Tag Archives: COVID-19

World Health Organization officials on Wednesday denied that the body was “China-centric” and said that the acute phase of a pandemic was not the time to cut funding after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would put contributions on hold. The United States is the top donor to the Geneva-based …

China reported no coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, the first time since it started publishing daily figures in January. The National Health Commission said it had 32 confirmed cases, down from 39 on Monday. It comes as the government is under scrutiny as to whether it is underreporting its figures. The …

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has condemned controversial comments made by French doctors about testing a COVID-19 potential treatment first in Africa, calling the remarks a “hangover from a colonial mentality.” “To be honest, I was so appalled. And it was a time when I said when we …

It was considered by some a key plank in India’s battle against coronavirus: on Saturday, the government there announced it was banning the export of various drugs which could potentially help patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Stockpiles of medicines, including hydroxychloroquine – an anti-malaria drug being tested as an unlikely but …

Boris Johnson remains in intensive care at St Thomas’ hospital in London on Tuesday morning but he has not required a ventilator, the Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove has said. Mr. Gove, who described foreign secretary Dominic Raab as “the person who is running the country”, is now self-isolating at …

At a Tehran mosque converted into a factory, women volunteers who would normally attend to visitors to the old battlefields of the Iran-Iraq war have joined the fight against the coronavirus. Lined up like factory workers, around 15 women have taken up positions in front of table-top sewing machines to …

An international ban on wildlife markets could help stop future pandemics like coronavirus from breaking out, according to the United Nations biodiversity chief. The COVID-19 outbreak is believed to have originated in a seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where it is thought stallholders were infected during …

Spain has seen its daily number of coronavirus deaths fall for a fourth consecutive day, bolstering hopes the country is passing the outbreak’s peak. Monday’s increase of 637 deaths means more than 13,000 have died in total. Spain’s population has been living under severe restrictions for more than three weeks, …

Japan is to declare a state of emergency in Tokyo and six other prefectures as early as Tuesday in a bid to stop the coronavirus, the prime minister said, with the government preparing a stimulus package to soften the economic blow. More than 3,500 people have tested positive for the …

A tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York City has tested positive for the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in the first known case of a human infecting an animal and making it sick, the zoo’s chief veterinarian said on Sunday. Nadia, the 4-year-old Malayan tiger that …

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is “still very much in charge of the government” despite spending the night in the hospital with coronavirus, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has said. The PM was taken to a London hospital on Sunday evening with “persistent symptoms” – including a temperature – for a …

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says low-risk economic activities, which have been suspended over the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, will resume from April 11. In a Sunday address to the National Headquarters for Managing and Fighting the Coronavirus, Rouhani announced that medium- and low-risk businesses can recommence next week, except those …

Conspiracy theories claiming 5G technology helps transmit coronavirus have been condemned by the scientific community. Videos have been shared on social media showing mobile phone masts on fire in Birmingham and Merseyside – along with the claims. The posts have been shared on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram – including verified …

India is restricting the export of most diagnostic testing kits, as coronavirus cases in the South Asian nation topped 3,350 on Sunday despite a three-week nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the respiratory disease. India, which in recent weeks already banned the export of certain drugs, along with ventilators, …

Donald Trump has warned the US that “there will be a lot of death” this week as he said the country faced its toughest period during the coronavirus pandemic. He was speaking as Johns Hopkins University said the US now had more than 300,000 cases. Speaking at his daily White …

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have adopted fresh measures to tackle the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic amid an uptick in the number of patients in both Persian Gulf countries. Saudi Interior Ministry announced a lockdown and a partial curfew in seven neighborhoods of the port city of Jeddah starting on …

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said that the country seeks to follow up on its existing physical distancing plan with a new ‘smart distancing’ initiative to curb the outbreak of COVID-19. Speaking during a meeting in the National Headquarters to Fight the Coronavirus on Saturday, Rouhani said that the first …

US President Donald Trump has claimed that “in many cases” scarves are better than masks for protection against coronavirus. Speaking at his daily press briefing on Wednesday, Mr. Trump said that amid a shortage of masks, people can use scarves as an alternative when outside. “In many cases, the scarf …

The US has been accused of redirecting 200,000 Germany-bound masks for its own use, in a move condemned as “modern piracy”. The local government in Berlin said the shipment of US-made masks was “confiscated” in Bangkok. The FFP2 masks, which were ordered by Berlin’s police force, did not reach their …

A police robot has been deployed to patrol areas of Tunisia’s capital, Tunis, to ensure that people are observing a coronavirus lockdown. If it spies anyone walking in the largely deserted streets, it approaches them and asks why they are out. They must then show their ID and other papers …