The Associated Press FEDERAL health officials are requiring airlines to gather contact-tracing information on passengers heading to the U.S. who have been in southern Africa in the previous two weeks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that it issued the latest requirement “to prevent the importation and spread of a communicable disease
Al Jazeera NATIONS are adopting differing levels of border control with countries such as Israel, Morocco and Japan closing their borders entirely, while others have only tightened COVID testing at the border. The map below shows countries that have imposed travel bans. It will be updated as more information becomes available. Total bans China – China
BBC A TEAM at University College London said some people had a degree of Covid-immunity before the pandemic started. This likely came from the body learning how to fight viruses that are related to the one which has swept the world. Upgrading vaccines to copy this protection could make the jabs even more effective, the
Wall Street Journal IN ZIMBABWE, where just 18% of the population are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the armed forces have a surplus of shots thanks to a gift from a powerful benefactor: China’s People’s Liberation Army. In the Philippines, another PLA donation has helped the majority of service members get vaccinated. In Ethiopia, where the
BBC TRIBUTES are being paid to former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who has died of Covid-19 complications aged 84. The former top military officer died on Monday morning, his family said. He rose to become the first African-American secretary of state in 2001 under Republican President George W Bush. Powell, who was fully
China Morning Post THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has unveiled the team of scientists that will take on the gnarly task of investigating how the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 emerged. The 26-person group, announced on Wednesday, is stacked with experts in virology, epidemiology, animal health and biosecurity, among other fields. Selected by the WHO from
The Guardian HALF-TERM holiday bookings have jumped by 200% compared with August since the government announced a relaxation of travel rules in England, the travel firm Thomas Cook has said. On Friday, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, unveiled plans to simplify the Covid rules around trips abroad from next month, scrapping the traffic light system and
BBC TAIWAN has begun administering its first domestically developed Covid-19 vaccine, amid criticism that its approval was rushed. The island’s health ministry authorised emergency use of the Medigen vaccine last month although clinical trials are yet to be completed. Taiwan’s vaccination efforts have been hampered by delivery delays and hesitancy amongst its population. President Tsai
By Thandiwe Garusa THE Elders, a group of eminent internationally acclaimed politicians, have urged world leaders to rise to the challenge and demonstrate a direct and personal responsibility in leading efforts to prevent future global pandemics such as Covid-19 and the threats they pose. The Elders said this can be achieved by the leaders publicly
Sky News More than 150 workers at a Houston hospital system have resigned or been fired after refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Houston Methodist told its employees in April that they had to get vaccinated by 7 June, the first major US healthcare system to make the jabs compulsory. Some 178 people refused and
BBC A large number of poorer countries receiving Covid-19 vaccines through a global sharing scheme do not have enough doses to continue programmes, the World Health Organization has said. WHO senior adviser Dr Bruce Aylward said the Covax programme had delivered 90 million doses to 131 countries. But he said this was nowhere near enough
BBC THE number of deaths related to Covid-19 has passed 500,000 in Brazil, the second highest in the world, as experts say the outbreak could worsen amid slow vaccination and the start of winter. The virus continues to spread as President Jair Bolsonaro refuses to back measures like social distancing. The health institute Fiocruz says
BBC Millions of Covid vaccines could be wasted if rich countries send large amounts of leftover doses to poorer nations in one go, Unicef has warned. The charity said there needed to be a steady supply throughout the year because poor countries do not have resources to use them all at once. The UK and
BBC The EU’s medicines agency (EMA) has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for 12-15 year olds – the first jab allowed for this age group in the bloc. Individual member states must now decide if they will offer the jab to children. German leaders gave the green light on Thursday. The US and Canada approved the
MailOnline William Shakespeare, the first man in the world to have the Covid-19 jab, has died in hospital. Tributes were paid to the proud Coventry pensioner, 81, who hit global headlines on December 8 after being vaccinated at the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire. His picture appeared on front pages across the world – much to both his
MailOnline Sniffer dogs are more effective than rapid tests at detecting cases of Covid-19 and could soon be deployed at airports, according to a major British study. Researchers found coronavirus has a ‘distinctive odour’ that means specially-trained medical detection dogs can identify infected people, even those without symptoms. Astonishingly, the dogs are able to detect
Mail OnLine More than 150 bodies of suspected coronavirus patients have been dumped into the River Ganges amid fears that relatives could not bury or cremate them in latest shocking scene laying India’s crisis bare. The health ministry recorded another 366,161 infections and 3,754 deaths on Monday – both figures are almost certainly undercounts as
BBC THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has granted emergency approval for the Covid vaccine made by Chinese company Sinopharm. It is the first vaccine developed by a non-Western country to get WHO backing. The vaccine has already been given to millions of people in China and elsewhere. The WHO had previously only approved the vaccines
AFP Mumbai: More emergency medical aid from foreign donors to alleviate a dire oxygen shortage arrived in India on Sunday, as COVID-19 deaths in the South Asian nation rose to a new record. India is setting almost daily records for new infections and deaths as the virus crisis engulfs overstretched hospitals in cities and spreads
BBC India has recorded its highest daily coronavirus death toll since the pandemic began – a day after it became the first country to register more than 400,000 new cases. Its health ministry said 3,689 people had died within the past 24 hours. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the health minister on Sunday morning to
