WHO working with AstraZeneca, SII, Indian government to restart Covid-19 vaccines shipment
NEW DELHI: The WHO is urgently trying to work with AstraZeneca, Serum Institute of India (SII) as well as the Indian government to restart shipments of COVID-19 vaccines to countries that had to suspend the rollout of second doses of vaccines amid the disruption in supplies, a senior official at the UN health agency has […]
Most economies won’t return to pre-Covid-19 activity levels by 2022: Moody’s
NEW DELHI: Moody’s Investors Service on Thursday said the credit downturn arising out of COVID-19 will be short-lived but most economies will not return to pre-pandemic activity levels until 2022. In the year since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020, the virus has disrupted the global economy and triggered […]
WHO recommends two doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine within 21-28 days
GENEVA: COVID-19 patients should take two doses of the new Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine within a period of 21-28 days, the head of the World Health Organization’s immunization advisory group said on Tuesday. “We deliberated and came out with the following recommendation: two 2 doses of this vaccine within 21-28 days,” Alejandro Cravioto, chairman of WHO’s Strategic […]
Russia to jointly produce Sputnik V vaccine for Covid-19 with India
NEW DELHI: Russian envoy to India Nikolay Kudashev on Monday said Moscow will jointly produce the Sputnik V vaccinefor COVID-19 along with New Delhi and it will be manufactured by Indian pharma major Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. “We are working very hard to fight COVID-19 together with India, and are now advancing to jointly produce Sputnik […]
Global partnership COVAX secures 2 billion coronavirus vaccine doses
NEW DELHI: Global vaccine partnership COVAX has lined up almost two billion doses of existing and candidate COVID-19 vaccines for use worldwide, including 200 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine through an agreement between the Vaccine Alliance Gavi, the Serum Institute of India and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. COVAX, the global initiative to […]
Vaccination in Asia-Pacific expected mid or late 2021: WHO
By VICTORIA MILKO JAKARTA:The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that countries in the Asia-Pacific region are not guaranteed to have early access to COVID-19 shots and urged them to adopt a long-term approach to the pandemic. “The development of safe and effective vaccines is one thing. Producing them in adequate quantities and reaching everyone […]
Q&A: Where are we in the COVID-19 vaccine race?
NEW DELHI: Drug makers and research centres around the world are working on COVID-19 vaccines, with large global trials of several of the candidates involving tens of thousands of participants well underway. The following is what we know about the race to deliver vaccines to help end the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed more than […]
WHO urges nations to plan efficient roll out of Covid vax
NEW DELHI:As Covid-19 cases continue to increase in most countries of WHO South-East Asia Region, the World Health Organization on Thursday called for stronger collective efforts by one and all to curtail the virus transmission, while also urging countries to plan for efficient roll out of Covid-19 vaccines as soon as they are available. “Like […]
WHO praises AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine trial pause
GENEVA: A World Health Organization (WHO) official on Tuesday said that the decision by AstraZeneca to pause global trials of its experimental coronavirus vaccine after an unexplained illness showed the firm was prioritising safety. “This is what we want to see with trials, it is a well-run trial. Safety is always critical, it is crucial […]
Brazil threatens to quit WHO, Donad Trump says US beating coronavirus pandemic
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has threatened to pull out of the WHO over “ideological bias,” as his counterpart Donald Trump said the US economy was recovering from the coronavirus pandemic while Europe slowly reopens its borders. From Africa to Europe to Asia, governments are focused on reviving economies ravaged by weeks of restrictions to contain […]
Donald Trump cuts ties with WHO as Covid-19 pandemic grips Latin America
US President Donald Trump said he is severing ties with the World Health Organization (WHO) over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, as the death toll from the disease spiked again in the United States and Brazil. The virus, which has killed more than 364,000 people and devastated the global economy, is progressing at different […]
South America becomes new epicentre of Covid-19: WHO
NEW YORK/ BRASILIA: South America has become the new epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). With a total of 330,098 COVID-19 cases, Brazil has since surpassed Russia as the country with the second-highest number of infections after the US. The rest of the continent has not fared much better. […]
Harsh Vardhan to take charge as WHO executive Board Chairman
NEW DELHI: India’s Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, who is at the forefront of India’s battle against COVID-19, is set to take charge as the chairman of the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board on May 22, officials said. Vardhan would succeed Dr Hiroki Nakatani of Japan, currently the Chairman of the 34-member WHO Executive Board. […]
China announces $2 billion in coronavirus help at WHO assembly
By JAMEY KEATEN and MARIA CHENG GENEVA:China will provide $2 billion over two years to fight the coronavirus pandemic and the economic fallout from it, President Xi Jinping said Monday, rallying around the World Health Organization even as the United States has slashed funding for the U.N. health agency and sought to undermine its credibility. […]
Covid-19 could become endemic like HIV, may never go away says WHO
GENEVA: The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 could become endemic like HIV, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday, warning against any attempt to predict how long it would keep circulating and calling for a “massive effort” to counter it. “It is important to put this on the table: this virus may become just another endemic […]
WHO warns of new lockdowns if transition not managed carefully
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday warned of the risks of returning to lockdown if countries emerging from pandemic restrictions do not manage transitions “extremely carefully and in a phased approach”. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus listed a series of steps needed before countries lift measures designed to control the spread of […]