BAGHDAD: Iraqi health officials reported Tuesday that at least 12 people have died from Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever since the beginning of the year, despite efforts to stop the illness from spreading. “The total number of cases of haemorrhagic fever is 55, including 12 recorded deaths,”said Seif al-Badr, a spokesman for the health ministry. According to … Read more
More than 1,000,000 youngsters in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi have now acquired as a minimum one dose of the first anti-malaria vaccine, the World Health Organization stated Thursday. The “breakthrough” RTS,S vaccine turned into pioneered in Malawi in April 2019 and located to be secure and to extensively lessen severe cases of the ailment, the … Read more
Shares in considered one of China’s biggest conventional medication manufacturers plunged on Monday after reports questioned the efficacy of capsules approved by the authorities as a coronavirus remedy. Shanghai government have joined their Hong Kong counterparts in handing out ‘Lianhua Qingwen’ — a natural remedy advertised for fever and sore throats — as the cities … Read more
The World Health Organization’s crisis council collectively concurred that this moment isn’t the opportunity to drop the defenses on Covid-19, the gathering’s head told a question and answer session on Wednesday. “The choice was consistent that it isn’t at this point the time,” said Didier Houssin, after the board reasoned that the pandemic actually established … Read more
BRASILIA – Brazil has confirmed two cases of infection with the new Deltacron variant of the coronavirus, which combines genetic characteristics of the Delta and Omicron variants, Brazilian Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said Tuesday. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been monitoring the spread of Deltacron since early March, after it was first identified in … Read more
SYDNEY – The reopening of Australia’s international borders following a two-year closure due to COVID-19 could trigger the rise of new forms of influenza, according to a leading virologist. Professor Kanta Subbarao, writing in the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) on Monday, said that the lifting of quarantine regulations posed the potential for “novel flu … Read more
NEW DELHI – The Omicron variant of COVID-19 has accounted for more deaths than the Delta variant in the United States, an Indian news agency Asian News International (ANI) reported. The ANI, quoting a local U.S. daily, The Seattle Times, reported that since Nov. 24 last year, when South Africa first reported the Omicron variant … Read more
SEOUL: The world should provide millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccines to North Korea, where “draconian” anti-pandemic measures are worsening an already-severe food crisis, a UN human rights expert said Wednesday. The impoverished nation has been behind a rigid self-imposed coronavirus blockade since early 2020 to protect itself from the pandemic, with the economy suffering … Read more
SAN FRANCISCO – The Omicron wave is breaking, but deaths have surpassed those from the Delta wave in the United States, The Seattle Times has reported. Since Nov. 24 last year, when South Africa first reported the Omicron variant to the World Health Organization, the United States has confirmed more than 30,163,600 new infections with … Read more
CANBERRA – Researchers from Australia’s national science agency have developed a technology that could eliminate the need to refrigerate vaccines. In a study published on Tuesday, the team from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) found that encapsulating live virus vaccines in metal organic frameworks (MOFs) protects their integrity for up to 12 … Read more
GENEVA – Six African countries have been chosen to establish their own mRNA vaccine production, the World Health Organization said Friday, with the continent largely shut out of access to Covid jabs. Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia were selected as the first recipients of technology from the WHO’s global mRNA vaccine hub, in a … Read more
GENEVA – The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday called on countries that are starting to lift COVID-19 measures to do so in a steady and slow way, as recent data have shown a sharp increase in coronavirus-related deaths around the world. “Since the Omicron variant was first identified just 10 weeks ago, almost 90 … Read more
DARKUSH, Syria – The crowded hospital in Darkush in Syria’s rebel-held northwest treats around 30,000 patients every month, for free but now foreign aid cuts are threatening its future. Already dwindling funds have caused dire shortages of medicine and equipment in this and other clinics in the Idlib region, the last Syrian enclave to oppose … Read more
BEIJING: China’s postal service has ordered workers to disinfect international deliveries and urged the public to reduce orders from overseas after authorities claimed mail could be the source of recent coronavirus outbreaks. China, where the virus first emerged in late 2019, has stuck to a strict policy of targeting zero Covid cases even as the … Read more
BERLIN, Jan 5, 2022 (AFP) – Germany’s BioNTech and US pharma giant Pfizer, which partnered up to develop a Covid-19 vaccine in record time, said Wednesday they are working on a shingles vaccine using the same breakthrough mRNA technology. The companies have signed a partnership deal and are aiming for clinical trials to start in the … Read more
PHNOM PENH, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) — The confirmed cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Cambodia have risen to 94 after nine new infections were detected, Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said here on Wednesday. “Nine new Omicron cases were confirmed by the Pasteur Institute in Cambodia (on Tuesday evening), and all of them … Read more
BEIJING, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) — The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Gates Foundation) have launched a joint program to call for global scientific research cooperation in 2022 to accelerate progress toward malaria eradication. The program, part of the Grand Challenges China initiative co-established by the two … Read more
BEIJING: Getting wine, chocolate, and coffee into China could get even harder from Saturday, with new import restrictions, adding fresh hurdles for the foreign companies bringing products into the world’s largest market for food and drink. Chinese consumers bought $108 billion worth of imported produce in 2020, with that number set to grow for 2021 as … Read more
SYDNEY: The world prepared to usher in 2022 on Friday after another tumultuous and pandemic-ridden year capped by new restrictions, soaring case numbers, and a slight glimmer of hope for better times ahead. The past 12 months saw a new US president and a new Adele album, the first spectator-free Olympics, and dreams of democracy … Read more
PARIS: A Covid “tsunami” threatens to overwhelm healthcare systems, the WHO said Wednesday, as record surges fuelled by the Omicron variant dampened New Year celebrations around the world once again. Governments are walking a tightrope between anti-virus restrictions and the need to keep societies and economies open, as the highly transmissible variant drove cases to levels never … Read more
PARIS, Dec 29, 2021 (AFP) – The world smashed a record number of Covid infections in a week, an AFP tally revealed Wednesday, as the WHO warned that Omicron poses a “very high” risk and could yet overwhelm healthcare systems. The highly transmissible variant propelled the United States, France and Denmark into fresh records on Wednesday. The … Read more
TOKYO, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) — Japan has prepared 13,000 quarantine rooms for people returning from abroad, up 2,000 from the previous week, as part of the measures against the Omicron variant of the COVID-19, Health Minister Shigeyuki Goto said on Tuesday. Entrants may be required to move to facilities near the airport instead of the … Read more
COPENHAGEN, Dec 13, 2021 (AFP) – Danish health authorities said Monday a third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine would be offered sooner to everyone over 40 to curb the spread of the Omicron variant. “Due to the new and more contagious Omicron variant the Danish Health Authority has decided to push the third jab for everyone aged 40 and above, … Read more
PORT LOUIS, Mauritius, Dec 11, 2021 (AFP) – The Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius has recorded its first two infections of the Covid-19 Omicron variant, both linked to people returned from South Africa, with a dozen more contact cases feared. Health Minister Kailesh Jagutpal told a press conference on Friday the pair were asymptomatic and had … Read more
The emergence of the Omicron variant has thrown early signs of recovery in the global supply chain into doubt across the world, including in the Middle East and North Africa, Arab News reported. “There may still be swings, but overall, I think the worst is over,” said Esben Poulsson, who chairs the International Chamber of Shipping, on … Read more
GENEVA, Dec 9, 2021 (AFP) – The World Health Organization said Thursday it remained unclear whether additional Covid-19 vaccine doses are needed to protect against the new Omicron variant, and urged wealthy countries to avoid hoarding the jabs. The UN health agency’s vaccine advisors warned that a rush to stockpile more jabs, especially without clear evidence they are needed, would … Read more
FRANKFURT, Dec 8, 2021 (AFP) – The coronavirus vaccine developed jointly by BioNTech and Pfizer is “still effective” against the Omicron variant of the virus after three doses, the companies said in a statement on Wednesday. A laboratory study by its makers found the vaccine “is still effective in preventing Covid-19, also against Omicron, if it … Read more
A nasal vaccine is currently being tested in humans for the first time. It’s been a long wait (give or take 20 years), but at last Alzheimer’s disease sufferers may now have some hope. At the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston, Massachusetts, the first human study of an intranasal vaccination for the disease … Read more
