World

New York, Dec 28: Global travel chaos that convulsed the Christmas weekend spilled into Monday with major flight cancellations impacting millions returning from holiday breaks, as Covid-19 cases surge to record levels in Europe and several US states. Some 11,500 flights have been scrapped worldwide since Friday and tens of thousands more delayed, during one of the year's busiest travel periods --

Millions of people are facing travel disruption and increased Covid restrictions over Christmas, as the surging Omicron variant sees flights cancelled and safety curbs tightened. Italy, Spain and Greece have made face masks compulsory outdoors again. Catalonia, in northern Spain, has imposed an overnight curfew, and the Netherlands is in a strict lockdown. Despite early findings that Omicron is

Geneva, Dec 9: Certain features of the Omicron variant, including its global spread and large number of mutations, suggest it could have a major impact on the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, said the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO). With the Omicron variant now present in 57 countries, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned at a press briefing that it can spread more

The Covid-19 virus is spreading faster than ever in South Africa, the country’s president said Monday, an indication of how the new Omicron variant is driving the pandemic, but there are early indications that Omicron may cause less-serious illness than other forms of the virus. Researchers at a major hospital complex in Pretoria reported that their patients with the coronavirus are much less sick

London, Dec 6: The lead developer of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine warned the next pandemic could be "more lethal", urging better preparedness in a speech set to be aired Monday. Sarah Gilbert, who is credited with saving millions of lives through her role in designing the jab, said the world must build on key lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic. "This will not be the last time a virus

Geneva, Dec 4: The Omicron variant has been detected in 38 countries but no deaths have yet been reported, the WHO said on Friday, as authorities worldwide rushed to stem the spread of the heavily mutated Covid-19 strain. The United States and Australia became the latest countries to confirm their first locally transmitted cases of the variant, as the number of Omicron infections from a Christmas

The World Health Organization has warned blanket travel bans will not prevent the spread of Omicron, as more countries rushed to impose curbs and the first cases of the new Covid strain were detected in Latin America. In the week since the new virus strain was reported by South Africa, dozens of countries around the world have responded with travel restrictions -- most targeting southern African

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday everyone aged 18 years and older should get a booster shot, as it looks to tackle a new and highly infectious strain of the coronavirus that is quickly spreading across the globe. The update comes after President Joe Biden on Monday called for wider vaccination to curb the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, which was

Lahore, Nov 18: Pakistan’s parliament on Wednesday passed a bill allowing the use of electronic machines for voting. The opposition said the policy is an attempt to rig the next elections. Lawmakers also passed a bill to grant the right to vote to expats. The bills still must be signed into law by President Arif Alvi, a formality. The opposition wants elections to continue under a decades-old

Lahore, Nov 18: Over 100 Sikh pilgrims from India, including Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, are expected to arrive at the revered Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan on Thursday using the visa-free Kartarpur corridor, some 20 months after the pilgrimage was suspended following the COVID-19 outbreak. On Wednesday, the first batch of 28 Indian Sikhs, including women, arrived in