Tag: Virus

Severe virus curbs in South America as WHO blasts EU vaccine rollout

by AFP Bureaus SANTIAGO, Chile (AFP) — South American nations severely tightened coronavirus travel curbs including shutting their borders with Brazil, where infections are spiralling, as the WHO slammed Europe’s “unacceptably slow” vaccine rollout. Many European Union nations are reeling from dramatic spikes in cases that have forced the reimposition of unpopular restrictions, including in Belgium where police used water cannon to disperse thousands who had gathered in violation of Covid-19 rules. Spikes in South […]

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Egypt gets hundreds of thousands of vaccines via Covax

  CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) —  Egypt has received over 854,000 coronavirus vaccines through the Covax facility for lower and middle income countries, the World Health Organization said Thursday. The AstraZeneca vaccines, the first to be provided through COVAX to Egypt, were delivered by plane to Cairo late Wednesday, WHO said in a statement. Egypt has registered more than 200,000 cases of coronavirus, including some 12,000 deaths. The health ministry has said frontline health workers, the […]

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China vaccine maker Sinovac doubles production capacity

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese biopharmaceutical firm Sinovac said Friday a third production line for its Covid-19 vaccine has been put into use, doubling its annual capacity of the jabs to two billion doses. Its CoronaVac is one of four domestic vaccines given conditional approval by Chinese authorities, which helps rush emergency drugs to market. On Wednesday, experts from the World Health Organization said an interim analysis of clinical trial data from two Chinese vaccines, […]

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EU squabbles over 10 million doses of Pfizer vaccine

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — EU nations fell out Thursday over how to divide up 10 million extra doses of coronavirus vaccine with Austria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic refusing to help five struggling countries. A deal was agreed late in the day to distribute nearly three million doses to “those most in need”, said Portugal, which holds the rotating European Union presidency. But Austria, Slovenia and the Czechs had insisted on receiving their full quota […]

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Macron announces French school closure, nationwide restrictions

by Adam PLOWRIGHT Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — French President Emmanuel Macron announced Wednesday that French schools would close next week and a limited lockdown in place in Paris and other regions would be extended to the whole country to battle soaring Covid-19 cases. Macron said in an address to the nation that the current efforts to limit the virus “were too limited at a time when the epidemic is accelerating”. The spread […]

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German president Steinmeier receives AstraZeneca jab

  BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Thursday received the first dose of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, just two days after authorities recommended use of the controversial jab only for people aged 60 and over. “I trust the vaccines authorised in Germany,” Steinmeier, 65, said in a statement after getting inoculated at Berlin’s Military Hospital. “Vaccinating is the decisive step on the path out of the pandemic. Use the opportunities available. Join in!” […]

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Qatar races mounting virus toll with vaccine drive

AL WAKRAH, Qatar (AFP) — Qatar is stepping up its coronavirus vaccination drive, officials said Wednesday, with new daily cases almost quadrupling since January and prompting calls for a renewed lockdown. While the country’s death toll per capita is low, almost 5 percent of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic were during the past week, with authorities blaming the more potent British strain. Medical experts have called for a return to the strict summer […]

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US plant ruins 15 million J&J coronavirus vaccine doses: report

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — About 15 million doses of the single-shot coronavirus vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson were ruined in a factory error in the United States, The New York Times reported — a blow to the company’s efforts to quickly boost production. When contacted by AFP, the pharmaceutical giant said it had identified a batch of doses at a plant in Baltimore run by Emergent BioSolutions “that did not meet quality standards” […]

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Russia registers ‘world’s first’ Covid vaccine for animals

  MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia announced Wednesday it had registered what it said was the world’s first coronavirus vaccine for animals, describing the step as important for disrupting virus mutations. It said mass production of the vaccine could begin in April. The agriculture oversight agency Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement that the vaccine called Carnivak-Cov had been tested since October on dogs, cats, mink, foxes and other animals and was proven to be effective. […]

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WHO experts give nod to China jabs, Sinovac and Sinopharm, boosting global vaccine drive

  by Nina Larson and Robin Millard, with AFP bureaus Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Two Chinese coronavirus jabs are safe and effective, WHO experts said Wednesday after reviewing partial data, providing a potential boost to countries from Australia to Europe struggling to roll out vaccines fast enough. Fewer than 600 million jabs have been given out across the world, three months after vaccination programmes began in earnest in Western countries and leaders […]

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Spain extends AstraZeneca vaccine jabs to over 65s

MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain’s health ministry announced Tuesday that it was extending the roll-out of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to the over-65s, after recent scientific reassurances about its safety. The vaccine, restricted until now to the 55-to-65 age group, will now be made available to over-65s in priority groups such as health workers, police officers or teachers. “In respect of the AstraZeneca vaccine, given the new scientific evidence … the age limit is raised,” […]

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More than 80% of intubated Covid patients die in Brazil

  RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — More than 80 percent of Covid-19 patients who have to be intubated in Brazil have died since the start of the second wave of infections ravaging the country, according to researchers. The mortality rate since February 15 — 83.5 percent — is far higher than in countries such as Mexico, Britain, Germany or Italy, highlighting how the South American country’s hospitals are struggling to deal with a surge […]

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