Health

GENEVA: The world should be able to rein in the coronavirus pandemic in less than two years, the World Health Organisation said on Friday, as millions of Lebanese wearily entered a new lockdown following a spike in coronavirus infections. Western Europe was also enduring the kind of infection levels not seen in many months, particularly in Germany, France, Spain and …

LAHORE: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has approved Rs10.3 million research funding for a project of the University of Health Sciences (UHS) that will trace “immunological, viral and genetic basis of Covid-19 in local patients”. The funding is approved under the Rapid Research Grant initiative, launched by the HEC with the support of the World Bank. The principal investigator of …

BERLIN: European concerns grew on Thursday over spikes in coronavirus cases in Germany and France, but the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the continent should be able to fight the pandemic without reimposing full lockdown measures. Germany, which has fared better than most of its neighbours, announced it would extend its quarantine rules to parts of Croatia, a popular holiday …

Health authorities in China’s capital Beijing have removed a requirement for people to wear masks outdoors, further relaxing rules aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus after the city reported 13 consecutive days without new cases. Despite the relaxed guidelines, a large proportion of people continued to wear masks in Beijing on Friday. Some said the mask made them …

Recent research shows that the novel coronavirus disease, that affects the lungs and respiratory system, can also lead to severe heart problems, a report in the New York Times said earlier this week. In fact, according to the article, written by cardiologist Dr Haider Warraich, “doctors and researchers should no longer think of Covid-19 as a disease of the lungs but as one …

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of National Health Services Regulation and Coordination has accelerated efforts for early availability of coronavirus vaccine. According to a statement from the NIH, the Covid-19 vaccine committee working under National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has finalised recommendations on early availability of coronavirus vaccine in the country. “The experts working under the coronavirus vaccine committee has finalised …

MOSCOW: Mass testing of Russia’s first potential COVID-19 vaccine to get domestic regulatory approval will involve more than 40,000 people, the TASS news agency cited the vaccine’s developer as saying on Thursday. The vaccine, called “Sputnik V” in homage to the world’s first satellite launched by the Soviet Union, has been hailed as safe and effective by Russian authorities and …

KARACHI: The novel coronavirus claimed seven more lives and infected at least 321 people during the past 24 hours in Sindh. In a statement on the daily COVID-19 situation in the province, CM Murad Ali Shah said that seven more people died from the COVID-19 during past 24 hours, taking the death toll from the disease to 2,350. The chief …

A report by The Wall Street Journal that Facebook Inc’s content regulation policies favoured Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party shows that the social media giant is “no longer impartial” and it must take practical steps to redeem its independence, Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Aminul Haque said on Thursday. The world’s largest social network is battling a public relations and political crisis …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday reported 613 new coronavirus cases during the past 24 hours.  According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 11 more people died due to coronavirus during this period, raising the death toll from the disease in the country to 6,201. The number of active coronavirus cases has dropped to 12,166, while the number of recovered …