LOS ANGELES -- New Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 accounted for over 60 percent of new COVID-19 cases in the United States in the latest week, according to estimates released Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

BQ.1.1 was estimated to make up about 31.9 percent of circulating variants this week, and BQ.1 was estimated to make up 30.9 percent, according to CDC data. (U.S.-Coronavirus-Variant)

- - - -

SANTIAGO -- A roadway accident in northern Chile on Friday claimed the lives of three police officers and two suspects who were in the police vehicle which collided with a truck parked on the shoulder of the road.

Chile's police said the predawn crash occurred along a slope known as Cuesta El Teniente in the Ovalle commune, some 400 kilometers north of the capital, in the Coquimbo region. (Chile-Car Crash)

- - - -

KABUL -- One person was killed and two others injured as a blast rocked a mosque near the office of the Hezb-e-Islami party associated with former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in Kabul, local TV channel Tolo News TV reported Friday.

"Hekmatyar is unhurt," the TV channel quoted Obaidullah Bahir, one of the close relatives of Hekmatyar, as saying. Another anonymous source has told the TV channel that one of the bodyguards of the leader was killed and two others injured in the powerful blast. (Afghanistan-Blast)

- - - -

PRAGUE -- The Czech Republic confirmed its first case of African swine fever for the first time in almost five years and veterinarians were taking measures to prevent its spread, the Czech Ministry of Agriculture said on Friday.

The disease was detected in a dead wild piglet in Jindrichovice pod Smrkem in the northern Liberec Region near the border with Poland, according to the State Veterinary Administration. This is the first such case detection in the country since early 2018. (Czech Republic-Health) Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)