Month: July 2021

As the World Health Organization draws up plans for the next phase of its probe of how the coronavirus pandemic started, an increasing number of scientists say the U.N. agency it isn’t up to the task and shouldn’t be the one to investigate.Numerous experts, some with strong ties to WHO, say that political tensions between the U.S. and China make it impossible for an investigation by the agency to find credible answers.They say what’s needed is a broad, independent analysis closer to what happened in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.The first part of a joint WHO-China study of how COVID-19 started concluded in March that the virus probably jumped to humans from animals and that a lab leak was “extremely unlikely.” The next phase might try to…

COVAX, the World Health Organization initiative for the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, is urging countries to recognize as fully vaccinated all people who have received COVID-19 vaccines that COVAX has recognized as safe and effective.“Any measure that only allows people protected by a subset of WHO-approved vaccines to benefit from the re-opening of travel,” COVAX said, would only serve to further widen “the global vaccine divide.”  Such a move would also intensify “the inequities we have already seen in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines,” the COVAX statement said.India said Friday it has sent teams to six states to contain high COVID infection rates.  The states receiving the teams are Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Manipur.India’s health ministry said Friday it had recorded 46,617 new cases and 853…

The three women were enjoying their time together, having lunch near the beach at Capalbio on the Southern Tuscan coast just over an hour’s drive from Rome. A long winter and spring of lockdowns and restrictions in their northern alpine town of Bolzano had kept grandmother, mother and daughter apart for months on end.“Can I tell them how you are the brightest in your class, the most beautiful and the kindest?” the grandmother asked her 17-year-old granddaughter.“The lockdowns were hard — I didn’t see them for months on end. At least I have a beautiful view of the mountains from my apartment, but it was hard. I live alone,” she added. Now reunited, the three generations of women were delighted to be sharing each other’s company once again on a…

Private space operations continue to expand.  Plus, Europe's space agency continues its quest for diversity, and a French astronaut makes good — sort of — on a promise to his crewmates.  VOA's Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space.Produced by: Arash Arabasadi    ...

The South African pharmaceutical company Aspen has begun production of hundreds of millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine for African countries. To speed up the process, the company is getting a large funding boost from the U.S. government.   Speaking during a virtual press briefing Thursday, Mark Marchick, a top executive for the U.S. International Development Financial Corporation, said Aspen would receive about $712 million to produce vaccine for people in Africa.     "Our consortium of development financing institutions would provide a direct loan to Aspen, among other things, to strengthen their balance sheet with long-term financing, support vaccine production and expand their operations with core operations based in South Africa. This loan will help them increase capacity to support Aspen’s effort to produce vaccines for the continent this…

The World Health Organization says the recent decline in the number of new coronavirus infections throughout Europe “has come to an end.”Hans Kluge, the director of the U.N. health agency’s Europe region, said Thursday during a news briefing in Copenhagen that the number of cases in the area’s 53 countries rose 10 percent last week.  Kluge attributed the rise to “increased mixing, travel, gatherings, and easing of social restrictions,” which he said is taking place amid “a rapidly evolving situation” — the emergence of the more transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus, a situation aggravated by the regions slow rate of vaccinations. The coronavirus causes the COVID-19 disease.With more than 60 percent of all people still waiting for at least their first shot of COVID-19 vaccine, and with the relaxed restrictions on…

Amid rising caseloads of coronavirus infections as it emerges from a strict COVID lockdown, Cambodia is pinning its hopes on a vaccination rollout that will help the nation reach herd immunity, even as the nation confronts unique challenges that could hamper that effort.Daily case numbers reached a record high of 1,130 Wednesday, far more than reported in April, when severe lockdowns, bans on alcohol sales and travel between provinces were imposed.Cambodia, though, like most developing countries, faces a range of problems not typically associated with wealthier countries in the West, particularly overcrowding in the capital, Phnom Penh, where several people often rent one room, in some cases one bed, to find a few hours’ sleep, away from the grind outside.Bradley Murg, a senior adviser to the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation…