White House to shift COVID-19 vaccine to states with more need

COVID-19 vaccine doses allocated to a U.S. state but left unordered will become available to other states under a policy shift aimed at delivering vaccines to where they are most in demand, the White House said on Tuesday. Vaccines have been allocated state by state based on population – a formula the Biden administration held […]
‘We are all the same’ – Barcelona church opens doors to Ramadan dinners

With COVID-19 restrictions preventing Barcelona’s Islamic population from celebrating Ramadan at the usual indoor venues, a Catholic church has offered up its open-air cloisters for Muslims to eat and pray together. Every evening between 50 and 60 Muslims, many of them homeless, stream into the centuries-old stone passages of the Santa Anna church, where volunteers […]
Pfizer in talks with India over expedited approval for COVID-19 vaccine

Pfizer is in discussions with the Indian government seeking an “expedited approval pathway” for its COVID-19 vaccine, its CEO Albert Bourla said on LinkedIn on Monday, announcing a donation of medicines worth more than $70 million. “Unfortunately, our vaccine is not registered in India although our application was submitted months ago,” he said. “We are […]
Taiwan bars arrivals from India amid coronavirus crisis

Taiwan will bar from Tuesday the entry of people who have been to India over the previous 14 days, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said, the latest place to enforce curbs on travel from coronavirus-battered India. The Indian variant of the virus has reached at least 17 countries, including Britain, Iran and Switzerland, spurring several to […]
Spanish aficionados return to Madrid bullring for first time since pandemic

Carrying red and yellow flowers to show bullfighting is a symbol of Spanish culture, thousands of aficionados cheered on matadors who returned to Madrid’s Las Ventas bullring on Sunday for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Wearing mandatory face masks and sitting in fumigated seats separated by stickers, fans watched matadors take on […]
‘Hospitals are full’ as Argentina COVID-19 cases hit 3 million

Argentina coronavirus cases hit 3 million on Sunday since the pandemic began, as medical workers said hospitals were full to capacity despite toughened government measures to bring down the spread of infections. The country’s health ministry said there were 11,394 new cases over the last 24-hour period, bringing up the grim new milestone, with 156 […]
Vote count in five Indian states begin amid pandemic

India’s election officials on Sunday started counting votes in five states from elections held in March and early April at the start of a surge in COVID-19 cases that has overwhelmed the country’s healthcare system. The state election results are seen as a test of the impact the devastating second wave of the pandemic is […]
Cambodia reports daily record of 730 COVID-19 cases

Cambodia reported a daily record of 730 new coronavirus cases, the health ministry said in a statement on Sunday, as the country struggles to contain a wave of infections that emerged about two months ago. The Southeast Asian nation has recorded one of the world’s smallest COVID-19 caseloads, but the recent outbreak that was first […]
India’s COVID-19 daily cases hold close to record, another state imposes lockdown

India’s new coronavirus cases dipped marginally on Sunday but deaths due to the infection jumped by a record 3,689, with one more state going into lockdown as the nation’s creaky healthcare system is unable to cope with a massive caseload. Authorities reported 392,488 new cases in the previous 24 hours to push total cases to […]
AstraZeneca’s Soriot: we didn’t overpromise on COVID-19 vaccine supplies

AstraZeneca (AZN.L) Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said on Friday the drugmaker had not overpromised on the supply of COVID-19 vaccines around the world, as he defended big cuts in deliveries that prompted a lawsuit by the European Union. The European Commission has launched legal proceedings against the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker for not respecting its contract for the supply […]