Month: December 2020

Air pollution has been listed as a contributing factor in the death of a nine-year-old British girl in 2013.After a two-week inquest, coroner Philip Barlow determined that Ella Kissi-Debrah of South London died of acute respiratory failure, severe asthma and exposure to air pollution.It is the first time that air pollution has been listed as a contributing cause of death in Britain, the BBC reported.Kissi-Debrah had been very sick for a long time and was more susceptible to air pollution.According to the BBC, Stephen Holgate, professor of immunopharmacology at the University of Southampton, told Southwark Coroner’s Court that Kissi-Debrah had an “exceptionally rare” heath problem that put her at “exquisite” risk.  Barlow said traffic emissions, particularly nitrogen dioxide from diesel engines, contributed to her death. According to Reuters, Britain has failed to meet EU target levels of nitrogen dioxide.Holgate also told the inquest that there had been a spike in nitrogen dioxide caused by diesel engines.Testifying at the inquest, Dr. Bill Parish, deputy director of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said there had been an “uptick” in diesel vehicles, which were considered a way to combat carbon dioxide emissions.“I understand that it was trying to decrease carbon dioxide emissions … but the effect was to increase nitrogen dioxide emissions,” he said, according to the Daily Mail. “That is what the data starts to tell us when the diesel fleet starts increasing.”In 2001, the Labor government advocated switching to diesel cars to combat climate change.“In 2001, then-Chancellor Gordon …

Chinese state media says a lunar probe containing the first samples of moon rocks and soil since the moon missions of the 1970s has returned to Earth.Quoting China’s space agency, Xinhua news agency on Thursday said the capsule carrying the samples collected by the Chang’e-5 space probe landed in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region.With this mission, China became only the third country to have retrieved samples from the moon, following the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.China Space Agency: Lunar Probe Successfully Lands on MoonProbe is expected to gather lunar soil and rock samples and return them to EarthTwo of the four modules that made up the Chang’e-5 probe, named after a mythical Chinese moon goddess, landed on the moon Dec. 1. They collected about 2 kilograms of samples, by scooping and drilling about 2 meters into the moon’s crust. The space agency said it also planted a Chinese flag at the landing site.The probe loaded the samples into a capsule on the ascent module that, two days later, blasted off from the moon’s surface and linked up with the orbiter module that brought it back to Earth.The samples are the first gathered for study on Earth since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976.Scientists hope the samples will help them learn about the moon’s origins, formation and volcanic surface activity.  …

A new set of tight restrictions took effect Wednesday in Germany in an attempt to curb a rising number of coronavirus infections and deaths.    The hard lockdown mandates the closing of all non-essential businesses and limits private gatherings to no more than five people. The restrictions, which will remain in effect until January 10, were imposed by Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday after talks with Germany’s 16 regional governors. The government’s Robert Koch Institute,  the country’s central disease control center, reported 952 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, shattering the previous single-day record of 598 posted just last Friday.  Germany’s seven-day incidence of new cases has also set a record, rising to nearly 180 per 100,000.  Health Minister Jens Spahn called on the European Union’s regulatory agency late Tuesday to give final approval of the vaccine jointly developed by U.S. drug maker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech by Christmas Day. The vaccine is currently being administered to health care workers in Britain and the United States, after government regulators quickly approved its use after a thorough review process.  Meanwhile, the United States is on the cusp of getting a second coronavirus vaccine.Regulators with the Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that its  preliminary analysis of a vaccine developed by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health confirmed its safety and effectiveness.    US Gives Favorable Review to Second COVID-19 VaccinePositive FDA review of Moderna vaccine comes as US hospitals ramp up inoculations with shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech The report did reveal that four volunteers in …

The hunger relief organization Feeding America says more people are seeking help at food banks nationwide. More with VOA’s Mariama Diallo. …

While the first shots against COVID-19 are rolling out in the United States, Britain and Canada, nearly a quarter of the world’s population likely will not have access to a vaccine until at least 2022, according to Epidemiologist Hilda Aleman reacts upon receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Dec. 15, 2020.A second vaccine from biotech firm Moderna is expected to receive U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorization this week.  The World Health Organization is reviewing these vaccines, along with a third from pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and Oxford University.  While these and other vaccines were still in clinical trials, countries committed billions of dollars to secure hundreds of millions of doses for their residents.  According to the new study, 13 manufacturers have signed preorder deals for nearly 7.5 million vaccine doses. Just over half of those preorders are from high-income countries, though they account for less than 14% of the world’s population.  Canada has secured enough vaccines to immunize its population nearly five times over, while the United States has reserved just over one vaccine course per person. Brazil and Indonesia have not ordered enough to fully immunize even half their populations. Uncertainty According to the study, the leading vaccine manufacturers have said they will have the combined capacity to produce enough vaccines to immunize 6 billion people by the end of 2021.  A box of Pfizer/BioNTEch COVID-19 vaccine is delivered from a UPS truck past news photographers to the Maimonides long term care home in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, …

Ukrainian riot police used tear gas Tuesday to clear anti-lockdown protesters from the Maidan, Kyiv’s central square and backdrop for the 2014 popular uprising that toppled former President Viktor Yanukovych. Several thousand protesters, including small-business owners, rallied against a planned nationwide coronavirus lockdown slated for January 8 — a day after the widely celebrated Orthodox Christmas holiday. Police moved in to break up the demonstration as people began pitching tents on the square. The latest anti-lockdown uprising since April but the first to turn violent, Tuesday’s protests come amid signs of a worsening pandemic and widespread claims that coronavirus case numbers are being suppressed by local and regional officials. Residents in towns and villages in Ukraine’s west and north tell VOA that hospitals are short of medical staff, who are either falling sick themselves or sometimes refusing to work without personal protective gear. Hospitals in some areas have reached capacity for intensive care patients. Authorities said 40 police officers were injured in the clashes, some of them suffering chemical burns to their eyes when protesters threw tear gas canisters back at them. Ukrainian law enforcement officers stand guard during a rally of entrepreneurs and representatives of small businesses amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Independence Square in Kyiv, Ukraine, Dec. 15, 2020.Protesters also suffered injuries, with some being hospitalized, according to the UNIAN news agency. Since April, small-business owners and entrepreneurs have led a string of anti-lockdown demonstrations opposing tough restrictions and weekslong quarantines that they say wreck livelihoods while failing to contain the spread. Ukrainian authorities …

Scientists at Japan’s space agency on Tuesday confirmed the capsule they recovered last week from their Hayabusa2 probe that had landed on an asteroid did indeed contain samples collected from that heavenly body.The Hayabusa spacecraft was launched in 2014 and arrived at the near-Earth asteroid called Ryugu in 2018. The probe spent about a year and a half orbiting, observing and eventually landing on the asteroid, where it collected samples.It headed back toward Earth last year, finally dropping its collection capsule into Earth’s atmosphere December 5. It was recovered in a remote area of Australia and delivered to the Tokyo-based Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) last week.At a press conference on Tuesday, JAXA scientists said they took their time and great care to open the capsule, to preserve any gases and other materials collected on Ryugu. Until it was opened, they could not be sure they obtained what they were after.In this photo provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), a member of JAXA retrieves a capsule dropped by Hayabusa2 in Woomera, southern Australia, Dec. 6, 2020.JAXA’s Hayabusa project manager Yuichi Tsuda said the capsule contained plenty of soil samples and gas.”It has been more than 10 years since we started this project, and six years have passed since we launched it,” he told reporters. “The asteroid soils that we dreamed of are finally in our hands.”Scientists say they believe the samples, especially ones taken from under the asteroid’s surface, contain valuable data unaffected by space radiation and other …

President-elect Joe Biden’s Presidential Inaugural Committee announced measures Tuesday to protect public health during an inauguration that will take place in the midst of a coronavirus crisis that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the United States. The committee said in a statement it is collaborating with the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies “to ensure that the inauguration … honors and resembles sacred American traditions while keeping Americans safe and preventing the spread of COVID-19.” On January 20, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will take oaths of office at the U.S. Capitol with “vigorous health and safety protocols,” followed by Biden’s inaugural address, the committee said.  “The ceremony’s footprint will be extremely limited, and the parade that follows will be reimagined,” it added. President-elect Joe Biden speaks after the Electoral College formally elected him as president, Dec. 14, 2020, at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del.The committee is calling on Americans to remain at home as they celebrate the day’s inaugural activities. “The pandemic is continuing to have a significant public health impact across the nation. Americans everywhere must do their part to slow the spread of the virus: wear masks, stay home and limit gatherings. We are asking Americans to participate in inaugural events from home to protect themselves, their families, friends and communities,” said Dr. David Kessler, the committee’s chief medical adviser. President Donald Trump’s presence at the inauguration has yet to be determined. When asked during an interview broadcast Sunday with Fox News if he would attend the ceremony, Trump, still …

A new, over-the-counter, at-home COVID test has been approved in the United States. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration made the announcement about the emergency use authorization of the “rapid” test on Tuesday. “Today’s authorization is a major milestone in diagnostic testing for COVID-19. By authorizing a test for over-the-counter use, the FDA allows it to be sold in places like drug stores, where a patient can buy it, swab their nose, run the test and find out their results in as little as 20 minutes,” said FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, M.D., in a news release. Last month, the FDA approved a prescription at-home test. The FDA said it has approved more than 225 COVID-19 tests since the start of the pandemic. The newly approved test uses a nasal swab, much like many other tests, but the FDA said it is not as invasive as some of the tests seen in the media. It added that the test correctly identifies 96% of cases in which people have symptoms. For those with no symptoms, it does give a “small percentage” of false positives, much as other tests do, the FDA said. The test “uses an analyzer that connects with a software application on a smartphone to help users perform the test and interpret results,” according to the FDA. The results come “in as little as 20 minutes,” it added.     …

Federal officials on Tuesday declared the monarch butterfly “a candidate” for threatened or endangered status, but said no action would be taken for several years because of the many other species waiting for that designation.Environmentalists said delaying that long could spell disaster for the beloved black-and-orange butterfly, once a common sight in backyard gardens, meadows and other landscapes now seeing its population dwindling.The monarch’s status will be reviewed annually, said Charlie Wooley, head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Great Lakes regional office. Emergency action could be taken earlier, but plans now call for proposing to list the monarch under the Endangered Species Act in 2024 unless its situation improves enough to make the step unnecessary.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 9 MB480p | 13 MB540p | 18 MB720p | 44 MB1080p | 77 MBOriginal | 517 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioButterfly Populations Reflect Health of WetlandsThe proposal would be followed by another year for public comment and development of a final rule. Listing the monarch would provide a number of legal protections for the butterfly and its habitat.Scientists estimate the monarch population in the eastern U.S. has fallen about 80% since the mid-1990s, while the drop-off in the western U.S. has been even steeper.”We conducted an intensive, thorough review using a rigorous, transparent science-based process and found that the monarch meets listing criteria under the Endangered Species Act,” Fish and Wildlife Service …

Germany’s health minister said Tuesday he expects a coronavirus vaccine to be approved for use in the country by December 23 and for inoculations to begin before the end of the year.In a briefing to reporters in Berlin, Health Minister Jens Spahn said he has learned that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) – which approves evaluates and approves vaccines and other drugs for in the European Union – will meet on the 23rd and finalize the approval process for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. He spoke alongside Lothar Wieler, chief of the Robert Koch Institute, which seeks to investigate and prevent infectious diseases.The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has already been cleared for use by Britain, Canada, the United States and several other countries.Spahn defended awaiting the EMA’s approval of the vaccine as opposed to opting for a review by Germany’s own regulators. He said the government has always supported Europe-wide rather than national approval of a vaccine, explaining they wanted a thorough, but swift review, as well as a drug they could trust.  He said they get that through the EMA.Wieler reported the COVID-19 situation in Germany is worse than it has been at any time during the pandemic. He said it would likely worsen during the Christmas holiday, with record high numbers of infections and deaths already pushing hospitals to their limits.He called on people in Germany to reduce their contacts as much as possible, including over the holiday period when restrictions are to be eased slightly.  …

Beaches and booze are high on the government’s hit list as South Africa enters its second wave of coronavirus infections — and a long-awaited monthlong summer break for the majority of residents.      The country accounts for roughly one-third of Africa’s case burden, with more than 866,000 confirmed infections since the country’s outbreak started in early March, according to John Hopkins University data. Of those, more than 23,000 people have died.    FILE – A freshly-dug grave sits at the Motherwell Cemetery in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Dec. 4, 2020. President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke of the latest wave late Monday, with these sobering words:     “There can no longer be any doubt that South Africa has entered a second wave of coronavirus infections, which we’ve been talking about,” he said. “Given the rate at which new cases have grown over the last two weeks, there is every possibility that if we do not act urgently and if we do not act together, the second wave will be more severe than the first wave.”    To that end, he said that public beaches would be closed, and that alcohol sales would again be limited to Monday to Thursday.FILE – Surfers bump elbows as they protest against the nationwide lockdown regulations that allow exercise but not water activities, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at Muizenberg beach in Cape Town, South Africa, May 5, 2020.Alcohol consumption is now prohibited in all public spaces, he said. He also announced additional restrictions for two municipalities that had seen case …

Zimbabwe authorities are being criticized for evicting hundreds of families of squatters amid the COVID-19 pandemic and struggling economy. Legal experts say the destruction of their homes in the capital this month, leaving many homeless in a rainy season, is a violation of the constitution.Fifty-two-year-old Bigboy Mabhande and his family are among hundreds of families of alleged squatters who are now homeless in Zimbabwe’s capital.Bigboy Mabhande is hoping to rebuild his home. (Colombus Mavhunga/VOA)Harare city officials demolished the homes they were living in, saying the land is for a school, not residential use.The father of five is trying to rebuild enough of the demolished home so that his 16-year-old son can move in and continue his studies at a nearby school.“It (the destruction) really pained me,” Mabhande said. “We had to ask for a place to stay from a relative. I am now rebuilding this room so that my son, who is writing exams, can stay in there, since it’s far where we are temporarily staying.”         Wilbert Mandinde is a program manager at Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)Wilbert Mandinde, a program manager at Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, says the demolitions by Harare city should not have been done in the middle of a pandemic and during the rainy season.“In any event, there are demolitions of such a nature the government or local authority has an obligation of ensuring that people are not left in the open,” Mandinde said. “But people have alternative places where they will stay, where …

Doses of the first federally approved coronavirus vaccine were administered to front-line health care workers in the United States Monday. That signals what health officials call a significant turn in the fight against the virus that has claimed more than 300,000 lives in the U.S. alone. VOA’s Jesusemen  Oni has more. …

The United States surpassed 300,000 recorded deaths from COVID-19 Monday — the same day the first American was vaccinated against the coronavirus that causes the disease. The grim number comes about two weeks after millions of Americans defied warnings to avoid travel and gathered with family members for the Thanksgiving holiday. According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, by Monday afternoon 300,267 Americans have died of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The U.S. makes up nearly 1-in-5 deaths worldwide from COVID-19. The medical staff listens during a news conference at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center in Los Angeles, Dec. 14, 2020.While it took four months for the first 100,000 Americans to succumb to the virus, some public health experts forecast another 100,000 deaths before the end of January. Similar surges are being recorded around the world, as a number of European countries enter a second round of lockdowns, even as front-line health care workers begin to receive vaccines against the virus. In EuropeGermany is heading for a second lockdown starting Wednesday amid rising coronavirus infections. The government is urging citizens to avoid Christmas shopping in the two days before most stores close and social distancing rules tighten.  People queue in front of a shop, as the coronavirus disease outbreak continues, in Frankfurt, Germany, Dec. 14, 2020.According to Johns Hopkins, as of Monday afternoon, Germany had recorded more than 1,356,650 confirmed cases and more than 22,300 deaths. Italy has overtaken Britain as the European country with the most COVID-19 deaths, according to data …

Pressure is growing on the European Union to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine after regulators in Britain, the United States and Canada gave the green light in recent days. Coronavirus cases are soaring across the continent, with extended lockdowns announced in Germany and the Netherlands. Henry Ridgwell reports. Camera: Henry Ridgwell    …

A narrow 96-kilometer-wide corridor from the Pacific Coast in Chile across the Andes mountain range and into Argentina in South America was treated Monday to views of the final total solar eclipse of 2020. A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, casting a shadow that momentarily extinguishes daylight on Earth. Magdalena Nahuelpan, a Mapuche Indigenous girl, looks at a total solar eclipse using special glasses in Carahue, La Araucania, Chile, Dec. 14, 2020.Despite COVID-19 restrictions on travel and movement, thousands of tourists and residents gathered in Chile’s south-central Araucania region, about 800 kilometers south of the capital, Santiago. While heavy rain and clouds obscured the sun itself, the region was nonetheless plunged into darkness for about two minutes and eight seconds.  The Chilean health ministry issued protective eyewear for safe viewing of the eclipse, along with face masks and sanitizer to keep people safe from COVID-19. The weather was better in Argentina, though the path of the eclipse there went through sparsely populated areas of the Patagonia Desert.  The next total solar eclipse will occur over Antarctica on December 4, 2021.   …

The Philippines aims to finalize negotiations with Sinovac Biotech this week to acquire 25 million doses of the Chinese company’s COVID-19 vaccine for delivery by March, a coronavirus taskforce official said on Monday.President Rodrigo Duterte, who has pursued warmer ties with Beijing, wants to inoculate all his country’s 108 million people, preferably buying vaccines from Russia or China.Philippine officials had met with Sinovac representatives on Friday and there would be another meeting this week to finalize a deal, Carlito Galvez, the country’s vaccine chief, said.”We have already conveyed to them our needs, 25 million for 2021,” Galvez told a news conference, adding that vaccine distribution was targeted for March.Sinovac’s plan to conduct Phase 3 clinical trial in the Philippines is being evaluated by the country’s drugs agency. Trials are taking place in Indonesia and Brazil.Philippine companies last month signed a deal for 2.6 million shots of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca, the Southeast Asian nation’s first supply deal for a coronavirus vaccine, for delivery in May or June.Harry Roque, Duterte’s spokesman, told the news conference for people who were waiting on Western vaccine brands, “the Chinese brand will come earlier.”Since taking office in 2016, Duterte has set aside a territorial spat in the South China Sea in exchange for billions of dollars of pledged Chinese aid, loans and investment.But mistrust of China, including of its vaccines, remains widespread in the Philippines, according to an opinion survey conducted in July.The Philippines’ $370 billion economy, among Asia’s fastest growing before the …

The United States began administering the newly approved coronavirus vaccine Monday, with health care workers among the first to get shots. Critical care nurse Sandra Lindsay was the first to receive an injection in New York state, a moment heralded by outgoing President Donald Trump, who had for months pushed for rapid development of a vaccine even after downplaying the severity of the health crisis early on.   “First Vaccine Administered. Congratulations USA! Congratulations World!” Trump said on Twitter. Super-cooled shipments of the vaccine rolled out of a Pfizer manufacturing facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Sunday for rapid air freight distribution to regional hubs across the United States. Pfizer developed the vaccine alongside its German partner BioNTech. Army Gen. Gustave Perna, chief officer of Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s vaccine development program, said the vaccine distribution “went incredibly well. Deliveries have begun today as we speak.” He said vials of the vaccine for the elderly will be delivered to 70,000 long-term health care facilities at the start of next week. The temperature on a freezer reads -69°C as workers move boxes containing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines to be shipped at the Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo manufacturing plant in Portage, Michigan.Health Secretary Alex Azar said, “President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed has helped bring us a medical miracle” in producing the vaccine far faster than most vaccines are developed. Despite the development of the vaccine, political analysts and opinion polls said Trump’s handling of the coronavirus played a significant role in his reelection defeat last month.  The virus …

Daily records continue to tumble for COVID-19 cases and deaths in many parts of the world, forcing governments to impose restrictions or consider lockdowns to halt the spread of the coronavirus.    In Europe, Germany is heading for a second lockdown starting on Wednesday amid rising coronavirus infections. The government in urging citizens to avoid Christmas shopping in the two days before most stores close and social distancing rules tighten. A person wearing protective mask lights a candle on a vigil organised by activist-group #wirgebendenToteneinGesicht (We give a face to the dead) to commemorate the people who died due to COVID-19 in Berlin, Germany, Dec. 13, 2020.According to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center (JHU), as of Monday morning, Germany had recorded over 1,350,800 confirmed cases and more than 22,080 deaths.   Italy has overtaken Britain as the European country with the most COVID-19 deaths, according to data collected by JHU. Monday morning Italy had 64,520 deaths, while Britain 64,267. A nurse tends to a patient inside a COVID-19 intensive care unit of the Tor Vergata Polyclinic Hospital in Rome, Italy, Dec. 13, 2020.Prime Minister Micheal Martin of Ireland said on Monday that some COVID-19 restrictions may be reimposed in January, after top health officials said infection cases may rise again after many sectors of the economy reopened in recent two weeks.   In Asia, South Korean health authorities said 150 virus testing centers will be opened in phases in the capital area, adding to more than 210 existing sites.    The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said the …

Trump administration officials are expected to say this week whether the monarch butterfly, a colorful and familiar backyard visitor now caught in a global extinction crisis, should receive federal designation as a threatened species. Stepped-up use of farm herbicides, climate change and destruction of milkweed plants on which they depend have caused a massive decline of the orange-and-black butterflies, which long have flitted over meadows, gardens and wetlands across the U.S. The drop-off that started in the mid-1990s has spurred a preservation campaign involving schoolchildren, homeowners and landowners, conservation groups, governments and businesses. Some contend those efforts are enough to save the monarch without federal regulation. But environmental groups say protection under the Endangered Species Act is essential — particularly for populations in the West, where last year fewer than 30,000 remained of the millions that spent winters in California’s coastal groves during the 1980s. This year’s count, though not yet official, is expected to show only about 2,000 there, said Sarina Jepsen, director of the endangered species program at the Xerces Society conservation group. “We may be witnessing the collapse of the of the monarch population in the West,” Jepsen said. Scientists separately estimate up to an 80% monarch decline since the mid-1990s in the eastern U.S., although numbers there have shown a recent uptick. FILE – Monarch butterflies fly between trees at the Sierra Chincua butterfly sanctuary on a mountain in the Mexican state of Michoacan, Mexico, Nov. 29, 2019.The Trump administration has rolled back protections for endangered and threatened species in its push for …

Daily records continue to tumble for COVID-19 cases and deaths in many parts of the world, forcing governments to impose restrictions or consider lockdowns to halt the spread of the coronavirus.In Europe, Germany is heading for a second lockdown starting on Wednesday amid rising coronavirus infections. According to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center (JHU), as of Monday morning, Germany had recorded over 1,350,800 confirmed cases and more than 22,080 deaths.Italy has overtaken Britain as the European country with the most COVID-19 deaths, according to data collected by JHU. Monday morning Italy had 64,520 deaths, while Britain 64,267. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can Pharmacy supervisor Kevin Weissman wears a thick glove as he opens the door of a special freezer that will hold the Pfizer vaccine at LAC USC Medical Center, during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, in Los Angeles, California, Dec. 10. 2020.Overall, more than 16 million people in the U.S. have contracted the disease, while nearly 300,000 have died. Across the United States, the first doses of coronavirus vaccine are arriving at regional hubs Monday after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine made by U.S. drug maker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech for emergency use.    Mexico also approved the emergency use of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine late Friday, bringing to six the number of countries that are using or plan to use it. Britain, Bahrain, Canada and Saudi Arabia have also approved the vaccine.   Brazil is steadily approaching 7 million …

As more countries approve a coronavirus vaccine, the urgent need for inoculation continues to grow with COVID-19 cases and deaths spiking to record highs in several countries. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Sunday that South Korea recorded a record daily increase in coronavirus cases for a second straight day with 1,030 new infections. In the U.S. last week, California recorded more than 25,000 new infections in one day.  “Lives will be lost unless we do more than we’ve ever done,” Governor Gavin Newsom said.    Overall, more than 16 million people in the U.S. have contracted the disease, while nearly 300,000 have died.    A New York Times investigation found that coronavirus deaths have risen faster than the rest of the country in U.S. college town communities where students make up at least 10% of the population. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 10 MB480p | 14 MB540p | 17 MB720p | 33 MB1080p | 71 MBOriginal | 545 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioItaly is poised to overtake Britian as the European country with the most COVID-19 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.    Early Sunday, Italy was just 87 deaths behind Britain, but Italy has 6 million fewer people than Britain.    Italy has suffered 25,418 deaths in the weeks since November 1, which is more than it did from April 2 to October 31, when it reported 25,463.  …

A Chinese space capsule bringing back the first moon rocks in more than four decades started its three-day return to Earth on Sunday.The Chang’e 5 lunar probe, which had been orbiting the moon for about a week, fired up four engines for about 22 minutes to move out of the moon’s orbit, the China National Space Administration said in a social media post.The craft’s lander touched down on the moon earlier this month close to a formation called the Mons Rumker, an area believed to have been the site of ancient volcanic activity. It collected about 2 kilograms of samples.The return capsule is expected to land in northern China in the Inner Mongolia region after separating from the rest of the spacecraft and floating down on parachutes. The material would be the first brought back since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 probe in 1976.The rocks and other debris were obtained both by drilling into the moon’s crust and scooping directly off the surface. They may be billions of years younger than those brought back by earlier U.S. and Soviet missions, possibly offering insights into the moon’s history and that of other bodies in the solar system.China has set up labs to analyze the samples for age and composition and is also expected to share some of them with other countries, as was done with the hundreds of kilograms brought back by the U.S. and former Soviet Union.China’s space program has a series of ambitious missions underway, including a probe en …