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MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia has granted approval for people vaccinated with Russia’s Sputnik jab to enter the country in a move that will enable Muslims to take part in religious pilgrimages, the vaccine’s developers said Sunday. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has granted approval for entry of individuals vaccinated with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine starting from January 1, 2022,” the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which financed the development of Sputnik V, […]
New COVID cases at 603, new fatalities at 156 (Eagle News) – The Philippines total active COVID-19 cases were only 13,853 on Sunday, December 5, as active cases continued its downward trend, with only 603 new COVID-19 cases recorded that day. The total number of active COVID cases for Sunday ay 13,853 is the lowest since May 2020, or two months since the start of the pandemic. There are also more recoveries at 1,047 on […]
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Mexico on Friday announced its first case of the coronavirus Omicron variant, in a traveller from South Africa, but the government said it was not considering border closures as a counter-measure. The variant was detected in a 51-year-old from South Africa with mild symptoms, undersecretary of health Hugo Lopez-Gatell Ramirez said on Twitter. An epidemiologist by training, Lopez-Gatell Ramirez said closing borders and blocking the movement of people and […]
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — South Africa’s Covid-19 infections surged to a record three million on Friday as a new wave driven by the Omicron variant rips through parts of the country, official figures showed. The government on Friday reported 16,055 new cases over a 24-hour period, taking the cumulative laboratory-confirmed cases to 3,004,203. “This increase represents a 24.3 percent positivity rate,” the government run National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said in a […]
71 passengers under quarantine; samples from COVID-positive passenger to be sent to PHL Genome Center for full genome sequencing to detect type of variant (Eagle News) – The Department of Health said there were 254 arrivals from South Africa who have entered the country in the last two weeks before the travel ban. Of this number, 71 have been traced, four have been tested, and one of them had already tested positive for COVID-19. Dr. […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia on Friday reported a student with no history of foreign travel had tested positive for the Covid-19 Omicron variant, the country’s first detected case of community transmission. The case, detected in the country’s largest city Sydney, comes despite a ban on non-citizens entering the country and restrictions on flights from southern Africa, where the variant was first detected. New South Wales Health said “the case has no overseas travel history […]
by Sebastian Smith WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden announced Thursday a winter campaign against Covid-19, with new testing requirements for travelers and a surge in vaccination efforts. Biden has brought steady leadership after the chaotic Donald Trump years, but the mutating coronavirus continues to defy him, helping drive his approval ratings deep underwater. Urging the nation — in particular his political rivals — to unite behind the strategy, Biden unveiled a […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — The state of New York has confirmed five cases of the coronavirus Omicron variant, Governor Kathy Hochul said Thursday, bringing the total number of US detections of the new strain to eight. “New York State has confirmed five cases of the omicron variant,” Hochul said in a Twitter post aimed at reassuring residents of the nation’s fourth most populous state that the detections were not unexpected. “Let me be […]
JOHHANESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — A preliminary study by South African scientists published Thursday suggests the Omicron variant is three times more likely to cause reinfections compared to the Delta or Beta strains. The findings, based on data collected by the country’s health system, provides the first epidemiological evidence about Omicron’s ability to evade immunity from prior infection. The paper was uploaded on a medical preprint server and has not yet been peer-reviewed. There were […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India announced its first two cases of the Omicron Covid variant on Thursday, months after a devastating wave of the virus killed more than 200,000 people around the country. Top health ministry official Luv Agarwal said two men in southern Karnataka state, aged 66 and 46, had tested positive for the variant. “As per the protocols all their primary and secondary contacts have been traced and are being tested,” he […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Health authorities in the midwestern US state of Minnesota announced Thursday they had found another case of the Omicron coronavirus variant on American soil, this time in a man with no known recent international travel history. Like the first identified US case in California, the patient was vaccinated, and had mild symptoms from which he has now recovered. Minnesota officials said he had also received a booster. He returned to […]
(Eagle News) – Starting Friday, December 3, all fully vaccinated adults are eligible to receive COVID-19 booster shots, according to the Department of Health. In its advisory issued on Thursday, December 2, the DOH said that Filipinos 18 years old and above who received their primary COVID-19 vaccines can be given either homologous or heterologous boosters. Those who got Sinovac could be given a homologous Sinovac booster, or another vaccine brand –- AstraZeneca, Pfizer […]
