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OSLO, Norway (AFP) — An expert committee set up by Norway’s government to evaluate AstraZeneca’s and Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccines said on Monday that both should be abandoned over risks of rare but serious side effects. In order to avoid a slowdown of the vaccine rollout the committee recommended that the two jabs should be made available for people on a voluntary basis. The committee’s head Lars Vorland said they did “not recommend […]
FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) — Covid jab maker BioNTech said Monday it would build a southeast Asia headquarters and manufacturing site in Singapore to produce hundreds of millions of mRNA-based vaccines per year. Construction of the site will start this year, and it could become operational by 2023, the German company said in a statement. “With this planned mRNA production facility, we will increase our overall network capacity and expand our ability to manufacture and deliver […]
by Leila MACOR MIAMI BEACH, United States (AFP) — A long line of people snaked across the sand of Miami Beach, Florida, as dozens of travelers from Latin America waited their turn at a pop-up coronavirus vaccination booth. Sweating under the Sunday afternoon sun, visitors checked into an online system — no proof of residence required — and soon after received a free, single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine and a vaccination card. People had come […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — People who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 are exempt from many restrictions in Germany from Sunday after the government passed new legislation to restore some freedoms. Curfews and limits on social contacts no longer apply to those fully vaccinated — more than seven million people — or recovered from a Covid infection under the new rules. They will also no longer have to present a negative test result to access […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The British government is to announce a timeline for lifting anti-virus restrictions in England on Monday including the reopening of indoor seating in pubs and restaurants and allowing hugs, Downing Street said late Sunday. Johnson will hold a news conference on Monday afternoon set to announce a May 17 start for the third step in Britain’s “roadmap” out of the crisis. The government said Johnson would agree the exact measures […]
by Mathieu GORSE MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain has lifted a state of emergency in place since October to fight the pandemic, allowing Spaniards to travel between regions for the first time in months. “It’s like New Year’s,” said 28-year-old Oriol Corbella in Barcelona, where the lifting of the curfew was met with shouts, applause and music. “We’re getting a bit of normality back, of freedom, but we have to keep in mind that the […]
by Nina LARSON GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — A Covid-19 variant spreading in India is more contagious and it is feared it could be dodging some vaccine protections, contributing to the country’s explosive outbreak, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist said Saturday. In an interview with AFP, Soumya Swaminathan warned that “the epidemiological features that we see in India today do indicate that it’s an extremely rapidly spreading variant”. India on Saturday for the first time […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — A Vietnamese woman died from Covid-19 in Laos on Sunday, according to state-run media, marking the first death from the disease in the impoverished communist country. Reclusive, landlocked Laos had appeared to escape the brunt of the pandemic in 2020, but a community outbreak uncovered last month has sent the number of cases soaring — from 49 in early April to 1,302 in less than a month. Authorities confirmed Sunday that […]
by Robin MILLARD Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The WHO chief on Friday implored the G7 to prioritise equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines around the globe, branding the current imbalance morally inadmissible. World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the uneven distribution of vaccines among rich and poor nations would not help to end the coronavirus pandemic. “For the G7 now, the most important and the immediate support we need is […]
by Aishwarya KUMAR Agence France Presse NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India recorded more than 4,000 coronavirus deaths in a day for the first time and more states imposed lockdowns Saturday in a desperate bid to halt the devastating new surge. The 4,187 new deaths took India’s overall toll to 238,270 since the pandemic started. It added another 401,078 new cases in 24 hours taking its caseload to nearly 21.9 million — second only […]
by Robin MILLARD GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization on Friday approved the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use — the first Chinese jab to receive the WHO’s green light. The UN health agency signed off on the two-dose vaccine, which is already being deployed in dozens of countries around the world. The WHO has already given emergency use listing to the vaccines being made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson, and the […]
MEXICO, Mexico (AFP) — Mexican authorities announced Friday a further easing of pandemic lockdown measures in the capital and the resumption of earthquake simulation drills, reflecting a decline in new coronavirus cases and deaths. Mexico City will move next week to yellow status, the second lowest of four under the country’s traffic-light system, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced. The move will ease restrictions on capacity or opening hours for businesses including shops, cinemas, casinos, amusement parks […]
