Year: 2021

As India reels from a second wave of COVID-19 infections that is devastating major cities, stockpiles are falling short of surging demand in the country, health experts warn. The country’s mass immunization bid to expand its vaccination drive to all adults is posing to be a herculean task, they say. India opened vaccinations to those who are 18 years of age and older this month. Although it is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, the approximately 70 million shots for COVID-19 being produced per month cannot address the massive needs of the world’s second most populous country, health experts say. K. Srinath Reddy is the president of the Public Health Foundation of India, a health research and policy development organization based in New Delhi. He said the challenge to meet demands includes groups…

India has opened its immunization drive to all adults as it reels under a catastrophic second wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic. But a shortage of vaccines in the country often called a vaccine powerhouse means inoculating a significant part of the 1.4 billion population is still a distant goal. Anjana Pasricha has a report.  ...

The first phase of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout has started in Papua New Guinea, as infection numbers continue to rise. Experts say Australia’s nearest neighbor is also fighting a sea of misinformation and concerns over the safety of vaccines. Experts say misinformation about COVID-19 is spreading even faster in Papua New Guinea than the disease. Conspiracy theories and other falsehoods have found fertile ground online. Adding to a sense of mistrust are deeply held beliefs in sorcery. Aid workers have reported that the family of a health worker in Papua New Guinea, who tested positive for the virus, was tortured by relatives fearful of unexplained illness.  Jonathan Pryke is the director of the Pacific Islands Program at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based research organization. He says hoaxes spread on social media about the novel coronavirus add to the confusion.  “Facebook is where you…

France’s centrist government has released a video ahead of Wednesday's vote on the so-called Climate and Resilience bill, with Ecological Transition Minister Barbara Pompili explaining how it will lead to cleaner air, more insulated buildings and a greener France overall.Polls find many French citizens support the spirit of the massive legislation, which aims to meet the country's goal of cutting greenhouse gases by 40% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. A recent report by the EU's climate service found 2020 was Europe's hottest year on record, and the region was warming faster than the rest of the world.The French bill’s dozens of measures include limiting the most polluting vehicles in urban areas, slapping ecotaxes on truck transport, banning heated restaurant terraces and capping rent on insulated housing.The National Assembly is expected…

An appeals court on Monday will consider the constitutionality of the first law in the nation banning transgender women and girls from playing on women's sports teams.  The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the case that will likely have far-ranging consequences as more states follow conservative Idaho's lead. Idaho passed its law last year, and more than 20 states have considered such proposals this year. Bans have been enacted in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and West Virginia. Florida lawmakers passed a bill, and South Dakota's governor issued an executive order. On Monday, conservative Republican lawmakers in Kansas failed to override Democratic Governor Laura Kelly's veto of a proposed ban on transgender athletes in girls' and women's school sports. Supporters say such laws are needed because transgender female athletes…

The World Health Organization says a small outbreak of the Ebola virus has been contained in an eastern province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).According to Congo’s Ministry of Health, the outbreak inflected 12 people and killed six in North Kivu province.The WHO congratulated the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s health authorities and the heath workers “on the ground for their swift response which built on the country’s previous experience in tackling Ebola outbreaks,” said the U.N. agency in a statement Monday.According to its statement, the WHO had an estimated 60 experts on the ground to help local workers trace contacts, provide treatment, engage communities and vaccinate nearly 2,000 people at high risk, including more than 500 front-line workers.“Huge credit must be given to the local health workers…

Moderna announced Monday it will supply the COVAX vaccine sharing program with up to 500 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine by the end of 2022. The news comes simultaneously as Sweden announced it would send one million doses of the AstraZeneca shot as well.     Under the deal, Moderna will work with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to supply 34 million doses later this year to COVAX, a program created by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to provide vaccines for low- and middle-income countries.   The shots will be offered at the company’s “lowest tiered price” and Gavi will be able to buy an additional 466 million doses next year in 2022.     “We recognize that many countries have limited resources…

The results of a new poll show that vaccine hesitancy worldwide poses a risk to ending the COVID-19 pandemic for good. In 79 out of 117 countries A man arrives to get a dose of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a hospital, in Ankara, Turkey, May 1, 2021.Vaccination is not the only factor in herd immunity. Natural infections also contribute. Some countries in which vaccine rollout is under way are seeing sharp declines in cases long before vaccines reach 70% of the population. But questions remain about the strength of the immune response to natural infection, its length and whether emerging variants can overcome it. Many of these questions remain unanswered concerning the COVID-19 vaccines as well. The 'moveable middle' The survey was conducted before vaccines began to roll out anywhere. Attitudes have probably shifted somewhat already, Ray said, as hundreds of millions of shots have been given and media coverage…

Amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in India and other parts of the world, the Biden administration remains noncommittal on a proposal to loosen patent restrictions so that countries can manufacture generic versions of the coronavirus vaccines. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report. ...

Murder, rape and physical abuse are among the attacks that healthcare workers, the wounded and the sick have been subjected to in the five years since the United Nations Security Council adopted its first resolution on the protection of health care in conflict zones and demanded an end to impunity for such attacks.  The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement Monday that “health-care providers and patients have suffered through thousands of attacks on health care systems” since the resolution was adopted. Medical facilities and medical transport vehicles have been looted and destroyed and health care services, such as vaccine campaigns, have also come under attack, the ICRC added.  The ICRC counted 3,780 attacks per year in an average of 33 countries between 2016 and 2020, the aid organization said in a statement. Two-thirds of the attacks, ICRC said, occurred in Africa and the Middle East, including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Israel and the occupied territories, and Syria. The count is likely…

Pakistan decided Sunday to temporarily suspend incoming pedestrian movement at overland border crossings with Afghanistan and Iran to “restrain import of any new mutation” of the coronavirus.    The restriction will take effect Tuesday night and remain in place until May 20, said the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), which oversees Pakistan’s response to the outbreak.    Pakistani nationals in Afghanistan and Iran, as well as Afghans seeking extreme emergency medical treatment in Pakistan will, however, be allowed to enter the country. All outbound pedestrian movement will be permissible, the statement said.     The tightened border controls come a day after officials in the southern Pakistani province of Sindh said they had detected the South African and Brazilian coronavirus variants in “some samples.” The highly contagious variants have…

India continues to be pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic, documenting a new national record Sunday of nearly 3,700 deaths in the last 24 hours and more than 390,000 new infections. Even so, India began counting votes for state elections, although the Madras High Court assailed the country’s Election Commission for not stopping political rallies that flouted COVID-19 restrictions. Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee called the commission “singularly responsible” for the surge in new cases. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus. While India is home to the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India, only 2% of the country’s 1.3 billion people have so far been vaccinated, according to reports.  The country expanded its vaccine eligibility Saturday to anyone 18 and older, but many locations reported that they did not…

Pakistan decided Sunday to temporarily suspend incoming pedestrian movement at overland border crossings with Afghanistan and Iran to “restrain import of any new mutation” of the coronavirus.    The restriction will take effect Tuesday night and remain in place until May 20, said the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), which oversees Pakistan’s response to the outbreak.    Pakistani nationals in Afghanistan and Iran, as well as Afghans seeking extreme emergency medical treatment in Pakistan will, however, be allowed to enter the country. All outbound pedestrian movement will be permissible, the statement said.     The tightened border controls come a day after officials in the southern Pakistani province of Sindh said they had detected the South African and Brazilian coronavirus variants in “some samples.” The highly contagious variants have…

SpaceX returned four astronauts from the International Space Station on Sunday, making the first U.S. crew splashdown in darkness since the Apollo 8 moonshot.The Dragon capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida, just before 3 a.m., ending the second astronaut flight for Elon Musk’s company.It was an express trip home, lasting just 6 1/2 hours.The astronauts, three American and one Japanese, flew back in the same capsule — named Resilience — in which they launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in November.Their 167-day mission is the longest for astronauts launching from the U.S. The previous record of 84 days, about 3 months, was set by NASA’s final Skylab station crew in 1974.Saturday night’s undocking left seven people at the space station, four of…

India set a record Saturday, for the first time surpassing 400,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.The new infections count for the previous 24-hour period was a record 401,993 cases, according to India’s health ministry. Public health officials believe the actual count may be at least five times higher.“This virus has shown us that if left to its own devices, it will explode in society,” top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said in an interview with Indian Express newspaper. “If you don’t respect its ability to cause serious damage, you are going to get into trouble.”Fauci recommended a lockdown for India.“Literally, lock down so that you wind up having less spread. No one likes to lock down the country. … But if you do it…

Uganda has suspended all flights coming into the country from India after recording new variants of the coronavirus, including the COVID-19 variant from India.The ban began Saturday at midnight.The new directive follows the Ministry of Health researchers detecting one case of the coronavirus disease, an Indian variant, in the East African country.India has so far recorded more than 18.8 million COVID-19 cases, with deaths topping 200,000 in the past week — with new infection cases surpassing 400,000.Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, Uganda’s minister for health, outlined the travel restrictions.“All passenger flights between Uganda and India are suspended until further notice,” she said. “No travelers from India shall be allowed into Uganda, regardless of the route of travel.”Aceng stressed that all travelers who may have been in India or traveled through India…

India’s daily COVID count of new cases has, for the first time, surpassed the 400,000 mark. The new infections count for the previous 24-hour period was a record 401,993 cases, India’s health ministry said Saturday. Public health officials believe the actual count may be at least five times higher.   “This virus has shown us that if left to its own devices, it will explode in society,” top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said in an interview with Indian Express newspaper. “If you don’t respect its ability to cause serious damage, you are going to get into trouble.”   Fauci recommended a lockdown for India. “Literally, lock down so that you wind up having less spread. No one likes to lock down the country … But if you do…

At least 12 patients were killed early Saturday when a fire erupted in a COVID-19 ward at a hospital in western India.Authorities say 50 patients were rescued from the ground floor fire at the Welfare Hospital in Bharuch, in Gujarat state.It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, according to officials.Meanwhile the White House says 100 million Americans are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, nearly double the 55 million vaccinated a month ago.White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients proclaimed the number a "major milestone" at a briefing Friday."That's a hundred million Americans with a sense of relief and peace of mind, knowing that after a long and hard year, they're protected from the virus," Zients said.Every American older than 16 is now eligible for the vaccine, and President…

Famine is looming in southern Madagascar and emergency food aid is needed for hundreds of thousands of people to head off a humanitarian disaster on the African island nation, the U.N. World Food Program warned.Five consecutive years of drought, exacerbated by unexpected sandstorms, have depleted people's food stocks, forcing them to resort to desperate measures to survive. The WFP senior director of operations in Madagascar, Amer Daoudi, said at least 1.35 million people are suffering from acute hunger, many of whom are living off locusts, raw cactus fruits or wild leaves. He said malnutrition is soaring to alarming levels, putting the lives of many children under age five at risk. While on a diplomatic and governmental tour of the region, he said he saw horrific images of starving, malnourished and stunted children. FILE…

Scientists with the U.S. space agency NASA Friday said the tiny helicopter they sent to Mars has exceeded their expectations, despite a glitch that forced its fourth flight to be rescheduled.   During a virtual news briefing on the Mars mission, scientists and engineers with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said the Ingenuity helicopter’s first three flights showed them enough capability that they are expanding the operation of the aircraft by 30 days, doubling its originally planned mission time.   NASA had originally described the Ingenuity project as a technology demonstration designed to test flight capability in the thin Martian atmosphere. Project Manager Mi Mi Aung, said it performed so well that it is transitioning from a demonstration to operation phase, in which the craft will be used to show how…

The U.S. space agency NASA said the experimental Mars helicopter Ingenuity, after three successful flights, failed to respond to commands to lift off for a fourth flight Thursday. Scientists with the Ingenuity team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in southern California say a software problem similar to one that delayed the experimental craft’s initial flight 11 days ago prevented the helicopter from transitioning to “flight mode.” The scientists plan to try again Friday. The 1.8-kilogram aircraft arrived on the planet packed away on NASA’s Perseverance rover when it landed on Mars in February. It was unfolded and dropped from the rover a little more than three weeks ago, and each of the three flights it has made so far have been successively more ambitious. After first simply rising three…

The first emergency aid of critical medical supplies arrived in India from the United States on Friday, as the country grapples with a humanitarian crisis after being hit with the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.   With the death toll soaring past 200,000, the race to save lives is getting more frantic with India’s health care system virtually crushed under the relentlessly rising numbers.   A U.S. Super Galaxy military transporter brought more than 400 oxygen cylinders and other hospital equipment as well as rapid coronavirus tests to New Delhi.   U.S. officials said that special flights which will also bring equipment donated by companies and individuals, will continue into next week.   President Joe Biden has pledged to support India in its fight against the coronavirus.   Some…