Tag: Virus

COVID-19 death toll worldwide passes 3 million, as total cases breach 140 million

  (Eagle News) — More than 3 million people have died due to COVID-19, as more infectious variants of the virus swept countries across the globe with total cases as of Saturday night, April 17, (Philippine time) breaching 140 million. The United States still leads countries with the most cases and deaths.  Total cases in the US reached over 31.5 million, and total deaths at over 566,000.  US is followed by India in terms of […]

Covid lockdown empties Delhi streets amid deadly surge

  by Bhuvan Bagga with Sailendra Sil in Kolkata Agence France Presse NEL DELHI, India (AFP) — New Delhi led major cities across India into a weekend lockdown Saturday as the country confronts a fierce new coronavirus wave, with more than 230,000 fresh daily cases and families clamouring for drugs and hospital beds. Hopes that South Asia might have beaten the pandemic have been dashed with India seeing over two million new cases this month […]

In Brazil, graveyard shift reveals staggering cost of pandemic

  by Paula RAMON Agence France Presse SAO Paulo, Brazil (AFP) — In almost three decades of working in Sao Paulo’s largest cemetery, the oldest gravediggers can’t remember performing more than 10 night burials. But since the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic swept across Brazil, that exception has become the rule. The vertiginous rise in deaths in Sao Paulo in recent months has forced the mayor of the country’s richest and most populous city […]

China’s Coronavac 80% effective at preventing Covid deaths: Chile results

SANTIAGO, Chile (AFP) — China’s Coronavac vaccine was 67 percent effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 and 80 percent at preventing death, according to real-life results unveiled Friday from Chile’s inoculation campaign. “These figures should convey peace of mind to the country,” Health Minister Enrique Paris told journalists as he announced the outcome of two months’ of vaccination in Chile, in February and March. The results were obtained from a comparison between vaccinated and non-vaccinated people […]

Canada waiting on J&J jabs despite US pause, first AstraZeneca clot found

  OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — Canada continues to expect its first shipment of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines at month’s end despite US and EU pauses over blood clot fears, officials said Tuesday, while also announcing a first Canadian clotting case linked to the AstraZeneca jab. US health authorities earlier recommended pausing the Johnson & Johnson shot while the company said it would delay its European rollout, after six American women aged between 18 and […]

Vaccine giant Serum Institute of India tweets Biden to end US raw materials ’embargo’

  MUMBAI, India (AFP) — The head of the world’s largest vaccine maker directly tweeted US President Joe Biden on Friday urging him to lift an export ban on raw materials desperately needed to make more coronavirus shots. The unusual step by Serum Institute (SII) chief Adar Poonawalla underlined the crisis in providing vaccines to developing nations, many of which rely heavily on the firm for supplies. “Respected @POTUS, if we are to truly unite […]

Pfizer CEO: Vaccine third dose ‘likely’ needed within 12 months

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The head of Pfizer said in an interview aired Thursday that people will “likely” need a third dose of his company’s Covid-19 shot within six to 12 months of vaccination, while elsewhere defending the relatively higher cost of the jab. CEO Albert Bourla also said annual vaccinations against the coronavirus may well be required. “We need to see what would be the sequence, and for how often we need […]

France’s Covid-19 deaths pass 100,000

PARIS, France (AFP) — The number of people killed by Covid-19 in France climbed past 100,000 on Thursday, with the virus claiming a further 300 lives in the past 24 hours, the country’s health authority said. A day earlier, the death toll stood at 99,805. France is the third country in Europe to reach the grim milestone of 100,000 coronavirus deaths, after the United Kingdom and Italy. “We will not forget a single face, a […]

Sao Paulo hit by shortage of intubation drugs

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Public hospitals are critically short on the drugs needed to intubate Covid-19 patients in Sao Paulo, the most populous state in Brazil, officials said Thursday, warning of a potential public health catastrophe. Sixty-eight percent of public clinics have run out of neuromuscular blockers, which are used to relax a patient’s muscles during intubation, and 61 percent are out of sedatives, a report from the state council of municipal health secretaries […]

Virus could force Olympics cancellation, says top Japanese politician

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A senior Japanese politician said cancelling the Tokyo Olympics over the coronavirus remains a possibility on Thursday, as a surge in cases renews concerns about the Games with less than 100 days to go. Toshiro Nikai, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s number two, said the Olympics must be cancelled “without hesitation” if the virus situation is too severe. A year after their historic postponement, the 2020 Olympics remain beset by pandemic […]

Persons who recovered from COVID can be immediately vaccinated, says new guidelines from DOH

DOH urges people to register for shots with LGUs Eagle News) – COVID-19 patients who had recovered can be immediately given vaccines, according to the latest guidelines from the Department of Health (DOH). The DOH issued the additional guidelines on Thursday, April 12, to clarify the previously issued COVID-19 National Deployment and Vaccination Plan. “Individuals who recently recovered from COVID-19 may be vaccinated immediately after recovery or completion of treatment for their first or second […]

The Brazil variant: what we know

by Louis GENOT RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — The “Brazil variant” — a more contagious mutation of the coronavirus that emerged in the Amazon late last year — is fueling fears the pandemic could flare anew, leading several countries to suspend flights from Brazil. Here is a rundown of what we know — and don’t — about the variant known as P1. Why is it worrying?  There are still a lot of unknowns about […]