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BRASILIA, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil on Tuesday registered a record 1,641 deaths in 24 hours from Covid-19, health authorities announced, as the country endures a further worsening of the pandemic. The country of 212 million inhabitants has recorded a total of 257,361 Covid-19 deaths, according to the health ministry, and has the second-highest national death toll after the United States. Brazil continues to have a piecemeal response, with individual cities and states setting their own […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday lifted a state mask mandate and said he was authorizing businesses restricted because of the coronavirus pandemic to open “100 percent.” “For nearly half a year, most businesses have been open either 75 percent or 50 percent and during that time, too many Texans have been sidelined from employment opportunities,” Abbott said. “Too many small business owners have struggled to pay their bills,” the […]
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday told French counterpart Emmanuel Macron he wants their countries to cooperate to fight terrorism, as Ankara moves to ease tensions with Paris. The two leaders, who have clashed over a range of issues including the conflicts in Syria and Libya as well as the eastern Mediterranean, spoke in a video call for the first time since September. According to a statement by the Turkish […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy’s new government ordered more school closures Tuesday after data showed the majority of coronavirus cases to be of the more contagious British variant. All schools in the highest risk regions will switch to distance learning under new rules to come into effect from Saturday, whereas previously only secondary schools in so-called red zones were shuttered. Regional authorities will also have new discretion to suspend face-to-face teaching in areas within lower […]
GENEVA, United States (AFP) — Pakistan, Nigeria and Indonesia will be among the biggest recipients of free Covid-19 vaccines before June — more than 10 million doses each — the Covax scheme announced Tuesday. Some 238.2 million doses will be distributed around the world by the end of May through the program aimed at boosting access to coronavirus jabs in poorer nations. Though vaccination campaigns have gathered pace globally, the majority of injections have been […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Insults, beatings, arrests — health workers battling the coronavirus were subjected to more than 400 acts of violence related to Covid-19 worldwide in 2020, according to a report published Tuesday by a health NGO. The Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition unveiled an interactive map that shows 1,172 violent acts and attacks occurred against health workers or facilities last year, “a minimum estimate,” according to the NGO. More than a […]
Sinopharm vaccine delivery paves way for immediate vaccination BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Iraq on Tuesday received 50,000 Sinopharm vaccines donated by China, the health ministry announced, launching a long-awaited vaccination campaign. Health ministry spokesman Seif al-Badr told reporters that the first delivery in the early hours meant inoculations could begin. “The doses will be delivered to Baghdad’s three main hospitals, and maybe to some provinces,” said Badr, who confirmed the jabs were donations. “We will […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan said Tuesday an investigation would be launched after more than 1,000 coronavirus vaccine doses had to be thrown out when a freezer storing them malfunctioned. A medical institution reported that 172 vials of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which must be kept between -80 and -60 degrees centigrade, were rendered useless after the freezer breakdown over the weekend, Japan’s health ministry said, wasting up to 1,032 doses. Japan began its inoculation program […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urged New Zealanders to “call out” Covid-19 rule-breakers Monday, as public anger built over a series of infringements that forced the country’s largest city back into lockdown. A frustrated Ardern — who has won widespread praise for her pandemic response — said the breaches that led to Auckland being shut down for the second time in a month were intolerable. She said some people involved in […]
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — The Zoom video conferencing platform on Monday reported a strong finish to its fiscal year as revenue and use soared due to the pandemic. The quarterly earnings report came with a forecast by the company that it will grow some 40 percent in the current year despite the likelihood that vaccines will make remote work and school less of a necessity. Zoom video conferences have become a centerpiece of […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US biotech company Novavax said Monday it hopes to file for British approval of its Covid-19 vaccine at the start of the second quarter of 2021, and to do the same soon after in the United States. The company has no assurance that US authorities will agree to consider the request, which currently is based on results from Phase 3 clinical trials led in the Britain. Similar trials are still […]
HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — Finland on Monday activated emergency powers as the government prepared to introduce tougher restrictions to stem a rising tide of coronavirus infections. Prime Minister Sanna Marin signalled the move was imminent last week when she warned that controls limiting restaurants to takeaway service would come into force for three weeks from March 8 in some parts of the country. “The government along with the President of the Republic has declared a […]
