COVID-19

European countries on Friday joined Singapore, Israel and others in restricting travel from southern Africa in a frantic effort to keep a newly identified, and apparently significantly evolved, variant of the coronavirus from crossing…

GENEVA: The World Health Organization said Friday it would take "a few weeks" for researchers to understand the impact of the new Covid-19 variant B.1.1.529 detected in South Africa. "Researchers are working to understand more about the…

JOHANNESBURG: South African scientists have detected a new COVID-19 variant in small numbers and are working to understand its potential implications, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Thursday. The NICD…

The EU's drug regulator on Thursday approved the use of Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine for children between the ages of five and 11, opening the way for them to be given a first shot as Europe battles surging infections. The vaccine,…

GENEVA: The World Health Organization said that coronavirus cases jumped by 11% in Europe in the last week, the only region in the world where Covid-19 has continued to increase since mid-October. In its weekly assessment of the pandemic…

WELLINGTON: New Zealand reported 215 new Delta variant cases of Covid-19 in the community on Tuesday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country's current community outbreak to 7,268. Among the new infections, 196 were…

WASHINGTON: Pfizer and BioNTech said on Monday their Covid-19 vaccine remained 100 percent effective in children 12 to 15 years old, four months after the second dose. The companies said that the new data, which involved 2,228 trial…

PARIS: Fifth-wave coronavirus infections in France are rising at an alarming rate, the government reported Sunday, with new daily Covid cases close to doubling over the past week. The seven-day average of new cases reached 17,153 on…

MOSCOW: Russia's record high coronavirus death toll persisted for a second straight day on Saturday, as the number of new infections declined. The state coronavirus task force reported 1,254 Covid-19 deaths, matching Friday's tally. The…

BAGHDAD: Iraq said Saturday it has received 1.2 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine through the Covax sharing scheme, amid fears of a fourth wave in the country. Nearly seven million Iraqis have received at least one dose…