Health

There is no “zero risk” strategy for countries easing international travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, and essential travel for emergencies should remain the priority, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. In a long-awaited update to its guidance on travel, the United Nations global health agency said cross-border trips for emergencies, humanitarian work, the transfer of essential personnel and repatriation …

CHICAGO: Johnson & Johnson on Thursday kicked off U.S. human safety trials for its COVID-19 vaccine after releasing details of a study in monkeys that showed its best-performing vaccine candidate offered strong protection in a single dose. When exposed to the virus, six out of six animals who got the candidate vaccine were completely protected from lung disease and five …

PESHAWAR: The World Health Organisation is concerned over less Covid-19 testing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and wants the government to scale up testing capacity to know about the exact quantum of pandemic, according to officials. WHO chief is visiting Peshawar on Thursday (today) to discuss the issue of less testing with the health minister, according to Islamabad-based officials. They said that …

LAHORE: As many as 19 districts of Punjab for the first time reported not a single new coronavirus case during the last 24 hours. However, 173 new cases have been reported in the provincial capital during the same period. Meanwhile, three districts reported two each cases, and four others three each new positive cases of the virus during the same …

MOSCOW: Russia’s first potential COVID-19 vaccine will win local regulatory approval in the first half of August and be administered to frontline health workers soon afterwards, a development source close to the matter told Reuters. A state research facility in Moscow – the Gamaleya Institute – completed early human trials of the adenovirus-based vaccine this month and expects to begin …

ZURICH: Roche’s attempt to retool its rheumatoid arthritis drug Actemra/RoActemra to treat patients hospitalised with severe COVID-19-related pneumonia has failed in a late-stage trial, the Swiss company said on Wednesday. Roche launched the 330-patient trial in March as it joined other pharmaceutical companies seeking to re-purpose existing medicines to fight the pandemic. The “COVACTA trial did not meet its primary …

Pfizer said other developed countries would have to pay the same for its coronavirus vaccine as what it has agreed to charge the United States under a contract. The US government has agreed to pay nearly $2 billion to buy enough of a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer and German biotech BioNTech SE to inoculate 50 million people at …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, China, Afghanistan and Nepal have agreed to jointly fight COVID-19 and resume economy. The agreement reached at a quadrilateral virtual meeting of foreign ministers hosted by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Radio Pakistan reported on Tuesday. Minister for Economic Affairs Khusro Bakhtiar represented Pakistan at the session. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang said that China stands ready to continue …

GENEVA: The World Health Organization on Tuesday warned against complacency about new coronavirus transmission in the northern hemisphere summer, saying that this virus did not behave like influenza that tended to follow seasonal trends. “People are still thinking about seasons. What we all need to get our heads around is this is a new virus and…this one is behaving differently,” …

ISLAMABAD: While it is being claimed that the mortality rate in Pakistan, India and other countries of the region is fewer due to Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine and malaria belt, the higher mortality rate in Asian health workers in the United Kingdom and Europe may have been the result of their exposure to frontline Covid-19 patient response teams on account …