Tag Archives: covid

The Dutch government on Friday imposed a ban on arrivals from South Africa and several other neighboring countries, citing the fears of a new and allegedly more contagious coronavirus variant. More than 600 people on two flights were already en route for Schiphol, however, and special testing sites were set …

WHO designates new ‘variant of concern’ The World Health Organization (WHO) convened an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the viral strain, which had previously been known as B.1.1.529, declaring it a “variant of concern” while giving it the new name of “Omicron.”  Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of …

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday named the B.1.1.529 variant of the novel coronavirus ‘Omicron.’ The new strain was previously referred to as the ‘Nu’ variant by scientists and journalists. Omicron has reached Europe, Asia and the Middle East, having spread rapidly across southern African nations over the past fortnight. …

Previous viral outbreaks in history ended up being called after the country where they were first detected – for example, the “Spanish flu” that decimated the world in the aftermath of the First World War, a century ago. From the very beginning of the current pandemic, however, the World Health …

“The world needs to come to an understanding that it’s not about vaccine brands – it’s about the level of antibodies” a person has, Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which bankrolled the development of Sputnik V vaccine and now oversees its distribution, told RT …

The global health agency met on Friday to name the B.1.1.529 strain and decided to classify it as a “variant of concern,” rather than the less serious designation “variant of interest.” The Delta variant, which caused surging Covid-19 infections around the globe after it was first detected in late December …

Speaking on Friday, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told a press conference that the latest wave of coronavirus should be called Covid-21, as panic over the ‘Nu’ variant grips Europe. You could say that this is Covid-21 instead of Covid-19: it is three times more infectious than the original …

The two flights touched down in Schiphol Airport on Friday morning, but passengers face a long wait to disembark, NOS reported. All 600 passengers will be given PCR tests and will have to remain on the plane or elsewhere in the airport until their results come back, with the final …

“We are currently analyzing two suspicious samples,” Marc Van Ranst, a leading virologist whose laboratory works closely with Belgium’s public health body Sciensano, said on Twitter. The virologist elaborated on his remark to Reuters, explaining the samples were described as “suspicious” since they were not the Delta variant, which has …

Germany has declared South Africa a “virus variant area,” the country’s health minister Jens Spahn wrote on Twitter. It means “airlines will only be allowed to transport Germans” from the country. All arrivals would be required to quarantine for 14 days, even if they are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 or …