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YEN BAI, Vietnam (AFP) — As the morning sun finds its way through the mist over Vietnam’s terraced rice fields, local farmers lead buffalo into the paddies and pass another day without tourists in their hilly homeland. Located 300 km (around 190 miles) northwest of Hanoi, Mu Cang Chai district in northern Yen Bai province had become a hit with foreign and local tourists alike before the coronavirus pandemic. The spectacular terraces — which lie […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan has softened its suspension of all new incoming flight bookings to make it easier for citizens to return, the government said Thursday, a day after it announced the move prompted by worries about the Omicron coronavirus variant. The transport ministry abruptly said Wednesday it was asking airlines to stop taking all new incoming flight reservations for a month, in a surprise move affecting citizens and foreign residents. But on Thursday, […]
Fully vaccinate 70 percent of population by middle of next year, says WHO as Tedros airs appeal to beat COVID through cooperation, vaccine donations, info sharing (Eagle News) — The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) asked member states and countries to beat and end the COVID-19 pandemic by fully vaccinating at least 40 percent of their population by year-end and 70 percent by the middle of next year. WHO Director General Dr. Tedros […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The UK government said late Wednesday it has ordered 114 million additional Covid-19 vaccine doses, from pharmaceutical giants Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, to bolster its jabs drive over the next two years. The orders — 60 million extra doses of the Moderna vaccine and 54 million more Pfizer-BioNTech shots — come as Britain expands its booster program following the emergence of the Omicron variant. The country has set a two-month target […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan has asked airlines to stop taking new incoming flight bookings over concerns about the Omicron virus variant, the transport ministry said Wednesday. The announcement came as authorities announced they had detected a second infection with the new strain in an arriving traveler, a day after confirming a first case. “We have asked airlines to halt accepting all new incoming flight reservations for one month starting December 1,” a transport ministry […]
South Korea on Wednesday reported its first cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant and tightened travel restrictions as fears grew about the strain’s impact on the country’s ongoing Covid surge. Health authorities said Omicron was detected in five people, including a fully vaccinated couple who had visited Nigeria from November 14 to 23, returning two days before the variant was officially reported by South Africa. They tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday, and subsequent […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The WHO warned Wednesday that the world was creating toxic conditions for new Covid-19 variants like Omicron to emerge and then spread around the globe. The World Health Organization said the combination of low vaccination coverage across the planet, mixed with very low testing to track the virus, was a fertile breeding ground. The UN health agency stressed that measures to stop the globally-dominant Delta variant would also hinder Omicron. The […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia has recorded the Gulf’s first confirmed case of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in a citizen returning from North Africa, a health ministry official said Wednesday. The strain, which was first announced by South Africa but has since been discovered to have been present earlier in Europe, has prompted governments around the globe to reimpose travel restrictions, despite warnings from the World Health Organization this could […]
by Andrew BEATTY Agence France Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Pandemic-induced lockdowns caused Australia’s economy to shrink 1.9 percent in the third quarter, a downturn that bucked the trend of a steady recovery in other wealthy nations. The Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday reported the country’s second quarterly contraction since the pandemic began — and one of the largest contractions on record — sparked by long-running containment measures in populous states. Sydney, Melbourne […]
MINNEAPOLIS, United States (AFP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday said he would decide on a weekly basis whether to extend US travel bans on southern Africa, depending what happens with the worrying new Omicron variant of Covid-19. Asked how long travel restrictions that took effect Monday on South Africa and seven other southern African countries would remain in place, Biden said it “kind of depends.” The US president, who was boarding Air Force One […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Brazil’s health regulator on Tuesday reported the discovery of two “preliminary” cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in a traveler from South Africa, where it was first detected, and his wife. Positive samples from the two Brazilians will now be sent for further laboratory analysis for confirmation, the Anvisa regulator said in a statement. If confirmed, they would be the first Omicron cases in Latin America. The passenger arrived at the […]
BRASILIA, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil’s health regulator on Tuesday reported the discovery of two “preliminary” cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in a traveler from South Africa, where it was first detected, and his wife. Positive samples from the two Brazilians will now be sent for further laboratory analysis for confirmation, the Anvisa regulator said in a statement. If confirmed, they would be the first Omicron cases in Latin America. The passenger arrived at the […]
