Cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus popped up in countries on opposite sides of the world Sunday and many governments rushed to close their borders even as scientists cautioned that it’s not clear if the new variant is more alarming than other versions of the virus. The variant ...
LONDON — South African scientists identified a new version of the coronavirus that they say is behind a recent spike in COVID-19 infections in Gauteng, the country’s most populous province. It’s unclear where the new variant first emerged, but scientists in South Africa alerted the World Health Organization in recent days, and it has now been seen in travelers arriving in several countries, from Australia to Israel to the Netherlands. On Friday, the WHO designated it as a “variant of concern,” naming it “omicron” after a letter in the Greek alphabet. WHAT DO WE KNOW ...
MYRTLE CREEK, Ore. — Howard Breidenbach thought it was all a big conspiracy. The government using a so-called “coronavirus” to control the people. Feeding drama. Making up numbers. “It was all a lie,” he thought. Until he forgot his own name. The 47-year-old independent trucker from Myrtle Creek thumbed his nose at COVID-19. On July 14, something was wrong. “We thought for sure it was pneumonia,” Breidenbach’s wife of 29 years, Tonja, said Monday. “I didn’t feel very good either. When he got sick, I started feeling sick, too.” Howard’s condition took a ...
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — When the U.S. government allowed so-called hero pay for frontline workers as a possible use of pandemic relief money, it suggested occupations that could be eligible from farm workers and childcare staff to janitors and truck drivers. State and local governments have ...
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will require essential, nonresident travelers crossing U.S. land borders, such as truck drivers, government and emergency response officials, to be fully vaccinated beginning on Jan. 22, the administration planned to announce. A senior administration official said the requirement, which the White House previewed in October, brings the rules for essential travelers in line with those that took effect earlier this month for leisure travelers, when the U.S. reopened its borders to fully vaccinated individuals. Essential travelers entering by ferry ...
ESCHWEILER, Germany (AP) — Germany is poised to pass the mark of 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 this week, a somber milestone that several of its neighbors crossed months ago but which Western Europe’s most populous nation had hoped to avoid. Discipline, a robust health care system and the ...
