JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s confirmed cases of COVID-19 have crossed half a million, its health ministry said on Saturday (Aug 1), while cases in Africa as a whole approached a million. Africa’s most industrialised nation recorded 10,107 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, pushing […]
Healthcare
GENEVA: The World Health Organization on Saturday (Aug 1) warned the coronavirus pandemic was likely to be “lengthy” after its emergency committee met to evaluate the crisis six months after sounding the international alarm. The committee “highlighted the anticipated lengthy duration of this COVID-19 pandemic”, the WHO said in a […]
MOSCOW: Russia’s health minister is preparing a mass vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus for October, local news agencies reported on Saturday (Aug 1), after a vaccine completed clinical trials. Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said the Gamaleya Institute, a state research facility in Moscow, had completed clinical trials of the […]
WASHINGTON: America’s top infectious diseases official has raised concerns over the safety of COVID-19 vaccines being developed by China and Russia as the world scrambles for answers to a pandemic the WHO warned will be felt for decades. Six months after the World Health Organization declared a global emergency, the […]
MEXICO CITY: Mexico surpassed Britain as the country with the third-highest coronavirus death toll on Friday (Jul 31), as the pandemic reached new milestones in Latin America and threatened to disrupt efforts to reopen the region’s reeling economies. The record places Mexico behind Brazil, Latin America’s largest and most populous […]
RIO DE JANEIRO: Fresh off a bout of COVID-19, President Jair Bolsonaro said Friday (Jul 31) nearly everyone will probably end up catching the new coronavirus, urging Brazilians to “face up to it” and saying there was nothing to fear. The far-right leader’s latest bid to downplay the pandemic came […]
PARIS: Pharma giants Sanofi and GSK will receive up to US$2.1 billion from the US government for the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, the companies said on Friday (Jul 31), as the world scrambles for an answer to the pandemic. At the same time, the European Union said it had […]
PARIS: France reported 1,346 new coronavirus infections on Friday (Jul 31), taking the total to 187,919 as the daily tally of new cases remained above 1,300 for the third day running, a level last seen during lockdown. At the end of the first month of school holidays, with millions of […]
LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday (Jul 31) postponed a planned easing of the coronavirus lockdown in England after a rise in infections amplified fears of a second deadly surge in COVID-19 cases. Just hours after Britain imposed tougher measures on swathes of northern England, Johnson announced that […]
Fauci urges caution on China and Russia COVID-19 vaccines WASHINGTON: Anthony Fauci, the United States’ top infectious disease official, raised concerns on Friday (Jul 31) regarding the safety of COVID-19 vaccines under development by China and Russia. Several Chinese companies are at the forefront of the global vaccine race, while […]