Hidalgo state was inundated after a river overflowed following heavy rain, the government said on Twitter. “In this honorable job there are good, very good, bad and very bad days; today is one of the latter days,” President […]

Louisiana hospitals overwhelmed by surging Delta variant

by Valentin GRAFF HAMMOND, United States (AFP) — Barely clinging to life, patients in an intensive care unit in Hammond, Louisiana, lie in their beds, gray and emaciated, their faces marked by the tight grip of respirators and the ravages of Covid-19. As cases soar due to the more contagious Delta variant, medical units like the North Oaks Hospital are overwhelmed. Half of the Covid patients there are critical. The southern United States is finding […]

Haiti hospitals struggle to treat thousands injured in quake

by Amelie BARON LES CAYES, Haiti (AFP) — Hunched on benches, curled up in chairs or even lying the floor, those injured in the powerful earthquake that wreaked havoc on Haiti on Saturday crowded an overburdened hospital near the epicenter. The emergency room in Les Cayes, in southwestern Haiti, which was devastated by the 7.2-magnitude quake on Saturday morning that killed at least 724 people, is expecting reinforcements to help treat some of the thousands […]

Virus surge overwhelms Barcelona hospital staff

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 […]