Kabul: A roadside bomb blast in Afghanistan capital Kabul caused at least five casualties, television station Ariana News said on Tuesday.

As per preliminary detail, the target of the attack appeared to have been an open-backed vehicle like a Toyota Hilux.

However, there were no further details and no official confirmation of the figures.

More to follow…

Dhaka: In the key match of Chittagong test, Pakistan thrashed Bangladesh by eight wickets Tuesday.

Pakistan chased down the 202-run target with eight wickets in hand.

It is pertinent to mention here that this was the second time in Pakistan’s Test history, which stretch 440 matches, that an opening pair recorded two century stands in a match.

Bangladesh had got off to a positive start with Mushfiqur hitting a boundary off the first ball of the morning, bowled by Hasan Ali.

But two balls later he left a delivery that darted back in and departed for 16 after Hasan uprooted his off-stump.

Bourla told CNBC that his company on Friday began testing the current vaccine against the Omicron variant, which was first reported in South Africa and reignited fears of a global wave of Covid-19 infections.

"I don't think the result will be the vaccines don't protect," Bourla said.

But the testing could show that existing shots "protect less," which means "that we need to create a new vaccine," Bourla said.

"Friday we made our first DNA template, which is the first possible inflection of the development process of a new vaccine," he said.

Bourla likened the situation to the scenario earlier this year when Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech developed a vaccine in 95 days when there were concerns the previous formula would not work against Delta, though that version ultimately was not used.

The current vaccine is "very effective" against Delta, the executive said, adding that the companies expect to be able to produce four billion vaccine doses in 2022.

On Monday, the World Health Organization warned the new Covid-19 Omicron variant poses a "very high" risk globally.

Bourla said he was also "very confident" that Pfizer's recently unveiled antiviral pill would work as a treatment for infections caused by the mutations, including Omicron.

Among newly-infected, high risk patients treated within three days of the onset of symptoms, Pfizer's pill has been shown to cut hospitalization or death by nearly 90 percent.

SOURCE: AFP/CNBC