Health

Iraqi Ministry of Health and environment warned, on Thursday, of the third wave of COVID-19 that may be more severe than the previous two waves. “Covid-19 epidemic is still affecting people…, the third wave began in our country, in neighboring countries and globally despite the high number of vaccinated people,” …

The US Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday it plans to move quickly to add a warning about rare cases of heart inflammation in adolescents and young adults to fact sheets for the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.

The European Union needs a more unified approach on travel rules to ward off the spread of the more contagious delta variant of the coronavirus, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. “We are obviously concerned about the delta variant,” Merkel told reporters on arriving in Brussels for an EU summit on …

Iraq logged 6297 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said today, Wednesday.

The variant, first identified in Europe, now found in India’s Maharashtra, Kerala, and Madhya Pradesh states, the health ministry says.

AstraZeneca Plc’s COVID-19 vaccine is effective against Delta and Kappa variants, which were first identified in India, the company said on Tuesday, citing a study.

India gave out a record 7.5 million vaccine doses on Monday under a federal campaign to inoculate all adults for free after weeks of criticism that a chaotic rollout had worsened a second wave that killed hundreds of thousands.

Brazil’s death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 500,000 on Saturday as experts warn that the world’s second-deadliest outbreak may worsen due to delayed vaccinations and the government’s refusal to back social distancing measures.

The second outbreak, which was announced in February, killed at least 12 people. An Ebola outbreak which started in Guinea in February, infecting 16 people and killing 12, has been declared over, the West African country’s health ministry and the World Health Organization said on Saturday. “I have the honour …

The Delta variant of COVID-19, first identified in India, is becoming the globally dominant variant of the disease, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist said on Friday. Soumya Swaminathan also voiced disappointment in the failure of CureVac’s (5CV.DE) vaccine candidate in a trial to meet the WHO’s efficacy standard, in …

The trend of COVID-19 cases in Africa is very concerning, a senior World Health Organization official said on Friday. Absolute numbers do not make Africa look in bad shape, said Mike Ryan, the WHO’s top emergency expert, adding that in the last week it had recorded just over 5% of …

Iraq logged 5,189 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said today, Thursday. The daily epidemiological report on the COVID-19 situation stated that 30 COVID-19 deaths were registered today. On the other hand, 3,930 patients achieved full recovery. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 in Iraq, …

Japan will send 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Vietnam, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday, as Vietnam seeks to accelerate its vaccine procurement drive to tackle a more stubborn wave of infections. The shipment of AstraZeneca PLC vaccines produced in Japan is due to arrive in Vietnam on …

A veteran public health expert warned top Indian officials in early March that a new variant of the coronavirus was spreading quickly in a rural district in the heart of the country and that the outbreak required urgent attention. Federal health authorities failed to respond adequately to that warning, Dr …

Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Tuesday a study of its monoclonal antibody treatment, AZD7442, did not meet the main goal of preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in people recently exposed to the novel coronavirus. The company said the participants in the trial were unvaccinated adults older than 18 years with confirmed exposure …

Novavax Inc on Monday said its COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective, including against a variety of concerning variants of the coronavirus in a large, late-stage U.S.-based clinical trial. The study of nearly 30,000 volunteers in the United States and Mexico puts Novavax on track to file for emergency …

The head of the World Trade Organization said on Monday she hoped that members could reach an agreement by July on improving access to COVID-19 vaccines after months of talks on waiving drug firms’ intellectual property rights. “It’s going to be tough because there are still differences but we hope …

Dutch medical equipment company Philips has recalled some breathing devices and ventilators because of a foam part that might degrade and become toxic, potentially causing cancer, it said on Monday. The foam used to dampen the machines’ sound can degrade and emit small particles that irritate airways, the group said …

Countries should also avoid giving the Astrazeneca coronavirus vaccine to people over 60, the head of the EU drug regulator’s COVID-19 task force was quoted on Sunday as saying, amid fears over rare blood clotting and as more vaccines become available. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) considers the Astrazeneca shot …

Russia has tested a nasal spray form of its COVID-19 vaccine that is suitable for children aged 8-12, and plans to launch the new product in September, the scientist who led the development of the Sputnik V vaccine said on Saturday. Alexander Gintsburg, who heads the Gamaleya Institute that developed …