A Chinese laboratory has been developing a drug it believes has the power to bring the coronavirus pandemic to a halt. The outbreak first emerged in China late last year before spreading across the world, prompting an international race to find treatments and vaccines. A drug being tested by scientists
By Aishwarya Kumar NEW DELHI: Death had not fazed gravedigger Mohammed Shamim up to now, but since the grip of the coronavirus crisis has tightened in New Delhi, a shiver runs up even his spine each time he sees a hearse pull up at the cemetery he tends. “I’ve been
By Heather Scott WASHINGTON: The US is facing a severe economic downturn amid the global pandemic, but will not suffer another Great Depression and will see a recovery begin later this year, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Sunday. The world’s top economy was strong before the Covid-19 outbreak hit,
By Kyoko Hasegawa TOKYO: Japan dived into its first recession since 2015, according to official data Monday, with the world’s third-largest economy shrinking by 0.9 per cent in the first quarter as it wrestles with the fallout from the coronavirus. The drop in gross domestic product followed a 1.9-per cent
GENEVA: The World Health Organisation (WHO) is to raise the question of Taiwan’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA), which opens virtually on Monday, before one of its committees. Taiwan is currently excluded from the WHO but in the midst of escalating tensions between Washington and
PARIS: Deaths from the new coronavirus in France passed 28,000 Sunday, the health ministry announced, as officials tried to contain outbreaks in two abattoirs. The latest daily toll, of 483, the largest in several weeks, was made up mainly of deaths in care homes: 429 deaths, compared to only 54
By Abhaya Srivastava THRISSUR, India: Green, spiky and with a strong, sweet smell, the bulky jackfruit has morphed from a backyard nuisance in India’s south coast into the meat-substitute darling of vegans and vegetarians in the West. Part of the South Asia’s diet for centuries, jackfruit was so abundant that
SEOUL: North Korea’s Kim Jong Un has made his first public appearance in nearly three weeks, state media reported Saturday, following intense speculation that the leader of the nuclear-armed nation was seriously ill or possibly dead. The North reported that Kim had attended the opening of a fertiliser factory
TOKYO: Japan has asked for a one-year postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Games over the global coronavirus pandemic, and the International Olympic Committee has agreed, the country’s prime minister said Tuesday. “I proposed to postpone for about a year and president Bach responded with 100 per cent agreement,” Shinzo Abe
BY AMÉLIE BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS Wearing masks and gloves as a precaution against coronavirus is ineffective, unnecessary for the vast majority of people, and may even spread infections faster, experts said Tuesday. While near-total lockdowns have been imposed in Italy, Spain and now France, the World Health Organisation’s advice has remained unchanged
