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SINGAPORE (AFP) — Singapore received Asia’s first delivery of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on Monday, capping what the city-state’s premier said had been a “long and arduous” year spent fighting the pandemic. The trade and finance hub last week joined a handful of other countries around the world, including Britain and the United States, which have approved the jab. It plans to innoculate its 5.7 million people by the third quarter of 2021, with […]
by Martine PAUWELS with Agence France Presse bureaus LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Europe on Wednesday began lifting travel bans on Britain put in place to contain a new fast-spreading Covid strain while WHO experts were set to meet on a response to it. Meanwhile, in the United States, President Donald Trump rejected a massive Covid economic relief package passed by Congress, branding it “a disgrace” as millions of Americans are suffering fallout from […]
by Adrien MAROTTE ZADIE CAVE, Gabon (AFP) — The scene looks like something out of a science fiction movie, or maybe some dystopian TV series. Six men in yellow biohazard suits clamber in suffocating heat towards a cave in the heart of the Gabonese jungle. Their quest: to unlock new knowledge on how pathogens like coronavirus leap the species barrier to humans. In the cave is their goal — a colony of bats. “Our job […]
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Mexico will receive its first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Tuesday. “What they are confirming to us is that the first shipment to Mexico will arrive tomorrow,” he said. The first 1.4 million doses of the vaccine produced by the partnership between US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech will arrive from Belgium. Mexico has been promised 34.4 million doses by […]
by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — As dozens of countries blocked the flow of people and goods from Britain to avoid a new and more contagious strain of coronavirus, scientists raced to understand how it emerged and the scope of its threat. Here are some of the key questions they are asking, and the answers that have emerged so far. – How often do viruses mutate? – All the time, but […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — A coronavirus outbreak linked to a seafood market in Thailand passed 1,000 cases on Tuesday, as authorities weighed whether to introduce a wider lockdown. Thailand has been on tenterhooks since Thursday following the positive virus test of a 67-year-old prawn seller from Mahachai market, Samut Sakhon province, about 40 minutes southwest of Bangkok. As of early Tuesday morning, there were 1,063 confirmed positive cases out of 6,156 tested — a major […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Hundreds of foreigners in France whose jobs expose them to high Covid-19 risks will be naturalised quickly for their commitment during the health crisis, the interior ministry said Tuesday. The ministry had in September invited people who “actively contributed” to the fight against the novel coronavirus to apply for fast-track naturalization. Of the nearly 3,000 people who responded, 74 had already obtained citizenship and 693 more were in the final stage […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — The co-founder of BioNTech said Tuesday it was “highly likely” that its vaccine against the coronavirus works against the mutated strain detected in Britain, but it could also adapt the vaccine if necessary in six weeks. “Scientifically, it is highly likely that the immune response by this vaccine also can deal with the new virus variant,” said Ugur Sahin. But if needed, “in principle the beauty of the messenger technology is […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan reported its first local coronavirus transmission Tuesday, blaming a foreign pilot for ending 253 days of being virus-free. Health authorities said a woman in her thirties had tested positive after contact with the pilot, a New Zealander working for a Taiwan airline. Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said the pilot had failed to “truthfully declare” his contacts and activities to authorities once he had been confirmed as a carrier. Authorities […]
by Heather SCOTT WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US lawmakers on Monday approved a $900 billion relief package for the world’s biggest economy that will provide a long-sought boost for millions of Americans and businesses battered by the coronavirus pandemic. Overwhelming approval in the Senate and House of Representatives cleared the way for the legislation to be sent to President Donald Trump to be signed into law. Trump signed a stopgap measure early Tuesday to […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan reported its first local coronavirus transmission Tuesday, ending 253 days of being virus-free in a major blow for an island that has been lauded for its pandemic response. Health authorities said a woman in her thirties had tested positive for the coronavirus after coming into contact with a “foreign pilot” working for a Taiwanese airline who was a carrier. “Health units arranged for her to be tested and she was […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States surpassed 18 million reported Covid-19 cases on Monday, figures from Johns Hopkins University showed, as the virus surges nationwide. The US has the world’s highest absolute number of cases as well as the most deaths related to the virus, according to the figures. It had a total of 18,006,061 reported cases on Monday evening and more than 319,000 deaths. The country began administering vaccines a week ago […]
