WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden twice tested negative for the coronavirus this week, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News, despite high-profile interactions with individuals who recently disclosed positive cases.The disclosure came after the top White House spokesperson, Karine Jean-Pierre, repeatedly refused to reveal the president’s testing status, a reversal from previous practice.In at times tense exchanges with reporters during the daily news briefing, Jean-Pierre said she did not have information about the president’s most recent test, but also would not commit to disclosing... Read More

WASHINGTON — After failing to get additional Covid funding from Congress, the White House will divert more than $10 billion it had planned to spend on testing and personal protective equipment to buy new vaccines and treatments it anticipates needing this fall. The redirected funds will enable the U.S. to start contract negotiations with vaccine-makers to order new shots for the fall, including next-generation vaccines the companies are in the process of developing, a White House official said in a statement.But even with the redirected funds, the U.S. still won’t have enough money to purchase... Read More

LONDON — A top official at the World Health Organization said the U.N. health agency assumes the coronavirus outbreak in North Korea is “getting worse, not better,” despite the secretive country’s recent claims that it is slowing down.At a news briefing on Wednesday, WHO’s emergencies chief Dr. Mike Ryan appealed to North Korean authorities for more information about the virus outbreak there, saying, “We have real issues in getting access to the raw data and to the actual situation on the ground.” Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics He said WHO has not received... Read More

NEW YORK — U.S. births bumped up last year, but the number of babies born was still lower than before the coronavirus pandemic.The small 1 percent increase was a bit of a rebound from 2020, the first year of the pandemic, which witnessed the largest one-year drop in the U.S. births in nearly 50 years.But there were still about 86,000 fewer births last year than in 2019, according to a government report released Tuesday.“We’re still not returning to pre-pandemic levels,” said Dr. Denise Jamieson, chair of gynecology and obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine.U.S. births had been... Read More

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for raising Covid-19 preventive measures to maximum levels as the country announced its first coronavirus infection more than two years into the pandemic.The Korean Central News Agency said Thursday tests from an unspecified number of people in the capital, Pyongyang, confirmed that they were infected with the omicron variant.Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics The agency said Kim called a meeting of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party’s Politburo where members decided to raise its anti-virus measures.During... Read More

LONDON — The World Health Organization is estimating that nearly 15 million people were killed either by the coronavirus or by its impact on overwhelmed health systems in the past two years, more than double the official death toll of 6 million. Most of the fatalities were in Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas.In a report released on Thursday, the U.N. agency’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the figure as “sobering,” saying it should prompt countries to invest more in their capacities to quell future health emergencies.Scientists tasked by WHO with calculating the actual... Read More

A federal judge said Monday he intends to temporarily block the Biden administration from lifting the coronavirus border restriction known as Title 42.It would be a victory for Republican-led states and some led by Democrats that sued to keep the immigration policy, which was initiated in the Trump administration.U.S. District Judge Robert R. Summerhays of the Western District of Louisiana announced his intention to grant the motion in a virtual status conference Monday.Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt celebrated the judge’s decision Monday afternoon on Twitter.”This is a huge... Read More

British lawmakers on Thursday ordered a parliamentary investigation into Prime Minister Boris Johnson for allegedly lying about whether he broke coronavirus restrictions by attending illegal gatherings during the pandemic.The move, approved by cries of “aye” and without a formal vote in the House of Commons, means Parliament’s Committee of Privileges will investigate whether Johnson knowingly misled Parliament — historically a resigning offense if proven.The probe piles more pressure on a Conservative prime minister whose grip on power has been shaken by claims he flouted the pandemic rules... Read More

Pope Francis celebrated Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic, making Christianity’s most joyous day at a time when the war in Ukraine has weighed heavily on his heart.Francis made an anguished plea for peace in the “senseless” war in Ukraine and in other armed conflicts raging in the world, and cited the “troubling” risk of nuclear warfare.“May there be peace for war-torn Ukraine, so sorely tried by the violence and destruction of this cruel and senseless war into which it was dragged,” Francis said, speaking from the central... Read More

SHANGHAI — China’s financial hub Shanghai reported over 27,000 coronavirus cases on Thursday, setting a record a day after President Xi Jinping said that the country must continue with its strict “dynamic Covid clearance” policy and pandemic control measures.Shanghai is battling China’s worst Covid-19 outbreak since the virus first emerged in Wuhan in late 2019, with the city’s 25 million residents remaining largely under lockdown, though restrictions were partially eased in some areas this week.Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics Raising hopes for a shift in policy,... Read More