Year: 2021

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths remain high in Brazil as the country’s campaign to vaccinate against the disease stumbles.According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, Brazil recorded more than 70,000 new cases of the virus in the past day.Its seven-day rolling average has risen to 2,820 deaths, or about one-fourth of the world’s average deaths for the same period, according to Johns Hopkins. At more than 353,000 total deaths, Brazil has the second highest toll from the pandemic, behind only the United States, which has more than 562,000.Less than 3% of the South American nation’s population has been fully vaccinated. The U.S. has fully vaccinated more than 20% of its population, according to Johns Hopkins.ICU wards in cities within Rio de Janeiro’s metropolitan area are reportedly nearly full,…

Scientists studying sea turtles say the ancient animals’ numbers are dropping. They blame mostly human activity, but say they hope a new action plan could help the species mount a comeback. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more. ...

About 40% of all abortions in the United States are done through medication, rather than surgery, and that option has become more pivotal during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Abortion rights advocates say the pandemic has demonstrated the value of medical care provided virtually, including the privacy and convenience of abortions taking place in a woman's home, instead of a clinic. Abortion opponents, worried the method will become increasingly prevalent, are pushing legislation in several Republican-led states to restrict it and, in some cases, ban providers from prescribing abortion medication via telemedicine.Ohio enacted a ban this year, proposing felony charges for doctors who violate it. The law was set to take effect next week, but a judge has temporarily blocked it in response to a Planned Parenthood lawsuit.In Montana, Republican Gov. Greg…

The World Health Organization is warning that COVID-19 cases and deaths are rising globally, partly because of complacency setting in that vaccines will stop the spread of the disease. The latest WHO report confirms more than 133.5 million cases of coronavirus infections, including nearly 3 million global deaths.   Data show a worrisome uptick in coronavirus cases and deaths in all regions of the world, with Africa slightly less affected than other regions. The World Health Organization attributes this rise to several factors, including an increase in coronavirus variants, failure to practice public health measures and the resumption of so-called normal life when people emerge from lockdown.     Another problem says WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris is a growing complacency that the availability of vaccines will soon end the crisis.…

Marine experts estimate about 40,000 humpback whales are now migrating through Australian waters annually, up from about 1,500 half a century ago.       The humpbacks’ annual journey from Antarctica to subtropical waters along Australia’s east and west coasts is one of nature’s great migrations.     It is a journey of up to 10,000 kilometers and is undertaken between April and November. Scientists have estimated 40,000 humpback whales have been in Australian waters to mate and breed.  It is a remarkable recovery from the height of commercial whaling in the early 1960s when it was estimated there were fewer than 1,500 humpbacks.  They were slaughtered mainly for their oil and baleen, or “whalebone."   Australia’s environment department says no other whale species has recovered as strongly as the…

There are nearly 134.7 million worldwide COVID-19 cases, Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday. The U.S. has more cases than anywhere else, with 31 million infections, followed by Brazil, with 13.3 million, and India, with 13.2 million cases.India has recorded its highest daily spike in COVID cases for a fifth straight day. On Saturday, the health ministry reported 145,384 new cases in the previous 24-hour period.Britain’s emergency doctors are reporting that their departments are seeing an influx of patients who say they have headaches and are worried about the Astra Zeneca vaccines they have received, following reports that the vaccine could be responsible for very rare, possibly fatal, brain blood clots.“We are seeing people with mild headaches and persistent headaches, but who are otherwise all right,” Dr. Katherine…

La Soufriere volcano on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent erupted on Friday after decades of inactivity, sending dark plumes of ash and smoke billowing into the sky and forcing thousands from surrounding villages to evacuate.Dormant since 1979, the volcano started showing signs of activity in December, spewing steam and smoke and rumbling away. That picked up this week, prompting Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves to order an evacuation of the surrounding area late on Thursday.Early on Friday it finally erupted. Ash and smoke plunged the neighboring area into near total darkness, blotting out the bright morning sun, said a Reuters witness, who reported hearing the explosion from Rose Hall, a nearby village.Smaller explosions continued throughout the day, Erouscilla Joseph, director at the University…

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga Friday announced Tokyo will be placed under a month-long state of "quasi-emergency" to combat surging COVID-19 infections. Speaking to reporters during a COVID-19 task force meeting, Suga said the new measures are focused on shortening the business hours of bars and restaurants and imposing fines for violations.  Many of Tokyo’s COVID-19 cases have been traced to the city’s night life.   Suga said the steps are necessary because of surging infection rates, particularly of more contagious variants of the virus.   Japan has never imposed strict lockdowns such as those seen in other countries. In Germany, Health Minister Jens Span told reporters Friday that a nationwide lockdown is necessary to bring the surging third wave of the virus under control.   Speaking at the same…

Malawi's Ministry of Health expanded eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine to all Malawians 18 and older.  The decision was prompted by the approaching expiration date for about 40,000 doses the country received from the African Union. Malawi's government has so far received 512,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which it is administering to the public.The first batch of 360,000 doses came in early March under the COVAX program. A few weeks later, Malawi received other allotments of 50,000 doses from India and 102,000 doses from the African Union.Joshua Malango, the spokesperson for Malawi's Ministry of Health, said 40,000 of the African Union doses expire Tuesday, while the other vaccine expires in July. He believes there is still time to distribute the AU doses before they become unusable.   "We have four days…

U.S. Centers for Disease Control Director Rochelle Walensky said Friday that hospitalizations and new COVID-19 cases continue to rise, driven by infections in younger adults, who have not yet been vaccinated.During a White House COVID-19 Response Team virtual news briefing, Walensky noted hospitalizations for COVID-19 rose by seven percent over the past seven days, while new daily infections rose by an average of two percent during the same period.She noted most of those new cases were among adults age 55 and younger, who have not yet been vaccinated. Walensky also noted a decrease in hospitalizations for those age 65 and older, demonstrating the importance of getting vaccinated, since many older Americans are eligible and have received vaccines.To further encourage people to get shots, President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor, Anthony…

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga Friday announced Tokyo will be placed under a month-long state of "quasi-emergency" to combat surging COVID-19 infections. Speaking to reporters during a COVID-19 task force meeting, Suga said the new measures are focused on shortening the business hours of bars and restaurants and imposing fines for violations.  Many of Tokyo’s COVID-19 cases have been traced to the city’s night life.   Suga said the steps are necessary because of surging infection rates, particularly of more contagious variants of the virus.   Japan has never imposed strict lockdowns such as those seen in other countries. In Germany, Health Minister Jens Span told reporters Friday that a nationwide lockdown is necessary to bring the surging third wave of the virus under control.   Speaking at the same…

Germany’s top health officials said Friday a nationwide lockdown of two to four weeks is necessary to bring a new wave of COVID-19 infections under control. Health Minister Jens Spahn and Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for Infectious Disease President Lothar Wieler told reporters in Berlin there were 25,000 new infections reported as of Friday, which Spahn said were too many. He said a nationwide lockdown is needed to get the rate of infection permanently below 100 per 100,000 people. Spahn said the infection rates are being felt most in the hospitals and intensive care units, which he said are currently treating nearly 4,500 patients across the country. Wieler said RKI hospital surveillance data indicates more and more of these seriously ill patients are young people. He said that fact adds…

A U.S. astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts arrive at the International Space Station (ISS) Friday for a six-month mission.   NASA’s Mark Vande Hei and Russians Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov blasted off as scheduled on board of the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.   The three were launched in a capsule named in honor of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who became the first person in space 60 years ago, on April 12, 1961.   The mission also marks the 40th anniversary of NASA’s first space shuttle launch.   Their journey to the station takes about three hours and includes two Earth orbits.   Vande Hei, Novitskiy and Dubrov will work on biology, biotechnology and Earth science experiments during their stay at the ISS.   NASA's…

Around $1 trillion of food is lost or wasted each year around the world, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Reversing that trend could preserve enough food to feed 2 billion people. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias looks at how COVID-19 has spurred innovative efforts to prevent food waste and hunger in the United States. ...

CDC says cases of coronavirus clusters are increasing in the U.S. in youth sports and day care centers, while hospitals are reporting more younger adults are being admitted with severe cases of the disease.  As Mariama Diallo reports, coronavirus variants are to blame for the rise.    ...

CDC says cases of coronavirus clusters are increasing in the U.S. in youth sports and day care centers, while hospitals are reporting more younger adults are being admitted with severe cases of the disease.  As Mariama Diallo reports, coronavirus variants are to blame for the rise.    ...

The United States officially joined a U.N. group on climate and security on Thursday as part of the Biden administration’s focus on mitigating all impacts of the climate crisis.“This is a critical issue for the United Nations, especially because the threat isn’t just to all of our climates. It’s also a collective security issue for all of us,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters.She noted that the Pentagon has declared climate change both a national security threat and a threat multiplier.“That’s because unpredictable and extreme weather will make vital resources, like food and water, even more scarce in impoverished countries,” she said. “Scarcity spurs desperation, and desperation, of course, leads to violence.”She said at the current pace, millions of people across the planet will be driven to mass migration due…

Modern brains are younger than originally thought, possibly developing as recently as 1.5 million years ago, according to a study published Thursday. By that time, the earliest humans had already begun walking on two feet and had started fanning out from Africa. Our first ancestors from the genus Homo emerged on the continent about 2.5 million years ago with primitive, apelike brains about half the size of those seen in today's humans.  Scientists have been trying to solve a mystery for as long as our origin story has been known: Exactly when and where did the brain evolve into something that made us human? "People had thought that these humanlike brains evolved actually at the very beginning of the genus Homo, so about 2.5 million years ago," paleoanthropologist Christoph Zollikofer, a co-author…

Several nations have issued new guidelines over the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine after the European Union’s medical regulator announced a link between the vaccine and rare, possibly fatal blood clots.Britain, where the vaccine was developed jointly by the British-Swedish drugmaker and scientists at the University of Oxford, says it will offer alternatives for adults under 30. Oxford researchers have also suspended a clinical trial of the AstraZeneca vaccine involving young children and teenagers as British drug regulators conduct a safety review of the two-shot regimen.Reuters says Spain and the Philippines will limit the vaccine to people older than 60, while The Washington Post says Italy has issued similar guidelines.The European Medicines Agency said Wednesday the blood clots should be listed as a very rare side effect of the AstraZeneca…

Moroccan authorities decided Wednesday to enforce a night-time curfew during the holy month of Ramadan because of a recent rise in COVID-19 cases, as scientists announced the discovery of a new, local variant of the virus.Many Moroccans voiced their anger over the decision on social networks, describing it as another blow to many businesses already struggling to survive, as well as to family gatherings that are a central part of the holiday.While the North African kingdom has had one of the region's most successful vaccination programs so far, it is also seeing a growth in coronavirus infections, especially in Casablanca, the largest city.A curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. has been in place since December, and the Moroccan government decided Wednesday to extend it through Ramadan, which starts April…

A New York social worker and psychotherapist says more is needed to address the pandemic’s impact on mental health, particularly among health care workers. More from VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo. ...

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday the highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant originally identified in Britain is now the most common strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 circulating in the United States.During the White House COVID-19 response team briefing, Walensky said the variant has been shown to be more transmissible and infectious among younger Americans, which she says contributed to rising case counts in recent weeks. The CDC director said the latest figures show the U.S. seven-day daily case average rose by 2.3% from the previous seven days to 62,878 per day. She also said there are reports of clusters of cases associated with day care centers and youth sports across the country.Hospital admissions have also been up by about 2.7% per day over the…

The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) reports it is covering the cost of health insurance for an additional 20,000 Afghan refugees in Iran. This boosts the number of refugees to 120,000 who will be able to access medical care for COVID-19 and other illnesses under Iran’s national health plan.   Iran hosts nearly 800,000 Afghan refugees.  Over the past year, the UNHCR has paid insurance premiums for 100,000 of the most vulnerable refugees. Given the dangers posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, it now has boosted that number by another 20,000.   UNHCR spokesman Babar Balloch says Iran is one of only a handful of countries in the world that allows refugees to sign up for its national health insurance and receive the same treatment as its nationals.        “The national…

A pandemic has blanketed the planet. Economies have cratered. Across the world, people are scared, anxious and unsteady about the future.   And you want to talk about climate change?   Yes, say African leaders. Now.   African heads of state met virtually this week to make a push for the global community to do more to fight climate change in Africa, arguing that this environmental crisis could — and in fact, is — making the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic worse in the developing world. They are pushing a bold, multibillion dollar plan ahead of a vital climate conference planned for later this year.  FILE - Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta speaks in Nairobi, Sept. 26, 2020.It is hardly news that the pandemic has dealt a body blow to the developing world, said…

A clinical trial of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine involving young children and teenagers has been halted by Oxford researchers as British drug regulators conduct a safety review of the two-shot regimen.The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency is looking into a possible link between the vaccine and blood clots in people across the world, including in several European countries. So far,  there have only been 30 cases of blood clots out of 18 million doses administered across the European continent, including seven fatalities.  Most of the cases were diagnosed as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, which are clots that drain blood from the brain and can lead to strokes.Marco Cavaleri, the head of vaccines for the European Medicines Agency, told an Italian newspaper Tuesday the agency was prepared to confirm a…

Scores of Cameroonians with kidney failure and their relatives have blocked traffic since Monday around a Yaoundé hospital to protest a shortage of dialysis treatment.  Cameroon authorities blame administrative procedures and coronavirus disruptions for slowing the import of dialysis machines and medicines.  Traffic was at a standstill in Yaounde’s Melen neighborhood this week as hundreds of patients with kidney failure, and their relatives, protested a halt to treatment at the Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital. Among the kidney patients who sat or lay on the road in front of the hospital is 54-year-old Emmanuel Pierre Essi. He says their protest began on Monday after at least seven kidney patients died within three weeks due to lack of treatment. People living with kidney failure being treated at Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)Essi says he and…