Switzerland

GENEVA, April 14 (NNN-TASS) — More than 567,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection were registered worldwide in the past day, with the overall number of such cases exceeding 136.29 million, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its daily bulletin.

As of April 13, as many as 136,291,128 novel coronavirus cases and 2,941,128 coronavirus-associated deaths were registered across the globe. The number of confirmed cases grew by 567,849 in the past 24 hours and the number of fatalities increased by 9,521.

GENEVA (Reuters) - International agencies including the World Health Organization urged countries on Tuesday to suspend the sale of live wild mammals in food markets, warning they may be the source of more than 70% of emerging infectious diseases in humans.

The guidance, aimed at ensuring the global food system is safe and sustainable, follows a WHO-led mission to Wuhan, China to investigate the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland’s executive government on Monday urged voters to back the nation’s COVID-19 law, which is being challenged by people who fear it eases approval requirements for vaccines and has shifted too much political power away from parliament.

With Switzerland’s direct democracy, voters go to the polls on June 13 to weigh in on whether the law to help combat the pandemic went too far. The seven-member executive on Monday agreed at a closed-door session to recommend to voters to back the law.

GENEVA, April 9 (NNN-TASS) – The number of confirmed coronavirus cases has exceeded 132.73 million across the globe, growing by more than 667,000 cases in the past 24 hours, the World Health Organization reported.

This is the highest single-day figure since Jan 17, the WHO said, reporting 132,730,691 coronavirus cases and 2,880,726 fatalities

As many as 667,026 new coronavirus infections were recorded in the past 24 hours, and 13,043 deaths.

WHO’s data takes into account only officially confirmed information about infections and deaths supplied by the states.

GENEVA (Reuters) -The World Health Organization does not back requiring vaccination passports for travel due to uncertainty over whether inoculation prevents transmission of the virus, as well as equity concerns, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

“We as WHO are saying at this stage we would not like to see the vaccination passport as a requirement for entry or exit because we are not certain at this stage that the vaccine prevents transmission,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said.

(Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Wednesday it continues to monitor safety evidence reviews of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine but that the shot’s benefit-risk profile “weighs heavily in favour of its use” amid reports of rare brain blood clots.

Alejandro Cravioto, chair of the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization, told a briefing the panel was “comfortable” with the vaccine’s use, since many of the countries using it have safety warning signal systems in place and are not reporting problems.

GENEVA (AP) — An international team behind a long-awaited study of the possible origins of COVID-19 with Chinese colleagues on Tuesday called it a “first start,” while the United States and allies expressed concerns about the findings and China trumpeted its cooperation.

Team leader Peter Ben Embarek of the World Health Organization presented the team’s first-phase look into the possible origins of the pandemic that has killed nearly 2.8 million people and pummeled economies since it first turned up in China over a year ago.

GENEVA, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Commenting on the "new type of world war" in the rhetoric over vaccine distribution, a World Health Organization (WHO) official on Friday stressed the importance of collaboration between world leaders.

"Frankly, we are in a war, and leaders are right. We are in a war and it's a war against the virus, not against each other," said Bruce Aylward, senior advisor to the Director-General of WHO at a virtual press conference from Geneva,

GENEVA, March 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) –: The UN human rights office said it confirmed the accuracy of published remarks by the independent expert who led an investigation into the murder of Jamal Khashoggi alleging that a senior Saudi official had made a threat against her.

The Guardian newspaper on Tuesday quoted Agnes Callamard, UN expert on summary killings, as saying a Saudi official had threatened she would be “taken care of” if she was not reined in following her investigation into the journalist’s murder.

GENEVA (AP) — A team of international and Chinese scientists is poised to report on its joint search for the origins of the coronavirus that sparked a pandemic after it was first detected in China over a year ago — with four theories being considered, and one the clear frontrunner, according to experts.