Tag Archives: COVID-19

At the request of the Supreme Court, Brazil’s federal police have formally opened a probe into President Jair Bolsonaro related to alleged irregularities in the purchase of an Indian vaccine and could now question him, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Monday. The president has been caught …

Opening India’s tourist destinations and allowing pilgrimage travel could act as COVID-19 “super spreaders” of the third wave of infections, the country’s top doctor’s body warned on Monday. After a catastrophic second wave, driven largely by the more infectious and dangerous Delta variant, ravaged the country’s health system, India is …

Rich countries should not be ordering booster shots for their vaccinated populations while other countries have yet to receive COVID-19 vaccines, the World Health Organization said on Monday. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said deaths were again rising from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Delta variant was becoming dominant, and many …

Myanmar’s military authorities will ensure that oxygen plants operate at full capacity to help treat COVID-19 patients as cases in the Southeast Asian country hit record highs, an army spokesman said on Monday. Zaw Min Tun told a news conference that vaccinations would be extended to those below the age …

New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern on Monday announced a hastily convened extraordinary meeting of APEC leaders aimed at improving the Asia-Pacific region’s response to COVID-19 and its economic impact. Prime Minister Ardern is scheduled to host the annual 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit online in November but called an additional …

The Iraqi Ministry of Health confirmed over 7616 COVID-19 cases and 33 deaths from its complications in the past 24 hours. The Ministry said that 5937 patients have achieved full recovery from the virus, while 33 succumbed to its complications. Iraq has registered 1429362, including 1306454 recoveries and 17548.

COVID-19 vaccine maker Pfizer Inc will meet with federal health officials as soon as Monday to discuss the need for a booster dose of the coronavirus vaccine as it prepares to seek authorization, the company said on Sunday. The meeting comes days after the drugmaker and its partner BioNTech SE …

Australia reported its first coronavirus-related death of the year on Sunday and a record 77 new virus cases in the state of New South Wales, which is battling an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant. State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the numbers in and around the country’s biggest city …

Lebanon is on the verge of complete chaos following the pound’s dramatic fall against the US dollar with disgruntled citizens taking to the streets, blocking highways, burning, and attacking public utilities to protest the deteriorating economic conditions. This coincided with the breakdown of public services that has left the country …

Italy’s economy minister Daniele Franco said on Saturday virus variants were a major source of concern for the global economy but the world should avoid imposing new restrictions on people’s lives to combat the pandemic. “The only answer is vaccination,” said Franco, speaking at the end of a meeting of …

Newly appointed Algerian Prime Minister Ayman Benabderrahmane is infected with COVID-19, Algerian state TV said on Saturday. The prime minister, who had just formed his new government on Wednesday, will quarantine for seven days, but will continue performing his duties virtually, state TV said. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune ordered his government …

Just two months ago, Indonesia was coming to a gasping India’s aid with thousands of tanks of oxygen. Today, the Southeast Asia country is running out of oxygen as it endures a devastating wave of coronavirus cases and the government is seeking emergency supplies from other countries, including Singapore and …

Europe’s drug regulator has found a possible link between very rare heart inflammation and COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, it said on Friday. The conditions, myocarditis and pericarditis, must be listed as side-effects of the two mRNA vaccines, the safety committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said, adding …

The European Union has delivered enough coronavirus vaccine doses to member states to reach a target to fully vaccinate at least 70% of adults in the bloc, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement on Saturday. Von der Leyen, who had tweeted on May 9 that …

South African police said on Saturday that 27 people had been arrested over violent protests linked to former president Jacob Zuma’s imprisonment. Protests raged this week in parts of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), Zuma’s home province after the former president handed himself over to police to serve a 15-month jail term for …

Australia’s New South Wales state reported its biggest daily rise in locally acquired coronavirus infections this year on Saturday, with authorities warning that worse may yet to come for Sydney, which is in a three-week hard lockdown. There were 50 new cases of community transmission in the country’s most populous …

Hundreds of migrants rescued in the central Mediterranean disembarked on Friday in the southern Italian town of Augusta, in Sicily, after Rome-based maritime authorities agreed to give their ship a port. The Ocean Viking vessel, operated by SOS Mediterranee, carried 572 people, including around 180 minors, after picking them up …

Pfizer and BioNTech say that a third COVID-19 booster dose given about six months after the second shot improves vaccine efficacy against new coronavirus variants and that this is backed by initial data from their study on booster shots. While the COVID-19 vaccine remains 95% effective in preventing serious cases, …

Iraq registered, on Friday 8636 new cases of Covid-19 to take its total to 1,414,925, the health ministry said. It reported 32 deaths to take its coronavirus death toll to 17,476. It also reported 6508 recoveries to take its total to 1,294,411 (91.5%). The COVID-19 intensive care patients count to …

While the world reels under the effects of the Delta variant, a new Covid-19 mutation is now on the radar of several countries. The Lambda variant, or C.37, believed to have originated from Peru, was designated as a “variant of interest” by the World Health Organization (WHO) on June 14. …