Year: 2020

The United Kingdom's economy is crumbling under the strain of the coronavirus lockdown and government borrowing is soaring to the highest levels in peacetime history, increasing pressure on the government to set out an exit strategy.   Prime Minister Boris Johnson, recuperating at his country residence after being seriously ill with COVID-19, is facing criticism from opposition politicians and some epidemiologists for reacting too slowly to the novel coronavirus outbreak.   Ministers are already struggling to explain high death rates, limited testing and shortages of protective kit, and the grim reality of the damage to the world's fifth largest economy hit home on Thursday.   The past century, or possibly several centuries," Bank of England interest-rate setter Jan Vlieghe said, the recovery, he said, was unlikely to be swift.  …

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg joined calls for a combined effort to tackle coronavirus and the climate crisis, saying the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on Wednesday was the time to choose a "new way forward." Dramatic improvements in air and water quality as coronavirus lockdowns have cut pollution have prompted calls for a low-carbon future, but the need to get millions back to work is clouding the picture for the future.  Thunberg, taking part in a streamed event to mark Earth Day, said the extraordinary measures to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus did not mean the climate crisis had gone away.   Climate activist Greta Thunberg, center, talks with other climate activists youth at the COP25 climate talks summit in Madrid, Dec. 6, 2019."We need to tackle two crises at…

China will pay close attention to clusters of coronavirus infections, especially in hospitals, according to a top level meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday.   China's northeastern city of Harbin has had several clusters of infections in local hospitals.   The government also called for efforts to increase coronavirus testing capability and produce more effective testing equipment, according to a statement on the state council's website. (Reporting by Colin Qian and Nori Shirouzu; Editing by Andrew Heavens) ...

The World Meteorological Organization is warning that if the planet keeps warming at its current pace, the average global temperature could increase by 1.5 degrees C  in the next 10 years.  This rise would worsen extreme weather events, and many of the dangerous effects of climate change might become irreversible, it said.  WMO reported Wednesday that the national lockdowns of transportation, industry and energy production because of the coronavirus pandemic have resulted in a 6 percent drop of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.  However, WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said this good news would be short-lived.  He said the startup of industry might even trigger a boost in emissions.  He said the pandemic also was making it more difficult to monitor and manage weather and other hazards.“This current COVID crisis…

As people across the globe stay home to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, the air has cleaned up, albeit temporarily. Smog stopped choking New Delhi, one of the most polluted cities in the world, and India's getting views of sights not visible in decades. Nitrogen dioxide pollution in the northeastern  United States is down 30%. Rome air pollution levels from mid-March to mid-April were down 49% from a year ago. Stars seem more visible at night. People are also noticing animals in places and at times they don't usually. Coyotes have meandered along downtown Chicago's Michigan Avenue and near San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. A puma roamed  the streets of Santiago, Chile. Goats took over a town in Wales. In India, already daring wildlife has become bolder with…

Laboratory and drug development services provider LabCorp said on Wednesday it would expand the availability of its antibody tests for the new coronavirus to more hospitals and healthcare organizations starting next week. The tests, earlier made available mainly to healthcare workers in late March, aim to identify individuals exposed to the virus but without any visible symptoms by detecting the presence of antibodies to the virus in blood samples. LabCorp said it offers separate tests to identify three major classes of antibodies for the virus. Physicians would be able to direct asymptomatic patients to the company's approximately 2,000 patient service centers for specimen collection for the antibody test, SARS-CoV-2 IgG, starting April 27, the company said.While the tests are neither the sole basis for a diagnosis nor assurance of immunity, they could play…

On the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day, teen climate activist Greta Thunberg says we should not let the coronavirus pandemic make us forget the ongoing climate crisis. She spoke from the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, in a video conversation with Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Professor Johan Rockstrom in Germany. Thunberg said both the climate crisis and the pandemic are similar in that "we listen to scientists, to science and to the experts." She said times like these require people to put aside their differences and act.  Thunberg and Rockstrom held their digital conversation in honor of Earth Day, and discussed "courage, solidarity and opportunities in times of crisis." Earth Day was first observed April 22, 1970, as the result of student activism and a bipartisan effort in Congress to call…

Health officials say two people died with the coronavirus in California weeks before the first reported death from the disease.   Santa Clara County officials said Tuesday the people died at home Feb. 6 and Feb. 17. Before this, the first U.S. death from the virus had been reported on Feb. 29 in Kirkland, Washington. The Medical Examiner-Coroner received confirmation Tuesday that tissue samples sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested positive for the virus, officials said.   The announcement came after California Gov. Gavin Newsom promised a "deep dive" update Wednesday of the state's ability to test for the coronavirus and to track and isolate people who have it, one of the six indicators he says is key to lifting a "stay-at-home" order that has…

Frequent hand-washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds is recommended by health experts to help prevent exposure to COVID-19. That is exactly what many people do these days. But while washing hands and bathing signifies personal hygiene in our time, it was not always the case.  Louis XIV of France, for example, is said to have taken only two baths in his adult lifetime — both times recommended by his doctors. The king had headaches, and his doctors thought bathing would help cure the condition. It did not, and he never bathed again.  The hygiene rituals of Louis XIV and other historical figures are recounted in the new book “The Clean Body: A Modern History” by Peter Ward. The history professor emeritus at the University of British Colombia explores the transformation of body care habits in the West over the past four centuries.  In the 19th century, advancements in industry, plumbing, architecture and science helped spread the practice of bathing and hand-washing.Cleanliness now and then According…

The United Nations' food chief warned Tuesday that while the world fights the coronavirus pandemic, it is also on the brink of a hunger pandemic."Millions of civilians living in conflict-scarred nations, including many women and children, face being pushed to the brink of starvation, with the specter of famine a very real and dangerous possibility," World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley told a remote meeting of the U.N. Security Council.Beasley said 821 million people worldwide are chronically hungry, and 135 million face crisis levels of hunger. With the added stress of COVID-19, an additional 130 million people could be pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020."In a worst-case scenario, we could be looking at famine in about three dozen countries," he warned.FILE - A homeless…

SARS-CoV2 should be a good candidate for a vaccine. The question is which vaccine will be the best solution? ...

Pollution and greenhouse gas emissions have decreased across the globe, as countries strive to contain the spread of the coronavirus by ordering people to stay at home.Among the many unknown facts about this new virus is what kind of long-term impact it will have on the environment.Since the outbreak in December 2019 and the subsequent pandemic, businesses have shuttered, airlines have slashed services, and more and more people are working from home or not working at all, cutting traffic to a minimum.The global shutdown has inadvertently become an experiment in the reduction of greenhouse gases.NASA recently released satellite data of the northeastern U.S., revealing a 30% drop in air pollution over densely populated metropolitan areas. Nitrogen dioxide from transportation fossil fuels and electricity generation shows that March 2020 has the…

Jamie Margolin had not expected to be sitting in her bedroom right now.   The high school senior had prom and graduation coming up, but so much more: A multi-state bus campaign with fellow climate activists. A tour for her new book. Attendance at one of the massive marches that had been planned this week for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.   Then the pandemic arrived in Seattle, her hometown, and her plans went out the window. "But still so much to do," Margolin said, perched in front of her computer for a video interview from that bedroom.   Like many other young activists who've helped galvanize what's become a global climate movement, Margolin is not letting a spreading virus stop her. They are organizing in place, from the…

As residents at a nursing home in Kirkland, Washington, began dying in late February from a coronavirus outbreak that would eventually take 43 lives, there was little sign of trouble at the Cobble Hill Health Center, a 360-bed facility in an upscale section of Brooklyn.   Its Facebook page posted a cheerful story encouraging relatives to quiz their aging loved ones about their lives, and photos of smiling third graders at a nearby school making flower arrangements for residents.   That quickly changed. By the middle of March, the CEO began sending increasingly alarmed emails about banning visitors, screening staff, confining residents, wiping down all surfaces, and having all-hands-on-deck meetings to prepare everyone for the coming coronavirus "freight train." "I'll be darned if I'm not going to do everything in…

An Ebola flare-up in eastern Congo may spread again after a patient escaped from a clinic, complicating efforts to contain the disease that has infected six people since last week, the World Health Organization said on Sunday.The Democratic Republic of Congo was two days away from declaring the end of the world's second-largest Ebola epidemic when a new chain of infection was discovered on April 10, following more than seven weeks without a new case.Since then, health authorities have sought to contain any renewed spread of infections.But on Friday a 28-year-old motorbike taxi-driver who had tested positive for Ebola ran away from the center where he was being treated in the town of Beni."We are using all the options to get him out of the community," said Boubacar Diallo, deputy…

The Trump White House has intervened to weaken one of the few public health protections pursued by its own administration, a rule to limit the use of a toxic industrial compound in consumer products, according to communications between the White House and Environmental Protection Agency.The documents show that the White House Office of Management and Budget formally notified the EPA by email last July that it was stepping into the crafting of the rule on the compound, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, used in nonstick and stain-resistant frying pans, rugs, and countless other consumer products.The White House repeatedly pressed the agency to agree to a major loophole that could allow substantial imports of the PFAS-tainted products to continue, greatly weakening the proposed rule. EPA pushed back on the White House demand…

NASA announced on Friday that a SpaceX rocket would  send two American astronauts to the International Space Station on May 27, the first crewed spaceflight from the U.S. in nearly a decade."On May 27, @NASA will once again launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil!" NASA chief Jim Bridenstine said in a tweet.The astronauts will be sent to the ISS on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will be launched to the ISS aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft. They will lift off at 4:32 p.m. (2032 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA said.Since July 2011, the United States has relied on Russian Soyuz rockets to send U.S. astronauts to the ISS. ...

South Africa's 21-day coronavirus lockdown presents an unusual challenge for a nation with the world's highest burden of HIV.  In order to remain healthy, those on antiretrovirals need to venture out of their homes for their lifesaving medication -- a move that puts them at greater risk of contracting the highly infectious coronavirus.Therefore, some health care advocates are seeking broader use of an existing workaround in the form of automatic pharmaceutical dispensaries, much like ATMs, where patients can get their pills without making human contact.   Already, South African hospitals are busy preparing for a coming storm of coronavirus cases, which officials expect to peak in September.     But as they stare down this pandemic, they’re also dealing with at least 7.7 million HIV patients, already supported by one…

Two U.S. space agency NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut landed Friday in Kazakhstan after months on board the International Space Station.   NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir and Russian space agency Roscosmos Cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka undocked from the ISS in the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft early Friday.   Just over three hours later, the trio parachuted to Earth in the steppe of Kazakhstan, outside the remote town of Dzhezkazgan. Following post-landing checks, the three were taken by helicopter to the Russian-owned spaceport in Baikonur.   Morgan's 272-day mission began on July 20, 2019, while Meir and Skripochka left Earth Sept. 25 last year.   ...

The Trump administration is gutting an Obama-era rule that compelled coal plants to cut back emissions of mercury and other human health hazards, limiting future regulation of air pollutants by petroleum and coal plants. Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist whose clients have gotten many of the regulatory rollbacks they asked for from the Trump administration, was set to announce the final version of the weakened rule later Thursday.  Environmental and public health groups and Democratic lawmakers faulted the administration for pressing forward with rollbacks — in the final six months of President Donald Trump's current term — while the coronavirus pandemic rivets the world's attention. FILE - Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler speaks at a news conference in Washington, Sept. 12, 2019.With rollbacks on air pollution…

A two-decade-long dry spell that has parched much of the western United States is turning into one of the deepest megadroughts in the region in more than 1,200 years, a new study found. And about half of this historic drought can be blamed on man-made global warming, according to a study in Thursday's journal Science.  Scientists looked at a nine-state area from Oregon and Wyoming down through California and New Mexico, plus a sliver of southwestern Montana and parts of northern Mexico. They used thousands of tree rings to compare a drought that started in 2000 and is still going — despite a wet 2019 — to four past megadroughts since the year 800.  With soil moisture as the key measurement, they found only one other drought that was as big…