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Merkel defends night-time curfew as part of coronavirus strategy
German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended on Friday her plans to introduce a strict night-time curfew to head off surging new coronavirus cases amid growing opposition to the proposed new law. Speaking in parliament, Merkel said the plan to impose the curfew in regions where the number of new Covid 19 cases rose above 100 per 100,000 inhabitants over a seven-day period was not new and had already been applied in several of the nation’s 16 states. Merkel's so-called emergency brake plan, which includes a night-time curfew from 9 pm (1900 GMT) until 5 am, has come under criticism from both legal ...
DPA
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Theme parks, vaccinations and basketball: California gets back to normal
Natalie Lucia knew her Los Angeles life was getting back to normal the moment she was confronted by a snarling, life-sized velociraptor. Thursday marked several milestones in California's emergence from the pandemic -- vaccinations became available to all over-16s, basketball fans could watch the Lakers in-person, and Universal Studios Hollywood finally re-opened to impatient theme park fans. "I have been waiting to see Blue and the dinosaurs since they closed... To be able to see her after 15 months is amazing," said Lucia, a 40-year-old piano teacher, standing outside the Jurassic World sect...
Relaxnews
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India logs record 217,000 virus cases, 1,185 deaths in 24 hours
India saw an unprecedented surge of 217,353 coronavirus cases on Friday as authorities imposed further restrictions to contain a severe second wave of infections. This is the second consecutive day that India has recorded more than 200,000 new cases. Fresh infections were 7.6 per cent higher than on Thursday, when the country registered 200,739 cases, according to Health Ministry data. A total of 1,185 deaths in 24 hours raised the death count to 174,308. Health care infrastructure is slowly crumbling in the worst-hit areas, including major cities like New Delhi and Mumbai, which reported dwin...
DPA
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Pfizer CEO: Vaccine third dose 'likely' needed within 12 months
Washington (AFP) - The head of Pfizer said in an interview aired Thursday that people will "likely" need a third dose of his company's Covid-19 shot within six to 12 months of vaccination, while elsewhere defending the relatively higher cost of the jab. CEO Albert Bourla also said annual vaccinations against the coronavirus may well be required. "We need to see what would be the sequence, and for how often we need to do that, that remains to be seen," Bourla told CNBC in an interview recorded on April 1. "A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a third dose, somewhere betwee...
AFP
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Theme parks, vaccinations and basketball: California gets back to normal
Universal City (United States) (AFP) - Natalie Lucia knew her Los Angeles life was getting back to normal the moment she was confronted by a snarling, life-sized velociraptor. Thursday marked several milestones in California's emergence from the pandemic -- vaccinations became available to all over-16s, basketball fans could watch the Lakers in-person, and Universal Studios Hollywood finally re-opened to impatient theme park fans. "I have been waiting to see Blue and the dinosaurs since they closed... To be able to see her after 15 months is amazing," said Lucia, a 40-year-old piano teacher, s...
AFP
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Fascia training: Do you need it, and what's fascia anyway?
"Fascia training" for most people probably conjures up images of a foam roller, a cylindrical tube of compressed foam used for self-massage to relieve muscle tightness and eliminate painful muscle knots. They may also know that fascia is a sheet or band of tissue that ensheaths muscles. Fascia is more than just a cover, though. "Fascia was long as little appreciated as gift wrapping," says human biologist and psychologist Dr Robert Schleip, who has been doing research on fascia for more than a quarter-century. "Everything we commonly call connective tissue is fascia." Thin, whitish and made up...
DPA
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Google goes international with vaccine-finding feature
Google on Thursday went international with tools designed to help people find Covid-19 vaccination locations, as the US internet titan ramps up efforts to fight the pandemic. The internet titan also plans to launch a cloud-based "virtual agent" that people can use to schedule vaccination appointments or get information on the topic in some 28 languages using chat, text messages, or phone calls. Google said it will provide 250,000 vaccine doses to "countries in need" along with adding the ability for people to find sites for the jab in Canada, Chile, France, India, Singapore and the United Stat...
Relaxnews
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Greece to allow vaccinated tourists in next week
Greece plans to open its borders to vaccinated visitors from several countries from next week, the government said Thursday, as the country seeks to restart its badly-hit tourism sector. The scheme is part of a pilot project to allow entry to people with the so-called vaccine passports, an exception until now open only to Israeli visitors. Under the initiative, travellers will be able to avoid a seven-day quarantine currently imposed on visitors. The European Union has said it wants to get a vaccine passport off the ground for travellers, though plans have not yet been formalised. Tourism on t...
Relaxnews
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Report: Germany's Merkel to have AstraZeneca jab on Friday
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will receive her first anti-coronavirus vaccination on Friday, German newspaper Welt reported on Thursday. Merkel would receive the AstraZeneca injection, the newspaper reported without naming a specific source. As Merkel is over 60 years old, she is in the age group for which the AstraZeneca jab is still in use in Germany. It is banned for under-60s, unless a doctor specifically recommends it for a particular patient. Earlier this week, government spokesman Steffen Seibert had said Merkel would receive her first vaccination "soon." Germany is experiencing a thi...
DPA
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India battered by huge second Covid wave as virus imperils Olympics
New Delhi (AFP) - India's huge coronavirus second wave accelerated Thursday with a record number of infections reported, as a top Japanese politician warned Covid-19 could still derail the already delayed Olympics. While nations like Britain have celebrated the beginning of normality and extended vaccine rollouts, some South Asian countries are grappling with fresh -- and more terrifying -- virus waves. More than 200,000 cases were logged in the past 24 hours in India, where authorities are grappling with shortages of vaccines, treatments and hospital beds. Having let its guard down with mass ...
AFP
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