Tag: China

India to export 8 million covid-19 jabs

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INDIA – In an announcement by Indian top foreign ministry official, the nation has pledged to export 8 million COVID-19 vaccine jabs by the end of October after lifting its ban on overseas shipment. The Asian nation halted vaccine exports in May after a devastating coronavirus wave ravaged the country. As part of a broader strategy to counter China’s influence, the so-called Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) leaders of United States, Japan, India, and Australia have collaborated to develop a plan to distribute Covid-19 vaccines to Asian countries. According to the…

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Deadly African swine flu creeps into Tripura amid Covid-19 pandemic

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INDIA – Despite the fact that the Northeast is dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, fresh outbreaks of the African Swine Flu has been reported in the district of Tripura, where a large number of pigs have died in the government farm in Kachanpur. ` This deadly outbreak comes shortly after the swine flu ravished pigs in the neighboring Mizoram state. Mizoram has been battling both COVID-19 pandemic and African swine fever since March this year, which has so far killed 28,000 pigs in all the state’s 11 districts making the…

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New study shows Sinovac booster shots reverse antibody drop against Delta

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CHINA – A booster dose of Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine reversed a decline in antibody activities against the Delta variant, a study showed, easing some concerns about its longer-term immune response to the highly contagious strain of the virus. The study comes amid concerns about the Chinese vaccine’s efficacy against Delta, which has become the dominant variant globally and is driving a surge in new infections even in the most vaccinated countries. Several countries which have relied heavily on the Sinovac vaccine have begun giving booster shots developed by Western…

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WHO begins shipping Chinese vaccines despite some reservations

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AFRICA – The World Health Organization’s pandemic programme plans to ship 100 million doses of the Sinovac and Sinopharm COVID-19 shots by the end of next month, mostly to Africa and Asia, in its first delivery of Chinese vaccines, a WHO document shows. The Chinese shipments will help the sputtering global COVAX vaccine sharing programme which is far behind its pledge to deliver 2 billion doses this year following supply problems and export curbs imposed by major producer India. It could also boost Beijing’s vaccine diplomacy efforts despite concerns over…

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Nigeria grants China’s Sinopharm vaccine emergency use approval

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NIGERIA – Nigeria has approved China’s Sinopharm vaccine against COVID-19, the head of the country’s primary healthcare agency said. Nigeria has been allocated 7.7 million doses of the vaccine through the COVAX scheme aimed at providing vaccines to developing countries. Dr. Faisal Shuaib, head of Nigeria’s National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, did not say when the Sinopharm doses would arrive or be administered. Cases are rising in Nigeria with daily new infections increasing 10-fold from levels seen in July, according to recent tallies. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with some…

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China reports highest new Covid-19 cases since January fueled by Delta variant

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CHINA – China has reported a large number of new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since January as some cities stepped up restrictions, cut flights and increased testing to get to grips with an outbreak driven mainly by the Delta variant. The coronavirus first emerged in late 2019 in the city of Wuhan in central Hubei province, but until recently, China had largely managed to keep infections imported from abroad from sparking major local outbreaks. China has reported 485 locally transmitted cases with symptoms between July 20 and now, although it’s…

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China, Egypt mark joint production of 1M COVID-19 vaccine doses in Egypt

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EGYPT – Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry commemorated a ceremony marking the joint production of 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in Egypt. After China and Egypt inked a letter of intent for cooperation on COVID-19 vaccine production in December 2020, a Chinese company signed an agreement with an Egyptian firm and sent technical teams to Egypt to facilitate the local production of the vaccine. Only half a year after the signing of the agreement, the Chinese vaccine was officially put…

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WHO urges China to be more cooperative as its probes to identify COVID-19 origin

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WORLD – World Health Organization (WHO) is planning to rollout its next investigation phase to probe the origin of COVID-19 and it has urged China to be more cooperative during this next phase in reference to providing more raw data. The WHO chief, Tedros, said that the organization is laying the groundwork for moving forward with fresh investigations into where Covid-19 came from following a previous attempt that saw WHO send a team of international experts who expressed lack of data as a hinderance into the investigation. Tedros also added…

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Biogen signs collaborative agreement with Innocare to use orelabrutinib as potential therapy for multiple sclerosis

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WORLD – Biogen and Innocare, a biopharmaceutical company rooted in China, have signed a license and a collaboration agreement for the use of Orelabrutinib that could potentially be used to treat multiple sclerosis. Under the terms of the agreement, Biogen will have exclusive rights to orelabrutinib in the field of MS worldwide and certain autoimmune diseases outside of China, while Innocare will retain exclusive worldwide rights to orelabrutinib in the field of oncology and certain autoimmune diseases in China. InnoCare will receive a US$125M upfront payment and is eligible to…

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China’s Sinopharm vaccine gaining popularity in Africa, as Tunisia grants approval

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TUNISIA – Tunisian Ministry of Health has announced that China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine has been officially approved for marketing in the country. “The Ministry of Health has granted an exceptional and provisional marketing authorization in the Tunisian market for China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine,” said a ministry statement. The marketing authorization was granted after the issue was evaluated by the specialized committee in the field of virology, toxicology and the Technical Committee for Pharmaceutical Specialties. Since the start of the national vaccination campaign against the coronavirus on March 13, a total…

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