Five people suffocated in a Nepal hospital after oxygen ran out this week, just the latest victims of a vicious Covid surge that risks devastating the impoverished country and its ill-equipped healthcare system.

India recorded more than 4,000 Covid-19 deaths for a second straight day yesterday as infections stayed below 400,000, and extended the interval between doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to up to 16 weeks amid a dire shortage of shots in the country.

Of the 100 cities worldwide most vulnerable to environmental hazards all but one are in Asia, and four-fifths are in India or China, according to a risk assessment published yesterday.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was cleared yesterday of ethics violations linked to a youth charity, while the investigation found his former finance minister breached the law.

US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that advances federal cyber-security capabilities and encourages improvements in digital security standards across the private sector which has been hit by a spate of cyber-attacks.

Australia is in talks with Moderna Inc to establish domestic manufacturing of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines such as the company's Covid-19 vaccine, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday.

At the peak of Kenya's third wave of Covid-19 in March, hospitals -- buckling under the strain of the virus -- saw their oxygen reserves fizzle out.

Dozens of Japanese towns have abandoned plans to host Olympic athletes because of concern they will overburden stretched medical resources amid a fourth wave of coronavirus infections, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Thursday.

At least two Indian states have said they plan to dose their populations with the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin to protect against severe Covid-19 infections as their hospitals are overrun with patients in critical condition.

Japan's Covid-19 vaccine chief has blamed a rigid drug approval system for a slow inoculation campaign that is relying on only one approved shot, as a fourth wave of infections raises worries amid preparations for the Summer Olympics.

India recorded more than 4,000 Covid-19 deaths for a second straight day on Thursday, while infections stayed below 400,000 for a fourth day, though the virus has become rampant in rural areas ...

A Swiss and an American climber have died on Mount Everest, hiking company officials said on Thursday, the first fatalities on the world’s highest peak this season.