Tag: Virus

Fire at South Korea warehouse kills 38

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — A fire at a warehouse in South Korea killed 38 people and left another 10 injured on Wednesday, according to reports. The blaze at the unfinished four-storey building in Icheon, 80 kilometers (50 miles) southeast of Seoul, spread “extremely quickly” and rendered those inside “unable to evacuate”, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported citing fire officials. Eight of the injured are in a serious condition, local officials said. Suh Seung-hyun, […]

Remdesivir shows ‘clear-cut’ effect in treating coronavirus: Fauci

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A major new study proves that the antiviral drug remdesivir is effective in saving people with serious cases of COVID-19, top US doctor Anthony Fauci said Wednesday. Fauci, speaking at the White House, said “the data shows remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery.” This proves “that a drug can block this virus,” he said, comparing the discovery to the fight for AIDS therapies […]

Finland to reopen schools mid-May

HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — Children in Finland will begin to return to class from May 14 as the country starts to lift coronavirus restrictions, ministers said on Wednesday. “Based on the advice of epidemiologists, continuing the emergency restrictions on early and primary education is no longer justified,” prime minister Sanna Marin said on Wednesday. Children will be instructed to follow social distancing guidelines at schools once teaching resumes, education minister Li Andersson said, with break […]

Switzerland speeds up lifting of virus restrictions

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The Swiss government said Wednesday it would speed up easing the restrictions imposed to control the coronavirus pandemic, allowing restaurants to open again on May 11. “We are in a new phase and we must learn to live with the virus,” Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga told a press conference in Bern. Switzerland stopped short of imposing full confinement in March but most shops and services closed down. On Monday, hairdressers, garden […]

S.Africa virus cases jump past 5,000 after highest daily rise

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) –The number of coronavirus cases in South Africa surged past the 5,000 mark on Thursday after it saw the largest single-day jump to date, health ministry figures showed. A total of 354 new cases were confirmed on Thursday, bringing the overall total to 5,350, and the number of fatalities spiked by 10 to 103. “This is the highest number of cases in a 24 hour cycle recorded to date and represents […]

Virus syndrome also found in French children, minister says

PARIS, France (AFP) — France has more than a dozen cases of children with inflammation around the heart, the health minister said Wednesday, after Britain sounded an alarm about a new disease with possible links to novel coronavirus. Olivier Veran said there was not enough evidence to confirm a link with the coronavirus sweeping the globe but France was taking the cases “very seriously”. Britain’s state-run National Health Service issued the alert at the weekend […]

German virus testing capacity now 900,000 weekly

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — German labs are now able to carry out almost 900,000 tests a week for the novel coronavirus, officials said on Wednesday, as they plan to widen testing among health workers. “Today, we have a theoretically possible capacity of almost 900,000 tests (per week) in Germany already, as long as the materials for these tests are available,” Health Minister Jens Spahn told reporters in Berlin. Roughly 470,000 tests were carried out last […]

Spain daily toll slightly up with 325 new virus deaths

  MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Another 325 people died of COVID-19 in Spain in a slight increase in the daily figure, pushing the overall toll past 24,000, the government said Wednesday. Despite the rise from Tuesday’s figure of 301, it was the sixth consecutive day that the number has been below 400 in Spain, which has now lost 24,275 lives as a result of the coronavirus. The number of people who have recovered from the […]

Spain daily toll slightly up with 325 new virus deaths

MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Another 325 people died of COVID-19 in Spain in a slight increase in the daily figure, pushing the overall toll past 24,000, the government said Wednesday. Despite the rise from Tuesday’s figure of 301, it was the sixth consecutive day that the number has been below 400 in Spain, which has now lost 24,275 lives as a result of the coronavirus. The number of people who have recovered from the virus […]

Google makes its video meeting service free to all

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Google on Tuesday made its business videoconferencing service free to all users, ramping up competition for Zoom as people flock online to stay connected during the pandemic. Google Meet had previously been reserved for subscribers to the premium G Suite software tools for businesses. Meet will be available “to all users around the world, to enable people all walks of life to communicate collaborate and really stay in touch […]

California could start new school year as early as July

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — California may start the new school year as early as July to make up for some of the “learning loss” due to the pandemic, the state’s Governor Gavin Newsom said Tuesday. “We recognize there’s been a learning loss because of this disruption,” Newsom told reporters. “And so we are considering an even earlier school year into the fall, as early as late July, early August.” Schools in California, the […]

US govt reveals details of sunlight study on virus

by Issam AHMED Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US Department of Homeland Security revealed to AFP on Tuesday new technical details regarding its highly anticipated study into how ultraviolet radiation destroys the new coronavirus, saying that its experiment had accurately mimicked natural sunlight. A summary of the research was presented last week at the White House, with some scientists calling for caution until a more comprehensive report was made public. US […]