SYDNEY: Australia recorded its deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic today and the biggest daily rise in infections in three days, denting hopes that a second wave gripping the state of Victoria may be stabilising. Victoria reported 21 deaths — two more than the previous deadliest days earlier this week […]
Healthcare
WELLINGTON: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today delayed a key step toward next month’s general election, as the country was plunged back into lockdown after the discovery of the first Covid-19 cases in more than three months. Ardern said she was suspending the dissolution of parliament, which was due […]
GENEVA: The World Health Organization said any WHO stamp of approval on a Covid-19 vaccine candidate would require a rigorous safety data review, after Russia announced yesterday it had approved a vaccine. President Vladimir Putin said Russia had become the first country to approve a vaccine offering “sustainable immunity” against […]
MINSK: Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanouskaya said todbelay she had fled abroad for the sake of her children, after two nights of clashes following the contested re-election of strongman President Alexander Lukashenko. Tikhanouskaya, a 37-year-old former English teacher, emerged from obscurity to mount the biggest challenge in years to Lukashenko, […]
WELLINGTON: New Zealand marked 100 days without a domestic transmission of the coronavirus on Sunday (Aug 9), but warned against complacency as countries like Vietnam and Australia which once had the virus under control now battle a resurgence in infections. New Zealand’s successful fight against COVID-19 has made the Pacific […]
MUMBAI: At least seven people died after a massive fire broke out at a hotel that was being used as a COVID-19 facility in India’s southern Andhra Pradesh state early on Sunday, police said. “Several people who were trapped and injured have been rescued and moved to a government hopsital. […]
MELBOURNE: Australia’s second-most populous state, Victoria, reported its deadliest day of the COVID-19 outbreak on Sunday (Aug 9), with 17 people dying in the past 24 hours, although new infections showed signs of easing. Victoria, at the centre of a second wave of infections in Australia, reported 394 cases of […]
The protesters said their politicians should resign and be punished for negligence they say led to Tuesday’s blast, the biggest ever to hit Beirut, that killed 158 people and injured more than 6,000. Lebanese protesters stormed government ministries in Beirut and trashed the offices of the Association of Lebanese Banks […]
Negotiations broke down this week between the White House and top Democrats in Congress over how best to help Americans cope with the heavy human and economic toll of the crisis. President Donald Trump signed executive orders on Saturday partly restoring enhanced unemployment payments to the tens of millions of […]
A train carrying goods arrived in the “totally blocked” city of Kaesong on Friday, the official KCNA news agency reported. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered the distribution of aid to the border city of Kaesong after the area was locked down last month to fight the coronavirus, […]