Category: All

Some political leaders are hailing a potential breakthrough in the fight against COVID-19: simple pin-prick blood tests or nasal swabs that can determine within minutes if someone has, or previously had, the virus. The tests could reveal the true extent of the outbreak and help separate the healthy from the sick. But some scientists have challenged their accuracy. Hopes are hanging on two types of quick tests: antigen tests that use a nose or throat swab to look for the virus, and antibody tests that look in the blood for evidence someone had the virus and recovered. The tests are in short supply, and some of them are unreliable. "The market has gone completely mad," Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa said Thursday, lamenting the l ack of face masks, personal…

Rubber glove makers in Malaysia, the world’s top supplier of medical gloves, are warning of a global shortage owing to the government’s partial lockdown of the country, just as coronavirus-driven demand is soaring worldwide.Malaysia meets more than half of global demand for the gloves.The country, however, has the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia, at 1,796.  It issued a "movement control order" March 18 and extended it Wednesday through April 14 in hopes of slowing its infection rate. International and domestic travel is restricted, and nonessential businesses have been ordered closed.The Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association said March 25 that with the lockdown’s orders that factories operate with no more than half their usual workforce, even with extra overtime, "there could be a chronic shortage of medical…

Three members of the U.S. Congress have tested positive for the new coronavirus, and more than two dozen others have said they are self-quarantining in hopes of limiting the spread of the pandemic.   House of Representatives leaders aim on Friday to pass the $2.2 trillion relief bill passed by the Senate on a voice vote late on Wednesday, which would spare most of the chamber's 430 current members from having to travel back to Washington.   Here is a look at some of the lawmakers affected:  Who Has the Virus?  Senator Rand Paul   The Kentucky Republican said on March 22 that he had tested positive and was in quarantine. He said he was asymptomatic and feeling fine and was tested out of an abundance of caution. He had…

Neil Diamond posts a fireside rendition of "Sweet Caroline" with its familiar lyrics tweaked to say, "Hands ... washing hands." A news anchor asks when social distancing will end because "my husband keeps trying to get into the house." And a sign outside a neighborhood church reads: "Had not planned on giving up quite this much for Lent." Are we allowed to chuckle yet? We'd better, psychologists and humorists say. Laughter can be the best medicine, they argue, so long as it's within the bounds of good taste. And in a crisis, it can be a powerful coping mechanism. "It's more than just medicine. It's survival," said Erica Rhodes, a Los Angeles comedian. "Even during the Holocaust, people told jokes," Rhodes said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.…

With the global COVID-19 death toll surging past 20,000 people this week, accelerated efforts to develop coronavirus treatments are primarily focused on adapting existing drugs intended to fight other diseases. “The shortest path to a treatment, we think, is to repurpose something that already exists based on our knowledge of the mechanisms of action," said Dr. Hana Akselrod, an assistant professor of infectious diseases at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.   This new strain of coronavirus causes the disease, COVID-19, a respiratory illness that can be fatal for an estimated 2% of the population, especially older people and those with underlying medical conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure. COVID-19 virus is related to other deadly viruses that have caused relatively recent widespread outbreaks: SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, and MERS, Middle East respiratory syndrome. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can Researchers work…

The State Department has advised against all international travel because of the coronavirus, but that didn't stop Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from flying to Afghanistan this week. Gyms across the nation's capital are shuttered, but Sen. Rand Paul, an eye doctor, still managed a workout at the Senate on Sunday morning as he awaited the results of a coronavirus test. It came back positive. The guidance against shaking hands? That hasn't always applied to President Donald Trump, whose penchant for pressing the flesh continued even after public health officials in his administration were warning that such bodily contact could facilitate the spread of the contagious virus. Practice social distancing? Daily White House briefings involve Trump and other senior officials crowded around a podium. Even as the country has largely…

Hand sanitizer is one of the products Americans have been stockpiling during the coronavirus outbreak and that’s left many store shelves empty of the product.  That shortage is prompting companies like a small distillery in Falls Church, Virginia, to find creative ways to help.Instead of producing whiskey, gin or vodka, Falls Church Distillers is busy making high-alcohol-content hand sanitizers. “We've pivoted into making sanitization," says Michael Paluzzi, founder of Falls Church Distillers. "It's the same type of process we're using the same whiskeys, our base spirits, that we would use to make a lot of our other products.” Falls Church Distillers outside of Washington, D.C., is producing high-alcohol-content hand sanitizer to help keep up with high demand.But production depends on access to raw materials.  “We're producing about 300 gallons of sanitizer right now," Paluzzi says. "We could easily do that every…

South Korea, which has been among the best in the world at coronavirus testing, has agreed to provide the United States with badly needed test kits.Seoul says U.S. President Donald Trump asked South Korea for the coronavirus help on Tuesday. As VOA’s Bill Gallo reports, Trump’s request comes at a tense moment in U.S.-South Korea relations.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can download this video to view it offline. Embed" />Copy ...

Britain's Prince Charles has tested positive for the coronavirus.  A statement Wednesday said he "has been displaying mild symptoms" but is otherwise in good health.  His wife, Camilla, tested negative for the virus.  The couple is in self-isolation at a home in Scotland.  ...

With the death toll soaring past 300,000 this year and a quarter of humanity now infected, the pandemic shows no signs of abating as it spreads invisibly throughout vulnerable communities.   Yet unlike the novel coronavirus, this disease is preventable, curable and centuries-old: tuberculosis.   On the occasion of Staff inspect medical equipments at an emergency hospital set up amid the new coronavirus outbreak in Jakarta, Indonesia, March 23, 2020.As of Tuesday 1100 GMT, there had been more than 386,350 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 16,961 of which have proved fatal.   World governments have taken unprecedented  peacetime measures to try to slow the spread.   Several European nations have announced country-wide lock downs as well as massive economic stimuli and financial support for businesses and workers.   Grania Brigden, TB director at The tuberculosis union, told AFP that testing capacity was crucial in tackling both diseases.   "With TB we've struggled…

Women live longer than men across the world and scientists have by and large linked the sex differences in longevity with biological foundation to survival. A new study of wild mammals has found considerable differences in life span and aging in various mammalian species.  Among humans, women’s life span is almost 8% on average longer than men’s life span. But among wild mammals, females in 60% of the studied species have, on average, 18.6% longer lifespans. The ratio is considerably different for different groups of mammals.  An international team of scientists led by Jean-François Lemaître, from the University Lyonin France, collected information on age-related mortality for 134 populations of 101 wild mammalian species.  “It was surprising to observe that this gender gap in lifespan often exceeds the one observed in humans and is, at the same time, extremely variable across species,” said Lemaître. "For example, lionesses live at least 50% longer in the wild than male lions,” said Tamás Székely, from the University of Bath, one of the authors of the study. “We previously thought this was mostly…

Austria will massively expand coronavirus testing in coming days to locate and isolate infected people and avoid an Italian-like overload of its health system, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Tuesday.   The Alpine republic with a population of 8.8 million has tested around 28,400 people so far with nearly 4,900 cases and 28 deaths confirmed.   It was one of the first European countries to put severe restrictions on movement and close shops and schools in response to the developments in neighboring Italy and a strong increase in coronavirus infections in its western regions.   In coming weeks, Austria plans to test up to 15,000 people per day, the chancellor said.   "We will also launch rapid tests, to test hundreds of thousands of people, as quickly as possible," Kurz…

The European Space Agency (ESA) has noted a positive effect of the world-wide coronavirus outbreak, saying satellite data is showing reduced air pollution in areas hardest hit by the virus.The agency says a space observation satellite detected significantly lower levels of the air pollutant nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in in northern Italy and China’s Hubei province.   The ESA’s director of earth observation programs, Simonetta Cheli, says, certainly the reduction in human activity in those areas certainly played a role in reducing the pollutant. But she said the weather and how much heating is done in a given region over a period of time can also be a factor.Cheli says NO2 is a short-lived pollutant, staying in the atmosphere generally less than a day before being deposited or reacting with other gases.…

At a time of isolation, people in many European cities hit hard by the new coronavirus are taking at least a minute each night to come together in gratitude.They stand at open windows or on balconies in Rome, Madrid, Paris, Athens and Amsterdam, singing, cheering and applauding even though they know their intended audience is too busy to listen.The adulation is for the doctors, nurses and other health care workers putting themselves at risk on the front lines of the pandemic that is forcing most residents to stay home. A 52-year-old nurse on Thursday became the first medical professional in Spain to die of COVID-19.People applaud from their houses in support of the medical staff in Rivas Vaciamadrid, March 14, 2020.In Italy, where the number of virus-related deaths surpassed those…

Health authorities say Spain has registered a daily record increase in its daily virus infections and deaths.  Spain announced 6,584 new coronavirus infections Tuesday, bringing the overall total to 39, 673. The number of deaths also jumped by a record number of 514 to 2,696.   "This is the tough week," Fernando Simón, the head of the Spanish health emergency coordination center, said at a daily briefing.  Simon also said some 5, 400 health workers were infected. ...

Health experts say Nigeria isn’t likely to meet the United Nations’ 2030 tuberculosis eradication target, as the nation still accounts for the highest fatality rate from the disease in Africa. Officials say they’re trying to address major factors like inadequate awareness and funding by offering free screening and treatment.  For VOA, Timothy Obiezu has more from Abuja as the world marks Tuberculosis Day on March 24. ...

The American Cancer Society says one in nine men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime and one in 41 will die from it. Several news studies offer hope that these number could decrease with early and accurate diagnosis.  A new study based on a randomized controlled trial on 300 prostate cancer patients in Australia has found that a molecular imaging technique is more accurate than conventional medical imaging that uses CT (computed tomography) and bone scan.  Prostate cancer is treated by surgery to remove the prostate or by intensive radiotherapy that targets the tumor.  Doctors often use CT and bone scans to determine if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. A team led by Professor Michael Hofman conducted trials on prostate cancer patients in 10 hospitals in Australia using the prostate-specific membrane antigen PET-CT scan.  “We inject a radio-active small molecule intravenously. It finds its way to prostate cancer cells…

At a time of great uncertainty, even the seasons seem scrambled. Christmas lights in springtime?  Wrapped around a tree trunk in Colorado, fashioned into a heart in Alabama and hung high over Main Street in a New Hampshire town, holiday lights are going back up. As the coronavirus spreads, the displays are providing a bit of emotional and actual brightness. And they're especially easy to enjoy from a safe social distance. "We live out in the country, but I know you can see them from the highway," said Julie Check, who turned on the white lights that trace the roof line of her home in Eastman, Wisconsin, on Wednesday night. "Anything I can do to make people happy right now, I'm going to try to do." In Farmington, New Hampshire, a roughly five-block…

Now that the restaurant where he works full time in the Washington suburb is closed, server Gerardo Espiell, 23, plans to move back in with his mother and sister to make ends meet. Together, he’s hopeful they can make the mortgage.  “Honestly, it’s kind of crazy,” he says. “I’m very calm about everything. I’m just taking it day by day. I have some PTO (paid time off) saved up, so I’m using my PTO.”  Server Gerardo Espiell says he has no savings because all of his earnings go to rent and other living expenses. (Photo courtesy Gerardo Espiell)In San Francisco, Anita Reyes, who had her fourth child six months ago, usually waitresses at SanJalisco, the family restaurant owned by her mother, Delores. Her husband works there, too.  “It’s overwhelming,” she says. “I thought I’d come in and help her…

As the coronavirus infects more people around the world, conservationists are warning of the risk to another vulnerable species: Africa's endangered mountain gorilla.  Congo's Virunga National Park, home to about a third of the world's mountain gorillas, is barring visitors until June 1, citing "advice from scientific experts indicating that primates, including mountain gorillas, are likely susceptible to complications arising from the COVID-19 virus."  Neighboring Rwanda also is temporarily shutting down tourism and research activities in three national parks that are home to primates such as gorillas and chimpanzees.  Mountain gorillas are prone to some respiratory illnesses that afflict humans. A common cold can kill a gorilla, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature, one reason why tourists tracking gorillas are not normally permitted to get too close.  Around…

Millions of Americans are under orders Saturday from their state and local governments to stay home, venturing out only for essential needs, including trips to pharmacies, supermarkets, and gas stations, and solo exercise.California and New York residents have been ordered to stay home to help stop the spread of COVID-19, a disease that claims more victims every day. Illinois residents join in the stay-at-home strategy later Saturday.Early Saturday morning the global count of infected cases was 275,452, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.New Jersey and Oregon will likely be the next U.S. states to order their residents to stay home as part of the fight against the virus that has disrupted the very fabric of life around the world.Children no longer go to school, adults are either working from…

Cuba, whose economy depends heavily on tourism, said Friday it will not allow any foreign tourists to enter the country, beginning Tuesday.  The ban will be in effect for 30 days. The drastic measure is being initiated in an effort to prevent any more COVID-19 cases, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on state television.  Cuba has reported at least 19 cases of the coronavirus and one death. The South Korea Centers for Disease Control reported 147 new cases of the virus Saturday.  The Asian nation has 8,799 infections and 102 deaths attributed to the virus. The coronavirus global death toll has surpassed 11,000 and infected more than 260,000 people worldwide, according to health officials.  More than 10,200 new cases were reported Friday in Europe, which World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said earlier…