Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
by Patrick GALEY PARIS, France (AFP) — The lockdown in the Chinese outbreak city of Wuhan brought the COVID-19 epidemic crashing to a halt, giving health systems crucial breathing room to deal with serious cases, new research showed Thursday. Chinese authorities ordered schools, universities and businesses shut following a cluster of COVID-19 cases in the transport hub in January, confining millions of people to their homes in a bid to contain the outbreak. The measures […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran on Thursday announced 157 new deaths from coronavirus, raising the official number of fatalities to 2,234, as it slapped a ban on intercity travel to try to curb the spread. Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour also said that 2,389 new cases have been confirmed in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of declared infections in one of the world’s wost-hit countries to 29,406. “Fortunately, until today 10,457 of […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Hospitals in the British capital are being overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients, the head of an organization representing bosses in the state-run National Health Service said on Thursday. The chief executive of NHS Providers, Chris Hopson, told BBC radio that London hospitals had seen an “explosion of demand… in seriously ill patients”, likening it to a “continuous tsunami”, with numbers predicted to surge in the next fortnight. “They talk about the […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany has boosted its coronavirus test rate to 500,000 a week, a virologist said Thursday, adding that early detection has been key in keeping the country’s death rate relatively low. “The reason why Germany has so few deaths compared to the number of infected people can be explained by the fact that we carry out an extremely large number of laboratory diagnostic tests,” said Christian Drosten, who heads the Institute of […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — The Iraqi government said Thursday that it will extend a countrywide lockdown it imposed in response to the coronavirus pandemic until April 11. Schools, universities, shopping centers, and other large gathering places will remain closed, as will the country’s international airports. Authorities have confirmed that at least 29 Iraqis have died from COVID-19 and nearly 350 others have contracted the disease. But there are fears the real number is much higher, […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Tennis great Roger Federer on Wednesday donated more than a million dollars to help support his “most vulnerable” Swiss compatriots through the coronavirus crisis. The 20-time Grand Slam champion and his wife donated one million Swiss francs ($1.02 million, 943,000 euros), saying nobody should be left behind as Switzerland battles against the global pandemic. According to official figures reported to the World Health Organization, Switzerland has the ninth-highest number of infections […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States said Wednesday it has urged Saudi Arabia to “reassure” oil and financial markets as the world grapples with a coronavirus pandemic that has paralyzed major economies. The appeal was made by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a telephone conversation Tuesday with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the State Department said. Oil prices have plunged as economies grind to a halt due to the pandemic. But the […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Tokyo’s governor urged residents to stay home this weekend, warning of a possible “explosion” of the coronavirus with a record 41 new cases discovered on Wednesday. Yuriko Koike said the Japanese capital, so far spared the draconian measures seen in other major global cities, was at a “critical stage” in containing the virus that has confined one-third of the planet to their homes. “We urge people at all costs to refrain […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The number of deaths caused by the novel coronavirus rose to 1,031 in the United States on Wednesday, with 68,572 confirmed cases nationwide, a tracker run by the Johns Hopkins University showed. The tracker had shown 827 just a few hours earlier. The United States has the third-highest number of confirmed cases behind China and Italy, and the US death rate is now 1.5 percent, based on reported cases. The […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The IMF on Wednesday approved a $1.3 billion aid plan for Jordan, made all the more necessary by the global coronavirus pandemic. The program was initially announced at the end of January before the novel virus rocked the world’s economy. “Changes were made to the program to support unbudgeted spending covering emergency outlays and medical supplies and equipment,” the IMF said in a statement. “If the impact of the outbreak […]
by Paul RICARD PARIS, France (AFP) — “Test, test, test”. The World Health Organisation’s prescription for success in wrestling the new coronavirus pandemic under control may seem simple. So why are so few countries able to follow it? While nations like South Korea have been praised for their decisive efforts to control the spread of the virus with mass screening, experts say many other countries have been unable to emulate their approach. WHO chief Tedros […]
SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Singapore’s economy, a bellwether for trade-reliant Asian countries, suffered its worst contraction since the global financial crisis in the first quarter as the coronavirus pandemic escalated, official data showed Thursday. The trading hub’s GDP shrank 2.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, according to advance estimates by the trade ministry. Compared with the previous quarter, GDP fell by 10.6 percent. Lockdowns and other measures to contain the spread of the virus […]
