MANILA: More than 140,000 people were forced into cramped shelters as a powerful typhoon hammered the Philippines on Friday (May 15), compounding the nation’s battle with the COVID-19 pandemic. Typhoon Vongfong has dumped heavy rains since it roared ashore on Thursday, with hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in its […]
Healthcare
When some Indian cities eased the grinding lockdown last week to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, long queues were seen outside liquor shops across the country. In cities like Mumbai, a Covid-19 hotspot, booze-loving people made a mockery of social distancing rules, prompting the government to shut the […]
A US pharmaceutical firm has signed agreements with drug makers in South Asia to expand supply of the drug remdesivir for treating Covid-19. The agreement between Gilead and five generic pharmaceutical companies in India and Pakistan will help make the medicine for 127 countries. Remdesivir cut the duration of symptoms […]
India will provide free food to migrants for two months as part of a $266bn (£216bn) economic plan to combat the effect of the Covid-19 lockdown. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said grain supplies worth $463m would benefit 80 million migrants. Tens of thousands of migrants have been fleeing cities on […]
Japan has lifted a state of emergency imposed due to the coronavirus in 39 out of 47 prefectures, after a sharp fall in new infections. The order still applies in Tokyo, Osaka and on the northern island of Hokkaido, where new cases are emerging daily. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said […]
A test to find out whether people have been infected with coronavirus in the past has been approved by health officials in England. Public Health England said the antibody test, developed by Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche, was a “very positive development”. The blood test looks for antibodies to see if […]
One in 400 people in England has the Covid-19 virus, a survey of nearly 11,000 people in households suggests. They were asked to carry out swab tests over the two weeks up to 10 May. This indicates about 148,000 people in England could be currently infected – 0.27% of the […]
The World Health Organization’s emergencies chief said on Wednesday that it’s possible the new coronavirus may be here to stay, warning it was impossible to predict when the pandemic might be controlled. “This virus may never go away,” said Dr. Michael Ryan, in a news briefing, adding that the number […]
Recorded cases of thefts, sexual violence and burglaries have fallen across France since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, official statistics show. The latest set of weekly delinquency figures released on Thursday by the Ministry of Interior also shows that crime figures rose last week as the country prepared to […]
The coronavirus pandemic has battered Brazil’s economy as residents shelter at home and many state and local governments instructed most businesses to close to slow the spread of the virus. Brazil registered a record number of new cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, surpassing France’s tally to become the […]