Category: News

More than 3.6 million Slovaks — around two thirds of the population — took part in a widely-watched nationwide coronavirus testing scheme over the weekend, Prime Minister Igor Matovic said on Monday.   The scheme to test the bulk of the country in a matter of days is being studied by other nations looking for ways to slow the virus and avoid overwhelming their health systems.   A total of 38,359 people or 1.06% of those who took part tested positive and must quarantine, Matovic told a news conference.   "I deeply believe that this solution will work in Slovakia on the condition that those who received certification that they are negative will continue to act responsibly and those who got a positive result will remain in quarantine with their families," he…

The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has surpassed 1.2 million people, according to data collected by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.  The fatalities are among the 46.5 million total cases compiled in the nearly year-long pandemic, and comes as the European continent reaches its own grim threshold of more than 10 million confirmed coronavirus cases.   Europe is in the grips of a second wave of the virus, with a number of nations, including Belgium, Britain, France and Germany, imposing a new set of lockdowns in an effort to contain the surge.   Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director of the World Health Organization, announced Sunday that he is in self-quarantine after he was identified as a contact of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.  Dr. Tedros…

The death toll from a super typhoon that struck the main Philippine island of Luzon Sunday has risen to 16. Typhoon Goni made landfall on Luzon carrying maximum sustained winds of 225 kilometers per hour, making it the strongest typhoon to hit the Pacific archipelago this year. Goni’s arrival comes a week after Typhoon Molave hit the same region, killing 22 people. Richard Gordon, the chief of the Philippine Red Cross, says up to 90% of homes across Catanduanes Island, which was in the path of Typhoon Goni on its way to Luzon were damaged or destroyed.  Goni caused power outages, infrastructure damage and major floods.  Video footage from local and social media showed rivers overflowing and some dikes destroyed, submerging villages and damaging farmland. Officials also say a landfall of volcanic ash…

Iran's daily tally of coronavirus deaths hit a record high of 434 on Sunday, the Health Ministry announced, and the head of a top medical body said the actual toll was at least three times higher than the official count.  The deaths, announced by Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari on state TV, take the official toll to 35,298 in the Middle East's worst-hit country. She said the number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 7,719 to 620,491. The head of Iran's Medical Council, Mohammadreza Zafarghandi, doubted the accuracy of the official toll and warned that Iran had reached a "catastrophic mortality rate", the Students News Agency ISNA reported on Sunday. "The official death toll is only based on the number of registered patients," Zafarghandi told ISNA. "Through field surveys in hospitals…

Britain Sunday became the ninth country with more than 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases. According to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, as of early Sunday, Britain had 1,014,794 infections and 46,645 deaths. After resisting mounting calls for weeks to impose a national lockdown as COVID-19 cases were rising, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Saturday joined his counterparts in France, Germany and Belgium in ordering a nationwide shutdown. New national lockdown restrictions will go into effect across England Thursday and last for a month. Wales announced a lockdown last week, and Scottish leaders say the next few days will be critical for Scotland to avoid a lockdown.   However, schools and universities as well as courts are to stay open. The construction industry will also be allowed to operate. There will,…

FILE - Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalyov (Top), Yuri Gidzenko and U.S. astronaut Bill Shepherd (C) wave hands before the launch at Baikonur.Shepherd, a former Navy SEAL who served as the station commander, likened it to living on a ship at sea. The three spent most of their time coaxing equipment to work; balky systems made the place too warm. Conditions were primitive, compared with now.   Installations and repairs took hours at the new space station, versus minutes on the ground, Krikalev recalled.   “Each day seemed to have its own set of challenges,” Shepherd said during a recent NASA panel discussion with his crewmates.   The space station has since morphed into a complex that's almost as long as a football field, with eight miles (13 kilometers) of electrical wiring, an acre of solar panels…

Bats, a symbol of Halloween, may be responsible for canceling it this year.The coronavirus that has grounded trick-or-treaters likely came from bats.These creatures of the night have evolved a spooky ability to harbor a number of viruses that can kill humans -- without getting sick themselves.How they do it may hold the key to immortality -- or a longer life, anyway.Guilt by associationThough there is no smoking gun showing that the coronavirus causing the COVID-19 pandemic came from bats, the virus is closely related to several others they harbor.Bats also are known to carry rabies and the Marburg hemorrhagic fever virus, and they are lead suspects as the source of Ebola and the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.It sure seems like they carry a lot of nasty viruses.But…

Globally, COVID-19 cases have exceeded 45 million and nearly 1.2 million people have succumbed to the virus, according to the latest data. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo reports on countries with the highest number of cases, the US, India and Brazil, respectively. ...

Colorado’s flagship university is getting a head start spotting COVID-19 outbreaks among students at residential dorms -- by testing the wastewater.Cresten Mansfeldt, an engineering professor at University of Colorado-Boulder, heads out with students to start an early warning system on the campus for SARS COV-2 -- the virus that causes COVID-19. The warning system involves a plastic bin and what can be found below a sewage manhole.As for the project’s name...“Well, we call our project ‘Project Half-Shell,’ because it's an homage to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” Mansfeldt says. “Hanging out in the sewers.”Mansfeldt’s team all wear masks to guard against COVID-19. Plus, they’re dressed for dirty work, in overalls and work gloves. There’s some heavy lifting up ahead, too. That manhole cover weighs over 100 kilograms. Mansfeldt lifts the…

Researchers say a rare type of meteor recovered nearly three years ago from a frozen lake in the U.S. state of Michigan has offered one of the best glimpses yet into the organic compounds such objects carry.A study published in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science tells the story of a bright meteor, also known as fireballs for how they light up the night sky, that fell in January 2018.Researchers say the meteors that shine with such brightness are usually larger and have traveled farther into Earth’s atmosphere without breaking up, raising hopes pieces could be recovered. Using weather radar, they were able to track the meteor’s trajectory, discovering large pieces just two days after it hit a frozen lake.University of Chicago researcher Philipp Heck said finding the meteorite (what…

A rising tide of new coronavirus cases worldwide is forcing leaders to consider new lockdown measures to contain an increase in infections.   British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said in an interview with BBC television Friday a national lockdown in his country is not inevitable to prevent the further spread of the disease, adding that a localized approach would be efficient if rules for each area were strictly observed.   Raab’s statment followed announcements by leaders of France and Germany earlier in the week to impose new lockdowns.   French President Emmanuel Macron announced a nationwide monthlong lockdown that will take effect Friday. Macron said restaurants, bars, cafes and other nonessential businesses will be closed, while citizens will only be allowed to leave their homes for work, shopping and doctor…

Ecological destruction and unsustainable consumption have entered humanity into an "era of pandemics," according to a new report."Without preventative strategies, pandemics will emerge more often, spread more rapidly, kill more people, and affect the global economy with more devastating impact than ever before," says the report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, a global expert body advising governments.The authors say roughly $50 billion per year in pandemic prevention would spare the world about $1 trillion per year on average in economic damage, not to mention the toll in human suffering.The report suggests ways to shift the focus to prevention, rather than trying to contain pandemics after they happen.SpilloverAs of July, COVID-19's economic toll was at least $8 trillion and counting, the authors say.It's just the latest…

Virologists at the University of Tokyo say that while masks can offer protection from airborne COVID-19 particles, their effectiveness varies. VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo has more on the results of the new research. ...

The World Meteorological Organization predicts La Nina will continue through January and is expected to usher in drier and wetter conditions than normal in different parts of the world.The latest seasonal forecasts indicate the La Nina event will cause drier than normal conditions in much of East Africa and lead to increased rainfall in southern Africa. Central Asia is likely to see below normal rainfall earlier than usual.The WMO reports some of the Pacific islands and the northern region of South America will see some of the most significant precipitation anomalies associated with this year’s La Nina event — a cooling of ocean surface water along the Pacific coast of the South American tropics that occurs on average every two to seven years.Some countries and regions are particularly vulnerable to changes…

The White House Coronavirus Task Force warned Thursday of an “unrelenting” spread of the virus, particularly across the western half of the country, Reuters reported. Members of the task force are reportedly pushing for aggressive measures to quell the spread of the virus.The United States has confirmed more than 8.9 million cases of COVID-19 and recorded more than 228,000 deaths as of Thursday, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center."We continue to see unrelenting, broad community spread in the Midwest, Upper Midwest and West. This will require aggressive mitigation to control both the silent, asymptomatic spread and symptomatic spread," said the task force’s report to one state, according to CNN. The task force’s most prominent member, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told CNBC Wednesday that the coronavirus outbreak in the…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Thursday defended new coronavirus restrictions to lawmakers and lashed out at those who tried to dismiss the infection as harmless as the number of cases hit a new high. In a speech before the Bundestag – the German parliament – that was interrupted by heckling from right-wing politicians, Merkel said the new measures “are appropriate, necessary and proportionate.” She said, “There is no other milder approach than reducing personal contacts to try and stop the infections chain and to change the course of the infections back to a level where we can handle it."   Merkel spoke a day after she and the governors of Germany's 16 states agreed on far-reaching restrictions to curb the spread of the virus, including the closure of bars and restaurants,…

The World Health Organization warns nearly 18 million people in Yemen are unable to get treatment for deadly diseases because years of war, economic distress and a chronic shortage of money have led to a collapse of the country’s healthcare system. More than five years of escalating conflict have devastated Yemen’s economy and ability to provide enough food and medical care to keep its population healthy.  World Health Organization officials report only half of the country’s health facilities are fully functioning.  And those that remain open suffer from severe shortages of qualified staff, essential medicines and supplies.WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic says that for three years, appalling socio-economic conditions in Yemen have caused a spiraling of deadly diseases including the worst cholera outbreak in modern times, as well as epidemics of diphtheria, dengue,…

A group of school students bend over notebooks as they sit on mats in a village square in Righer village to study numbers, spelling, and other subjects. In the open space, they can easily be seated at a distance to adhere to COVID-19 social distancing protocols.    The students have assembled for a two-hour session of community classes conducted outdoors by teachers and volunteers across dozens of villages in Nuh district in India’s northern Haryana state as schools remain shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic.    In another village, Kanwarsika, the morning bell announcing the start of a teaching session rings, not in the local school, but from a van equipped with a loudspeaker. Students settle down inside homes and in courtyards facing the street as, following a prayer, a teacher presents…

Europe is once again an epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic and Spain – under a state of emergency – has gone into another lockdown as protests continue.  Alfonso Beato has more from Barcelona in this report narrated by Roderick James.Camera: Alfonso Beato   Producer: Roderick James ...

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday the EU’s administrative arm will spend $117 million on rapid COVID-19 tests as the virus surges across Europe.   Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Von der Leyen said unlike last spring, when the pandemic first began, every European country is feeling the effects of a second wave of the virus. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control says the virus continues to spread throughout the continent.   The agency reports almost 6.5 million people have contracted the virus in the EU member countries, plus Britain, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.   Von der Leyen says they are purchasing rapid antigen tests as another tool to help bring COVID-19 under control. The finger-prick antigen tests are not considered to be as…

At his weekly public audience Wednesday at the Vatican, Pope Francis kept his distance from the faithful, who had come to hear him, but once again appeared in public without a mask amid a resurgence of COVID-19 in Italy. The pope told his audience — which was much smaller than usual due to the surging infection rate — he would love to come down and greet them, but "this is contrary to the measures and the precautions we must take in order to face 'Madame COVID.'" Francis went without a protective mask Wednesday even when he greeted a few mask-less bishops at the end of his audience. FILE - Pope Francis wears a face mask as he attends an inter-religious prayer service for peace in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, a…

Australia's second largest city, Melbourne, ended a nearly four-month coronavirus lockdown Wednesday, with restaurants, cafes and bars reopening and outdoor contact sports resuming. Melbourne is the capital of the state of Victoria. At a news conference, state Premier Daniel Andrews said the easing of the lockdown will allow 16,200 retail stores, 5,800 cafes and restaurants, 1,000 beauty salons and 800 pubs to reopen, impacting 180,000 jobs. Melbourne and the surrounding areas were the epicenter of Australia’s pandemic, with a peak of 700 new cases a day back in August, and 819 of the nation’s 907 total deaths from the coronavirus. Wednesday was the first day since June 9 that no new cases of the virus were reported in Melbourne. Residents must still wear masks. Work from home orders are still…

Iran's parliament speaker said that he has tested positive for the coronavirus, joining a growing list of infected Iranian officials as the country again shattered its single-day death record with 415 new fatalities reported Wednesday. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf tweeted that he received the news after one of his colleagues tested positive for the virus. He said he would continue to carry out his duties from self-quarantine. Earlier this month, he was on state TV visiting a coronavirus ward in one of capital's overwhelmed hospitals to show support. "I decided to appear in the hospital to see problems from a close distance," Ghalibaf told local media from the ward in Tehran. "Supervising is the main duty of parliament." Iran has for months wrestled with the worst outbreak in the Middle East,…