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Alcaraz beats Cilic then takes on NBA's Butler
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Canada down Finland to set up USA ice hockey grudge clash
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Shakira resumes world tour after Lima hospital stay
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Mexico says to sue Google if it insists on using 'Gulf of America'
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Top Russia, US officials to meet in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday
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Djokovic calls for overhaul of 'unfair' anti-doping system
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Rio swelters in heatwave in run-up to Carnival
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Israel says committed to Trump plan for Gaza displacement
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Argentine prosecutors to probe Milei over 'cryptogate'
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Turkey seals hotel spa illegally set up inside ancient cistern
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Revamped Finnish museum says 'Good Bye, Lenin!'
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Bayern hopeful Kane fit for Celtic clash
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European leaders meet on response to US Ukraine shift
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Muhsin Hendricks: S.Africa's gay imam who broke the mould
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Italy probing Amazon over 1.2b euros in third-party seller VAT
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Russell, Graham in Scotland squad to face England in Six Nations
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Israeli military set to miss Lebanon withdrawal deadline despite pushback
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France cuts prison activities to smooth facial massage outcry
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Kenya's HIV patients victims of US aid freeze
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Starmer to meet Trump 'next week': UK govt
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US tensions add fire to final stretch of German election campaign
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Italy's Milan upstages Pogacar in UAE Tour first stage
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Pope's condition 'complex', hospital stay extended: Vatican
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Liverpool can cope with title nerves: Van Dijk
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Greece to open museum of ancient undersea treasures
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European markets rise ahead of Ukraine war talks
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'Now or never' for pandemic accord, says WHO chief after US pulls out
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New Zealand's Williamson makes joint move to Middlesex and London Spirit
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Hollywood should resist Trump pressure, says director Todd Haynes
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Ukraine war death toll: huge but not fully known
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Ex-Tour de France winner Thomas to retire at end of season
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African players in Europe: Marmoush wreaks havoc in 14 minutes
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Sri Lanka budget banks on car taxes to boost coffers
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Musk's DOGE seeks access to US tax system: reports
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Champions Trophy set for liftoff after India-Pakistan row, boycott calls
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US tensions plague final phase of German election campaign
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Rodgers urges Celtic to be bold against Bayern
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Chatbot vs national security? Why DeepSeek is raising concerns
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Court finds Singapore opposition leader guilty of lying to parliament
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Rights groups slam Australian plan to transfer criminals to Nauru
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End of the road for Kolkata's beloved yellow taxis
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S. Korea says DeepSeek removed from local app stores pending privacy review
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Navalny's widow seeks to rally divided Russian opposition
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Taiwan bounty hunters kill invading iguanas as numbers soar
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Japan 2024 growth slows despite stronger fourth quarter
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Most Asian markets start week on positive note
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LeBron James says won't play in All-Star game
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General Atomics and EDGE Establish Partnership to Manufacture, Test and Repair Electromechanical Systems
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Sweden's Aberg wins at Torrey Pines with final hole drama
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Guardiola says Man City have 'one per cent' chance at Real Madrid

Covid treatments: still struggling for mass uptake
Several treatments are now available to fight Covid-19 but tight timelines, unequal access and weakening effectiveness against new variants have limited their ability to blunt the worst of the pandemic.
- Antivirals -
Antiviral drugs, which suppress the ability of the virus to multiply in the body's cells, treat an infection in its early stages, reducing the severity and duration of symptoms.
Last week the World Health Organization "strongly recommended" Pfizer's Covid-19 antiviral pill Paxlovid over rivals such as Merck's molnupiravir.
The recommendation was based on new trials showing Paxlovid reduced the risk of hospital admission by 85 percent, while molnupiravir has proved significantly less effective.
Even China, which has spurned foreign vaccines, conditionally approved Paxlovid in February, and Pfizer hopes to produce more than 120 million doses this year.
US President Joe Biden's administration said this week it would double the number of outlets where Americans can obtain the pills, which are reserved for at-risk patients.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who tested positive for Covid on Tuesday, is taking Paxlovid, according to her press secretary.
But even as production ramps up, the pill is still not being prescribed in large numbers in many countries.
In France, where Paxlovid is the only approved antiviral, only 3,500 courses have been prescribed out of 100,000 rolled out over the first three months of the year.
Antoine Flahault, director of the Institute of Global Health at the University of Geneva, said Covid treatments were "vital" to save lives and reduce pressure on hospitals.
"These effective drugs have not been used enough, which is illustrated by the number of deaths still being reported," he told AFP.
"The main obstacle remains logistics," he added.
The treatment course for Paxlovid should be started within five days of symptoms appearing -- a tight deadline that requires everything to go smoothly.
"People must think about doing a PCR test if they have symptoms or a risky contact, the doctor must prescribe the right medicine, the pharmacy must make it available within the short time required," Flahault said.
Antivirals also should not be taken by patients already on a range of other medications, which can limit uptake.
- Other treatments -
Monoclonal antibodies, which target the spike protein of the coronavirus, can be used either as a preventative measure for unvaccinated at-risk people or for hospitalised patients who need an antibody boost.
They have been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalisation and death by up to 80 percent, but must be administered by injection or infusion in hospital.
The main antibody treatments include AstraZeneca's Evusheld, Roche's Ronapreve, and GSK and Vir's Xevudy.
But these treatments also require tight timelines -- and they are struggling to keep up with new variants.
"The monoclonal antibodies that were effective against the Delta variant are no longer effective against Omicron BA.1 -- and the one that remained effective against BA.1 is no longer effective against BA.2," Flahault said.
"It is rare in medicine that knowledge evolves at such a pace," he said, adding that it complicated prescribing such drugs.
Several countries have essentially abandoned Ronapreve due to the loss of effectiveness against Omicron.
And on Friday France's health authorities said they would no longer authorise Xevudy for patients with BA.2 because of the drug's "greatly reduced" effectiveness against the sub-variant, which accounts for the overwhelming majority of the country's infections.
The US meanwhile has doubled the recommended dosage for Evusheld to address its weakening effectiveness.
- Unequal access, again -
As was the case for Covid vaccinations, wealthy countries have had far greater access to treatments than poorer nations.
The inequity again sparked a debate about lifting waiving intellectual property rights -- this time with more progress.
Last year Pfizer and Merck agreed allow some generic drugmakers to make cheaper versions of their drugs under a UN-backed scheme.
Pfizer signed a deal last month with 35 generic drugmakers in Europe, Asia, and Latin America to supply Paxlovid to 95 countries.
However last week the WHO called on Pfizer to go further, saying it was "extremely concerned" that for treatments low- and middle-income countries would again be "pushed to the end of the queue".
It also called on Pfizer to be more transparent about prices, with reports that a full Paxlovid course costs up to $530 in the US.
P.L.Madureira--PC