International News Updates

United Nations: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres underscored the necessity of the World Health Organization (WHO) during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis in the face of a threat by US President Donald Trump to withhold funds for the UN agency. “The WHO, with thousands of its staff, is on the front lines, supporting member states and their […]

United Nations: The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) could increase global poverty by as much a half a billion, said a UN study into the financial and human cost of the global crisis. It will be the first time that poverty has increased globally in 30 years, the BBC cited the study, written […]

London: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved out of intensive care as his condition improves, Downing Street said on Thursday evening. “The Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved this evening from intensive care back to the ward, where he will receive close monitoring during the early phase of his recovery. He is […]

Washington: A clinical trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug, for the treatment of adults hospitalized with COVID-19 (coronavirus) have begun in the United States, according to a release of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Thursday. The first participants have enrolled in the trial at Vanderbilt University Medical […]

United Nations: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for unity of the Security Council over the COVID-19 pandemic. “The engagement of the Security Council will be critical to mitigate the peace and security implications of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he told the council in a virtual briefing on Thursday, reported Xinhua news agency. “Indeed, a signal of […]

Geneva: The COVID-19 pandemic has hit over 22,000 healthcare workers across 52 countries and regions, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. According to its daily situation report on Saturday, 22,073 COVID-19 cases among healthcare workers have been reported to the WHO as of Wednesday, April 8, Xinhua news agency reported. The report said the number […]

Beijing: China reported the highest number of new coronavirus cases in nearly six weeks on Monday, as it tried to prevent a second wave of COVID-19 infections, a media report said. Having largely stamped out the domestic transmission of the disease, China, where the pandemic originated last December, has been slowly easing curbs on movement […]

Geneva: There is no evidence that the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, which is primarily used against tuberculosis, protects people against infection with the novel coronavirus, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. The WHO, therefore, didn’t recommend BCG vaccination for the prevention of COVID-19 in the absence of evidence, according to its daily situation report on […]

Washington: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced halting America’s funding of the World Health Organization while a review is being conducted to assess its role in “severely mismanaging and covering up” the spread of the deadly coronavirus. The novel coronavirus, which originated from Wuhan City of central China’s Hubei province in November, has so […]

Washington: Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have welcomed the Group of 20 (G20)’s decision to provide temporary debt relief for the world’s poorest countries. “We strongly welcome the decision of the G20 to respond to our call to allow the poorest countries of the world that […]

Washington: President Donald Trump has said the US has “passed the peak” of new COVID-19 cases and added that some states would reopen this month. More than 6.3 lakh Americans have tested positive for COVID-19 so far and total fatalities as on Wednesday were nearly 28,000, the highest for any country in the world. “The […]

Wuhan: China’s coronavirus death toll mounted to 4,632 on Friday as the country revised figures in its epicentre Wuhan with 1,290 additional fatalities amid international criticism of under-reporting of COVID-19 data. The Wuhan municipal headquarters on Friday revised the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths due to the disease, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. […]

Washington: Global COVID-19 deaths surpassed 150,000 with over 2.2 million infections on Friday as international institutions are intensifying their collective efforts on battling the pandemic. A total of 150,948 people have died of the disease as of 3:30 p.m. (1930 GMT) among 2,214,861 cases worldwide, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) […]

United Nations: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres salutes India and all countries that are helping others in dealing with the COVID-19 crisis, according to his Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. Asked by a reporter at his daily briefing on Thursday about India sending aid to several countries facing the COVID-19 pandemic, Dujarric said: “The secretary-general calls for global […]

Washington: US President Donald Trump has warned China of consequences if it was “knowingly responsible” for the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Trump, who has expressed his disappointment over the handling of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) by China, alleged non-transparency and initial non-cooperation with the US on this issue. “If they were knowingly responsible, […]