MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain’s medicines agency approved Tuesday a first round of clinical trials on humans for a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Spanish firm Hipra. “This is the first trial on humans of a vaccine made in Spain,” the agency said in a statement. Dozens of volunteers will be recruited from Spanish hospitals “as soon as possible” for the clinical trials, it added. Hipra, which is based in the northeastern city of Girona, said […]
Tag: Spain
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 […]
Spain extends virus aid until end of October
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain’s cabinet approved Tuesday the extension of measures to protect the most vulnerable from economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, including a moratorium on home evictions until November. Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s coalition government first approved the package of social measures in March 2020 during the height of the first wave of the pandemic in Spain, one of Europe’s hardest-hit nations. The so-called “social shield” includes a ban on leaving […]
US power past Spain to make Olympic basketball semis
SAITAMA, Japan (AFP) — The United States kept their basketball gold medal dreams on track Tuesday by grinding past world champions Spain 95-81 and into the semi-finals, while Slovenia crushed Germany to make the last four on their Olympic debut. Sharp-shooting Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant poured in 29 points and four assists while Boston’s Jayson Tatum chipped in 13 in a battle between the world’s top two teams, nullifying Ricky Rubio’s 38-point spree for […]
Fires rage across southern Europe, forcing hundreds to evacuate
by Raziye AKKOC with AFP bureaus ANKARA, Turkey (AFP) — Dozens of villages were evacuated in tourist hotspots in southern Turkey on Sunday as wildfires that have claimed eight lives raged for a fifth day, while blazes also hit Greece, Italy and Spain. Fanned by soaring temperatures and strong winds — with experts saying that climate change increases both the frequency and intensity of such blazes — this year’s fire season has been significantly more […]
As cases soar, Spaniards keep their masks firmly on
by Marie Giffard with Rosa Sulleiro in Barcelona Agence France Presse MADRID, Spain (AFP) — It’s over 35 degrees Celsius and although masks are no longer obligatory in the streets of Spain, masks are everywhere in Madrid as people fear soaring Covid cases. Unlike people in many other European countries who have dropped their masks, Spaniards have largely opted to hang onto the face coverings that have become part of the daily lives of […]
New virus restrictions in Spain’s Catalonia, Valencia
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — The Spanish tourist regions of Catalonia and Valencia on Monday announced new measures to rein in the growing spread of coronavirus. Regional leaders in northeastern Catalonia said all public activities must finish at half past midnight, and no more than 10 people will be allowed to gather in private or public places. “The data are more than worrying, they are frankly very, very bad,” Catalonia’s public health secretary Josep Maria Argimon […]
Spanish PM presents govt reshuffle to king: statement
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will announce a reshuffle of his government, composed of Socialists and the radical left Podemos, later on Saturday, according to an official statement. Sanchez “is currently at the Zarzuela Palace informing His Majesty the King of the composition of his new government,” a government statement said. Sanchez is due to formally present his new cabinet around 2:00 pm (1200 GMT). According to press reports, the five […]
Spain’s Catalonia reimposes virus rules as Delta strain wreaks global havoc
by Agence France Presse Bureaus Agence France Presse The Spanish region of Catalonia was on Saturday set to reimpose virus restrictions in the face of rising coronavirus infections, as the highly contagious Delta strain forced nations worldwide to put the brakes on a long-awaited return to normalcy. The highly transmissible Delta variant, first detected in India, is sweeping the globe as countries race to inoculate their populations to ward off fresh outbreaks that are […]
Spain opens borders to all vaccinated travellers
MALAGA, Spain (AFP) — Spain opens its borders to vaccinated travellers from all over the world on Monday, hoping an influx of visitors will revitalise its all-important tourism sector which has been battered by the coronavirus pandemic. “Spain is a safe destination,” Health Minister Carolina Darias insisted, adding that the country was “in the process of reclaiming its global leadership in tourism”. Non-vaccinated Europeans — who can currently enter Spain with a negative PCR test […]
Myanmar journalist to seek asylum in Spain
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Myanmar correspondent Mratt Kyaw Thu will arrive in Madrid on Tuesday to ask for asylum after fleeing the military junta in Yangon, said the Spanish news agency EFE, which he worked for. The 30-year-old correspondent, who will travel to Spain after failing to obtain asylum in Germany, won AFP’s Kate Webb award in 2017 for his outstanding coverage of the ethnic and religious conflicts in Myanmar. “Tomorrow he will fly from […]
Spain urges border respect as 1,000 minors still in Ceuta
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain sent a clear message to Morocco Monday, insisting on respect for its shared borders a week after over 8,000 migrants entered its Ceuta enclave, with 1,000 minors still there. Speaking in Brussels during an EU summit, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the crisis had “triggered a crisis unprecedented in recent years between the European Union and Morocco”. Spain’s two tiny enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla have Europe’s only land border […]
