Year: 2021

Pakistan says it is now facing a third wave of the novel coronavirus. Officials have particularly expressed concern over the spread of the so-called UK variant of the virus. VOA’s Ayesha Tanzeem reports from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Camera: Malik Waqar Ahmed   Produced by: Malik Waqar Ahmed, Rob Raffaele  ...

Europe's medical regulator, the European Medicines Agency, will announce Thursday its findings on the safety of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine as more European Union countries suspend its use over fears it might be linked to blood clots. Critics say governments are putting politics over science.The European Medicines Agency's executive director, Emer Cooke, said Tuesday that for now, the regulator stands behind its conclusion the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe, even as its experts conduct a thorough safety review.The AstraZeneca vaccine has been injected into millions of arms, with just a few reported cases of blood clots—and it's uncertain if they're linked to the shot.  "We need to have the facts first," Cooke said. "We cannot come to a conclusion before we've done a thorough scientific analysis. And we owe it to the…

Despite the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, France is once again under pressure to take new measures to curb a new spread of the virus in the country.  The situation is once again deteriorating rapidly in the French capital. Hospitals in the Paris region are close to capacity and health professionals are rushing daily to find beds for their COVID patients. As of Monday, more than 4,200 patients were in intensive care units across France. The pandemic’s third wave is a reality in France and health workers have been evacuating seriously ill COVID patients to other parts of the country to cope with bed shortages. Enrique Casalino, a medical director with Hopitaux de Paris, the largest health system in Europe, describes the epidemic situation as deteriorating in the Paris region where every…

Researchers working with NASA say the discovery of three new strains of bacteria growing on the International Space Station (ISS) could prove helpful in growing crops in space and perhaps on Mars.In a study published Monday in the scientific journal Frontiers in Microbiology, researchers in the United States and India working with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have discovered four strains of bacteria living in different places on the ISS – and that three of them, until now, were unknown to science.All four strains belong to a family of bacteria found in soil and freshwater; they are involved in nitrogen fixation and plant growth and can help stop plant pathogens. In other words, they are bacteria helpful to the growth of plants.  It was not entirely unexpected to find soil…

Over the next 10 days, the United States will achieve what President Joe Biden describes as “two giant goals” — the completion of 100 million coronavirus vaccine shots in people’s arms and 100 million checks in people’s pockets.Those payments are among the disbursements from the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package the U.S. leader signed into law last week.“The American rescue plan is already doing what it was designed to do — make a difference in people's everyday lives,” Biden said Monday during remarks in the White House State Dining Room.What his administration is promoting as the “Help is Here” tour began on Monday. It features the president and others, including Vice President Kamala Harris, visiting numerous states beginning this week to promote the benefits of the plan.The appearances are intended to highlight…

The top U.S. infectious disease expert said Sunday the country is going in the “right direction” with millions of Americans receiving coronavirus vaccinations, but he was cautious about the high plateau of U.S. cases.  Speaking on the NBC-TV program “Meet the Press,” Anthony Fauci warned that “When you get a plateau at a level around 60,000 new infections per day, there’s always the risk of another surge.”  Fauci used Italy as an example of a location that experienced “a diminution of cases.” People walk past army vehicles at a street on the final day of open restaurants and bars before tighter coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions are enforced, in Rome, Italy, March 14, 2021.He said Italy “plateaued, and they pulled back on public health measures,” which contributed to Italy’s current surge of…

There was no reason to celebrate on Rachel Van Lear’s anniversary. The same day a global pandemic was declared, she developed symptoms of COVID-19. A year later, she is still waiting for them to disappear. And for experts to come up with some answers. The Texas woman is one of thousands of self-described long-haulers, patients with symptoms that linger or develop out of the blue months after they first became infected with coronavirus. Hers first arrived March 11, 2020. The condition affects an uncertain number of survivors in a baffling variety of ways.  “We’re faced with a mystery,” said Dr. Francis Collins, chief of the National Institutes of Health. Is it a condition unique to COVID-19, or just a variation of the syndrome that can occur after other infections? How many people are affected, and how long does it last? Is it a new…

Dr. Anthony Fauci, U.S. President Joe Biden’s top coronavirus adviser, said Sunday he is optimistic the country can return to some sense of normalcy by the annual July 4 independence celebration, but that precautions still need to be taken in the meantime to avert a new surge in infections. The United States is picking up the pace of coronavirus vaccinations, administering a new high of 3 million shots on Saturday. Fauci told news talk shows he believes the U.S. will have enough doses of vaccine by the end of May so that any American who wants a shot will be able to get one. Biden last week said all adults, not just older people, should be eligible to get a shot starting May 1. The U.S. leader predicted families may be able…

More than 119.5 million people have contracted COVID-19, the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Sunday.  The United States tops the list as the place with the most infections at 29.4 million.  Brazil and India follow the U.S. with 11.4 million and 11.3 million, respectively.   The U.S. appears to be on a path to stockpiling coronavirus vaccines, with plans to have enough doses for almost double the country’s population.  The U.S. has committed funding to several vaccine initiatives, including $2 billion to Covax, the international program designed to provide coronavirus vaccines wherever needed.  The U.S., Australia, India and Japan also agreed last week to a partnership to make 1 billion vaccines available across Asia by the end of 2022, India’s foreign secretary said at a news conference in New…

Australian researchers say an "incredible" discovery could allow new treatments for asthma and prevent autoimmune diseases and life-threatening anaphylaxis. They have found a natural way the body stops rogue antibodies causing disease through a protein called neuritin.Allergies and autoimmune diseases, where the body's defenses turn rogue and target healthy tissue, are increasing in adults and children, but researchers aren’t quite sure why.At the Australian National University, scientists have found that humans have their own mechanisms for fighting back against these pathogenic antibodies that can cause autoimmunity or allergies.Professor Carola Vinuesa said it’s an exciting discovery.“We found a protein called neuritin that is made by our own immune system, and we never knew before that our immune system could make this protein, and it proves to be quite important to prevent…

Spacewalking astronauts had to take extra safety precautions Saturday after ridding their suits of any toxic ammonia from the International Space Station's external cooling system.Victor Glover and Mike Hopkins had no trouble removing and venting a couple of old cables to clear any ammonia lingering in the lines. But so much ammonia spewed out of the first hose that Mission Control worried some of the frozen white flakes might have gotten on their suits.Hopkins was surprised at the amount of ammonia unleashed into the vacuum of space."Oh, yeah, look at that go. Did you see that?" he asked flight controllers. "There's more than I thought."Even though the stream of ammonia was directed away from the astronauts and the space station, Hopkins said some icy crystals may have come in contact…

A year into the coronavirus pandemic that is disproportionately ravaging African American lives both physically and economically, efforts are underway to target racism as a public health crisis that shortens lives and costs millions of dollars.“Systemic racism defines the Black experience in our nation,” said Virginia Democratic State Delegate Lashrecse Aird, who co-sponsored a resolution approved by lawmakers in February that makes Virginia the first state in the South to declare racism a public health crisis.“It provides the framework for all of us to formally and finally reckon with those injustices so we can build a more equitable and just society for all,” Aird said in a statement to VOA.The Virginia resolution cites more than 100 studies that link racism to negative health outcomes. The research indicates the cumulative experience of…

The United States and other wealthy countries are standing in the way of low- and middle-income countries seeking better access to COVID-19 vaccines, health-equity advocates say.South Africa and India have led an effort at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to waive drug companies’ exclusive rights to manufacture their vaccines during the coronavirus pandemic.Countries with major pharmaceutical industries, including the United States, several European countries and Japan, have opposed the waiver. WTO, the global trade regulating body, operates by consensus, so the proposal fails without unanimous support.“It is shameful that U.S. policy is prioritizing profits over life, and doing so in the name of the American people,” Emily Sanderson, senior grassroots advocacy coordinator for the activist group Health GAP, said in a statement.The pharmaceutical industry says patents are not the biggest…

A top official at the World Health Organization said that a genetic analysis of the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Guinea suggests it may have been sparked by a survivor of the devastating West Africa epidemic that ended five years ago.At a press briefing in Geneva, WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan described the results of the genetic sequencing of the virus in Guinea as "quite remarkable."Scientists in Africa and Germany posted their results on a virology website on Friday, concluding that the current Ebola virus sickening people in Guinea is extremely similar to the virus that sparked the widespread West Africa outbreak that began in 2014."More studies are going to be needed," Ryan said. But he added that based on the available genetic sequencing data, the current outbreak was unlikely…

A new report says 2020 was a record year for discovering new asteroids, particularly those with near-Earth orbits in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down a number of observatories.The report, published Thursday in the science journal Nature, says astronomers registered 2,958 previously unknown near-Earth asteroids over the course of the year, the most since 1998, the year the U.S. space agency, NASA, began tracking such objects.More than half of the asteroids and other objects recorded came from the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona, which uses its three telescopes to hunt for potentially threatening space rocks. Astronomers there discovered 1,548 near-Earth objects, even with the center closed briefly last spring because of the pandemic, and a longer closure in June, due to a wildfire in the area.Among the Catalina 2020…

The Philippines has gotten a measure of control over its once-runaway COVID-19 outbreak through strict lockdowns and a year of school closures, coupled with widespread use of face protectors, experts and citizens on the ground say.The Southeast Asian country known for its migratory population — Filipinos work throughout the developed world — has reported fewer than 2,000 new cases per day most of the time since October, down from as much as 6,275 cases previously. Daily counts fell below 1,000 at the start of January.Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, only Indonesia struggled last year with the same level of  daily COVID-19 caseload surges. Most countries around Northeast Asia, including the coronavirus’s apparent source, China, recovered early last year, despite isolated flare-ups.Border closures that remain in effect and enforced stay-home orders in…

U.S. President Joe Biden and the prime ministers of Japan, India, and Australia are meeting virtually Friday for a summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, where they will discuss strategies to counter China’s rising influence in the Indo-Pacific region, including an offer to match Beijing’s ambitious vaccine diplomacy.The Quad is launching a financing mechanism to ramp up production of up to a billion doses of vaccines by 2022 to address a shortage in the Indo-Pacific region, mainly in Southeast Asian countries, a Biden administration official said in a briefing call to reporters Thursday.The group has put together “complex financing vehicles” to dramatically increase vaccine production capacity the official said. A second administration official said the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation is working with companies in India and the governments of…

The UNFPA reported that almost 12 million women in 115 low- and medium-income countries were unable to gain access to contraception services for an average of 3.6 months during the past year due to the pandemic, resulting in 1.4 million unintended pregnancies.“Pregnancies don’t stop for pandemics, or any crisis. We must ensure that women and girls have uninterrupted access to lifesaving contraceptives and maternal health medicines,” Dr. Natalia Kanem, the executive director of the United Nations Population Fund, or UNFPA, the international organization’s sexual and reproductive health agency, said Thursday in a statement.However, “The international community pulled together to mitigate the worst-case scenario,” despite the roadblocks to contraceptives, Kanem said.“As the world’s largest procurer of contraceptives for developing countries, UNFPA worked with its partners from governments, civil society and the…

The largest asteroid to pass by Earth this year will approach within about 1.25 million miles (2 million kilometers) of our planet on March 21, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said Thursday.The U.S. space agency said it would allow astronomers to get a rare close look at an asteroid.The asteroid, 2001 FO32, is estimated to be about 3,000 feet (915 meters) in diameter and was discovered 20 years ago, NASA said."We know the orbital path of 2001 FO32 around the sun very accurately,” said Paul Chodas, director of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies. “There is no chance the asteroid will get any closer to Earth than 1.25 million miles.”That is roughly 5.25 times the distance from Earth to the moon, but still close enough for 2001…

While NASA’s Mars rover roams the Red Planet searching for signs of ancient life, scientists on Earth follow clues in a Turkish lake that may hold some answers.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space.Camera: NASA/AP/AFP/REUTERS/SPACEXProduced by: Arash Arabasadi    ...

While NASA’s Mars rover roams the Red Planet searching for signs of ancient life, scientists on Earth follow clues in a Turkish lake that may hold some answers.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space.Camera: NASA/AP/AFP/REUTERS/SPACEXProduced by: Arash Arabasadi   ...

U.S. President Joe Biden signed his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package into law Thursday, opening the door for the release of federal aid for financially ailing American households and businesses.Biden, a Democrat, signed the package one day after the House of Representatives approved the bill 220-211 without Republican support and one day earlier than the White House initially had planned.“This historic legislation is about building a backbone in this country and giving people in this country, working people, middle-class folks, people who built the country, a fighting chance,” Biden said as he prepared to sign the bill.Republican lawmakers objected to the package, saying it was too large and did not sufficiently target those who were most in need of economic assistance. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday called the…

The U.S space agency NASA has released audio of Martian winds and the sound of a laser aimed at a rock, all captured by the Perseverance rover as it makes the first use of its sophisticated scientific instruments.The rover's SuperCam, which the Los Alamos National Labratory in New Mexico and France's National Center for Space Studies developed, made the recordings. NASA released them Wednesday.The instrument is mounted on the rover’s mast and features a 5.6-kilogram sensor head that can perform five types of analyses to study Mars’ geology and help scientists choose which rocks the rover should sample in its search for signs of ancient microbial life.The probe fired laser pulses at a target rock about three meters away, which can be heard on the recordings as clicking sounds. Scientists…