Year: 2020

An independent panel appointed by the World Health Organization to review its coordination of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic will have full access to any internal U.N. agency documents, materials and emails necessary, the panel said Thursday as it begins the probe.   The panel's co-chairs, former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, announced the 11 other members during a media briefing. They include Dr. Joanne Liu, who was an outspoken WHO critic while leading Medecins Sans Frontieres during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.     Also named to the panel are: Dr. Zhong Nanshan, a renowned Chinese doctor who was the first to publicly confirm human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus; Mark Dybul, who led the Global Fund to Fight…

New Zealand has recorded its first COVID-19 death since the end of May, health officials say, bringing the country’s total death tally from the virus to 23. In contrast, the United States continues to top the list of COVID-19 deaths with more than 186,000, and more than 6.1 million cases.Brazil follows the U.S. with just over 4 million cases and more than 124,000 deaths.   India comes in third with nearly 4 million cases and over 68,000 deaths. Berlusconi hospitalized Former Italian Prime Minister and leader of the Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party Silvio Berlusconi gestures during a rally ahead of a regional election in Emilia-Romagna, in Ravenna, Jan. 24, 2020.Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s former prime minister, has been hospitalized for COVID-j19.  Doctors say the 83-year-old also has been diagnosed with the early stages of double pneumonia. His condition, however, is “not a cause for concern,” his Forza Italia party said in a statement.  His girlfriend, lawmaker Marta Fascina, has…

Two COVID-19 vaccines that could arrive as soon as November use a promising new technique that experts say speeds up the development process.  The new vaccines will be the first test to see if vaccines based on genetic code, rather than the germ itself, can be safe and effective. U.S.-based biotech company Moderna is developing one. The other is the product of a collaboration between German drugmaker BioNTech and U.S.-headquartered Pfizer.  FILE - The Pfizer company logo is seen at the company's headquarters in New York, Dec. 4, 2017.FILE - A sign marks an entrance to a Moderna, Inc., building, in Cambridge, Mass., May 18, 2020.All previous vaccines have triggered the immune system with dead or weakened versions of a germ or parts of it. The active ingredient in each…

The U.N. children’s agency said Thursday it would lead the world's largest and fastest procurement and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines from dozens of makers in the next two years so that no country lacks access.UNICEF and the World Health Organization co-lead a COVID-19 A workers sanitizes a metro coach in New Delhi, India, Sept. 3, 2020.On Wednesday, Nepalese protesters defying a government coronavirus lockdown to take part in a religious festival clash with riot police, in Lalitpur, Nepal, Sept. 3, 2020.Amnesty’s report highlighted the deadly toll COVID-19 has had on frontline workers. Overall, at least 7,000 health workers have died of the virus.Other countries with high mortality rates include the United States, Brazil and India, where health worker death tolls stand at 1,077, 634 and 573, respectively, Reuters reported. The three…

NASA this week moved closer to its next crewed mission to the moon.  A successful rocket test means they know how they will get there, while scientists in India have developed eco-friendly bricks for building structures on the lunar surface.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has the week in space.Produced by Arash Arabasadi ...

The U.S. space agency, NASA and aerospace firm Northrop Grumman Wednesday conducted a full-scale test of a rocket motor, known as a "Flight Support Booster" or "FSB-1,” that will power the first Artemis mission to the moon.During the test at Northrop Grumman's facility in Promontory, Utah, the 47-meter booster motor was anchored to the ground horizontally, and fired for just over two minutes, producing 1.6 million kilograms of thrust.NASA and Northrop Grumman will use data from the test to evaluate the motor’s performance using potential new materials and processes that can be incorporated into future boosters. NASA has contracted Northrop Grumman to build boosters for future rocket flights.Researchers Discover First Intermediate-size Black HoleAstronomers say they have discovered evidence of the first intermediate-size black hole, created by merger of two smaller…

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that it has informed public health officials in all 50 states and several large cities to be prepared to distribute a coronavirus vaccine by November 1, two days before the presidential election.The McClatchy news service was the first to report Wednesday that the CDC had sent out a four-page memo on August 27 for health departments to draft vaccination plans by October 1  “to coincide with the earliest possible release of COVID-19 vaccine.” The Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus crisis hearing, July 31, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington.Fauci's take on potential vaccine News of the CDC memo coincided with remarks made Wednesday by Dr. Anthony…

It seems possible, though how often it happens isn't known. Researchers in Hong Kong  recently reported evidence of a person who got the coronavirus a second time, months after an initial infection. The finding has not yet been published in a journal. But scientists said the 33-year-old man had mild symptoms the first time and none the second time, suggesting his immune system may have provided some protection against serious illness even if it could not prevent a reinfection. His more recent infection was detected through screening and testing at the Hong Kong airport, and researchers said genetic tests revealed different strains of the virus. Several other possible cases have been reported, including a U.S. man who was sicker the second time than the first. Even if people can get…

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent guidelines on August 27 to all 50 states, U.S. territories and several large cities, telling them to be prepared to distribute a coronavirus vaccine by Nov. 1, two days before the presidential election, according to several media reports Wednesday.In a four-page memo sent to governors in August, the CDC told health departments to draft vaccination plans by October 1 “to coincide with the earliest possible release of COVID-19 vaccine.”McClatchy first reported news of the letter, which other media then reported.The CDC declined to comment on the letter, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.States “in the near future” will receive permit applications from McKesson Corp., the firm that has contracted with the CDC to distribute vaccines to sites including state and local health departments and…

A Mexican court will later this week hear a case brought on by 15 young people demanding the government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador set out clear policies on climate change, documents show. Lopez Obrador is under increased pressure to help mitigate the effects of climate change. The plaintiffs from the state Baja California filed a legal stay of proceedings, known locally as amparo, before a district court in administrative matters, several documents related to the case show. In it, the youths, aged 17 to 23, demand clearer regulations and public policies derived from the country's existing General Law on Climate Change and the Mexican constitution, the documents showed. All of the documents, which have not been made public, were provided by a representative of the plaintiffs. Demonstrators march during the global protest on climate…

The World Health Organization issued Teachers and auxiliary staff take COVID-19 tests in Madrid, Spain, Sept. 2, 2020.Dr. Todd Rice, an associate professor of medicine and critical care physician at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, who co-authored an editorial in JAMA, told The New York Times newspaper that the results were a confidence booster for medical professionals worried about steroid use in the sickest COVID-19 patients."This shows us steroids are clearly beneficial in this population and should clearly be given, unless you absolutely can't for some reason, which needs to be a pretty rare occasion," he said.Researchers with the WHO's Rapid Evidence Appraisal for COVID-19 Therapies (REACT) Working Group evaluated data on three steroids used in seven randomized clinical trials in 12 countries. Researchers found the corticosteroid drug dexamethasone reduced…

Astronomers say they have discovered evidence of the first intermediate-size black hole, created by the merger of two smaller black holes.Up to this point, astronomers had observed black holes – super-dense regions of space with gravity so strong light cannot escape them – in only two general sizes.There are small, or “stellar” black holes, formed when stars collapse into themselves. They range in size from three to four times the mass of our sun to tens of times the mass of our sun.There are also are supermassive black holes that are millions, maybe billions, of times more massive than our sun. A supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy is believed to be 4 million times the mass of our sun. Intermediate-size black holes had been…

Louisianians woke up Wednesday, Aug. 26 to news that Laura would be arriving as a Category 4 hurricane. The storm was expected to hit Lake Charles early Thursday morning.   Throughout the day, doctors, nurses, maintenance and cafeteria workers filled Lake Charles Memorial Hospital. The plan was for several shifts of employees to be ready once the winds picked up that night. Whole floors were designated as sleeping areas for off-duty staff. Dr. Gary Kohler, a pulmonary critical care physician, arrived for his shift at 6:30 a.m. He remembered sensing how nervous everyone was in those hours before the storm.   “No one wanted to be alone,” he said. “When we were on break, a lot of us would sit around a table together. It was a shared fear of not knowing what was coming.”    In 2005, the hospital was evacuated before Hurricane Rita arrived and devastated the city. Hurricane Laura was predicted to be more ferocious. But this time, there were no plans…

The World Health Organization’s Europe director says the COVID-19 crisis won’t necessarily end with a vaccine, but with societies learning how to live with it.In an interview with British broadcaster SKY News Wednesday, WHO Europe Director Hans Kluge said the governments that take an active leadership role and embrace public health and social measures will have the most success moving beyond the COVID-19 crisis. He said, “That could happen tomorrow.”Kluge understands that economies have been badly hurt by lockdowns and shutdowns, but every approach has its risks.Like many other health experts, Kluge predicts new surges in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations as the colder months approach and people are indoors. But he said it will not be like early in the pandemic when governments were taken by surprise.He said, “Now, we…

Louisianians woke up Wednesday, Aug. 26 to news that Laura would be arriving as a Category 4 hurricane. The storm was expected to hit Lake Charles early Thursday morning.   Throughout the day, doctors, nurses, maintenance and cafeteria workers filled Lake Charles Memorial Hospital. The plan was for several shifts of employees to be ready once the winds picked up that night. Whole floors were designated as sleeping areas for off-duty staff. Dr. Gary Kohler, a pulmonary critical care physician, arrived for his shift at 6:30 a.m. He remembered sensing how nervous everyone was in those hours before the storm.   “No one wanted to be alone,” he said. “When we were on break, a lot of us would sit around a table together. It was a shared fear of not knowing what was coming.”    In 2005, the hospital was evacuated before Hurricane Rita arrived and devastated the city. Hurricane Laura was predicted to be more ferocious. But this time, there were no plans…

The United States says it will not participate in a global initiative to develop, manufacture and equally distribute a vaccine for COVID-19 because the World Health Organization is taking a leading role in the effort. More than 170 countries are in talks to participate in the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, dubbed Covax, a joint project undertaken by the WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, an organization founded by Bill and Melinda Gates to vaccinate children in the world’s poorest countries.In this Aug. 14, 2020, file photo, laboratory technicians work at the mAbxience biopharmaceutical company on an experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and the laboratory AstraZeneca in Garin, Argentina.President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the WHO back in July, after claiming the agency mishandled…

The strongest typhoon of the year is on its way to the Korean Peninsula Wednesday after lashing Japan with strong winds and rain.Typhoon Maysak peaked early Tuesday with winds of 233 kilometers per hour, coming within a week of the first major storm and a few days before a third potential typhoon.Maysak, a Category 4 storm on the five-level scale, could affect weather as far away as Canada.Maysak is expected to make landfall Wednesday in South Korea as a Category 1 or Category 2 storm. Prefectures along Japan’s eastern coast were still under weather advisories Tuesday, with some at the southern tip of the island under more serious weather warnings. Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city, is predicted to lie in the path of the strongest quadrant of the storm, raising fears of…

After a pandemic hiatus, more than a thousand mask-wearing Extinction Rebellion climate activists marched back onto London's streets Tuesday, calling for swifter action to halt global warming as a huge contingent of police looked on. With Britain's Parliament returning to work this week after a summer recess, protesters blocked the square in front of the building and called for legislators to take up a proposed climate and ecological emergency bill. It aims to expand Britain's pledge to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 to cover so-far excluded sectors such as international shipping and air travel, and for actions toward the goal to be faster and determined by a citizens' assembly. "The important thing is having the government admit they're too slow. Right now they're not taking responsibility," said Reece Evans, 24, an Extinction Rebellion…

Several experimental COVID-19 vaccines have reached the final testing stage, officials involved in their development have said.The British-Swedish pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, said Monday the final testing stage in the U.S. will involve up to 30,000 adults from different racial, ethnic and geographical groups. A vaccine created by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and manufactured by the U.S.-based Moderna Inc. also began testing thousands of people this summer in the U.S., as has another experimental vaccine developed jointly by Pfizer Inc., headquartered in New York, and Germany’s BioNtech. AstraZeneca said its vaccine, known as AZD1222, is in late-stage trials in Brazil, South Africa and Britian, and that other trials of the vaccine are planned in Japan and Russia.For the experimental vaccines to be successful, they must pass tests that are…

Botswana says a string of mysterious elephant deaths has come to a halt since June, after at least 281 carcasses were found.Experts in the southern African country, with the world's largest elephant population, said there were no signs of poaching or predators. Most of the blood samples sent abroad for testing indicate a toxin caused the deaths. However, it is not clear if the toxin is man-made or natural, says Botswana's Ministry of Wildlife and Environment Permanent Secretary Oduetse Koboto.                           "We have received most of the results. A lot of variables that we suspected had tested negative.  We ruled out any virus, no bacteria. Pathogens (are) also negative," he said. "The only thing that we are waiting for is toxicology.…

Uganda and the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) have placed one of the largest refugee camps in Africa, Kyangwali, under lockdown after a jump in confirmed cases of the coronavirus. The refugees there say they are feeling the pinch.   Kyangwali, in southwestern Uganda, is home to more than 120,000 refugees. The lockdown is due to a rising number of coronavirus cases among both aid workers and refugees.   Rebecca Noel, a Congolese national and mother of two, has lived at the settlement in Kikuube district for 11 years. To supplement the monthly $6 cash for food money given to her and others by the World Food Program, Noel says she does casual labor and trades in shoes and clothes. With little food to put on the table, Noel says…

Many Indian states eased lockdown restrictions on Tuesday, allowing more businesses and public areas to reopen to reduce economic pain caused by the coronavirus, even as the country's new daily infections remain the highest in the world and its confirmed cases near 3.7 million. A day earlier, the government reported that the economy contracted by 23.9% in the April-June quarter, its worst performance in at least 24 years. Unemployment is soaring, with millions left jobless. Hoping to avoid more economic damage, India is gradually relaxing restrictions and has announced that urban metro trains can resume service next Monday. India has been reporting the highest single-day caseload in the world for nearly three weeks. On Tuesday it recorded 69,921 new coronavirus infections. More than 65,000 people have died. Experts say India,…

After scientists determined that the coronavirus likely spread from an animal to a human, there came a flurry of statements from nations around Asia promising to ban the trafficking of animals. Now there is data to suggest that authorities, at least in Vietnam, are following through with enforcing the bans. Among the cases of trafficked wildlife that was seized in Vietnam, the percent that led to arrests reached 97% in the first half of this year, according to Education for Nature Vietnam, an environmental organization.  From 2015 to 2019, the number had remained steady at around 87%. Scientists believe the pandemic may have begun after human contact with an infected bat or pangolin in China.  Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations act as a frequent conduit for illicit animal products that end up in China. In recent years…