Tag Archives: COVID-19

Tanzania suspended on Sunday another newspaper accused of false stories even though President Samia Suluhu Hassan had pledged to uphold media freedoms quashed by her predecessor. Raia Mwema, a leading Swahili-language weekly, was suspended for 30 days from Monday, for “repeatedly publishing false information and deliberate incitement,” Gerson Msigwa, the …

Venezuela this week will receive the first coronavirus vaccines obtained via COVAX, President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday, following months of stalled attempts to obtain inoculations through the global vaccine program. The South American nation has been inoculating its population with doses acquired directly from China and Russia, following months …

Iraq has decided on health regulations governing the entry of foreign pilgrims for this year’s Arbaeen pilgrimage as authorities say only 30,000 pilgrims from Iran will be allowed to visit holy shrines in the country later this month. Multiple reports by news outlets on Sunday said that western land borders …

US-based Alaska Airlines said it will give a $200 reward to its employees who are vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a press release. “Throughout the pandemic, the safety of our employees and guests has always come first, and we are committed to protecting our fellow employees, guests, and loved ones …

Iraq registered 58 mortalities and 4,897 new cases, according to the daily COVID-19 report issued by the Ministry of Health today, Sunday. The report said that 7,706 patients have recovered from the virus in the past day. According to the Ministry’s stats, 1,917,292 citizens have tested positive for the virus …

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is lifting a coronavirus ban on travelers from 10 countries including India, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia, the presidential spokesperson said on Saturday. The ban, introduced in April then expanded to more countries in July to prevent the spread of the more contagious Delta variant, …

On Saturday, Iraq recorded 4316 new cases of Covid-19 to bring its total to 1,912,235, the health ministry said. It reported 48 deaths to take its coronavirus death toll to 21,042. It also reported 7415 recoveries to bring its total to 1,764,001 (92.2%). The COVID-19 intensive care patients count to …

Pro-democracy protesters vented their anger in Bangkok’s heavy rain Saturday after Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha survived a no-confidence vote in parliament. More than 300 demonstrators marched in central Bangkok’s main shopping mall district carrying red flags and wearing ponchos in the downpour. “The government should be gone. If things …

The Japanese government plans to extend a state of emergency in and around Tokyo until the last week of September in a further bid to contain the coronavirus epidemic, the Mainichi newspaper reported on Saturday. Japan last month expanded emergency curbs to cover about 80 percent of its population until …

New Zealand recorded its first COVID-related death in six months Saturday, but health authorities said there were signs the outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant was coming under control. A woman in her 90s, who had underlying health conditions and could not receive a ventilator or intensive care support, …

New blood donor research suggests that more than 80 percent of American adults now have COVID-19 antibodies due to vaccinations or infections. Published in the open-access medical journal JAMA on Thursday, the study estimated that more than 80 percent of Americans above 16 years of age had COVID-19 antibodies as …

Iraq registered 60 mortalities and 5672 new cases, according to the daily COVID-19 report issued by the Ministry of Health today. The report said that 7828 patients have recovered from the virus in the past day. According to the Ministry’s stats, 1908079 citizens have tested positive for the virus since …

Several thousand people gathered in Bangkok to call for the resignation of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Friday, one day before lawmakers hold a no-confidence vote over his government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Protests against Prayuth have gathered steam since late June as university students who sought his removal …

Key air pollutants temporarily plunged by unprecedented levels during coronavirus lockdowns last year, with fine particle pollution falling by more than a third across parts of Asia, a U.N. agency said on Friday. Particulate matter (PM 2.5) fell by up to 40% across Africa, South America, and Southern Asia and …

Japan’s prime minister Yoshihide Suga has announced he will not run for the leadership of his governing party later this month – paving the way for a new premier after just a year in office marred by an unpopular COVID-19 response. Mr. Suga was appointed to the role in September …

Germany’s health minister has warned that Covid-19 is becoming the “pandemic of the unvaccinated” as 90% of the country’s intensive care patients are those who refused a potentially life-saving shot. Speaking on Friday, Health Minister Jens Spahn said people who have not been vaccinated against the virus have a responsibility …

The European Commission and AstraZeneca said on Friday they had reached a settlement on delivering remaining COVID-19 vaccine doses by the British drugmaker and also ended pending litigation in Brussels. The settlement clears a major overhang for AstraZeneca, whose cheap and easily transportable vaccine has faced several setbacks, including the …

A new study of breakthrough Covid-19 infections finds that vaccines not only reduce the risk of severe disease and hospitalization, but can lower the odds of having long-term Covid-19 symptoms too. “We found that the odds of having symptoms for 28 days or more after post-vaccination infection were approximately halved …

An arrangement whereby Johnson & Johnson was shipping COVID-19 vaccine doses to Europe that had been packaged in South Africa has been suspended, African Union (AU) envoy Strive Masiyiwa said on Thursday. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last month he was “stunned” by the arrangement, since Europe has very …

India reported the biggest single-day rise in COVID-19 cases in two months on Thursday, as the government worries about the virus spreading from the most-affected Kerala state, schools reopening, and the start of the festival season. Densely populated Kerala, on India’s southern tip, accounted for nearly 70 percent of the …