English

More about this topic

World News

COVID booster jab 'most important defence' against Omicron, WHO says

Dr Kluge stressed warned last week that as Europe goes into the holiday season, it will be dealing "with two highly transmissible variants."

World News

Better to cancel Christmas events than grieve later, warns WHO chief

"An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday, highlighting data suggesting Omicron spreads "significantly faster" than the Delta variant.

Russia

Russia misunderstood WHO demands for Sputnik V approval, says Kremlin

Russia was the first country in the world to authorise a coronavirus vaccine last August, but the jab has not yet been approved by the WHO.

World News

Euroviews. Covid-19 in Europe: Be wary of comparing countries | View

Testing strategies for COVID-19 vary widely between different countries and aren't a good measure of population immunity, writes Professor David Heymann, formerly of the World Health Organization, Public Health England, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

ADVERTISEMENT

Health news

Omicron COVID variant appears to spread faster than Delta, WHO says

The World Health Organization said that the new Omicron COVID-19 variant appears to spread faster than current variants and that vaccines could be less effective against it.

World News

WHO 'confident' current COVID-19 vaccines will work against Omicron

"We have very effective vaccines that have proven to be effective against all variants so far, in terms of severity of disease and hospitalisation, and there is no reason to think that this would not be the case with Omicron," said WHO emergency manager.

World News

Mandatory vaccination should be a last resort, says WHO Europe chief

Here's what WHO's Europe office said on mandatory vaccination, booster doses and the threat of the Omicron variant.

World News

'Don't panic', WHO says, as fears of Omicron COVID-19 variant rise

The World Health Organization's chief scientist says the new variant is 'highly transmissible' but that the world is better prepared than in 2020.

World News

WHO members eye pandemic preparation as new variant emerges

The World Health Organization opened a special session of member states to discuss ways to better prepare globally to fight pandemics like COVID-19.

World News

WHO labels new COVID-19 variant 'of concern', names it Omicron

"Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of infection with this variant, as compared to other VOCs (variants of concerns)," the United Nations' health agency said in a statement.

Travel News

Travellers ‘bewildered’ by sudden ban on South Africa flights

After the sudden red-listing of ten southern African nations, visitors have a short and expensive window in which to leave.

Health news

Developing countries get free access to Spanish COVID testing tech

Spain's public medical research body and the World Health Organization struck a deal that could make COVID testing cheaper and more accessible for poorer nations.

Health news

How unsafe toilets are impacting the health of 3.6 billion people

Clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene should be normal for everyone. Yet, almost half of the world’s population don’t have access to it.

World News

Europe at global epicentre as COVID deaths and cases continue to rise

COVID-19 deaths have increased by 10% in the World Health Organization's Europe and Central Asia region over the last week.

World News

Europe and Central Asia 'could see 500k COVID deaths by February 1'

Europe and Central Asia are once again at the "epicentre" of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a possible 500,000 additional deaths before February 1.

World News

Euroviews. The G20 needs to make good on its COVID-19 vaccine promises | View

A year ago, the G20 nations promised the world equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. A year later, what do they have to show for it? asks Amnesty International health advisor Tamaryn Nelson

Health news

Is the world ready for the next pandemic?

At the World Health Summit 2021 in Berlin, experts discussed lessons to be learned from the COVID pandemic, and how to implement them to better prepare for the next ones to come.

Health news

COVID-19 pandemic 'far from over', warns WHO chief

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned there will be more pandemics in the future.

World News

'No way to sugarcoat this': Vaccine equity still way off, WHO says

High-income countries have administered 133 vaccine doses per 100 people vs just four doses per 100 population in low-income countries.

Health news

Alcohol most common cause of breast cancer, says WHO

There is no safe level of alcohol consumption and the risk of breast cancer increases with each unit of alcohol per day, the WHO has warned.