WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — More than 400,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the United States since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University on Tuesday, the eve of the presidential inauguration of Joe Biden, who has made the fight against the coronavirus a priority of his first term. The bleak threshold was reached only about a month after the US recorded its 300,000th death from the disease, in mid-December, and nearly a […]
Tag: Virus
One in eight in England have had COVID-19: official data
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — An estimated 12 percent of people in England had been infected with coronavirus by December last year, up from nine percent in November, according to official antibody data released Tuesday. One in 10 people in Wales, one in 13 in Northern Ireland and one in 11 in Scotland were also estimated to have caught the virus, according analysis of random blood test results published by the Office for National […]
Chinese city rushes to build massive Covid-19 quarantine centre
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Thousands of prefabricated rooms fill a vast field on the outskirts of China’s Shijiazhuang city as construction crews work around the clock to erect a large quarantine facility to curb the city’s growing Covid-19 outbreak. China has largely brought the virus under control even as the rest of the world struggles with mounting deaths and overburdened hospitals. But a spate of small, localised outbreaks has prompted Chinese officials to order […]
UK expands virus vaccination campaign to over-70s
by Callum PATON LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain on Monday extended its coronavirus vaccination campaign to people over the age of 70, as new, tougher restrictions for all arrivals to the country came into force. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said some four million people across the country had been vaccinated — half of them aged over 80, and another 50 percent care home workers and residents. The speed of the rollout — Britain’s biggest […]
Italian 108-year-old woman gets Covid-19 vaccine
ROME, Italy (AFP) — An Italian centenarian has become one of the oldest people in the world to get a Covid-19 vaccine, months after she survived a coronavirus infection, her retirement home said. Fatima Negrini, who is due to turn 109 on June 3, received the jab on Monday along with other residents of the Anni Azzurri San Faustino care home in Milan, a spokesman told AFP. “The arrival of the vaccine for her and […]
UK expands virus vaccination campaign to over-70s
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain on Monday extended its coronavirus vaccination campaign to people over the age of 70, and new tougher restrictions for all arrivals to the country came into force. Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News jabs were being offered in areas where most over-80s had received their first of two doses of the jab. The medical director for the state-run National Health Service (NHS) in England, Stephen Powis, explained […]
Malacanang defends PHL gov’t’s bilateral negotiations on COVID-19 vaccine acquisition
(Eagle News) – Malacanang defended the Philippine government’s bilateral negotiations on COVID-19 vaccine acquisition for the country, saying that almost all countries are doing the same thing. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that with the current global health emergency on the virus pandemic, the centralized acquisition of vaccines through the government is needed to systematize the procedure and to get the best possible deal. “Una, bakit gobyerno ang nag-aangkat ng bakuna? Well, tatandaan natin […]
World facing ‘catastrophic’ moral failure on vaccines: WHO chief
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The world is on the “brink of a catastrophic moral failure” if rich countries hog Covid-19 vaccine doses while the poorest suffer, the head of the WHO said Monday. World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus denounced the “me-first” attitude of wealthy nations and also blasted vaccine manufacturers for chasing regulatory approval in rich countries rather than submitting their data to the WHO to green-light vaccine use globally. He said […]
Japan PM vows to tackle virus as public support plunges
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga pledged Monday to tackle surging coronavirus cases and restore normal life “as soon as possible” as polls showed plunging support for his government. Suga, who was speaking at the opening of a new parliament session, has only been in office since September, but has seen approval ratings nosedive over his government’s handling of a third wave of infections. The latest wave in Japan and abroad has […]
Escaping coronavirus lockdowns, tourists flock to Dubai
by Shatha Yaish Agence France Presse DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — As much of the world tightens lockdowns to stem coronavirus, Dubai has flung its doors open, branding itself as a sunny, quarantine-free escape — despite a sharp rise in cases. While mask-wearing and social distancing are strictly enforced, life in the tourism-reliant emirate looks much like normal, with its restaurants, hotels and mega-malls open for business. Images of sports stars and television personalities […]
Nine more are QC residents in Emirates flight boarded by B.1.1.7 variant-positive case
QC isolating 143 individuals in all, including contacts of “close contacts” (Eagle News) — Quezon City mayor Joy Belmonte said they are also contact-tracing and testing nine other Quezon City residents who were listed in the manifesto of the Emirates flight boarded by the COVID-19 patient who was later found to have the so-called UK strain, or variant B.1.1.7. They are among the 143 individuals that they have already traced as contacts of the […]
China to donate one million Sinovac vaccine doses to Cambodia: PM
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AFP) — China will donate one million doses of its Sinovac coronavirus vaccine to Cambodia, the kingdom’s strongman premier Hun Sen has said, thanking “friend” Beijing for its generosity. Cambodia has long been a staunch ally of Beijing, receiving billions of dollars in soft loans and investment from China. While many countries reacted early in the pandemic by closing its borders to Chinese travellers, Hun Sen refused, and even travelled to Beijing […]





