Coronavirus

NEW DELHI - India reported on Saturday 60,753 new COVID-19 cases and 1,647 deaths over the past 24 hours, according to a government statement. The total cases of COVID-19 in India have risen to 29.82 million and so far 385,137 have succumbed to the infections.   (Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by...

TEGUCIGALPA - The Mexican government announced on Friday it is donating to Honduras 154,100 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The donation is the first from the Mexican government to the small Central American nation, which has confirmed 251,149 cases of coronavirus and 6,719 deaths. About ...

MELBOURNE - Australia's largest state New South Wales (NSW) recorded two locally acquired coronavirus cases on Saturday, as concerns grow over the further spread of infections amid an increase in exposure sites. The point of transmission of the new infections hasn't been determined, but authorities ...

MONTERREY, Mexico - Mexico reported 4,098 confirmed coronavirus cases on Friday and an additional 167 deaths, according to Health Ministry data, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 2,471,741 and the overall death toll to 230,959.   (Reporting by Adriana Barrera)...

By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON -The United States has administered 300 million COVID-19 vaccinations in 150 days, a White House official said on Friday ahead of President Joe Biden's scheduled update on his administration's vaccination program. Biden's government-wide push to accelerate vaccinations wa...

TEL AVIV - Israel will give around 1 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to the Palestinian Authority (PA), Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's office said on Friday. In a joint statement with the health and defence ministries, Bennett's office said the PA in exchange had agreed to...

LONDON - British retail sales fell unexpectedly last month as a lifting of lockdown restrictions encouraged spending in restaurants rather than shops, according to official data. Retail sales fell 1.4% between April and May, the Office for National Statistics said. A poll of economists had pointed t...

KYIV - Ukraine, which has maintained lockdown restrictions though the number of new COVID-19 infections has fallen, has set a record for the daily number of coronavirus inoculations, the health ministry said on Thursday. The ministry said 76,538 Ukrainians were vaccinated on Wednesday. That compared...

By Alistair Smout LONDON - Countries in the European Union last week agreed to an easing of travel restrictions over summer that will allow fully vaccinated tourists to avoid tests or quarantines and broaden the list of EU regions from which it is safe to travel. Britain, whose vaccination programme...

SYDNEY/CANBERRA -Australia will recommend only people over 60 receive AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, the country's Minister for Health Greg Hunt said on Thursday, following a spate of blood clots in those who have received the inoculation. Australia has administered 3.3 million doses of the AstraZe...

BENGALURU - India reported on Thursday 67,208 new COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, data from the health ministry showed. The South Asian country's total COVID-19 case load now stands at 29.70 million, while total fatalities are at 381,903, the data showed. India's coronavirus-related deat...

BEIJING - Chinese tech giant Baidu said on Thursday its smart driving unit Apollo plans to cater to a total of 3 million users in China with a fleet of 3,000 robotaxis in 2023. Baidu also announced that it is partnering with BAIC Group’s electric vehicle (EV) brand ARCFOX to develop Apollo Moon, EV ...

SYDNEY - Australia will recommend AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines only for people aged 60 years and over, while Pfizer shots will be offered to others, Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Thursday. Australia said in early April they would recommend people under 50 should get Pfizer's vaccine in preferen...

By Victoria Waldersee LISBON - Portugal on Wednesday became the first EU country to have its recovery plan rubber-stamped by the European Commission, whose president Ursula von der Leyen said an initial disbursement from the bloc's COVID-19 recovery fund should come in July. "The plan clearly meets ...

By Chris Thomas and Sethuraman N R BENGALURU - Like many other twenty-somethings in India, Beverly Coutinho kept postponing buying a life insurance policy, until a surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths made her confront her own mortality. "I saw people my own age dying, which prompted me to get life in...

BEIJING - China administered about 19.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines on June 15, bringing the total number of doses administered to 923.91 million, data from the National Health Commission showed on Wednesday.   (Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Andrew Heavens)...

SYDNEY -Australia's most populous city Sydney has recorded its first locally acquired case of COVID-19 in more than a month, stoking concerns of a fresh wave of infections on Wednesday. New South Wales (NSW) state said it is not clear how the unnamed man in his 60s acquired the virus, but he was a d...

By Uday Sampath Kumar BENGALURU -India's iconic Taj Mahal re-opened to the public on Wednesday as the country, still reeling from a disastrous second wave of the pandemic, rushes to lift restrictions in a bid to revitalise its economy. The 17th century monument, built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in...

By Alistair Smout LONDON - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday delayed by a month his plans to lift the last COVID-19 restrictions in England after modelling showed that thousands more people might die due unless reopening was pushed back. The move was due to the rapid spread of the Delta...

By Neha Arora and Uday Sampath Kumar NEW DELHI -In India's capital, Delhi, thousands of commuters crowded into underground train stations and shopping malls on Tuesday, prompting some doctors to warn it could lead to a resurgence in COVID-19 infections. Major Indian cities have begun lifting strict ...