Category Archives: World Health Organization

Coronavirus live news: French PM rules out full national lockdown as cases rise by 9,406

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Jean Castex said government not planning return to full lockdown despite surge in cases; Austria extends mask rules

Melbourne residents are experiencing some of the strictest and longest coronavirus lockdown measures in the world as Victoria continues to work to contain a second wave of Covid-19 infections. An overnight curfew from 8pm to 5am is in place, leaving the streets of a once thriving city deserted.

Related: Melbourne’s curfew descends and vibrant city becomes ghost town – in pictures

Saturday’s Mirror splash in the UK.

Saturday’s MIRROR: Virus alert #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/NiJ4gNUL3Z

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Widespread Covid-19 vaccination not expected until mid-2021, says WHO – video

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Widespread vaccinations against Covid-19 are not expected until the middle of next year, according to the World Health Organization, which has stressed the importance of rigorous checks on their effectiveness and safety.

'This phase 3 must take longer because we need to see how truly protective the vaccine is and we also need to see how safe it is,' said spokeswoman Margaret Harris, referring to vaccine clinical trials

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Vaccine-derived polio spreads in Africa after defeat of wild virus

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Fresh cases of disease linked to oral vaccine seen in Sudan, following outbreak in Chad

A new polio outbreak in Sudan has been linked to the oral polio vaccine that uses a weakened form of the virus.

News of the outbreak comes a week after the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that wild polio had been eradicated in Africa.

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Coronavirus live news: Hungary shuts borders with second wave ‘knocking on door’; Greece delays school reopening

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Hungary introduces measures stricter than at height of pandemic; Greek pupils’ return delayed for a week; Spain saw 75% drop in tourists

Spain recorded 8,115 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday evening, 2,731 of them diagnosed in the previous 24 hours, according to the latest figures from the national health ministry.

The latest statistics bring the country’s total to 470,973 cases, of which 99,889 have been logged over the past fortnight. Over the past seven days, 159 people have died from the virus, bringing the death toll to 29,152.

Cuban authorities launched a strict 15-day lockdown of Havana on Tuesday in order to stamp out the low level but persistent spread of coronavirus in the capital.

Aggressive anti-virus measures, including closing down air travel, have virtually eliminated Covid-19 in Cuba with the exception of the capital, where cases have increased from a handful a day to dozens daily over the last month.

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Coronavirus live news: India records its highest daily toll, WHO to review emergency alert rules

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Spanish children over six to wear masks at school; Tour de France in doubt; US Midwest states report record tallies. Follow latest updates

The UK on Thursday recorded the highest number of new coronavirus cases since 12 June, with government figures reporting 1,522 positive cases.

The number of new cases, which cover the 24 hours to 9am on 27 August, were up 474 on the previous day.

Related: UK sees highest number of new Covid-19 cases since mid-June

The risk of severe illness and death to children from Covid-19 is “vanishingly rare”, according to the biggest study yet of those admitted to hospital, which the researchers say should reassure parents as they return to school.

The study included two-thirds of all patients admitted to hospitals across England, Scotland and Wales with Covid-19. Of these, 651 – less than 1% – were children and young people under 19. Six of these patients – less than 1% – died. All had severe underlying health conditions.

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Coronavirus live news: France reports 7,379 daily cases in new post-lockdown record

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France records second highest daily tally since March; Italy considers evacuating tourists from Sardinia; Spain’s daily count falls; face masks mandatory in Paris

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said a White House proposal to spend $1.3tn (£1tn) in coronavirus economic relief would not be enough to meet the needs of American workers and families.

Pelosi said in a statement she hoped the Republicans would come to the negotiating table and accept the Democratic offer of $2.2tn in spending.

Nationwide restrictions cannot be ruled out should England see a spike in coronavirus cases this winter, the health secretary has warned.

Matt Hancock said countries in others parts of the world were already experiencing a second wave, adding it was “a very serious threat”.

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Africa’s triumph over wild polio shows the power of regional unity | Matshidiso Moeti

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The legacy of a successful battle is now helping combat Covid, but we must stay vigilant, says WHO’s Africa regional director

Africa has declared victory over a virus that once paralysed 75,000 children on the continent every year.

Four years have now passed since wild polio was last detected in Africa. After a year of rigorously evaluating polio data from all 47 countries in the WHO’s African region, an independent body of experts announced during a virtual ceremony on Tuesdaythat the continent was free of wild polio.

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Coronavirus live news: Italy ‘won’t lock down again’ to curb cases; English schools had 67 infections in June

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Italy reported 1,071 new infections on Saturday; PHE report into levels of transmission in schools released; Australian deaths pass 500

Travellers from the UK to France are required to self-certify that they are not suffering coronavirus symptoms or have been in contact with a confirmed case within 14 days preceding travel.

The requirement to self-certify has been added to the UK government’s travel advice for those visiting France.

Russia aims to ramp up production of its potential Covid-19 vaccine to between 1.5 million and 2 million doses a month by the end of the year, Reuters reports.

Industry minister Denis Manturov said on Sunday that the nation hopes to eventually produce 6m doses a month, according to the RIA news agency.

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Global report: WHO says world could rein in pandemic in less than two years

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South Korea records most cases since early March; South Africa infections pass 600,000; Brazil on ‘downward trend’

The world should be able to rein in the coronavirus pandemic in less than two years, the World Health Organization has said, as South Korea reported the most daily infections since early March and expanded social distancing measures across the country.

The WHO’s chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, struck a partly optimistic note when he drew comparisons between the Covid-19 pandemic and the with the 1918 flu pandemic, saying technology could help end the spread.

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Young people are not invincible to coronavirus, warns WHO – video

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People should not be blamed for wanting to live normal lives but no one is invincible to coronavirus, including younger people, the WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said on Tuesday. Her comments came in response to a question about photographs showing people in close proximity to one another at a pool party in Wuhan, China, where the novel coronavirus outbreak began. She said similar photos could be seen from every country in the world.

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Why a Biden presidency might not mean a return to pre-Trump foreign relations

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There could be a renewed focus on international cooperation – but Biden would not be great news for Boris Johnson’s Britain

European leaders, desperate for an end to the Trump presidency, are being warned that four years of Joe Biden may present them with new challenges and not a simple restoration of the benign status quo in transatlantic relations prior to 2016.

An evolving Biden doctrine about ending “forever wars” and protecting American workers from Chinese competition would require collective military and economic commitments from the EU that it is still ill-equipped to meet, foreign policy specialists have suggested.

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Global report: WHO warns against dangers of ‘vaccine nationalism’

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US study says 300,000 Americans could die from coronavirus, Bolsonaro urges Brazilians to ‘get on with life’; Africa passes 1m cases

The World Health Organization has warned against “vaccine nationalism”, cautioning richer countries that if they keep treatments to themselves they cannot expect to remain safe if poor nations remain exposed.

As global cases of Covid-19 passed 19 million on Friday, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it would be in the interest of wealthier nations to help every country protect itself against the disease.

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Coronavirus live news: UN warns world faces ‘generational catastrophe’ over school closures

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UN says getting students safely back to classroom must be ‘top priority’; Philippines reimposes lockdown; record fines for isolation breaches in Australia

We’re reporting that builders in the Australia could lose $450m daily under Melbourne stage 4 Covid-19 lockdown.

Work levels from big construction sites to trade businesses set to be pummelled amid predictions new curbs will ‘knock wind out of’ state

Related: Victorian builders could lose $450m daily under Melbourne stage 4 Covid-19 lockdown

Reuters is reporting that Taiwan has provisionally approved the use of dexamethasone, a cheap and widely-used steroid, to treat the new coronavirus because the island faces a shortfall of the antiviral drug remdesivir after the United States bought nearly all global supplies.

Taiwan Centres for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang told reporters on Tuesday that medical experts had decided to provisionally allow dexamethasone to be listed as a COVID-19 treatment but that procedures still needed to be completed before it could be given to any patients.

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Coronavirus live news: Greece reports highest number of cases in weeks as Danish expert advises against lockdown easing

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UN says getting students safely back must be ‘top priority’; France says ‘situation is precarious’; record fines for isolation breaches in Australia

France’s Accor, the world’s sixth largest hotel chain, said it was slashing 1,000 jobs worldwide in a major cost cutting plan accelerated by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

The group, which runs high-end chains such as Raffles and Sofitel, and budget brands like Ibis, plans to cut costs by €200m by 2022.

After weeks of railing against what he claimed were the potential risks of voting by mail, president Donald Trump has urged voters in at least one Republican state - Florida - to vote by any means.

Trump, who is trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in polls, has repeatedly warned in recent weeks - without evidence - that mail-in voting carries more risks than voting by absentee ballot and could result in widespread fraud.

Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Absentee Voting, in Florida the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True. Florida’s Voting system has been cleaned up (we defeated Democrats attempts at change), so in Florida I encourage all to request a Ballot & Vote by Mail! #MAGA

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World Health Organisation warns there may no be a Covid-19 ‘silver bullet’ – video

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World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warns there may never be an effective vaccine for Covid-19. Speaking in Geneva, Tedros explains the need for caution despite progress developing some vaccines. 'A number of vaccines are now in phase three clinical trials and we all hope to have a number of effective vaccines that can help prevent people from infection' he says. 'However, there’s no silver bullet at the moment and there might never be'

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Coronavirus global report: ‘response fatigue’ fears as Mexico hits 9,000 daily cases

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Many countries that believed they were past the worst are grappling with new outbreaks, says WHO

Mexico has recorded more than 9,000 daily coronavirus cases for the first time, as the country overtook the UK with the world’s third-highest number of deaths from the pandemic after the US and Brazil.

The surging numbers were reported as the World Health Organization warned of “response fatigue” and a resurgence of cases in several countries that have lifted lockdowns.

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Coronavirus live news: WHO reports record daily rise in global cases

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New cases jump to 292,500, Irish Cup final played in front of fans; global death toll passes 674,000; France confirms ‘marked increase’ in cases

Sanofi SA and GlaxoSmithKline Plc said they are in advanced discussions with the European Commission to supply up to 300 million doses of the drugmakers’s experimental Covid-19 vaccine.

The doses would be manufactured in European countries including France, Belgium, Germany and Italy.

Florida reported another record increase in Covid-19 deaths on Friday.

The state health department said Florida registered 257 fatalities, a record for the fourth straight day despite predictions that the U.S. coronavirus epicenter could be shifting to the Midwest.

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Measles vaccination disruptions due to coronavirus put 80 million children at risk

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The onset of Covid-19 has devastated immunisation programmes, leaving huge numbers of infants unprotected from deadly diseases

Tens of millions of children around the world have been denied life-saving vaccines against measles in both rich and poor countries due to Covid-19 disruptions, with fears of further outbreaks this year.

Since March, routine childhood immunisation services have been disrupted on a scale unseen since the 1970s, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Data collected by Unicef, the Gavi Alliance, WHO and Sabin Vaccine Institute found in May that immunisation programmes had been substantially hindered in at least 68 countries, leaving 80 million children under the age of one unprotected from diseases including measles, tetanus, polio and yellow fever.

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‘One big wave’ – why the Covid-19 second wave may not exist

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With no evidence of seasonal variations, the WHO warns the initial coronavirus pandemic is continuing and accelerating

The Covid-19 pandemic is currently unfolding in “one big wave” with no evidence that it follows seasonal variations common to influenza and other coronaviruses, such as the common cold, the World Health Organization has warned.

Amid continued debates over what constitutes a second wave, a resurgence or seasonal return of the disease, Margaret Harris, a WHO spokesperson, insisted that these discussions are not a helpful way to understand the spread of the disease.

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Donald Trump’s assault on the WHO is deeply worrying for global health | Peter Beaumont

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A diplomacy shaped around self-serving tittle-tattle now risks lives and undermines America’s standing in the world

The campaign by the Trump administration against the World Health Organization has often seemed faintly preposterous.

Over the months of the coronavirus pandemic its untruths and hyperbole have been dismissed by many as iterations of Trumpspeak, whose main purpose has been to distract from the US’s catastrophic response to Covid-19, which has claimed almost 140,000 lives and devastated the economy.

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