Tag: US

Due to rising Delta cases in US, Americans ask, “Do vaccinated people need to go back to masking?”

  by Issam AHMED Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — With the Delta variant pushing US Covid cases back up, fully vaccinated people are wondering whether they need to start masking indoors again. Covid vaccines remain extremely effective against the worst outcomes of the disease — hospitalization and death — and breakthrough infections remain uncommon. But experts told AFP that one size doesn’t fit all, and people should consider factors like community transmission, […]

COVID-19 safety tips for unvaccinated children and their families

(Eagle News) — Do you or someone you know belong to a household with both vaccinated and unvaccinated kids? EBC’s Pennsylvania bureau Maila Simbulan tells us how Pennsylvania is reaching out to children and their parents to provide COVID safety tips as schools are set to resume in the US this fall.   (Eagle News Service)

More residents flee as fires ravage western Canada

MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — Thousands of residents fled blazes in western Canada on Wednesday with several hundred soldiers scheduled to deploy to fight this year’s virulent and early fires, which are wreaking havoc across portions of western North America. “I have a holiday trailer that is my new home,” said Margo Wagner, head of a district in the western province of British Columbia, who has found herself among the evacuees. The fire marks the second […]

Western Canada declares fire emergency as evacuations climb

MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — Canada’s western province of British Columbia declared a state of emergency Tuesday, with wildfires expected to grow even larger in the coming days due to high heat and winds. “We have reached a critical point,” said provincial public safety minister Mike Farnworth. “Based on the advice of emergency management and wildfire officials, and my briefing last night on the worsening weather, I am declaring a provincial state of emergency.” The decision […]

Vaccinated W.House official tests positive for Covid: spokeswoman

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A vaccinated White House official has tested positive for Covid-19, a spokeswoman said Tuesday, adding that the person had not had contact with President Joe Biden or other top-level staff. “I want to confirm that yesterday a fully vaccinated White House official tested positive for Covid-19 off campus,” Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki said at a briefing, adding that the official, who has not been identified, had mild symptoms. She […]

China says, Washington hack claims ‘fabricated’, condemns US allies

by Sébastien RICCI BEIJING, China (AFP) — China on Tuesday said the US had “fabricated” allegations it carried out a massive Microsoft hack, countering that Washington was the “world champion” of cyberattacks while raging at American allies for signing up to a rare joint statement of condemnation. The United States on Monday accused Beijing of carrying out the March cyberattack on Microsoft Exchange, a top email server for corporations around the world, and charged four […]

US gymnast tests positive for Covid-19 at Olympics

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A female US gymnast has tested positive for coronavirus at an Olympic training camp and another athlete is self-isolating, team chiefs and Japanese officials said on Monday. The gymnast was named by her father as 18-year-old Kara Eaker who is in Japan as a reserve on the squad led by superstar Simone Biles. Eaker is in isolation, along with another “close contact” on the team, her father Mark told CNN. He […]

Biden hosts king of Jordan, vows to strengthen ties

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Joe Biden on Monday hosted Jordan’s King Abdullah II for talks at the White House, where he said the United States aimed to boost cooperation between the strategic partners. The visit to the presidential mansion was the first by an Arab leader since Biden took office six months ago, and served as a show of support by Washington for Jordan in the wake of an alleged plot to overthrow […]

Blaze defies US firefighters, power firm under scrutiny

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The large wildfire scorching the western US state of Oregon topped 300,000 acres Monday as it emerged a California power company linked to previous deadly fires may be responsible for a new blaze. Oregon’s giant Bootleg Fire has triggered over 2,100 evacuations and destroyed 67 homes in nearly two weeks of explosive growth, regularly forcing back firefighters who have only contained one quarter of its perimeter. “We are running […]

US warns Covid ‘becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated’

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US health authorities on Friday pleaded with Covid vaccine holdouts to roll up their sleeves and get their shots, as cases, hospitalizations and deaths surged. “There is a clear message that is coming through: this is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky told reporters. The agency reported more than 33,000 new cases on Thursday, bringing the seven-day average up to […]

Major US wildfire grows, forcing new evacuations

  LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — With oppressively hot, dry weather looming over much of the Western US and Canada on Sunday, the enormous Bootleg Fire in Oregon grew again and authorities ordered new evacuations. Bootleg, the largest of 80 major fires now active in the US, spread overnight from 274,000 acres to 290,000 acres — three times the size of the metropolis of Detroit, officials said. Some 2,000 people have had to evacuate, […]

Millions of vaccine doses from AstraZeneca, J&J and Sinovac arrive in PHL in a span of two days

Over 5.85M vaccine doses delivered in 2 days bringing total jab doses in PHL to over 26M (Eagle News) In a span of two days, the Philippines received over 5.85 million doses of life-saving COVID-19 vaccines including the 3.2 million doses of Johnson and Johnson’s single-shot Janssen vaccines that arrived on Friday, July 16, and Saturday, July 17. Among the recent vaccine deliveries were the 1.15 million AstraZeneca doses which arrived on Friday morning, and […]