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FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) — More than 100,000 people have died of Covid-19 in Germany since the start of the pandemic, the Robert Koch Institute, a public health agency, announced Thursday. Europe’s largest economy is battling a fresh surge in virus cases, and recorded 351 fatalities in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 100,119, according to RKI’s figures. © Agence France-Presse
MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — Canada began immunizing children aged 5-11 against Covid-19 Wednesday, joining a handful of nations including Israel and the United States in offering shots to this age group. At Montreal’s convention center, a few dozen youngsters were among the first to receive the Pfizer doses authorized since last Friday for this age group. To help ease their fears of needles, additional measures have been taken such posting stickers of unicorns or hockey […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — The backers of Sputnik V on Wednesday said the Russian vaccine provides longer immunity against coronavirus than Western jabs using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which supported the vaccine’s development, said the Sputnik vaccine is 80 percent effective against coronavirus between six and eight months after the second dose. The country has recorded more than 9.4 million coronavirus cases, the fifth-highest number in the world, and […]
by Robin MILLARD Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Covid vaccines reduce transmission of the dominant Delta variant by about 40 percent, the WHO said Wednesday, warning that people were falling into a false sense of security concerning jabs. The World Health Organization’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said many vaccinated people were wrongly thinking the jab meant they no longer needed to take any other precautions. Fully-immunised people must stick with measures to […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — New Zealand said Wednesday it will not reopen to foreign travellers for at least another five months, as it slowly relaxes some of the world’s toughest pandemic border restrictions. The Pacific nation’s Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said New Zealanders stranded in Australia could return home from mid-January and Kiwis travelling from elsewhere would be allowed in a month later. But foreign nationals must wait until the end of April […]
by Camille BAS-WOHLERT COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — Europe remains “in the firm grip” of Covid and the continent’s death toll could top 2.2 million this winter if current trends continue, the World Health Organization warned on Tuesday. Europe is battling an upsurge in the pandemic that saw Austria return to lockdown this week while Germany and the Netherlands are poised to announce new restrictions. A further 700,000 people in the 53 countries that comprise the […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States is shipping another four million Covid-19 vaccine doses to Vietnam, the White House said Tuesday, bringing the total of US doses donated globally to nearly 270 million. A senior administration official told AFP that 4,149,990 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are being sent, bringing the total delivered to Vietnam by the United States to 17,589,110 doses. Shipments began Tuesday. Globally, there have now been 268,472,780 doses sent […]
TEL AVIV, Israel (AFP) — Israel began rolling out Covid-19 vaccines for children aged five to 11 on Monday, becoming one of a handful of countries to inoculate children so young as it seeks to ward off another pandemic wave. Over the summer, the Jewish state experienced an upsurge in coronavirus infections, fuelled by the Delta variant, and launched one of the earliest campaigns for booster shots. As infections start to creep up again, Prime […]
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — The EU’s drug watchdog on Monday said it was evaluating an application by Johnson & Johnson for its Covid vaccine booster shot to be used on people aged 18 and over in the bloc. If approved, the booster will be the third in the 27-nation European Union for adults and will be given at least two months after a first single-shot dose. “EMA’s human medicines committee (CHMP) will carry out […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — French Prime Minister Jean Castex tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday evening, his office told AFP, adding that he would isolate for 10 days while continuing to work. Castex “immediately carried out a PCR test” after finding out that one of his daughters had tested positive, his office said. Castex had been in Brussels on Monday morning, where he met his Belgian counterpart Alexander De Croo. He was accompanied on the […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Pfizer and BioNTech said Monday their Covid-19 vaccine remained 100 percent effective in children 12 to 15 years old, four months after the second dose. The companies said that the new data, which involved 2,228 trial participants, will help support their applications for full approval in the United States and worldwide. No serious safety concerns were observed in individuals with at least six months of follow-up after the second dose. […]
by Michelle FITZPATRICK with Denise HRUBY in Vienna BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germans faced the stark warning Monday that they would be either “vaccinated, cured or dead” from Covid by the end of winter, while Austria returned to a partial lockdown as Europe battles a fourth wave of the pandemic. Belgium and the Netherlands meanwhile condemned clashes that rocked weekend protests against new anti-Covid measures, aimed at containing a surge in infections sweeping parts of […]
