Category: World News

The number of Covid 19 cases registered so far was already around 290 million worldwide at the turn of the year. But all statistics are likely to reflect only part of the pandemic. Indeed, 40 percent of those testing positive for Sars-CoV-2 have no symptoms. This is the result of a meta-analysis of international studies involving almost 30 million people. Conclusion: asymptomatic infected individuals contribute quite significantly to the spread of covid-19. Qiuyue Ma and co-authors from the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Peking University recently published their findings…

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More than 292 million people have tested positive for the virus worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 5.4 million infected people have died. More than 9.2 billion vaccine doses have been administered so far. Thailand will not relax entry rules tightened before Christmas until at least the end of the month. That’s what Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said Tuesday (Jan. 4), according to the Bangkok Post. The government had decided on Dec. 21 to initially suspend until Jan. 4 the quarantine-free “Test&Go” model, under which fully vaccinated tourists…

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About 150 passengers on board the cruise ship “MSC Grandiosa” have tested positive for coronavirus in Genoa. The ship had arrived in Genoa from Marseille and was scheduled to sail on to Civitavecchia, the port of Rome, this afternoon, the cruise line said. The mostly Italian passengers were isolated in their cabins until the arrival of port authorities and regional health officials. They will reportedly be taken home in buses, while the foreign passengers have been placed in a nursing home in Genoa. If that facility is at capacity, additional…

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More than 290 million people have tested positive for the virus worldwide, according to John Hopkins University. More than 5.4 million infected people have died. More than 9.1 billion vaccine doses have been administered. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tested positive for the corona virus Sunday (Jan. 2). The Pentagon said Austin was showing only mild symptoms, but he would follow guidelines from the CDC health agency and spend the next five days at home in quarantine. He retains all command authority and will continue to work virtually and attend…

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India has reported 22,775 new infections in the past 24 hours. The data show sharp increases in densely populated regions such as around the capital New Delhi, the financial center of Mumbai and the metropolis of Kolkata in the east of the country. Since the peak of the second covid wave last year, daily infection rates in India had fallen from over 400,000 to below 10,000 at times. Now experts fear a third wave due to the virus variant Omicron. Thirteen million residents of the Chinese city of Xian are…

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Shortly before the planned impressive fireworks at the turn of the year in Sydney Harbour, the Australian state of New South Wales has recorded more new corona infections than ever before. Authorities in the east coast region reported about 21,100 new cases on Friday – nearly 9,000 more than on Thursday and 15,000 more than on Wednesday. Higher numbers of new infections have never been recorded in any Australian region, broadcaster ABC reported. Australia had long pursued a zero-covid strategy and closed its national borders to visitors. Despite this, infection…

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More than one million people have died in Eastern Europe in connection with the virus since the first recorded cases of Corona in China about two years ago, according to calculations by the Reuters news agency. Among the worst-hit countries in the region are Russia, Poland and Ukraine, the data show. A total of 1.04 million people in Eastern Europe died from the virus. In Europe, a total of 1.87 million deaths were counted. In Russia alone, more than 87,000 people died in November in connection with the coronavirus, a…

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Israel will initially give a fourth dose of the Corona vaccine only to people with immunodeficiency. An expert panel had recommended that people over 60 and medical personnel be vaccinated for the fourth time, in addition to the immunocompromised, in light of the rapid spread of the Omikron variant. Nachman Asch, director general of the Ministry of Health, said he was not yet convinced that this was already necessary. However, he said, they are re-evaluating every day how to proceed. An Israeli hospital had begun a study Monday on the…

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Portugal is following Spain’s example and reducing the isolation period from ten to seven days. The reduction applies to infected people without symptoms and to people with a suspected corona infection that has not yet been confirmed. Austria does not count Spain or Portugal as a virus variant area. Therefore, 2G plus applies to entry into Austria. Persons entering Austria must present proof of vaccination or recovery and additionally a PCR test. Persons who have already received another vaccination dose (“booster”) are exempt from presenting a test. The Greek Health…

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