Health

KARACHI: The Indus Hospital (TIH) — one of the five sites in Pakistan selected for the multi-country phase-III clinical trial of a potential Covid-19 vaccine — has seen a positive public response to the recent low-key launch of the trial, raising the hope that the effort would meet its target. Till Saturday — day 18 of the trial — over …

NEW YORK: Johnson & Johnson plans to start testing its experimental COVID-19 vaccine in youths aged 12 to 18 as soon as possible, and the company’s previous experience with the same technology in a vaccine successfully used in children could give it a leg up with regulators. “We plan to go into children as soon as we possibly can, but …

Several US retail pharmacy chains have agreed to serve as COVID-19 vaccination sites under a federal government plan, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. A plan by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed companies who have agreed to participate include Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc, CVS Health Corp, Walmart Inc, Kroger Co and Costco Wholesale Corp, …

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Saturday said that 376 cases of COVID-19 detected in last 24 hours in the province. “Two people also lost their lives owing to COVID-19,” the chief minister said during a routine daily briefing on the virus as the overall death toll in the province has reached up to 2,627. Chief Minister …

Yet another doctor succumbed to the coronavirus in Peshawar on Saturday. In a statement, the Provincial Doctors Association (PDA) said Dr Sultan Zeb — associate dean at the Khyber College of Dentistry — had been diagnosed with the coronavirus and was undergoing treatment at Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC). Expressing grief at his demise, the association said Dr Zeb’s contributions to …

PARIS: Bars, restaurants and services shut down in France and Germany on Thursday as countries around the world grappled with how far to push lockdown measures amid a surging tide of coronavirus cases. Hundreds of thousands of new infections took the known global caseload past 44.5 million with nearly 1.2 million deaths, as the disease continued its deadly spread worldwide. …

ISLAMABAD: A day after the government’s decision to limit commercial and social activities, federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Thursday revealed that the national level positivity rate of Covid-19 has exceeded the three per cent mark. “After more than 70 days the national covid positivity ratio was higher than 3% yesterday. Ncoc (NCOC) has tightened restrictions on …

LONDON: Ethnic minorities in Britain are paying with their lives after years of government neglect left them uniquely vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report on Tuesday by a racial justice campaigner whose son was murdered in a hate crime. Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people are more likely to suffer from obesity, heart disease and diabetes. …

LONDON: Antibodies against the novel coronavirus declined rapidly in the British population during the summer, a study found on Tuesday, suggesting protection after infection may not be long lasting and raising the prospect of waning immunity in the community. Scientists at Imperial College London have tracked antibody levels in the British population following the first wave of Covid-19 infections in March and …

MADRID: Spain declared a national state of emergency on Sunday to tackle a second coronavirus wave as the World Health Organisation reported a third straight day of record new infections across the world. The WHO has warned that some countries are on a “dangerous track”, with too many witnessing an exponential increase in cases, and called on countries to take …