International medical charity Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres or MSF) has urged rich countries to stop blocking a patent waiver plan that could boost the global production of coronavirus vaccines.Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) will meet virtually for informal talks on Thursday to discuss a proposal to waive intellectual property rights for producing COVID-19 vaccines and other coronavirus-related medical tools for the duration of the pandemic.

The European Union (EU) health agency ECDC said Tuesday that the risk was "high" that newly discovered virus variants causing COVID-19 could further strain healthcare and cause more deaths due to "increased transmissibility."The Stockholm-based European Centre Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in a report that "although there is no information that infections with these strains are more severe," the fact that they would spread more easily means that the

European Union (EU) countries on Sunday embarked on a vaccination campaign to defeat the "nightmare" of COVID-19, with the first to be immunised expressing emotion after their jab and leaders hailing a milestone in the fight against the pandemic.The vaccine is a glimmer of hope for a continent yearning for a return to normal from a pandemic that has killed 1.76 million people worldwide since emerging in China late last year and caused at least 80 million confirmed cases, according t

“This is not a discrete one-off episode,” Wellcome Trust head Jeremy Farrar has warned. “This is now an endemic human infection.”COVID-19, as Farrar suggests, knows no boundaries, geographic, political, or otherwise. Nor must our efforts to defeat it.

Muslims across the world began marking the holy month of Ramadan under unprecedented coronavirus lockdowns on Friday as the United States (US) added another half a trillion dollars to its already-massive support package to help its pandemic-ravaged economy.The virus has upended life around the planet as nations try to stop the spread of the disease that has so far claimed nearly 190,000 lives, infected close to 2.7 million people and hammered the global economy.Ramadan spirits have been dampe

As the world struggles to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigate its impact on our lives and livelihoods, it should be clear to everyone that international cooperation is the only effective way to win the battle. National responses are vital, but in the medium term, multilateralism will be our best weapon in this fight – and our best defence against future global threats.My country, Spain, is on the front lines of the pandemic.

The contrast between the silence of Europe’s streets and squares and the tumultuous, painful reality in many of its hospitals is heart-breaking. COVID-19 has not only Europe but the entire global community in its grip. It is already clear that the pandemic will reshape our world. But precisely how will depend on the choices that we make today. The coronavirus should be seen as the world’s common enemy.

As two of the most successful regional blocs in the world, the European Union (EU) and ASEAN have been cooperating across a wide range of sectors since formalising dialogue relations more than 40 years ago.While trade and investment were the traditional pillars of this relationship, the two bodies have been working together in fields such as science, technology and energy as far back as 1980 when a joint committee established a programme of cooperation.