President Joe Biden has said the United States (US) would come to Taiwan’s defence and had a commitment to defend the island China claims as its own, forcing the White House to clarify for the second time in three months that US policy on the subject has not changed.“Yes, we have a commitment to do that,” Biden said at a CNN town hall on Thursday night when asked if the US would come to the defence of Taiwan, which has complained of mounting military and political pressure from Beijing to acc

Thai Premier Prayut Chan-o-cha announced Thursday that vaccinated travellers from more than 40 countries will be allowed to enter the kingdom without undergoing quarantine come 1 November, as it readies for a much-anticipated re-opening.The 46 countries and territories are a significant jump from the 10 initially announced last week by Prayut, when he unveiled plans to reopen the country next month.The ballooning list is due to Thailand's urgent need "to stimulate the tourism sector

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that 80,000 to 180,000 health care workers may have been killed by COVID-19 up to May this year, insisting they must be prioritised for vaccination.The WHO said the fact that millions of health workers remain unvaccinated is an "indictment" on the countries and companies controlling the global supply of doses.A WHO paper estimated that out of the planet's 135 million health staff, "between 80,000 to 180,000 health and care

The COVID pandemic will "go on for a year longer than it needs to" because poorer countries are not getting the vaccines they need, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.Dr Bruce Aylward, a senior leader at the WHO, said it meant the COVID crisis could "easily drag on deep into 2022".Less than 5 percent of Africa's population have been vaccinated, compared to 40 percent on most other continents.The United Kingdom (UK) has delivered more than 10 million vaccines to

The Philippine government's review of dozens of deadly drug war operations has cast doubt on police claims they acted in "self-defence", a top official said Wednesday. Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra announced this month that around 154 officers had been identified for "possible criminal liability" over police operations carried out during President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war. Most of the 52 cases reviewed by the Justice Department and made p

Singapore's healthcare system is at risk of being "overwhelmed" by surging coronavirus infections, government officials warned Wednesday, a day after the city-state expanded quarantine-free travel as it shifts its approach to dealing with the pandemic.The health ministry reported 18 deaths on Wednesday – Singapore's highest toll in a single day – and 3,862 more cases, just shy of the record 3,994 tallied the day before. "At the current situation, we face cons

As COVID-19 infections surge in England, people are increasingly reporting catching Sars-CoV-2 for a second or even third time.New analysis has suggested that unvaccinated individuals should expect to be re-infected with COVID-19 every 16 months, on average.With winter approaching, scientists are warning that such reinfections could add to the burden on the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS), some calling for the vaccination programme to be extended to all schoolchildren, includin

Activists on Tuesday called for the postponement of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics as China prepared to receive the Olympic flame, a day after a protest disrupted the lighting ceremony in Olympia."This is sports-washing.

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:Ukraine's Record DeathsUkraine reports a record of 538 deaths over the past 24 hours as the country sees a surge in infections that parallels neighbouring Russia as they both struggles to roll out jabs to vaccine-sceptical populations.NZ's Record CasesNew Zealand also hits a new record with the highest number of daily cases since the start of the pandemic as a Delta-variant outbreak that dashed the nation's "zero C

A coronavirus jab based on traditional vaccine technology might be as effective as the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, data suggests, offering new hope for global vaccination efforts.Vaccines currently approved for use in the United Kingdom (UK) deliver instructions for producing the coronavirus “spike” protein to cells in order, which triggers an immune response.