Coronavirus Infections
Brazilian president fined for not wearing mask
Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, has been fined for not wearing a mask as he joined thousands of motorcyclists at a rally in Sao Paulo. Bolsonaro waved from his bike to the cheering crowd as he used the occasion to insist masks were useless for vaccinated people. The rally snaked in and out of the city, arriving back at Ibirapuera Park, where the far-right leader addressed supporters and said mask-wearing for vaccinated people was pointless. However, President Bolsonaro’s claim has been disputed by most health experts. “Whoever is against this proposal is because they don’t believe in science, because if they are vaccinated, there is no way the virus can be transmitted,” said Bolsonaro. Under 12% of Brazilians have had both doses of a vaccine, the ministry of health says, and many expe...
Africa on cusp of the third wave of coronavirus facing a vaccine shortage
Africa is heading into a third wave of coronavirus infections as the least-inoculated continent faces a shortage of vaccines. African nations reported 94,000 new cases in the week through June 6, a 26% increase. South Africa announced the most new cases, followed by Tunisia, Africa Centres for Disease Control & Prevention Director John Nkengasong said in an online briefing Thursday. “Fourteen or so of our member states are now heading toward the third wave, and aggressively so,” he said. “It really highlights the need for us to roll out vaccines at speed and at scale.” Only 2.8% of Africa’s population is inoculated, compared with a global average of 14.5%, according to Africa CDC and Bloomberg Economics data. The program has slowed because of interruptions to supply from India, where m...
Nigeria records 63 new coronavirus cases
Nigeria on Friday recorded 63 new coronavirus infections in seven states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The new figure raised the total number of infections in the country to 166,254, an update published by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Friday night indicates. According to the update, no new death was recorded from the virus, which has already claimed 2,071 lives in the country. The data shows that the new COVID-19 cases were reported in seven states and Abuja. Lagos recorded 25 cases, closely followed by Ondo with 22. Rivers State reported six while Akwa Ibom and Kaduna reported three each. Also, Kwara State reported two while Ebonyi and FCT reported one each. A breakdown of the data shows that 11 people were discharged on Friday after testing negative for the vi...
Guinea receives purchase of 300,000 Sinovac coronavirus vaccines
Guinea received on Sunday a shipment of 300,000 Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines purchased from China and is also set to receive a donation of 200,000 Sinopharm shots, Guinean Foreign Minister Ibrahima Khalil Kaba said. Kaba gave no further details on the Sinopharm donation. Guinea is reporting 93 new coronavirus infections on average each day, 59% of the peak in March. There have been 21,460 infections and 138 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began. The West African country has administered at least 109,296 doses of COVID vaccines so far, according to government data compiled by Reuters. Assuming every person needs two doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 0.4% of the country’s population. The World Health Organization will decide late this month or i...
Israeli court limits use of spy agency to track coronavirus cases
Israel’s top court ruled Tuesday the government must curb its use of the domestic spy agency to track coronavirus infections, saying “draconian” surveillance constituted a blow to democracy. The government began using the Shin Bet’s surveillance technologies in March 2020, when Covid-19 infections began to spike. But the supreme court quickly blocked such practice, saying legislation was needed to authorise the programme. Tracking was discontinued in June but the following month, amid another infection surge, parliament passed a law allowing the surveillance when “an epidemiological investigation cannot be completed otherwise”. Initially approved for three weeks, that has measure has been repeatedly extended since while details of how information was obtained were kept secret. Critics crie...
Pep Guardiola confident Kevin de Bruyne will commit future to Manchester City
Pep Guardiola expects Kevin De Bruyne to commit his long-term future to Manchester City despite reports the Belgium midfielder’s contract talks have stalled. De Bruyne’s current contract runs until 2023, but City have already offered him a new deal. That contract extension remains unsigned amid claims De Bruyne was “disappointed” City’s offer did not significantly improve his reported salary of £280,000 ($380,000) per week. De Bruyne, voted the PFA Player of the Year last season, is said to want a deal that reflects his status as one of the world’s best midfielders and vice-captain of the club. Despite those issues, City boss Guardiola remains confident De Bruyne’s future will be at the Etihad Stadium. “I am pretty sure he will stay but at the same time we have to respect the process,” Gua...
France reports sharp decrease in new daily coronavirus cases before vaccine roll out
French health authorities reported 3,093 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours on Saturday, sharply down from the 20,000+ figure recorded over the two days before Christmas Day (Dec. 25) But the number of people hospitalised for the disease increased by 85, at 24,477, the first increase in six days. France will launch its vaccination campaign on Sunday along with most other EU countries. Its COVID-19 death toll increased by 146 versus Friday, to 62,573, the seventh-highest globally. Get more stories like this on Twitter You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blog...
Federal government orders universities to suspend academic activities
For university students, hope of return to classrooms following the suspension of over eight weeks’ strike by university lecturers earlier in the week was again dashed on Friday. This followed directive by the National Universities Commission, NUC, to Vice-Chancellors that put academic activities in universities should be put on hold for now in compliance with COVID-19 protocol of prohibition of activities involving large gathering of people. In the directive issued in a circular signed by Chris Maiyaki, its Deputy Executive Secretary (Administration), NUC, said classrooms, hostel accommodation, conferences and seminars should be suspended in accordance to COVID-19 protocol of prohibition of large gatherings. It further directed that universities should remain closed pending further direct...
Beirut seeks Christmas cheer after devastating year
Near the wreckage of Beirut’s port, a charity is bringing Christmas cheer to a city hammered by a devastating explosion, rising coronavirus infections and the worst economic crisis since Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war. The Solidarity Christmas Village, decked out with flashing fairy lights and glittering trees, has been offering visitors free entry to watch concerts and pick up drinks and snacks, lifting the mood of families who can’t afford seasonal luxuries. People dressed in giant polar bear costumes and others in Santa Claus outfits offer some festive spirit to a country that is a patchwork of Christian and Muslim sects. “We need to make our children happy …. even if we are tired,” said Toni Hossainy, who had brought her son. The Christmas village has been set up in a temporary warehous...
Ukrainian president tests positive for coronavirus
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday he tested positive for the novel coronavirus but felt fine as infections surged in the country. “Despite all quarantine measures, I also had a positive test,” Zelensky said on Facebook. The 42-year-old leader said that his temperature was 37.5C but that he felt “good”. He will self-isolate and continue to perform his duties, he added. “Most people overcome Covid-19. And I will get through this too,” he said. The head of Zelensky’s office Andriy Yermak also said that he had contracted the coronavirus. In June, Zelensky’s wife Olena Zelenska was hospitalized after contracting the virus but has recovered. On Saturday, the ex-Soviet country of 40 million people reported a record of 10,746 new coronavirus infections. Ukraine, one of Europe’s po...
Nigeria records 136 new virus cases, three more deaths
Nigeria reported 136 new cases of coronavirus and three more deaths from the virus in the past 24 hours, the country’s infectious disease agency, NCDC, said on Monday. With the new figures, the total coronavirus infections in the country is now 58,640 while 1,111 COVID-19 related deaths have so far been reported. The health agency said almost 50,000 patients have recovered from the virus, which translates to a recovery rate of about 85 per cent. Meanwhile, the are still about 7,400 active infections in Nigeria. The 136 new cases were reported from 13 states: Lagos (71), Rivers (23), Plateau (12), Adamawa (6), Oyo (6), Kaduna (5), Abia (3), FCT (3), Katsina (2), Kwara (2), Bauchi (1), Borno (1), Edo (1). Lagos had the highest number of new cases on Monday with 71 infections. The commercial ...
China reports no new coronavirus cases in 24 hours
China on Saturday reported zero new coronavirus infections for the first time since it started reporting data in January, a day after Communist Party leaders celebrated “major achievements” in the virus fight. The virus first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, but cases have dwindled dramatically from the peak in mid-February as the country appears to have brought the virus largely under control. The official death toll in the country of 1.4 billion people stands at 4,634, well below the number of fatalities in much smaller countries. However, doubt has been cast on the reliability of China’s numbers and the United States has led the charge in questioning how much information Beijing has shared with the international community. The milestone comes a day after the ...
