JOHANESBURG: Africa could see 300,000 deaths from the coronavirus even under the best-case scenario, according to a new report that cites modeling by the Imperial College London. Under the worst-case scenario with no interventions against the virus, Africa could see 3.3 million deaths and 1.2 billion infections, the report by the U.N. Economic Commission for […]
BEIJING: China is refuting allegations that the coronavirus pandemic may have originated in a laboratory near the city of Wuhan where contagious samples were being stored. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian cited the head of the World Health Organization and other unidentified medical experts as saying there was no evidence that transmission began from the […]
WASHINGTON: Social distancing measures such as restrictions on public gatherings may have to remain in place intermittently for at least a couple of more years to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the absence of vaccine against the virus or dramatic increase in critical care capacities, researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health […]
PARIS: More than two million cases of the new coronavirus have been officially registered around the world, half of them in Europe, according to a tally compiled by AFP at 1000 GMT Wednesday based on official sources. At least 2,000,576 infections, including 126,871 deaths, have been recorded. Europe is the hardest hit continent, with 1,010,858 […]
BEIRUT: Some 74 million people in the water-scarce Arab region are at greater risk of catching the novel coronavirus because they lack a sink or soap at home, the United Nations said Wednesday. This includes 31 million people in Sudan, more than 14 million in war-torn Yemen and 9.9 million in Egypt, a UN report […]
PARIS: Around 117 million children worldwide risk contracting measles because dozens of countries are curtailing their vaccination programmes as they battle COVID-19, the United Nations warned Tuesday. Currently 24 countries, including several already dealing with large measles outbreaks, have suspended widespread vaccinations, the World Health Organization and the UN’s children’s fund UNICEF said. An additional […]
PARIS: The worldwide death toll from the novel coronavirus pandemic rose to 114,539 on Monday, according to a tally compiled by AFP from official sources. More than 1,853,300 declared cases have been registered in 193 countries and territories since the epidemic first emerged in China in December. Of these cases, at least 395,000 are now […]
NEW YORK: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in New York City has surpassed the 100,000 mark with a total of 6,898 deaths, taking the overall number of infections and fatalities in the US to 557,571 and 22,108, respectively, according to data complied by the Johns Hopkins University. With this, the US now accounts for […]
NEW DELHI/KABUL: The Afghanistan government has so far released over 350 Taliban prisoners out of the 5,000 it committed to free under the US-Taliban peace deal to end the 18-year-old war. The Taliban on Sunday claimed to have released 20 Afghan prisoners. Javid Faisal, spokesman for the Afghan National Security Council, told local media in […]
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman extended a nationwide curfew until further notice due to the spread of the new coronavirus, the interior ministry said on Sunday, after the kingdom reported more than 300 new infections on each of the last four days. Last week Saudi Arabia placed its capital Riyadh and other big cities under […]