Category: All

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…

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 chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said earlier this week had become the epicenter of the outbreak after cases began to wane in China, where the outbreak began.   There were at least 87,108 cases in Europe on Friday and 4,084 deaths. Spain reported 235 new deaths on Friday, becoming the second-hardest-hit European country after Italy. Italy’s overall death toll passed 4,000 Friday.Spanish officials warned Friday that the situation could soon overcome the country’s health care system. They announced plans to turn a Madrid conference center into a makeshift hospital. Earlier this week, a four-star inn in Madrid was converted…

The global death toll for the coronavirus pandemic as it spreads around the world has surpassed 10,000 people.  COVID-19 has infected more than 244,500 people.    In the United States, California Governor Gavin Newsom Thursday ordered the 40 million residents of the west coast state to stay home as part of the battle against the disease.   Newsom issued the mandate following the deaths of 19 people and 958 people who tested positive for the coronavirus in California.     The lockdown for the entire state followed a Los Angeles County order earlier Thursday that shut down all the county’s shopping malls, nonessential retail stores and playgrounds.    Newsom asked Congress Thursday for $1 billion in federal funds to pay for expected medical costs related to the disease.     On Wednesday, the California governor wrote to President Donald Trump asking for the Navy’s hospital ship to be deployed to the port of Los Angeles for the expected surge in infected patients    Ground zero shifts to Italy Meanwhile, Italy is now ground zero for…

Twenty thousand years ago, humans lived in grassy tundras near the Arctic Circle. Trees were scare in these cold, dry regions, so Ice Age hunters could not build campfires using wood.  Instead, these hardy humans made campfires by burning the bones of the big animals they hunted.  Few modern people know how to make a bone fire.  Recently, a Colorado archeologist and some volunteers gave it a try.  From Longmont, Colorado, Shelley Schlender reports. ...

With the coronavirus pandemic alarming the global community, South Sudan is grappling with another potentially fatal viral infection: measles. Last year, more than 4,700 people were affected due to low immunization coverage. Chika Oduah reports from the South Sudan capital, Juba. ...

Massachusetts    State officials are promising a significant increase in Massachusetts' capacity to test for the coronavirus. Massachusetts Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said Thursday the state aims to administer 3,500 tests a day by the beginning of next week.   Gov. Charlie Baker has said expanding coronavirus testing is among his top priorities as state-run labs can only currently process about 400 tests a day. The top prosecutor for Boston and surrounding communities is seeking the release from custody of certain people who are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus because of their health or age. Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins' office said in an emailed statement Thursday that it is working with defense attorneys to identity "individuals whose release we deem urgent and necessary for public…

The Las Vegas airport was running Thursday with reduced operations after an air traffic controller tested positive for the new coronavirus, temporarily closing the airport's control tower, the Federal Aviation Administration said.Airplanes coming into McCarran International Airport were being guided by by other nearby air traffic controllers, the FAA said in a statement.The closure of the airport's control tower because of the virus was the second of its kind in the U.S., after the FAA on Tuesday closed the control tower at Chicago's Midway International Airport after several technicians tested positive.Las Vegas visitors hoping to see the city's famous casinos on Thursday will be met with closures and barricades in front of some of them after Nevada's governor ordered gambling to stop on Wednesday, along with the closure of non-essential…

Phones have been ringing off the hook lately for Brian Edwards, a sales manager of a small medical supply company in California.  And he has to say “No” to all the people who called.Edwards used to buy tens of thousands of facemasks from China. But not in the past three months.His company, the First Choice Industrial Supply Company, has not been able to get any masks from China since the outbreak of coronavirus in late December while the demand is soaring in the U.S."You can’t get a product. You are not going to get a product for months. " said Edwards, whose company advertises itself as "If it’s something you use, it’s something we stock".Edwards said in the interview with Voice of America last Friday that he gets about 50…

Shejirina Moni sits beside her children in front of their makeshift home in a shanty community in South Sudan's capital Juba. Six of her children have died of various illnesses. She’s got three left.“The first one died at nine months. Another one died at the age of 10 months. Another one died when he was crawling, about three months,” she tells VOA.Moni’s story highlights a sad fact:  Millions of children in South Sudan do not get routine vaccinations. They are vulnerable to preventable illnesses.UNICEF health specialist Dr. Patti Samuel (R) explains the importance of childhood immunizations to a young mother. (Chika Oduah/VOA)While South Sudan is currently free of the coronavirus pandemic alarming the global community, the country is battling a severe measles outbreak, with over 4,700 confirmed cases and 26…

One of the few Americans to see the moon close up has died. Astronaut Al Worden, who flew around the moon as part of the Apollo 15 mission in 1971, died in his sleep, his family said Wednesday. He was 88. Worden was a U.S. Air Force colonel when he joined NASA in 1966, getting his chance to fly to the moon five years later. Worden circled the moon in the command module while fellow astronauts Jim Irwin and David Scott explored the surface.  The highlight of the mission for Worden was when he performed the first deep-space spacewalk 322,000 kilometers above the Earth, inspecting the spacecraft’s scientific instrument bay.  “Al was an American hero whose achievements in space and on Earth will never be forgotten,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Wednesday.  Worden once described flying to the moon as like driving a car, only with some analytical ability.  He wrote two books about his moon mission, including one for children. Worden retired from NASA in 1975 and worked in the aerospace industry, but he never…

Dharam Singh Rajput can't afford to buy hand sanitizer, which could help ward off transmission of the coronavirus in his community. The Rajput family could opt for something more basic — soap and water — to achieve hand hygiene. But sometimes there is no clean running water in their neighborhood, which sits next to open sewage canals and mounds of garbage in the heart of New Delhi, India's capital. "The kind of water we have access to has the potential to cause more diseases instead of warding off the virus if we use it to wash our hands," Rajput said. Experts say keeping hands clean is one of the easiest and best ways to prevent transmission of the new coronavirus, in addition to social distancing. But for India's homeless and…

Social distancing could qualify as an oxymoron in Italy, where walking arm-in-arm with friends, kissing neighbors in greeting and patting the heads of babies are part of the demonstrative culture.But a new virus has rapidly redefined the concept of respecting personal space for tactile Italians, as well as for South Koreans, Filipinos, Americans, Spaniards and citizens of many other crowded parts of the world.  Whether acting under government orders or following basic public health advice, people are putting distance between themselves to keep the coronavirus away. The new rules of engagement call for maintaining a gap of one to two meters (or three to six feet) to prevent possible exposure when an infected individual coughs or speaks.  The COVID-19 illness causes mild or moderate symptoms in most of those infected,…

The main Serbian hospital treating patients infected with coronavirus looks like an abandoned building, but it isn't. With its rundown facade, peeling walls and rooms crammed with metal beds, the downtown Belgrade clinic for infectious diseases has for decades been a symbol of Serbia's depleted health system that now has to cope with a major virus outbreak. "If coronavirus doesn't kill you, that hospital surely will," said Bane Spasic, a middle-aged man who recently visited the place for a minor infection.   Although the COVID-19 pandemic hasn't hit Eastern and Central Europe with such a force compared to Italy, Spain and France, health officials throughout the region are sounding the alarm about the lack of medical staff, facilities, equipment and enough hospital beds to handle several virus outbreaks simultaneously. The…

After months of bickering over new competitions, talks of closed  super leagues and complaints of greed by elite clubs, football's leaders have buried their differences to tackle the effects of the coronavirus outbreak.   On Tuesday, UEFA agreed to delay its flagship Euro 2020 competition for one year to allow domestic leagues to complete their seasons, once football resumes, and FIFA in turn recommended postponing its new Club World Cup from 2021.   "It was a relatively short call, probably the most united front of opinion I have seen in European football so far," said Jonas Baer-Hoffmann, general secretary of the global players' union FIFPRO, after a video conference with UEFA and representatives of clubs and leagues.   "It was a very cordial conversation --- not at all tense or…

It’s a sunny day in Miami, Florida with no chance of rain. But according to environmental scientist Margarita Kruyff, even on days like this, low-lying coastal communities like Miami and nearby Miami Beach may experience periodic flooding because of the porous bedrock underground that leaks water.“On the roads it means water could be coming up our drainage systems,” said the City of Miami Beach environmental scientist, who explained that the annual seasonal King Tides, or very high tides, also take their toll.  “Water may be coming up over seawalls for our residents, causing flooding in their homes and back yards,” she said.Rising seas linked to climate change are triggering chronic inland flooding in many parts of the world. In southern Florida, high tides are also threatening drinking water and causing…

The Rolling Stones are postponing its 15-city North American tour because of the growing coronavirus outbreak.The band announced Tuesday that its No Filter Tour, originally expected to kick off in San Diego on May 8, is postponed. The band's tour was also planned to visit some North American cities they haven't played in years, including Cleveland, St. Louis, Austin, Texas, Louisville, Kentucky, Charlotte, North Carolina and Tampa, Florida. "We're hugely disappointed to have to postpone the tour. We are sorry to all the fans who were looking forward to it as much as we were, but the health and safety of everyone has to take priority. We will all get through this together — and we'll see you very soon," the Stones said in a statement.Tour promoter AEG is advising…

 Medicare said Tuesday it will immediately expand coverage for telemedicine nationwide to help seniors with health problems stay home to avoid the coronavirus. The new option will allow millions of older people to take care of ongoing medical problems as well as new concerns, while heeding public health advice to stay home during the outbreak. For example, a patient with diabetes wouldn't have to postpone a regular follow-up visit with the doctor to keep safe — he or she could do it via Skype. And people concerned they may have the virus could "see" their doctor or nurse practitioner virtually to find out how to get tested in person. "It helps us prevent the spread of the virus," said Medicare administrator Seema Verma. For seniors who don't navigate technology, relatives or friends can assist.…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set up four new committees to help respond to a growing coronavirus outbreak, focusing on health, public sector preparedness, the economy and the international response to the pandemic.   The four committees will feed into a daily meeting on coronavirus, part of new stringent measures to try to tackle an outbreak, and will help "refine" decisions taken at emergency meetings, which will continue to be chaired by Johnson, his office said in a statement.  ...

The Pentagon is already helping combat the coronavirus outbreak in the United States and is considering ways to do more.  But the military faces limits. Its health care system is geared more toward handling combat casualties than infectious diseases. And there are logistical and legal concerns about expanding the military's role in civilian affairs, such as tasking it with enforcing quarantines. Defense officials also want to be careful not to do anything to weaken its ability to defend the nation.A look at the military's role in the crisis:What the military is doing At the request of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Pentagon has made housing available at four military bases for some passengers taken from the Grand Princess cruise ship, which was hit with a cluster of…