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Higher hospital admissions among children during the fourth wave of COVID-19 infections in South Africa that is driven by the Omicron variant should prompt vigilance but not panic as infections have been mild, a health official said on Saturday. A large number of infants admitted with COVID-19 last month in …

The European Union’s public health agency said on Thursday that the Omicron variant could be responsible for more than half of all COVID-19 infections in Europe within a few months, but no cases of the severe disease had yet been identified in the region. The estimate could lend weight to …

Germany decided on Thursday to bar the unvaccinated from all but the most essential businesses and the United States was due to announce further travel curbs as countries around the globe scramble to keep out the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the variant showed …

Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a “call to get jabs in arms” on Wednesday as Britain stepped up its COVID-19 booster programme to fend off the Omicron variant after another 10 cases of the new strain were identified. Britain has now recorded 32 cases of the Omicron variant, which appears …

NASA early Tuesday postponed a spacewalk outside the International Space Station by two of its astronauts after receiving a “debris notification” for the orbital outpost. Astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron had been due to head outside the space laboratory later Tuesday on a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk to replace a faulty …

Financial markets fell sharply on Tuesday after the head of drugmaker Moderna said existing COVID-19 vaccines would be less effective against the new Omicron variant, but they recovered strongly after more reassuring comments from European officials. European Medicines Agency executive director Emer Cooke told the European Parliament that existing vaccines …

Poor sleep in the over 50s is linked to more negative perceptions of ageing, which in turn can impact physical, mental, and cognitive health, new research has revealed. A study led by the University of Exeter and found that people who rated their sleep the worst also felt older, and …

Twitter Inc Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey will step down from his role and Chief Technology Officer Parag Agrawal will become his successor, Twitter announced on Monday. Dorsey’s departure marks the end of his second CEO stint at the social networking site, and he leaves at a time when Twitter …

G7 health ministers praised South Africa on Monday for the work it has done in detecting the new Omicron variant and alerting others and said they would work together to monitor the strain. “Ministers praised the exemplary work of South Africa in both detecting the variant and alerting others to …

Singapore-based virtual currency exchange Coinstore has begun operations in India at a time when the Indian government is preparing legislation to effectively bar most private cryptocurrencies. Coinstore has launched its web and app platform and plans branches in Bangalore, New Delhi, and Mumbai which will act as its base in …

The Omicron coronavirus variant kept spreading around the world on Sunday, with 13 cases found in the Netherlands and two each in Denmark and Australia even as more countries imposed travel restrictions to try to seal themselves off. Dutch health authorities said the 13 cases of the variant were found …

The Iraqi Ministry of Health and environment urged citizens today to receive their COVID-19 jabs as soon as possible, following reports about the appearance of a new strain of the virus. The ministry stressed in a statement the need for all government and private institutions to abide by the instructions …

Italian authorities have launched an investigation into the Juventus football club for financial irregularity claims. “Since this afternoon, on the orders of this Public Prosecutor’s Office, soldiers of the Guardia di Finanza (financial police unit in Italy) have been carrying out local searches at the Turin and Milan offices of …

A US Geological Survey research geophysicist named Tom Parsons says that San Francisco is sinking into the Earth. NBC Bay Area reports that Parsons examined every single building in the Bay Area, using satellite images captured by European Space Agency’s Sentinel 1 satellite. Most of the settling appears to be …

Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi Corp (1810. HK) will build a plant that can produce 300,000 vehicles annually in Beijing for its electric vehicle unit, authorities in the capital said on Saturday. The plant will be constructed in two phases and Xiaomi will also build its auto unit’s headquarters, sales, and …

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has ordered an investigation into possible currency manipulation after the lira fell sharply to record lows against the dollar this week, the Anadolu news agency reported on Saturday. It said Erdogan had tasked the State Supervisory Council, an auditing agency that reports to the presidency, to …

Two linked cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant have been detected in Britain connected to travel to southern Africa, health minister Sajid Javid said on Saturday. Omicron dubbed a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization on Friday, is potentially more contagious than previous variants of the disease, …

Global stocks tumbled on Friday and oil fell below $80 a barrel after news of a possibly vaccine-resistant coronavirus variant sent investors scurrying to the safety of bonds, the yen, and the Swiss franc. Little is known of the variant, detected in South Africa, Botswana, and Hong Kong, but scientists …

Global authorities reacted with alarm on Friday to a new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa, with the EU and Britain among those tightening border controls as researchers sought to find out if the mutation was vaccine-resistant. Hours after Britain banned flights from South Africa and neighbouring countries and asked …

India’s total fertility rate has dropped below the replacement level for the first time, according to data released by the National Family Health Survey (NFHS). The rate has fallen to two in the latest survey, below the level at which a generation is producing enough children to replace itself. Given …