Year: 2020

U.S. pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson paused its late-stage clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine after a participant was diagnosed with an unexplained illness. The pause was first reported Monday by the health care news website Stat, which obtained a document the company sent to outside researchers.  Johnson & Johnson had just launched its wide scale testing of its single-dose experimental vaccine. The trial involves 60,000 volunteers across more than 200 locations in the United States and internationally, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and South Africa.   The company said in a statement that so-called “adverse events” such as illnesses and accidents are an expected part of a clinical study, especially with such a large number of participants.  It also said the hold was a “study pause” and not a “clinical hold” which is imposed by a formal health regulatory agency.  Because it can be administered in a single dose, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine has significant advantages over the other three potential vaccines, which require two doses.   The single-dose vaccine would not have to be kept frozen in ultracold temperatures, making it easier to utilize in a mass immunization campaign.   The Johnson & Johnson vaccine trial is the second to be put on hold after a volunteer became ill after receiving the vaccine.  U.S.-based drugmaker AstraZeneca halted its late-stage trial of a vaccine developed with the University of Oxford early last month after a volunteer in Britain was diagnosed with transverse myelitis, an inflammatory syndrome that affects the spinal cord and is often sparked by viral infections.  FILE – …

A late-stage study of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate has been paused while the company investigates whether a study participant’s “unexplained illness” is related to the shot. The company said in a statement Monday evening that illnesses, accidents and other so-called adverse events “are an expected part of any clinical study, especially large studies,” but that its physicians and a safety monitoring panel would try to determine what might have caused the illness. The pause is at least the second such hold to occur among several vaccines that have reached large-scale final tests in the U.S. The company declined to reveal any more details about the illness, citing the participant’s privacy. Temporary stoppages of large medical studies are relatively common. Few are made public in typical drug trials, but the work to make a coronavirus vaccine has raised the stakes on these kinds of complications. Companies are required to investigate any serious or unexpected reaction that occurs during drug testing. Given that such tests are done on tens of thousands of people, some medical problems are a coincidence. In fact, one of the first steps the company said it will take is to determine if the person received the vaccine or a placebo.FILE – A worker feeds vials for production of SARS CoV-2 Vaccine for COVID-19 at the SinoVac vaccine factory in Beijing.The halt was first reported by the health news site STAT. Final-stage testing of a vaccine made by AstraZeneca and Oxford University remains on hold in the U.S. as officials examine whether an illness …

U.S. President Donald Trump’s doctor says the president has tested negative for COVID-19 on “consecutive days” as Trump traveled to Florida for his first campaign rally since being diagnosed with the disease earlier this month.In a memo released Monday by the White House, Dr. Sean Conley said Trump was tested using a newer rapid coronavirus test from Abbott Laboratories. He did not say when Trump was tested.Conley said the negative tests, along with other clinical and laboratory data, “indicate a lack of detectable viral replication.” He also repeated an assessment that he gave over the weekend that Trump is no longer infectious to others.Trump returned to the campaign trail Monday for a busy week that includes stops in Florida, Pennsylvania, Iowa, North Carolina and Wisconsin, his first campaign travel since his positive test for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, on Oct 2. Trump spent several days at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and completed his COVID-19 treatment at the White House.Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus crisis hearing, July 31, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington.Dr. Anthony Fauci, speaking on CNN before Trump left the White House for Florida, questioned the wisdom of holding an event like this. Test positivity rates, he noted, are climbing in parts of the Sun Belt.“We know that that is asking for trouble when you do that,” Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, said on CNN.Trump described …

The head of the World Health Organization is warning against a strategy of pursuing herd immunity to stop the coronavirus pandemic, calling the idea unethical.At a news briefing Monday in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said health officials should only try to achieve immunity through vaccination, not through exposing people to the virus.Herd immunity happens when a population is protected from a virus because a threshold immunity has been reached in that society.“Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak, let alone a pandemic. It’s scientifically and ethically problematic,” Tedros said.The WHO estimates that about 10% of the world has contracted the coronavirus. It is not yet known what percentage rate of infection is needed to achieve herd immunity.Tedros noted that to obtain herd immunity from measles, about 95% of the population must be vaccinated, while for polio, the threshold is about 80%.Virus can survive 28 daysIn another development Monday, scientists in Australia discovered that the coronavirus, which causes the COVID-19 disease, can survive on solid common surfaces for as long as 28 days.In a study published in Virology Journal, researchers at CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization), Australia’s national science agency, found the SARS-CoV-2 virus was “extremely robust,” surviving on smooth surfaces at 20 degrees Celsius, compared to the flu virus, which lasts for 17 days in the same circumstances. The scientists at CSIRO also found the SARS-CoV-2 virus stopped being infectious after about 24 …

A scientist from the U.S. space agency says what was thought to be a small asteroid heading towards Earth may actually be a 54-year-old section from a rocket coming back home. The head of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), Paul Chodas, told the Associated Press the object was first spotted by a telescope in Hawaii last month as part of the ongoing effort to monitor space objects that may pass close to Earth and possibly pose a threat. Chodas said further observations of the object, named Asteroid 2020 SO, indicated it had that a near-circular orbit around the sun, similar to Earth’s, an unusual characteristic for an asteroid, and a first clue that it might have originated from here. Chodas said the object is also in the same orbital plane as Earth, not tilted above or below, while asteroids that originate in deep space the sun orbit at odd angles. Finally, its speed approaching Earth is about 2,400 kilometers per hour, slow by asteroid standards. The NASA scientist speculates 2020 SO is actually the upper stage of a Centaur rocket that successfully propelled NASA’s Surveyor 2 unmanned lunar probe to the moon in 1966 before it was discarded.  The lander had been designed to land on the moon but crashed there after one of its thrusters failed.  The rocket, meanwhile, swept past the moon and into orbit around the sun as it was designed to do. Asteroid 2020 SO is estimated to be roughly eight meters long, based on its brightness, which would …

French Prime Minister Jean Castex warned Monday that France could impose further restrictions — including a lockdown — as the coronavirus is spreading rapidly, and the situation in hospitals is deteriorating there.In an interview with news broadcaster France Info on Monday, Castex said the country was facing a “strong” second wave of new infections and urged that all citizens be mobilized, saying, “There can be no more slackening.”The government announced nine large cities, including Paris and Marseille, will be placed under maximum virus alert beginning Tuesday. While local governments have objected, bars and other public establishments will be closed in those areas. Castex called on French residents to limit private gatherings in their homes.The prime minister said the French Defense Council will meet this week to examine epidemiological data “to see if there is a reason to go farther.” He said a “general lockdown” of the country “must be avoided by all means,” but said no option is being excluded.President Emmanuel Macron is expected to address the nation later Monday.According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, France currently has 732,434 infections and more than 32,600 deaths. It ranks second in Europe behind Spain in the number of cases.  …

An icebreaker belonging to Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) returned to Germany Monday with what the scientists on board say is proof of a dying Arctic Ocean and warnings of ice-free summers, after a more than yearlong expedition that included time at the North Pole. Expedition leader Markus Rex said the team collected a wealth of data that will be used to improve scientific models of global warming to predict climate change in the decades to come, especially in the Arctic, where changes have come faster than elsewhere on Earth. Rex, an atmospheric scientist at AWI for Polar and Ocean Research that organized the expedition, said that scientists witnessed firsthand the dramatic effects of global warming on ice in the Arctic Circle, considered “the epicenter of climate change.” The RV Polarstern arrived in the North Sea port of Bremerhaven, 389 days after it set off on its mission. More than 300 scientists from 20 countries, including the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China participated in the $177-million expedition.  …

Scientists in Australia have discovered that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can survive on solid common surfaces for as long as 28 days. In a study published Monday in Virology Journal, researchers at CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization), Australia’s national science agency, found the SARS-COV-2 virus was “extremely robust,” surviving on smooth surfaces at 20 degrees Celsius, compared to the flu virus, which lasts for 17 days in the same circumstances. The scientists at CSIRO also found the SARS-COV-2 virus stopped being infectious after about 24 hours at 40 degrees Celsius.  The scientists at CSIRO found the novel coronavirus can survive on such common surfaces as paper banknotes, glass and stainless steel.   In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to unveil a new coronavirus alert system for the country during a speech in Parliament Monday. Instead of a blanket nationwide lockdown, the government’s new system designates areas as medium, high and very high risk. Under the first tier, areas with relatively low infection rates will have limited restrictions on restaurants and bars, with the restrictions gradually tightening up to the third tier, when restaurants and bars will be forced to close.Commuters walk across London Bridge during the morning rush hour towards the offices in the financial district of the City of London in London, Monday, Oct. 12, 2020.The new system is being implemented as Britain reaches what a spokesman for Prime Minister Johnson described as “a critical juncture.”  The nation is experiencing a dramatic surge of new COVID-19 cases, especially in …

Ghana has started building sea defense walls at key points along the coast to stop coastal erosion and protect beaches, communities and historic buildings. But fishermen fear the walls will block them from pulling their nets ashore, and coastal resorts say they are harming business. Stacey Knott has the story from Cape Coast, Ghana.   …

A Trump administration official leading the response to the coronavirus pandemic says the U.S. can expect delivery of a vaccine starting in January 2021, despite statements from the president that inoculations could begin this month.And a growing, bipartisan chorus of lawmakers, experts and public health officials says the country is ill prepared for a projected winter surge of COVID-19.Dr. Robert Kadlec said in an email Friday that the administration “is accelerating production of safe and effective vaccines … to ensure delivery starting January 2021.” Kadlec is the Department of Health and Human Services’ assistant secretary of preparedness and response.Robert Kadlec, assistant secretary of Health and Human Services, testifies at a hearing with the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, on Capitol Hill Sept. 16, 2020.Vaccine ‘within weeks’President Donald Trump has said at rallies, debates and press conferences that a vaccine could arrive within weeks. “We think we can start sometime in October,” Trump said at a White House press briefing last month.Kadlec wasn’t the first health official to counter the president’s optimistic timeline. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday that there could be 100 million vaccine doses available by the end of the year “pending FDA authorizations.” And Dr. Moncef Slaoui, who is leading the government’s vaccine effort, told Marketwatch on Friday that researchers could know “by late October, or November, or in December” whether one of the vaccines in development is effective, but that it would then take weeks …

China said on Friday that it had joined a global COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan backed by the World Health Organization, becoming the biggest economy to date to pledge support to distribute the shots fairly.Meanwhile, the country is holding separate talks with the WHO to have its COVID-19 vaccines assessed, a step toward making them available for international use.Public health experts welcome the Chinese move, yet caution potential safety concerns.They are calling on China to publish all its clinical trial data to ensure transparency and gain public trust, saying rushing out a vaccine without adequate efficacy and safety testing is a recipe for disaster.Zheng Zhongwei, from China’s National Health Commission, holds a chart showing priority groups for a coronavirus vaccine as he speaks during a press conference to discuss COVID-19 vaccine-related issues on Sept. 25, 2020, in Beijing.Clinical trial dataSocorro Escalate, WHO’s coordinator for essential medicines and health technologies in the Western Pacific region, indicated this week that China had held preliminary discussions with the organization to have its vaccines included in a list for emergency use.Beijing currently has at least four experimental vaccines in the final stage of clinical trials. The country has been giving hundreds of thousands of essential workers considered at high risk these experimental vaccines before the conclusion of phase III trials.Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told VOA that it’s important for the WHO to evaluate the Chinese vaccines, yet also called on China to publish its data to …

Spain’s government declared a state of emergency in Madrid Friday, taking control of efforts to fight the spread of COVID-19 from local authorities after a regional court struck down restrictions as the region faces one of the most significant outbreaks in Europe.   Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government took the step at a special cabinet meeting as he imposed his authority on regional officials, who have resisted his calls for restrictions on travel in the region.   The move gives Sanchez extraordinary powers to order new constraints on life in the capital, where efforts to control a surge in infections have been complicated by the standoff. The step forced Madrid authorities to restore restrictions they had ignored following the court ruling.   At a news conference Friday, Health Minister Salvador Illa said the measures, which prohibit residents from leaving the area, including nine nearby towns, without a valid reason, among other measures, would be effective immediately and remain in place for 15 days.   The Madrid region’s 14-day infection rate of more than 560 coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents is more than twice Spain’s national average of 256 and five times the European average rate of 113 for the week ending September 27.   The Interior Ministry said an extra 7,000 policemen and security personnel would be deployed for enforcement of the measures “at various exit and access points of the region under state of emergency.”     The partial lockdown comes as the nation begins a three-day holiday weekend, …

Asian kudzu vines smothering the southern United States. Pacific lionfish devouring Caribbean sealife. South American cane toads killing their way across Australia.     As bad as invasive species are today, a study says they will get worse.      Researchers predict that non-native—or alien—species introductions will increase globally by around 36 percent during the first half of the 21st century.   The researchers call for better monitoring and regulations to contain the spread of alien species.  The movement of plants and animals around the planet soared over the last century as human trade and travel opened new global pathways.   Not all alien species are problematic, but invasive alien species—like kudzu—wreak environmental or economic havoc in their new homes.     “Together with climate change and land use change, invasive alien species are posing one of the greatest threats to biodiversity,” said Hanno Seebens, ecologist at the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre and lead author on the study.     From devouring crops to clogging water pipes, invasive species cost the United States alone around $120 billion each year. Some species are intentionally introduced to new regions by humans. Others arrive accidentally as stowaways in goods shipped by planes, trucks and ships or as hitchhikers on luggage.  “A species can only arrive in a new region when you connect different [regions],”  Seebens explained. “When we extended our trade networks, we connected more and more [regions], which allowed more and more species to come.”   However, the number of possible …

China said Friday it is joining a World Health Organization international initiative to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to the developing world.  China, Russia and the U.S. had said they were not joining the alliance to help two-thirds of world’s population receive the vaccines by 2022.China’s reversal makes it the largest country to participate in what is known as the COVAX deal.  “We are taking this concrete step to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines, especially to developing countries, and hope more capable countries will also join and support Covax,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement. Over 36 million infections More than 36.5 million people have been infected with the coronavirus as it snakes it way around the world, according to statistics from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.    The U.S., India and Brazil lead in the number of cases and deaths from COVID-19 — the disease caused by the virus. India’s health ministry reported more than 70,000 new cases in the past 24-hour period.     The U.S. has more than 7.6 million infections and upwards of 212,000 deaths. India has nearly 7 million COVID cases, with more than 106,000 deaths, while Brazil has over 5 million cases and a death tally close to 149,000. Russia reported a new record for coronavirus cases Monday – 12,126, bringing its total of confirmed cases to 1,272,238.  The previous daily high was in May.  Some officials there say new restrictions may have to be imposed. Ukraine reported a record 5,804 new cases Friday.  Authorities are expected to extend the Eastern European country’s lockdown until the end of October. Australia said Friday it …

Young people have suffered less under the COVID-19 virus than older people medically, but experts say the gap has narrowed, and so-called superspreading among the young is a factor.“The FILE – A general view of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, Sept. 30, 2014.A woman wearing face mask walks on a street in Hong Kong, Feb. 18, 2020. COVID-19 viral illness has sickened millions of people in China since December.In December 2019, as COVID-19 was emerging in China, colleges and universities worldwide released hundreds of thousands of students home for winter break. Many of the more than 360,000 Chinese students who study in the U.S. returned to China for the holiday.A month later, they and other international students returned to their campuses in the U.S. and around the world as COVID-19 was gaining speed.In March, U.S. colleges and universities began their spring breaks, times when students traditionally head to warm beach destinations, such as in Florida, Texas and Mexico, to blow off steam after studying for midterms.Dr. Sean O’Leary, associate professor of pediatrics-infectious diseases at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, told VOA that in response to the wave of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., many universities shut down their campuses, sent students home or asked them to return from spring break to clean out their rooms, and then put them on airplanes for points around the country.“From the perspective of the U.S. as a country, was that the best choice?” O’Leary asked. …

The National Football League reported Thursday yet another Tennessee Titans football player has tested positive for COVID-19, raising questions about their game scheduled for Sunday in Nashville.The latest positive test brings the total to 23 positive COVID-19 tests among players and staff for the Tennessee franchise, and 21 of those positive cases have come since Sept. 29, two days after the Titans game with the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis. The team facility has been closed since that time.The team had gone two consecutive days without a positive test before two more tests came back positive Wednesday. A third day would have allowed them to return to their team facility in Nashville, under league rules.The outbreak has already led to the postponement of the Titans’ scheduled game last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers to the seventh week of the season. NFL sources say their game Sunday with the Buffalo Bills in Nashville is currently is being evaluated.Some current and former players took to social media Thursday calling for the Titans to be forced to forfeit a game as punishment for their “irresponsible” behavior in allowing the virus to spread.On Wednesday, the New England Patriots had to cancel practice at the team’s headquarters in Foxborough, Massachusetts, after defensive player Stephen Gilmore became the third player on that team to test positive for COVID-19.Quarterback Cam Newton tested positive Saturday and is on the reserve/COVID-19 list, and the Patriots placed a defensive tackle from the practice squad on that list Tuesday. The NFL says the …

The European Union on Thursday concluded a deal with an American drugmaker to supply up to 400 million doses of its potential COVID-19 vaccine, bringing its total vaccine supply to 1.1 billion doses for the bloc’s 450 million people.To secure the vaccines, the EU made an undisclosed down payment to Johnson & Johnson, which confirmed the deal in a statement in which it reiterated plans to allocate up to 500 million additional doses to poorer countries. EU states plan to pay for those but the price and liability conditions remained confidential.This is the third COVID-19 purchasing deal the EU has closed as the world races to find and secure shots against the disease. The first two were with AstraZeneca and Sanofi.The announcement came in light of a fresh spike across Europe forcing countries to reintroduce previously relaxed COVID-19 restrictions, including the shutdown of bars, restaurants and gyms.The J&J deal follows supply contracts for 400 million doses of the potential vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and for 300 million doses of the shot being tested by a partnership between Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline.The commission plans to ramp up its vaccine collection as it continues to pursue deals with manufacturers like Moderna , CureVac and a partnership between Pfizer and BioNTech. If confirmed, the EU’s total vaccine supply will be nearly 2 billion doses.A senior EU source told Reuters news agency last month that the EU is in talks with Novavax for a seventh vaccine. If it strikes seven deals, the EU would …

The executive branch of the European Union announced Thursday it has signed a deal with pharmaceutical company Gilead to buy 500,000 treatment courses of Remdesivir, an antiviral drug shown to be effective in treating symptoms of COVID-19.The European Commission, which has overseen joint purchases of vaccines for the European bloc, said there were 37 signatories to the agreement, including all EU countries, six Balkan candidate and potential EU members, Britain and other European Economic Area countries of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.No treatment has yet proved able to prevent serious illness after a coronavirus infection, but the antiviral drug, also known by its commercial name Veklury, has helped some COVID-19 patients recover faster. It is among the drugs being used to treat U.S. President Donald Trump, who tested positive for coronavirus last week.Remdesivir was approved as a treatment for by the commission in July. There are reports of shortages of the drug among EU members because many countries in the region have seen a resurgence of COVID-19 in recent weeks.The drug company said the agreement will allow countries to purchase the drug for immediate use and stockpiling needs.European Commission spokesman Stefan De Keersmaecker said Thursday during a briefing that a coronavirus vaccine candidate being tested by drug maker Johnson and Johnson is in phase three of its clinical trials.Keersmaecker says the commission has contracted with the pharmaceutical company to allow EU members to purchase enough of the vaccine, should it prove viable, to treat 200 million people, with the option of …

Germany’s health officials said Thursday new COVID-19 cases are spreading at the fastest rate since April.Health Minister Jens Spahn joined Robert Kock Institute for Disease Control President Lothar Wieler at a news conference in Berlin, where they said the number of new cases of the coronavirus has been rising steadily in Germany since early September. Wieler told reporters, “In the last few days between 1,000 and today even more than 4,000 cases have been reported to the Robert Koch Institute every day.”Weiler said the first seven days of October had seen about twice as many cases as the same period in September.  He said the current weekly nationwide average rate of COVID-19 incidence is 20.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants; at the beginning of June it was three.German Health Minister Jens Spahn, right, and the president of the Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Wieler, left, address the media about the current developments of the new coronavirus outbreak in Berlin, Germany, Oct. 8, 2020.Wieler said the incidence of infection is increasing in almost all regions of Germany, and that worried him greatly. He said he was unsure of how it will develop in the coming weeks, and that it is possible Germany could see 10,000 cases a day and the virus could spread uncontrollably.The outlook is particularly alarming for a country considered to have had one of the most effective responses to the pandemic in Europe, if not the world. Spahn said Germany has coped with the crisis well, so far, …

The world now has more than 36 million cases of the coronavirus.    According to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracking program, 36,166,574 people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, including more than 1 million deaths.  The United States leads in both categories with 7.5 million cases and nearly 212,000 deaths. India is a close second in the total number of cases with 6.8 million, while Brazil topped the 5 million mark Wednesday.  Brazil is second in the total number of deaths with more than 148,000, with India third with over 105,000. Memorandum from White House physician Sean Conley to White House press secretary McEnany with information about President Trump receiving a dose of Regeneron’s polyclonal antibody cocktail on Oct. 2 2020.Regeneron U.S.-based biotechnology firm Regeneron says it has applied to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency approval of the experimental coronavirus antibody therapy that was given to President Donald Trump after he was hospitalized last week with COVID-19.  The company says the therapy is a combination of two antibodies that are believed to boost a person’s immunity to the virus. Although the therapy is still in large-scale clinical trials, it has been available for so-called “compassionate use,” which the FDA must approve on an individual basis.  Regeneron says there currently are enough doses for about 50,000 patients, but expects to have doses available for 300,000 patients “within the next few months,” which will be free to all Americans.  EU vaccine deal Meanwhile, the European Commission announced Wednesday it has reached a deal with U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant Gilead to …

Prince William has joined forces with renowned British broadcaster and naturalist David Attenborough to launch Thursday a new environmental award, the Earthshot Prize, which has grand ambitions to “incentivize change and help to repair our planet over the next 10 years.” The prize takes its inspiration from the Moonshot challenge that President John F. Kennedy set for the U.S. in 1961 to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. William, who has been immersed in environmental issues all his life, said the same resources used to tackle the coronavirus pandemic should be devoted to saving the natural world. “According to the experts, it really is the point of no return,” he told Sky News. “We have 10 years to fundamentally fix our planet.” The plan envisions five prizes of 1 million pounds ($1.3 million) awarded each year for the next 10 years, providing at least 50 solutions to the world’s greatest environmental problems by 2030. The first five Earthshots center on protecting and restoring nature, clean air, reviving oceans, building a waste-free world and fixing the climate. “We very much hope that even if we can’t necessarily change the world in ten years’ time just from the prize alone, what we do hope is that, just like the Moonshot landings where they developed cat scanners, X-ray machines, breathing apparatus, stuff like that I think has been really, really important to come out of that,” William said. Nominations open on Nov. 1 with an annual global …

An Iranian dissident has contracted the coronavirus at a prison in northern Iran, according to a knowledgeable source, highlighting what U.S. and U.N. officials say is a worsening pandemic threat facing Iran’s prisoners of conscience.In a message sent Tuesday to VOA Persian, an Iran-based source close to the family of dissident Farhad Meysami said Meysami tested positive for the virus at Rajaei Shahr prison in the city of Karaj and was transferred that morning from his ward to a so-called prison “safe room” for isolation. The source had no further details on the conditions of Meysami’s detention.The 50-year-old medical doctor and women’s rights activist has been imprisoned by Iran since his July 31, 2018, arrest. Security agents detained him at his Tehran home where they found him in possession of pins with the slogan “I am against compulsory hijab.”Meysami had been peacefully supporting a 2018 campaign by Iranian women who removed their hijabs in public to protest Islamist regulations requiring the headscarves. He was sentenced in January 2019 to five years in prison on charges of “spreading propaganda against the system” and “gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security,”  a sentence that was upheld on appeal in August that year.Authorities initially incarcerated Meysami at Tehran’s Evin prison before moving him to Rajaei Shahr last November.A former Iranian political prisoner first reported Meysami’s coronavirus infection in a series of Monday tweets.#فرهادمیثمی در زندان رجائی‌شهر به کرونا مبتلا شده است؛امروز از زندان تماس گرفت و گفت که جواب تستش مثبت شده، …

Zimbabwe, like other African countries, is trying a phased re-opening of schools after closing in March due to COVID-19.But many teachers like 33-year-old Munyaradzi Masiyiwa are refusing to return to class, pointing to low pay and unsafe conditions.Masiyiwa said he makes more money selling brooms than teaching at Cranborne Boys Government High School in Harare.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can Paul Mavima, Zimbabwe public service minister  (Harare, October 6, 2020) says teacher salaries, about $100 a month, including a $75 “COVID-19 allowance” is all it can afford at the moment. (Columbus Mavhunga/ VOA)Public Service Minister Paul Mavima said teacher salaries, about $100 a month, including a $75 “COVID-19 allowance” is all the government can afford.”It is in this context that we are saying to civil servants please be realistic, exercise moderation in the manner in which you demand salary increases, we don’t want salary increases that will upset the stability that we have so far realized and further torpedo the economic recovery that we have started to see,” Mavima said.Without teachers in class, Zimbabwe’s school children are the ones left paying the price.Filda Rusheje, a parent of student, in Harare (October 7, 2020) wishes if the government can negotiate with the teachers on strike so that children can learn ahead of examinations. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)At Glen View High School, students said they only discuss lessons among themselves. Filda Rusheje is one of their parents. She is worried the children won’t learn enough to pass their exams.“The situation at schools is …

Wisconsin health officials opened a field hospital Wednesday at the state fairgrounds near Milwaukee to cater to the swelling number of COVID-19 cases threatening to overwhelm hospitals.The 530-bed field clinic was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in April at the request of Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ administration. Local leaders had warned about the possibility of area hospitals being overwhelmed, but hospitalizations didn’t reach the point where the hospital was needed, until now.Only 16% of the state’s 11,452 hospital beds were available as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the state’s Department of Health Services. The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients reached 853, its highest during the pandemic according to the COVID Tracking Project, with 216 in intensive care.”This alternative care facility will take some of the pressure off our  health care facilities while expanding the continuum of care for folks who have COVID-19,” said Evers.The spike in cases has largely been blamed on the reopening of colleges and K-12 schools as well as people’s refusal to wear masks and practice social distancing. Wisconsin ranked third nationwide this week in daily new cases per capita, making it the hot spot for coronavirus infections.Over 31,000 coronavirus patients are hospitalized nationwide according to the COVID Tracking Project.The hospital, which is designed to provide low-level care, will accept only patients who have already been hospitalized elsewhere for at least 24 to 48 hours, according to the Wisconsin Department of Administration. Patients who qualify will be transported to the facility by ambulance. The …