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Mount Everest

THE Nepali government denies recording Covid-19 infections in the Mount Everest region although reports suggest that even the world's highest mountain is not safe from the spread of coronavirus, CNN reported this week.

The US broadcaster said some climbers in the mountains have reported testing positive for the virus.

Prem Subedi, the under-secretary at Nepal’s ministry of culture, tourism and civil aviation, told the BBC that the ministry was not aware of any coronavirus cases at base camp. | African News Agency (ANA)

Vaccine

THE main challenge to raising production of Covid-19 vaccines is how to quickly and effectively transfer technology, Germany’s health minister said on Friday, reiterating Berlin’s opposition to a US proposal to waive patent protection.

“The main issue is not patent protection but production capacity,” Jens Spahn told a news conference.

Taking a jab at the US goverment’s decision, Spahn also said: “I would be delighted if the United States shows the same willingness to export vaccines that we in Germany do.” | Reuters

China

CHINA said on Friday the risk of damage from a rocket falling back to Earth was “extremely low”, after the US warned it could crash in an inhabited area.

Military experts in the US expect the body of the Long March 5B rocket, which separated from Beijing’s space station, to come down this weekend, but warned it was difficult to predict where it would land and when.

The probability of it causing harm to aviation activities or (to people and activities) on the ground is extremely low,” China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, adding that most of the rocket’s components would be destroyed upon re-entry into the atmosphere. | AFP

India

INDIA’S main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi warned on Friday that unless the deadly second Covid-19 wave sweeping the country was brought under control it would decimate India as well as threaten the rest of the world.

In a letter, Gandhi implored Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prepare for another national lockdown, accelerate a country-wide vaccination programme and scientifically track the virus and its mutations.

Gandhi said the world’s second-most populous nation had a responsibility in “a globalised and interconnected world” to stop the “explosive” growth of COVID-19 within its borders. | Reuters