Month: September 2020

As the flu season is set to start in the northern hemisphere, the World Health Organization recommends people at highest risk be vaccinated to protect themselves and to prevent national health systems from getting overwhelmed during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The WHO is updating its guidance to help nations navigate the complex challenges posed by the simultaneous circulation of influenza and the coronavirus.The seasonal influenza results in up to a billion cases globally each year, causing an average of 290,000 to 650,000 deaths, according to the WHO. Influenza and COVID-19 are both respiratory diseases with some similar symptoms.   FILE - An ad offering free flu shots is seen in Brooklyn, New York, Aug. 21, 2020.Ann Moen, chief of the WHO's Influenza Preparedness and Response program, says the vaccines, antivirals and non-pharmaceutical…

The U.S. space agency NASA released the results of its first-ever agency-wide economic impact study Friday, indicating its work generated more than $64 billion for the U.S. economy last year. In a release on its official website, NASA said through all its activities during fiscal year 2019, the agency supported more than 312,000 jobs nationwide, and generated an estimated $7 billion in federal, state and local taxes throughout the country. NASA said it commissioned the study to better understand how the U.S. economy benefited from its work and paid back the investment by the federal government. FILE - NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine speaks at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., May 23, 2020.In the release, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said the study provides numbers and data to illustrate how taxpayer investment…

Thousands of mostly young people gathered Friday in Berlin to demand more action on climate change, part of a global day of action for the environment.Defying gray skies, the participants, many on bicycles, brought placards and banners to a rally near the iconic Brandenburg Gate. Most wore face masks as a COVID-19 precaution. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.Germany is a focal point for the demonstrations in Europe because it holds the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union, which together with Britain accounts for 22 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans.The climate has made headlines around the world recently, from melting Arctic ice to record Siberian heat to wildfires in California and elsewhere.German climate activist Luisa Neubauer told the crowd, “We're here because we…

The governor of the eastern U.S. state of Virginia announced Friday that he and his wife have tested positive for COVID-19.   Governor Ralph Northam said they were notified Wednesday that a staff member who works in the living quarters of their official residence developed symptoms and subsequently tested positive, after which the couple had their own tests done.   He said his wife, Pamela, is experiencing mild symptoms, while he remains asymptomatic.   The couple is isolating for 10 days, during which the governor is continuing his work.   Crews are also cleaning the governor’s mansion, and the Northams are working with state health officials on contact-tracing efforts to make sure anyone they may have been in contact with is aware of their positive tests.   Northam said the…

A new survey indicates more than 80% of people living in Britain with COVID-19 symptoms or who have had contact with someone who has tested positive are ignoring self-isolation guidelines.   The survey, released Friday and conducted by Kings College London and the National Health Service (NHS), found that only 18.2% of people who reported having symptoms of COVID-19 in the previous seven days have stayed isolated since their symptoms developed, and only 11.9% requested a COVID-19 test.   The research also shows fewer than half those surveyed were able to identify the symptoms of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus.   The research also found that only 10.9% of people told to self-isolate after close contact with a COVID-19 case had done so for 14 days…

The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Friday that the U.S. is on the brink of having an astounding 7 million COVID-19 cases.  India follows the U.S. with 5.8 million and Brazil has 4.6 million cases. Brazil’s rising caseload has prompted the country to announce the delay of Rio de Janeiro’s annual Carnival parade held in February, during the South American country’s summer.   Millions of people take to the city’s streets for the annual rambunctious event.It is the first time the event has been delayed.  It was not immediately clear when or if the 2021 iteration of the world-famous parade will take place. Hair loss is the latest reported side effect of the coronavirus.  An account in The New York Times says doctors have noticed a recent uptick in the numbers of patients reporting the loss.  The hair loss is happening not only to people who have had the virus, but also those who have not. Doctors say they believe that in both instances the hair…

As winter brings shorter days and lower temperatures to the Northern Hemisphere, there is a chance we could see more COVID-19 cases.But experts say it is still too early to know exactly how seasons will affect the virus. They emphasize that human behaviors are still the most important driver of the pandemic.“The most important factor at the moment is ... the control measures that we have in place. Things such as social distancing and mask-wearing — those are really key to lowering transmission of disease at this point,” said Rachel Baker, infectious disease researcher at Princeton University.COVID and climateMany diseases, such as the flu, are seasonal, with cases spiking when the weather is cool and dry.“It’s well known that many respiratory viruses have seasonality,” said Akiko Iwasaki, professor of immunology…

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on preexisting medical conditions Thursday, amid a global pandemic and growing uncertainty about the future of protections guaranteed by the Obama-era health law his administration is still trying to overturn.In a visit to swing state North Carolina, the president sketched out what aides called a "vision" for quality health care at affordable prices, with lower prescription drug costs, more consumer choice and greater transparency. The president also signed another executive order to try to end surprise medical bills.But while the Trump administration has made some progress on its health care goals, the sweeping changes he promised as a candidate in 2016 have eluded him. Democrats are warning Trump would turn back the clock if given another four years in the White House, and…

A new study released this week describes how binge drinking — consuming too much alcohol, too fast — affects the brain, leading to anxieties and other cognitive issues.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines binge drinking as a man consuming five or more drinks in about two hours; four drinks for a woman. The CDC reports the habit is growing problem in the United States, especially among young people, with 1 in 6 adults binge drinking about four times a month.Previous research examined the long-term effects of binge drinking on the brain, but this latest study, published Tuesday in the journal Science Signaling, focused specifically on immediate effects of binge drinking on the brain.To do this, the researchers from the University of Porto in Portugal gave an…

The space weather forecasts for the sun could threaten how this report is both broadcast and watched.  The next crew of the International Space Station moves closer to launch, and an asteroid the size of a school bus just missed hitting the Earth.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space. ...

Helsinki Airport is getting creative when it comes to operating safely in the age of COVID-19. Beginning this week, travelers arriving at Finland's busiest international airport will have the opportunity to take a voluntary coronavirus test that takes 10 seconds and is entirely painless — but it's not the test that is unusual, rather, it's who is conducting it.The new state-funded pilot program uses coronavirus-sniffing canines to detect the presence of the virus within 10 seconds with shocking accuracy. Preliminary results from the trial show that the dogs, who have been used previously to detect illnesses such as cancer and malaria, were able to identify the virus with nearly 100% accuracy.FILE - Sniffer dog Miina, being trained to detect the coronavirus from the arriving passengers' samples, works in Helsinki Airport…

U.S. pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson has begun late-stage human trials of a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine in the United States. Dr. Paul Stoffels, Johnson & Johnson’s chief scientific officer, told reporters Wednesday that 60,000 participants have begun receiving the vaccine across 215 locations in the United States, as well as internationally in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and South Africa. Dr. Stoffels said Johnson & Johnson moved into the late-stage trial after seeing positive results from its combined Phase 1 and 2 trials in the U.S. and Belgium.   The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is the fourth potential coronavirus vaccine undergoing large-scale Phase 3 testing in the United States, joining Moderna, AstraZeneca and a joint effort by Pfizer and German-based BioNTech. All four efforts are being developed under the Trump administration’s President Donald Trump…

Scientists at the U.S. space agency NASA say a small asteroid – roughly the size of a bus – passed close to Earth on Thursday, flying just 22,000 kilometers above the surface, within the orbit of geostationary satellites that ring the planet. While the proximity to Earth might raise alarm, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California said even if the asteroid had entered the earth’s atmosphere, it almost certainly would have broken up and become a bright meteor.The asteroid, known as 2020 SW, is about five to ten meters wide and was first discovered on September 18 by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona. NASA Plans to Land First Woman on the Moon in 2024Lunar landing will be America’s first since 1972NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies…

U.S. pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson has begun late-stage human trials of a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine in the United States. Dr. Paul Stoffels, Johnson & Johnson’s chief scientific officer, told reporters Wednesday that 60,000 participants have begun receiving the vaccine across 215 locations in the United States, as well as internationally in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and South Africa. Dr. Stoffels said Johnson & Johnson moved into the late-stage trial after seeing positive results from its combined Phase 1 and 2 trials in the U.S. and Belgium.   The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is the fourth potential coronavirus vaccine undergoing large-scale Phase 3 testing in the United States, joining Moderna, AstraZeneca and a joint effort by Pfizer and German-based BioNTech. All four efforts are being developed under the Trump administration’s President Donald Trump…

The United Nations and Britain will co-host a global climate summit on December 12, the fifth anniversary of the landmark Paris Agreement, the world body said Wednesday.The announcement came days after Chinese President Xi Jinping told the U.N. that the world's largest greenhouse gas polluter would peak emissions in 2030 and attempt to go carbon neutral by 2060, a move hailed by environmentalists."We have champions and solutions all around us, in every city, corporation and country," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said."But the climate emergency is fully upon us, and we have no time to waste. The answer to our existential crisis is swift, decisive, scaled-up action and solidarity among nations."The world remains off-track to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, which scientists…

A weakened Beta continued its slow trek across several Southern states on Wednesday, bringing rainfall to parts of Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi after having flooded homes and roadways in Texas. Houston began drying out on Wednesday after some parts of the metro area got nearly 14 inches (35.6 centimeters) of rain over the last three days, according to the National Weather Service. Flooding from heavy rain prompted around 100 water rescues on city roadways. Preliminary reports showed at least 11 structures were flooded in the city limits. "It's not nearly as bad as it could have been," said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.  By Wednesday morning, Beta was 60 miles (97 kilometers) west of Lake Charles, Louisiana, with maximum sustained winds of 30 mph (48 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The…

The rows of lettuce, microgreens and herbs that Himanshu Aggarwal and his mother grow in an enclosed room in a busy New Delhi market began flourishing six months ago, just when the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold in India.Himanshu Aggarwal grows lettuce, microgreens and herbs in an 800-square-foot enclosed room in New Delhi. (Anjana Pasricha/VOA)It was not the best of times. A day after the Aggarwals launched their hydroponic venture, 9Growers, India declared a stringent lockdown, making them nervous about how they would sell their freshly plucked greens amid the pandemic.Surprisingly, the situation helped grow their business. Worried about contracting the virus, people began to focus increasingly on healthful foods, and at the same time, shops became willing to stock their produce.Pratibha Aggarwal helped her son launch the venture 9Growers.…

Pope Francis once again used his weekly general audience Wednesday at the Vatican to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and urged the world's leaders to remember all segments of society as they fight the coronavirus and work to rebuild world economies. Speaking before a limited group of masked faithful in a Vatican courtyard, Francis said everyone has something to contribute as the world attempts to emerge from this crisis But, he said, society's leaders must respect and promote "the intermediate or lower levels" of society.    People attend Pope Francis' weekly general audience at the San Damaso courtyard, at the Vatican, Sept. 23, 2020.He added that multinationals and pharmaceutical companies do not have all the answers.  "The largest financial companies are listened to rather than the people or the ones who really…

The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday “science will guide our decisions” as the agency decides whether to give full or emergency authorization to a coronavirus vaccine.Speaking to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Dr. Stephen Hahn said those decisions will be made by career FDA scientists following the agency’s “rigorous expectations for safety and effectiveness.”Hahn pledged that the approval process will be “transparent and independent” and that the FDA will not authorize a vaccine that its staff would not feel comfortable giving to their families.Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Hearing on the federal government response to COVID-19.Top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci,…

Johnson & Johnson said Wednesday it has launched the final stage of a single-shot COVID-19 vaccine trial the company hopes will determine if the vaccine is safe and effective by the end of the year or early next year.The company said 60,000 volunteers are participating in the trial in the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and South Africa.A number of other coronavirus vaccines in the U.S. and other countries already are in final-stage testing, including those developed by Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc.Many vaccine specialists question whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will cut corners to get final approval from President Donald Trump, who has consistently presented a testing timeline that is shorter than experts say is acceptable to fully test the candidates.President Trump, who has predicted…

Rescuers are trying to save scores of whales beached in the Australian state of Tasmania. Earlier this week, a pod of 270 pilot whales were found washed ashore.  Two hundred more were discovered a short distance away Wednesday.  The stranding of about 470 pilot whales on the west coast of Tasmania is the largest ever recorded in the state's history.   Two hundred seventy animals were found washed up on sandbars Monday, prompting a rescue operation involving wildlife experts, the police and volunteers. They have managed to return some of the whales into deeper water and coax them back out to sea. It is a challenging task. Pilot whales can grow up to seven meters long and weight three tons.  But dozens of the pod discovered Monday have died, and Australian wildlife experts believe that most of the 200 whales found beached…