International

Million Covid deaths in 2022: WHO

AFP

The World Health Organization announced Thursday that a million people had died from Covid-19 in 2022, calling it a “tragic milestone” when all the tools existed to prevent deaths.

Nearly 6.45 million deaths have been reported to the WHO since the virus was first detected in China in late 2019.

But WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus questioned whether the world was really on top of the pandemic, this far in.

“This week, we crossed the tragic milestone of one million reported deaths so far this year,” he told a press conference.

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“We cannot say we are learning to live with Covid-19 when one million people have died with Covid-19 this year alone, when we are two-and-a-half years into the pandemic and have all the tools necessary to prevent these deaths.

“We ask all governments to strengthen their efforts to vaccinate all health workers, older people and others at the highest risk, on the way to 70 percent vaccine coverage for the whole population.”

Tedros wanted all countries to have vaccinated 70 percent of their populations by the end of June.

But 136 countries failed to reach the target, of which 66 still had coverage below 40 percent.

“It is pleasing to see that some countries with the lowest vaccination rates are now making up ground, especially in Africa,” Tedros said Thursday.

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He said only 10 countries had less than 10 percent coverage, most of which were facing humanitarian emergencies.

“However, much more needs to be done,” said Tedros.

“One-third of the world’s population remains unvaccinated, including two-thirds of health workers and three-quarters of older adults in low-income countries.

“All countries at all income levels must do more to vaccinate those most at risk, to ensure access to life-saving therapeutics, to continue testing and sequencing, and to set tailored, proportionate policies to limit transmission and save lives.”

– ‘Real human tragedy’ –

Derrick Sim of the Gavi vaccine alliance said a million deaths in 2022 was a million too many.

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“Behind each statistic is a very real human tragedy, and as… the world deals with competing priorities, we cannot become numb to the toll the pandemic is having on individuals, families, and communities,” he said.

More than 593 million cases have now been reported to the UN health agency. Despite testing rates having dropped sharply in many countries, around half of those cases were reported this year.

The Omicron variant accounted for 99 percent of virus samples collected in the last 30 days that have been sequenced and uploaded to the GISAID global science initiative.

Of these, the BA.5 group of Omicron sub-variants remain globally dominant at 74 percent.

“There is increasing diversity within BA.5 descendent lineages, with additional mutations in the spike and non-spike regions,” the WHO said.

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International

Germany says football bodies alone will decide on possible World Cup boycott

The German Football Association (DFB) and FIFA will decide with full “autonomy” whether to boycott the upcoming World Cup, which will be hosted mainly by the United States in six months, following threats made by former U.S. president Donald Trump, the German government told AFP on Tuesday.

Trump has threatened to seize Greenland and impose higher tariffs on European countries that oppose the plan, raising political tensions between the United States and Europe.

“This assessment therefore lies with the relevant federations, in this case the DFB and FIFA. The federal government will respect that decision,” Sports State Secretary Christiane Schenderlein said in a statement emailed to AFP.

AFP had asked the German government about the possibility of a boycott of the World Cup to be jointly hosted by Canada, the United States and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.

“The federal government respects the autonomy of sport. Decisions regarding participation in major sporting events or possible boycotts fall exclusively within the responsibility of the relevant sports federations, not the political sphere,” said Schenderlein, a member of the conservative CDU, the party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

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International

Daily Mail publisher insists reports relied on legitimate sources amid privacy trial

Two British tabloids accused of phone hacking and other forms of “unlawful information gathering” against Prince Harry and six other individuals, including singer Elton John, insisted on Tuesday that their reporting relied on legitimate sources.

Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL), the publisher of the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday, sought to rebut allegations of privacy violations through illegal methods on the second day of trial at London’s High Court, following a lawsuit filed by the seven claimants.

Prince Harry, 41, who attended court hearings on both Monday and Tuesday, could be called to testify starting Wednesday in a trial expected to last up to nine weeks.

Lawyers for the claimants said the alleged illegal activities took place between 1993 and 2011, with some incidents reportedly extending as late as 2018. They argue that the tabloids hired private investigators to intercept phone calls and obtain confidential information, including detailed phone records, medical histories, and bank statements.

However, Anthony White, counsel for ANL, told the court that the trial would show the company presents “a compelling account of a pattern of lawful source acquisition” for its articles.

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White added that the claims would require the court to believe that journalists and staff at the tabloids had engaged in widespread dishonesty, which the company strongly denies.

International

Death toll from southern Spain train crash rises to 40

The death toll from the train accident that occurred on Sunday in southern Spain has risen to 40, according to investigative sources cited by EFE on Monday afternoon.

Since early Monday, search operations have focused on the damaged carriages of a Renfe train bound for Huelva, which collided with the last derailed cars of an Iryo train traveling from Málaga to Madrid after it left the tracks.

The crash has also left more than 150 people injured. Of these, 41 remain hospitalized, including 12 in intensive care units at hospitals across the Andalusia region.

More than 220 Civil Guard officers are working at the site, searching the railway line and surrounding areas for key evidence to help identify victims and determine the causes of the accident.

The tragedy has revived memories of the deadliest railway disasters in Europe in recent decades. In Spain, the most severe occurred on July 24, 2013, when an Alvia train derailed near Santiago de Compostela, killing 80 people and injuring 130 others.

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At the European level, the worst rail disaster took place on June 3, 1998, in Eschede, northern Germany, when a high-speed train struck a bridge pillar at 200 kilometers per hour, resulting in 98 deaths and 120 injuries.