Month: February 2022

Hong Kong health experts on Friday said the city needs to change its pandemic strategies to cope with the rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 cases.  In recent weeks Hong Kong has been hit hard by a fifth wave of cases caused by the omicron variant, which is increasing pressure on the city's already overburdened health system.  Since the pandemic began, the Hong Kong government has remained defiant, directing all positive cases to hospitals regardless of symptomatic severity. Omicron's sharp rise in recent weeks, however, has triggered a deluge of cases, flooding the city’s hospitals.  Some health experts say a new direction is needed.  “We need to immediately pivot to a strategy that promotes home isolation for mild and asymptomatic cases," said Dr. Karen Grepin, associate professor at the University of…

Health authorities in Malawi say a 3-year-old girl is paralyzed after contracting polio, the first known case in Africa in more than five years and the first in Malawi in three decades. Authorities say the child was infected by a strain of poliovirus that matches a strain found in Pakistan. Until this week, Malawi had last reported a polio case in 1992. The southern African country was declared polio-free in 2005 — 15 years before the whole continent achieved the same status. Dr. Charles Mwansambo, secretary for health in Malawi, told local radio Friday that the poliovirus strain detected in Malawi came from abroad. “This patient is Malawian but the strain of poliovirus she has is not Malawian. It was first identified in Pakistan. So, this is an imported strain.”…

Lam Foon, 98, sits propped up and swaddled in soggy woolen blankets in a hospital bed just outside the entrance to Hong Kong's Caritas Medical Centre, waiting for tests to confirm her preliminary positive result for COVID-19. "I don't feel so good," she told Reuters through a surgical mask, next to a similarly wrapped patient wearing a mask and face shield. Lam was one of dozens of patients lying in the parking lot of Caritas on Thursday, after there was no more room inside the hospital that serves 400,000 people in the working-class district of Cheung Sha Wan on the Kowloon peninsula. Temperatures dipped to 15 degrees Celsius amid some rain. Medical staff were unable to say how long Lam would have to wait. People who test preliminarily positive for…

A Chinese rocket, according to astronomers, is expected to crash into the moon on March 4. It is the latest example of China’s presence in space. News of the predicted crash comes after Beijing released a development blueprint for satellite improvements, deep-space exploration and putting more people in orbit. Analysts expect Beijing to reach many of the goals outlined in its five-year plan for the development of outer space despite the odd mishap, according to experts. China’s space program stands to rival those of Russia and the United States, especially in terms of commercializing space technology, they add. “China is something to look at seriously in terms of increasing competitiveness,” said Marco Caceres, director of space studies at the Teal Group market analysis firm. “Part of that is that the…

Hundreds of truckers clogging Canada’s capital stood their ground and defiantly blasted their horns Thursday, even as police arrested two protest leaders and threatened to break up the nearly three-week protest against the country’s COVID-19 restrictions. Busloads of police arrived near Ottawa's Parliament Hill, and workers put up extra fences around government buildings. Police also essentially began sealing off much of the downtown area to outsiders to prevent them from coming to the aid of the protesters. “The action is imminent,” said interim Ottawa Police Chief Steve Bell. “We absolutely are committed to end this unlawful demonstration." Police arrested organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber around Parliament Hill, but officers were not moving in force on the demonstrators. Police took Lich into custody late Thursday. Police continued negotiating with the…

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced the first shift by a state to an endemic approach to the coronavirus pandemic. He said it emphasizes prevention and quick reactions to outbreaks over mandates, a milestone nearly two years in the making that harkens to a return to a more normal existence.  Newsom said the approach, which includes pushing back against false claims and other misinformation, means maintaining a wary watchfulness attuned to warning signs of the next deadly new surge or variant.  "This disease is not going away," he told The Associated Press in advance of his formal announcement. "It's not the end of the 'war.' "  A disease reaches the endemic stage when the virus still exists in a community but becomes manageable as immunity builds. But there will…

Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates met with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday in Pakistan to acknowledge the country’s progress against polio. During the trip, his first to Pakistan, Gates also stressed the need to curb virus transmissions in neighboring Afghanistan and preserve global gains. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where wild polio virus continues to paralyze children, although not a single infection has been reported in Pakistan for more than a year. Gates told reporters in Islamabad at the end of his visit that the South Asian nation, where the disease crippled approximately 20,000 Pakistani children a year in the early 1990s, has an opportunity to eliminate polio. "We're not done, but we're certainly in by far the best situation we have ever been…

NASA celebrates an anniversary on the Martian surface while a space-travel startup tumbles back to Earth. Russia helps refuel the International Space Station, and how a recent volcanic eruption could lead to faster tsunami warnings in the future. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space. ...

Experts from nine countries are planning to collect and combine aquatic animal sounds for a global library. Scientists in Australia believe an undersea chorus of mammals, fish and some invertebrates will help them gauge the health of marine ecosystems. Songs by bearded seals and the "boing" of a minke whale are part of a global collection being put together for the first time by a team of international researchers. The samples are stored in the individual libraries of various institutions, but never before have they been curated in a single collection. All marine mammals, including the humpback whale, are thought to emit sounds, along with many fish and invertebrates. A new data bank aims to use these recordings to measure biodiversity and the health of ecosystems. Miles Parsons, a researcher…

After two years, the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be taking a toll on Americans’ mental health, with a growing number of people suffering from a wide array of issues, from anxiety to depression. Lesia Bakalets has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. ...

A study released Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that infants are less likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 if their mothers are vaccinated during their pregnancy. The study found that babies whose mothers received two doses of an mRNA vaccine while pregnant were about 60% less likely to be hospitalized for the virus during their first six months of life. The odds are strengthened if the mother is vaccinated after the first 20 weeks of pregnancy.   The agency has urged all women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or planning to get pregnant to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, which it says increases the risk of a variety of complications, including premature birth and stillbirth. The CDC researchers based their conclusions from monitoring 379 infants who…

A U.S. government report warns that sea levels along America's coasts will rise about an average of 30.5 centimeters over the next 30 years, about equal to water level increases recorded in the past 100 years. The report released Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and six other federal agencies predicted the Gulf Coast, especially Texas and Louisiana, will get hit hardest. The Atlantic coast will also see higher than average sea level rise, while it will be less on the Pacific coast, the report said. Scientists say the higher sea levels are the result of climate change and will spark more coastal floods on sunny days when it isn't storming. The study's lead author, William Sweet, an oceanographer for NOAA's National Ocean Service, said the worst of…

Pollution by states and companies is contributing to more deaths globally than COVID-19, a U.N. environmental report published on Tuesday said, calling for "immediate and ambitious action" to ban some toxic chemicals. The report said pollution from pesticides, plastics and electronic waste is causing widespread human rights violations and at least 9 million premature deaths a year, and that the issue is largely being overlooked. The coronavirus pandemic has caused close to 5.9 million deaths, according to data aggregator Worldometer. "Current approaches to managing the risks posed by pollution and toxic substances are clearly failing, resulting in widespread violations of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment," the report's author, U.N. Special Rapporteur David Boyd, concluded. "I think we have an ethical and now a legal obligation to…

A billionaire who led an all-private space crew into orbit last year has announced plans for up to three new missions in conjunction with SpaceX, including one with a spacewalk. Jared Isaacman, who founded payment processing company Shift4, will lead the first of the new flights with a launch potentially coming by the end of this year.  In addition to a mission featuring the first spacewalk attempted by non-professional astronauts, the planned flight also includes achieving a record altitude in Earth orbit. As part of the partnership with SpaceX, the flights are set to utilize SpaceX spacecrafts. Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.  ...

As few as three major criminal groups are responsible for smuggling the vast majority of elephant ivory tusks out of Africa, according to a new study. Researchers used analysis of DNA from seized elephant tusks and evidence such as phone records, license plates, financial records and shipping documents to map trafficking operations across the continent and better understand who was behind the crimes. The study was published Monday in the journal Nature Human Behavior. "When you have the genetic analysis and other data, you can finally begin to understand the illicit supply chain — that's absolutely key to countering these networks," said Louise Shelley, who researches illegal trade at George Mason University and was not involved in the research. Conservation biologist Samuel Wasser, a study co-author, hopes the findings will…

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, has begun a two-week meeting to consider a report that assesses the impact of the world’s changing climate and how humans might adapt. Hundreds of scientists meeting virtually will lay out the latest evidence on how past and future changes to the Earth’s climate system are affecting the planet. The report under review is the second of three installments that will comprise the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, which will be released later this year. In August, the scientific body approved the first contribution of Working Group I, which dealt with the physical science basis of climate change. The second part, currently under review, highlights the role of social justice and diverse forms of knowledge, such as indigenous and local knowledge, might play…

A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday began its review of Japan's plan to begin releasing more than a million tons of treated radioactive water into the sea from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant — a review that Japan hopes will instill confidence in the plan. The 15-member team is to visit the Fukushima plant on Tuesday and meet with government and utility officials during its five-day mission. The government and Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings announced plans last year to begin gradually releasing the still-contaminated water in spring 2023 after its further treatment and dilution. The water is being stored in about 1,000 tanks at the damaged plant which officials say need to be removed so the reactors can be decommissioned. The tanks are expected to reach…

A vault built on an Arctic mountainside to preserve the world's crop seeds from war, disease and other catastrophes will receive new deposits on Monday, including one from the first organization that made a withdrawal from the facility. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, on Spitsbergen island halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, is only opened a few times a year to limit its seed banks' exposure to the outside world. On Monday, gene banks from Sudan, Uganda, New Zealand, Germany and Lebanon will deposit seeds, including millet, sorghum and wheat, as back-ups to their own collections. The International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), which moved its headquarters to Beirut from Aleppo in 2012 because of the war in Syria, will deposit some 8,000 samples. ICARDA…

The World Health Organization warns a sharp rise in measles cases in Afghanistan is threatening the lives and well-being of millions of malnourished children.  More than 35,300 suspected cases of measles and 156 deaths have been reported in Afghanistan from January 2021 through January of this year.  What is setting off alarm bells ringing is the sharp, rapid rise in cases last month. The World Health Organization reports a 40% increase in the number of measles cases in the last week of January.  Although the number of deaths is relatively low, the WHO warns many children are likely to die from the disease in the coming weeks. WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier says measles-related deaths are not always reported in Afghanistan, so the toll is likely to be much higher than…

At the Tokyo Olympics, mental health was the breakout star. Amplified by some of the world’s top athletes, it shook up those Games and made everyone take notice. Six months later, in Beijing, the conversation has evolved: The subject pops up regularly, but no one is shocked when it does. Many athletes have spoken about their struggles, but often in a no-biggie, nothing-to-see-here way. A difficulty is mentioned, then the conversation moves on. After star gymnast Simone Biles pulled out of competition in Tokyo because she wasn’t in the right headspace, retired Olympic swimming phenom Michael Phelps memorably said that “It’s OK to not be OK.” And now, thanks in part to people like Biles, it seems it’s OK to talk about it, too. “I think the biggest lesson I’ve…

NASA's new space telescope has captured its first starlight and taken a selfie of its giant, gold mirror.   All 18 segments of the primary mirror on the James Webb Space Telescope seem to be working properly 1½ months into the mission, officials said Friday.   The telescope's first target was a bright star 258 light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.   "That was just a real wow moment," said Marshall Perrin of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.   Over the next few months, the hexagonal mirror segments — each the size of a coffee table — will be aligned and focused as one, allowing science observations to begin by the end of June.  The $10 billion infrared observatory — considered the successor to the aging Hubble…

The COVID-19 infection rate for Africa may be as much as seven times higher than reported, while death counts could be two to three times higher, according to the World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa. “We’re very much aware that our surveillance systems problems that we had on the continent, with access to testing supplies, for example,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti said Thursday, “have led to an underestimation of the cases." Public health officials have warned for some time that Africa’s COVID infection and death tolls were likely undercounted. India’s health ministry reported 58,077 new COVID cases on Friday. Like Africa, public health officials have also cautioned that India’s COVID figures are probably under-calculated, as well. As many as 3,000 New York City municipal workers are facing termination Friday if…

Trucker-led protests against coronavirus restrictions in Canada shut down another U.S. border crossing Thursday, as copycat movements gathered steam overseas and Washington called on its northern neighbor to use federal powers to end the blockades. The border obstructions have already impacted business, with the key Ambassador Bridge linking Ontario and Detroit out of service for several days -- and major automakers forced to cut back production at several plants as a result. A second crossing in the western province of Alberta has been blocked for days, and on Thursday protesters closed down a third -- in central Manitoba. Citing supply shortages, Ford said it was forced to slow down production at factories in Canada, while some Stellantis factories in the United States and Canada halted work Wednesday evening, General Motors…