Health

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Bahrain said Sunday it approved the use of a Chinese coronavirus vaccine, following its earlier approval of a vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.

Separately, Kuwait has granted emergency use for the Pfizer vaccine.

Bahrain’s state-run news agency said the Sinopharm vaccine would be available in the island kingdom off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf.

BERLIN (AP) — Most stores shut, tight limits on social contacts, no singing in church and a ban on fireworks sales: Germany is ratcheting up its pandemic restrictions in an effort to cut the stubbornly high rate of coronavirus infections.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said she and the governors of Germany’s 16 states agreed Sunday to step up the country’s lockdown measures from Dec. 16 to Jan. 10 to stop the exponential rise of COVID-19 cases.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan has increased its funds allocation for purchasing COVID-19 vaccines amid a surge in the coronavirus.

Dr. Nausheen Hamid, parliamentary secretary for National Health Services, says the budget for the vaccines has been enhanced to $250 million. Earlier, the government had set aside $150 million.

Pakistan recorded 3,369 new cases of the virus and 72 new deaths on Saturday.

A surge in the virus comes amid massive disregard by people for precautionary measures despite constant warnings by the authorities.

The first trucks carrying a COVID-19 vaccine for widespread use in the United States were set to pull out of a Michigan manufacturing plant Sunday, with the shots that are critical to stopping the nation’s coronavirus outbreak destined to reach states a day later.

Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine will set in motion the biggest vaccination effort in American history at a critical juncture of the pandemic that has killed 1.6 million and sickened 71 million worldwide.

Washington, Dec 12 (AP-PTI) Doctors and nurses around the US are becoming exhausted and demoralised as they struggle to cope with a record-breaking surge of COVID-19 patients that is overwhelming hospitals and prompting governors to clamp back down to contain the virus.

New York Gov Andrew Cuomo on Friday banned indoor dining in New York City, saying he had been waiting in vain for hospitalisation rates to stabilise.

Kolkata, Dec 11 (PTI) Doctors of different hospitals across West Bengal Friday staged protests against the Centres move to allow postgraduate practitioners of Ayurveda to be trained in performing surgical procedures.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has demanded withdrawal of the notification.

Doctors in various hospitals in the city and in Murshidabad, Nadia, Malda, Uttar Dinajpur, North and South 24 Parganas districts wore black bands but carried on normal duties.

WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US experts voted Thursday to recommend granting emergency approval for Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine, paving the way for America to become the next country to move ahead with mass immunization.

It comes as the worst-hit country in the world logged more than 3,000 virus
deaths in one day and its overall toll was approaching 300,000.

With northern hemisphere countries hit by a pandemic winter surge, Britain this week became the first Western country to roll out the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

11 Dec 2020; MEMO:  The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued a decision allowing all workers of the Ministry of Health and their first-degree relatives, holding valid residency permits and entry visas, to return to the country on direct or transit flights, Kuwaiti Al-Rai newspaper reported.

10 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Iranian officials have accused the United States of thwarting its efforts to purchase the coronavirus vaccine, Bloomberg reported yesterday.

The agency said Tehran hoped to use the billions of US dollars held in South Korean won currency to purchase the vaccines under an agreement it had reached with Seoul a few months ago.

09 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Russia is ready to produce a coronavirus vaccine in Algeria, Russian Ambassador to the North African country, Igor Belyaev, announced yesterday.

"Russia is ready to cooperate with Algeria to design a vaccine on the local level," Belyaev told Sputnik, adding that he had discussed the matter with the Algerian health and pharmaceutical industry minister.