Germany will deploy AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for general use only for over-60-year-old, ministers decided Tuesday, imposing restrictions for younger people after several severe clotting cases. Under-60s can still decide to take the vaccine but only following “consultation with the doctor carrying out the vaccination … and with an individual risk analysis,” said ministers of Germany’s […]

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: – Origins report – The United States and 13 allies voice “shared concerns” over a World Health Organization-backed report on the origins of Covid-19 and urge China to provide “full access” to experts. The EU says separately the report, which concluded that Covid-19 probably passed to […]

The WHO’s chief, long accused of complacency towards Beijing, hardened his tone Tuesday, urging further investigation into a theory Covid-19 sprang from a laboratory leak. The director-general of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also rebuked China for sitting on key data. The theory that the new coronavirus may have escaped from a lab […]

Professor Christian Tientcha Happi is a Professor of Molecular Biology and Genomics in the Department of Biological Sciences, and the Director African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID), Redeemer’s University. He holds a BSc in Biochemistry, MSc and PhD in Molecular Parasitology from the University of Ibadan in 1993, 1995 and 2000 […]

Covid-19 probably passed to humans from a bat via an intermediary animal, an international expert mission to China concluded in a report seen on Monday, with investigators all but ruling out a laboratory leak. The intermediate host hypothesis was deemed “likely to very likely”, while the theory that the virus escaped from a lab was […]

The WHO’s chief said Monday that all hypotheses on the Covid-19 pandemic’s origins remained open and needed further study, based on international experts’ report on their mission to Wuhan. World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the UN health agency had received the report over the weekend, adding that all theories on how the […]

Up to 400 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine will be made available to African countries, the US pharmaceutical giant said Monday. The availability of the single-shot vaccine will be subject to national regulatory approvals in the African Union’s 55 member states, with the first shipments expected to arrive in the third quarter […]

Here are 10 key moments in the World Health Organization’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, since the first signs were detected in China: – First alert – The WHO office in China picks up a media statement referring to cases of “viral pneumonia” on the website of the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission on December 31, […]

An international expert mission to Wuhan has concluded it was very likely that Covid-19 first passed to humans from a bat through an intermediary animal, while all but ruling out a laboratory leak. The intermediate host hypothesis was deemed “likely to very likely”, while the theory that the virus escaped from a lab was seen […]

The World Health Organization’s relationship with China has been under the spotlight since day one of the pandemic — and faces even more intense scrutiny after the Covid-19 origins report became public on Monday. Critics believe Beijing has given the WHO the runaround throughout the crisis, and suggest China has been less than forthcoming with […]