Tag Archives: COVID-19

Some residents of Shanghai were allowed out of their homes as the city of 25 million eased a two-week-old shut down Tuesday after a video posted online showed what was said to be people who ran out of food breaking into a supermarket. About 6.6 million people can go outdoors, …

British police said on Tuesday they would issue at least another 30 fines for people who attended gatherings in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s offices and residence in breach of strict coronavirus lockdown rules. Police are investigating 12 gatherings at Downing Street and the Cabinet Office after an internal inquiry found …

Non-emergency staffers were evacuated due to a spike in Covid cases and related government restrictions The US State Department has ordered diplomatic workers to vacate a consulate in China, citing a rise in coronavirus infections and new draconian containment measures. All American citizens have also been urged against traveling to …

Viruses mutate all the time but only some mutations affect their ability to spread or evade prior immunity from vaccination or infection, or the severity of disease they cause. The World Health Organization said on Monday it is tracking a few dozen cases of two new sub-variants of the highly …

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative coalition trails Labor in opinion polls after nine years in power. Australia will hold a general election on May 21, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says, triggering a campaign expected to be fought over cost-of-living pressures, climate change, and questions of trust and competence of the …

Saudi Arabia says Muslims from inside and outside the country will be able to perform the Hajj providing they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and no older than 65. Saudi Arabia has said it will allow one million people – from both inside and outside the kingdom – to perform …

The global average of true infection numbers is believed to be 16 times higher than the number of confirmed reported cases – but could have been 97 times higher in Africa, WHO says. More than two-thirds of people living in Africa may have contracted COVID-19 over the past two years, …

China’s President Xi Jinping commended the country’s “tested Zero-Covid” strategy on Friday even as Shanghai prepared nearly 130,000 beds for new coronavirus patients. At an event to honor Olympic athletes, Xi lauded the country’s efforts to hold the recent Winter Games which he said showed the country’s virus policy “once …

The risk of developing serious bleeding or potentially deadly blood clots is elevated for months after experiencing even a mild COVID-19 infection, Swedish researchers found. While the dangers of post-COVID clotting are well known, it’s less clear how long the risk lasts and what should be done to prevent it. …

AstraZeneca said on Thursday that preliminary data from a trial showed that its COVID-19 shot, Vaxzevria, generated an increase in antibodies against the Omicron and other variants when given as a third booster dose. The increased response, also against the Delta variant, was seen in a blood analysis of people …

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday extended a heartfelt apology in the House of Commons in response to growing anger around reports of a bring-your-own-booze party in the 10 Downing Street garden during COVID-19 lockdown in May 2020. Johnson has been under intense pressure from the opposition Labour Party …

The simultaneous circulation of the Delta and Omicron variants of the coronavirus is creating a “tsunami of cases”, World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing on Wednesday. “Delta and Omicron are now twin threats driving up cases to record numbers, leading to spikes in hospitalization …

Oil prices extended gains on Tuesday, with Brent crude trading near $80 a barrel despite the rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, supported by supply outages and expectations that U.S. inventories fell last week. Brent crude rose by 60 cents, or 0.8%, to $79.20 a barrel by 12 p.m. …

Research by South African scientists suggests that Omicron could displace the Delta variant of the coronavirus because infection with the new variant boosts immunity to the older one. The study only covered a small group of people and has not been peer-reviewed, but it found that people who were infected …

The highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus is sending daily infections in parts of the United States soaring to levels higher than the pandemic peak of early 2021. Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Puerto Rico are among the areas that have reported higher caseloads in the …

Oil prices rose around 3% on Monday due to hopes that the Omicron COVID-19 variant will have a limited impact on global demand in 2022, even as surging cases caused flight cancellations. Global benchmark Brent crude rose $2.53, or 3.3%, to $78.67 a barrel by 11:01 a.m. EST (1601 GMT). …

The SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19 can within days move from the respiratory system into the brain, heart, and nearly every organ system in the body, and stay there for months, a new study says. A team from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) described their research as the …

A surge in new coronavirus infections in the northwestern Chinese city of Xian has prompted local authorities to announce stringent measures to contain further spread of the disease. The city of 13 million, which entered its fifth day of lockdown on Monday, identified 150 new domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms …

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Wednesday to take up disputes over the Biden administration’s nationwide vaccine-or-testing COVID-19 mandate for large businesses and a separate vaccine requirement for healthcare workers. The brief court order said the court will hear oral arguments on Jan. 7 in the two cases, with rulings …

U.S. health regulators on Thursday authorized the second pill against COVID-19, providing another easy-to-use medication to battle the rising tide of omicron infections. The Food and Drug Administration authorization comes one day after the agency cleared a competing drug from Pfizer. That pill is likely to become the first-choice treatment …