COPENHAGEN: Progress against the coronavirus pandemic remains “fragile” and international travel should be avoided, the World Health Organization’s Europe director warned on Thursday (May 20), but stressed that authorised vaccines do work against variants of concern. “Right now, in the face of a continued threat and new uncertainty, we need […]
Healthcare
HANOI: Vietnam’s northern province of Bac Giang ordered on Tuesday (May 18) four industrial parks, including three that house production facilities of Taiwan’s Foxconn, to temporarily shut down due to an outbreak of COVID-19. The industrial parks will be closed until further notice, the province’s People’s Committee said in a […]
TAIPEI: A surge of coronavirus infections in Taiwan, one of the world’s Covid-19 mitigation success stories, has left it scrambling to get vaccines as its stock of 300,000 doses starts running out with only about 1 per cent of its 23 million people vaccinated. Taiwan has been a model of […]
TAIPEI: Taiwan appealed to people to avoid panic buying of items such as instant noodles and toilet paper as new curbs on gatherings and movement took effect to rein in the spread of Covid-19 during a spike in domestic infections. Taiwan raised its coronavirus alert level in the capital, Taipei, […]
TAIPEI: Taiwan reported a record rise in domestic Covid-19 cases today with 29 new cases, as community transmissions in part of central Taipei spread and the government called for people to be tested. While Taiwan has reported just 1,291 cases, mostly imported from abroad, out of a population of some […]
The B.117 prevalent in the United Kingdom has been found in cases reported in 34 countries or territories in the Americas, while the South African variant B.1.351 has been reported in 17. BRASILIA: The four most worrying coronavirus variants have been detected in virtually all countries and territories of […]
BENGALURU: India said on Wednesday a record number of people were killed by the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, pushing its overall death toll over a quarter million, while a leading virologist said it was too early to say if infections had reached a peak. Deaths from Covid-19 swelled […]
HONG KONG: Hong Kong today scrapped a plan to make coronavirus vaccines mandatory for foreign domestic workers after the proposal sparked an outcry and a diplomatic tussle with the Philippines. Health officials planned to roll out mandatory inoculations for the 370,000 domestic workers in the city, mostly poorly paid women […]
MADRID: As its vaccination drive reaches a third of adults and Covid-19 infections ease, Europe is starting to reopen cities and beaches, raising hopes that this summer’s holiday season can be saved before it is too late. Exhilarated Spaniards chanting “freedom” danced in the streets as a Covid-19 curfew ended […]
BEIJING: China reported 12 new Covid-19 cases in the mainland on May 8, up from seven a day earlier, the country’s national health authority said today. The National Health Commission said in a statement that all the new cases were imported infections originating from overseas. The number of new asymptomatic […]