by Kelly MACNAMARA Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — More than three quarters of people hospitalized with Covid-19 still suffered from at least one symptom after six months, according to a study published Saturday that scientists said shows the need for further investigation into lingering coronavirus effects. The research, which was published in the Lancet medical journal and involved hundreds of patients in the Chinese city of Wuhan, is among the few to […]
Tag: Virus
PHL on lookout for 3 other COVID strains: the UK, South African and Malaysian variants
(Eagle News) — The Philippines is not just on the lookout for the highly infectious B.1.1.7 variant of the COVID-19 virus, but also for two other variants as well — the South African variant, and another recent variant that was reported in Malaysia. This was according to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire in a virtual press briefing of the Department of Health. “Sa ngayon may tatlong variant tayong binabantayan. Ito po yung sa UK […]
Europe bulk buys vaccines as WHO urges rich countries to share
by Anna MALPAS with Agence France Presse bureaus LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Europe rushed to bulk buy more coronavirus vaccine doses and approved more drugs on Friday, as the World Health Organisation called on wealthy nations not to hog all the available jabs and millions in Asia faced tough restrictions over isolated outbreaks. The pandemic has already killed 1.9 million people out of 88 million infections and is picking up speed, with 14 […]
Killer fungus spread rampantly at US hospital Covid ward: study
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Dozens of people being treated for Covid-19 at a Florida hospital last summer became additionally infected with a mysterious, often deadly fungus called Candida auris, a US government study said Friday. The multidrug-resistant yeast was first identified in Japan in 2009 and has been a top priority for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in recent years because of its increasing global spread. C. auris is associated with […]
WHO vaccine trial to start in Metro Manila by end of January or early Feb. for 15k volunteers
(Eagle News) — The World Health Organization (WHO) Solidarity Trial is set to begin by the end of January or at the start of February in the Philippines where 15,000 are targeted to participate in Metro Manila alone, the Philippine government said. The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said that Philippine General Hospital (PGH) will be the lead agency in the WHO Solidarity Trial, while 11 other hospitals are also participating. DOST Rowena […]
UK virus strain triggers lockdown in Australia’s Brisbane
BRISBANE, Australia (AFP) — The Australian city of Brisbane has called a snap three-day lockdown after a worker at a quarantine hotel contracted the highly infectious UK strain of Covid-19. From Friday evening, more than two million residents in the Greater Brisbane area would have to stay at home, authorities said. “If we are going to stop the spread of this infectious strain, this UK strain, we must act immediately,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told […]
Bali bombing-linked cleric Bashir freed from prison
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Abu Bakar Bashir, a radical cleric linked to the deadly Bali bombings, was freed from a prison near the Indonesian capital Jakarta early Friday, prison authorities said. “He was handed over to his family and a team of lawyers who came to pick him up at the penitentiary,” national prisons spokeswoman Rika Aprianti said in a statement. Bashir, 82, had completed his jail term for helping fund militant training in conservative […]
Brazil Covid-19 death toll passes 200,000: health ministry
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll passed 200,000 Thursday amid a surging second wave, with a record number of new cases and the second-highest number of daily deaths since the pandemic began. Highlighting the long road still ahead to bring the pandemic under control, the South American country recorded 87,843 cases and 1,524 deaths in 24 hours, bringing its total death toll to 200,498 — the second-highest in the world, after […]
Spain hits two million virus cases
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain’s total number of coronavirus infections surged past two million on Thursday as cases jumped following the Christmas holidays, government figures showed on Thursday. The milestone came as the health ministry announced another 42,360 new cases over the past 48 hours, taking the overall figure to 2,024,904. But seroprevalence studies, that test people using a blood serum sample, suggest the figure is far higher. “The total number of confirmed cases… already […]
Chinese vaccine 78% effective in Brazil tests: officials
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Chinese-developed Covid-19 vaccine CoronaVac showed at least 78-percent effectiveness in final-stage clinical trials in Brazil, officials announced Thursday, saying they would apply for emergency approval from the Brazilian regulatory agency to begin a vaccination campaign. “This is a historic day, a day of hope,” Sao Paulo state Governor Joao Doria told a news conference announcing the results. He said his state’s vaccination campaign would begin on January 25, though that […]
EU approves Moderna as second coronavirus vaccine
by Danny KEMP Agence France Presse THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — The European Union on Monday authorised the Moderna coronavirus jab, giving the bloc a second vaccine and a shot in the arm after a slow start to its bid to protect its 450 million residents. The sluggish rollout of the first vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech has drawn widespread criticism, as many of the bloc’s 27 countries battle surging infection rates. The European Commission […]
1 in 100,000 had severe reactions to Pfizer vaccine: US study
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Roughly one in a hundred thousand people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine have had severe allergic reactions, US health officials said Wednesday while stressing that the benefits of immunization greatly outweigh the known risks. The data comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which documented 21 cases of anaphylaxis after administration of a reported 1,893,360 shots from December 14 to December 23. “This averages out to […]





