عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

EU Commission Chief Has 'Severe Pneumonia'

FILE - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a media conference at the end of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana, File)
FILE - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a media conference at the end of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana, File)
TT
TT

EU Commission Chief Has 'Severe Pneumonia'

FILE - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a media conference at the end of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana, File)
FILE - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a media conference at the end of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana, File)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is ill with “severe pneumonia” and has canceled her appointments for the next two weeks, her office announced Friday.

According to The Associated Press, spokesman Stefan De Keersmaeker said her agenda had to be cleared of meetings in Lisbon and in Poland, which has just taken over the EU's rotating presidency of the 27-nation European Union.

“She is dealing with severe pneumonia,” De Keersmaeker said in a statement, giving no further details about her conditions or how she fell ill.

Von der Leyen, 66, only recently started her second five-year stint at the top of the EU's powerful executive office.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

China Discovers Cluster of New Mpox Strain

A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
TT
TT

China Discovers Cluster of New Mpox Strain

A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Chinese health authorities said on Thursday they had detected the new mutated mpox strain clade Ib as the viral infection spreads to more countries after the World Health Organization declared a global public health emergency last year.
China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention said it had found a cluster outbreak of the Ib subclade that started with the infection a foreigner who has a history of travel and residence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Reuters reported.
Four further cases have been found in people infected after close contact with the foreigner. The patients' symptoms are mild and include skin rash and blisters.
Mpox spreads through close contact and causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body. Although usually mild, it can be fatal in rare cases.
WHO last August declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that spread to neighboring countries.
The outbreak in DRC began with the spread of an endemic strain, known as clade I. But the clade Ib variant appears to spread more easily through routine close contact, including sexual contact.
The variant has spread from DRC to neighboring countries, including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, triggering the emergency declaration from the WHO.
China said in August last year it would monitor people and goods entering the country for mpox.
The country's National Health Commission said mpox would be managed as a Category B infectious disease, enabling officials to take emergency measures such as restricting gatherings, suspending work and school, and sealing off areas when there is an outbreak of a disease.