Year: 2021

“You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it,” is the succinct warning the U.S. Food and Drug Administration posted on its Twitter account Saturday about Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic medication for livestock that some people have used as a COVID treatment.“The FDA has received multiple reports of patients who have required medical support and been hospitalized after self-medicating with ivermectin intended for horses,” the agency said on its website.You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it. https://t.co/TWb75xYEY4 — U.S. FDA (@US_FDA) Demonstrators march during a far-right rally against the health pass, Aug. 21, 2021 in Lille, northern France.The protesters see the pass as a restriction of their freedom in a country of more than 60 million people, more than 60% of whom have been fully vaccinated. Russia reported 20,564 new COVID cases Sunday. Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center said Sunday Russia has more than 6 million COVID infections.   The global count of COVID cases has reached  211.4 million, according to Johns Hopkins, while there have been 4.4 million deaths. The center says 4.9 billion vaccines have been administered. (Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.) …

Scores of firefighters backed by water-dropping aircraft battled a forest fire that broke out early Monday on the southern part of Greece’s Evia island, less than two weeks after an inferno decimated its northern part.   The fire was burning near the village of Fygia where two neighborhoods have been evacuated and was moving toward the coastal tourist village of Marmari, where authorities were preparing boats to evacuate people if needed, according to Athens News Agency.   Forty-six firefighters were battling flames fanned by high winds — assisted by 20 fire engines, three water-dropping airplanes and two helicopters, the Greek fire brigade said.    Authorities have boats on standby off Marmari. Evia is northeast of the capital Athens.   The civil protection authorities had announced on Sunday a “very high risk” of fire for many areas of Greece on Monday.  Wildfires since July have ravaged the islands of Evia and Rhodes as well as forests to the north and southeast of Athens, and parts of the Peloponnese peninsula. Three people have died as a result of the fires. The government has blamed the disaster on the worst heatwave the country has seen in decades.   Climate scientists warn extreme weather and fierce fires will become increasingly common due to man-made global warming, heightening the need to invest in teams, equipment and policy to battle the flames.  …

Parts of the northeastern United States braced for more heavy rains and the potential for flooding Monday as the storm that made landfall as Tropical Storm Henri slowly moved across the region. The bulk of the rain overnight was located over New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The National Hurricane Center expects the center of the storm, now downgraded to a tropical depression, to drift a short distance to the east during the day Monday before eventually making it back out over the Atlantic Ocean by Tuesday morning. Forecasters said total rainfall amounts across much of the region would be between 7 and 15 centimeters, with some locally higher amounts. The storm made landfall Sunday in the state of Rhode Island, and knocked out power to more than 130,000 homes in that state, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York. President Joe Biden said Sunday he had already approved emergency declarations for Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York, and that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had resources such as generators, food and water positioned in the region to help those in need. “We don’t know the full extent of the storm’s impact today, but we are acting to prepare for and prevent damage as much as possible, and to speed help to affected communities so they can recover as quickly as possible,” Biden said. Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee spoke of the need to get electricity service restored with warm temperatures forecast in the coming days. “We know that that’s an issue and that’s why getting power restored is critical for the health and safety of …

Experts say South Africa is seeing growing drug addiction among young people during the pandemic. A medical research center found that some teenagers are abusing cough syrup that contains the drug codeine. Franco Puglisi looks at the drug addiction problem and efforts to rehabilitate youth in this report from Johannesburg.Camera: Franco Puglisi   Produced by: Barry Unger …

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is aiming to give full approval to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine by early September, according to The New York Times. The two-dose vaccine, which Pfizer developed in collaboration with German-based BioNTech, was granted emergency use authorization by the FDA last November.    It is one of just three COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. stockpile, along with the two-shot vaccine from Moderna and the single-dose version developed by Johnson & Johnson.   The newspaper says the FDA is accelerating its normal timetable to grant full approval to the two-dose vaccine as the United States undergoes a new surge of coronavirus infections and hospitalizations caused primarily by the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19. The recent surge of new infections is mainly among people who have not gotten vaccinated. The Times quotes recent polls by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health care research group, which found that three of every 10 unvaccinated people in the U.S. said they more likely would take a fully approved vaccine.     The surge has prompted a growing number of public and private entities to issue mandatory vaccinations for all of its employees, including an order last week by U.S. President Joe Biden for all employees of the federal government.FILE – A health care worker from Humber River Hospital’s mobile vaccination team administers the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the Church of Pentecost Canada in Toronto, Ontario, May 4, 2021.Pfizer applied for full authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine back on May 7, while Moderna filed for full approval on June 1. Johnson & Johnson said it plans to apply for full approval later this year.   In Australia, authorities in …

The state of Florida is experiencing a hospital crisis because of a surge in the number of patients with COVID-19. These patients are younger and sicker than patients infected with the original virus, and they are largely unvaccinated. Most of them have the Delta variant that is sweeping through the southern U.S., where vaccination rates remain low. At a media briefing August 3, doctors belonging to the Infectious Disease Society of America called for more COVID testing and more vaccinations — both in the U.S. and in other countries.  The Delta variant was first detected in India, but it is rapidly spreading around the world. Rachael Walensky, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has called the current wave “an epidemic of the unvaccinated.” She called this variant “one of the most infectious respiratory viruses we know of.” The Delta variant can infect even those who have been vaccinated.  Dr. Ricardo Franco, a member of the society, said Delta makes up 89% of new COVID infections at the University of Alabama hospital. He added that 97% of hospitalized patients are not vaccinated against the virus, and that the Delta variant is twice as transmissible as the original virus.Covid-19 restrictions stay in place in the subway system in New York City, Aug. 2, 2021. Covid restrictions are still in force as cases caused by variants are on the rise.  “The key here is that the overwhelming majority of infections are occurring among the unvaccinated. Data from COVID trackers show that a vaccinated person is eight times less likely to get infected by Delta compared to an unvaccinated person. He is 25 times less likely to be hospitalized and, if hospitalized, 25 times less likely to die from COVID-19,” Franco said. “The conclusion here is that vaccination is working through this Delta wave,” he continued. “More importantly, unvaccinated …

NOAA-supported scientists on Tuesday reported that this year’s “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico is larger than originally predicted, at more than 16,000-square kilometers, or about the surface area of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie combined.NOAA forecasted in June that the hypoxic zone — an area with little to no oxygen to support marine life — would be 12,600 square kilometers, which would have been smaller than the five-year average. The actual size proved far larger.The annual hypoxic zone survey was conducted aboard the R/V Pelican research vessel from July 25 to August 1 by scientists from Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium.The researchers gathered data on the dead zone’s location, as well as oxygen and salinity levels. This evidence is vital for NOAA to refine its models and study how to decrease the size of the hypoxic area.A Mississippi shrimp boat heads out of the harbor on the first day of shrimp season in Biloxi, Mississippi on June 3, 2010.The dead zone’s expansion is believed to be driven by pollutant runoff from farms and cities contaminating the Mississippi River, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico and stimulates oxygen-consuming algae growth. NOAA aims to minimize the loss of habitat caused by the phenomenon for living resources like commercially harvested fish and diminish the hypoxic zone’s influence on local economies.The Interagency Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force utilizes the survey’s data to evaluate nutrient runoff and create solutions to lessen contaminants in the watershed. The …

The U.S. space agency, NASA, and aerospace company Boeing said they have scrubbed the launch of the company’s Starliner spacecraft for the second time in a week.In a release, Boeing said the launch of the Starliner crew capsule onboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket was scrubbed after a prelaunch check indicated an “unexpected valve position” in the propulsion system. Liftoff had been scheduled for 1:20 p.m. EDT Tuesday.The capsule, designed to carry up to seven crew and passengers, was to be test-launched unmanned to the International Space Station (ISS).The Boeing crew capsule had first been scheduled to launch last Friday, but that launch was postponed after the Russian lab module, Nauka, caused chaos at the space station. The Russian module unexpectedly fired its thrusters, which tilted the space station 45 degrees outside its typical orientation.The Starliner launch is seen as an opportunity for Boeing to redeem itself following an aborted initial test launch of the space craft in December 2019. NASA officials say a software problem sent the capsule into the wrong orbit and was not able to reach the ISS.In the company’s statement, Boeing’s commercial crew program manager John Vollmer, said, “We’re disappointed with today’s outcome and the need to reschedule our Starliner launch. Human spaceflight is a complex, precise and unforgiving endeavor, and Boeing and NASA teams will take the time they need to ensure the safety and integrity of the spacecraft and the achievement of our mission objectives.”NASA says Boeing’s next available launch attempt will …

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday people engaged in indoor activities including fitness clubs, bars and restaurants will be required to be vaccinated, beginning later this month, the first major city in the United States to make such a requirement. At a news conference, De Blasio said the city will create a Key to NYC Pass, available by providing proof of vaccination. The new policy will be phased in over few weeks, during which time the city will coordinate with the business community and educate the community on the process, with the final details to be announced and implemented the week of August 16. FILE – New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio speaks to people as he gives away face masks for using in public spaces to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), May 16, 2020.The new rule will require all workers as well as patrons of businesses to be vaccinated.  De Blasio has focused on getting as many New Yorkers vaccinated as possible while resisting calls to mandate masks indoors, as several cities and counties in California have done. De Blasio also said Monday he was making “a strong recommendation” that everyone wear a mask in public indoor settings but stressed that the city’s “overwhelming strategic thrust” remained getting more people vaccinated. Official data indicate about 66% of adults in New York City are fully vaccinated. The announcement comes a day after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a mandate requiring all frontline workers in state hospitals get vaccinated or …

The White House announced Tuesday the U.S. has shipped more than 110 million doses of U.S.-made COVID-19 vaccines to more than 60 nations.In a statement, the White House said most of the vaccine was shipped through the World Health Organization–managed COVAX cooperative, but also through regional partnerships, such as the African Union and Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The White House said the donations reflect a fulfillment of President Joe Biden’s pledge to give at least 80 million vaccine doses to other nations around the globe, and the doses are a down payment on the “hundreds of millions of more doses that the U.S. will deliver in the coming weeks.”The statement says the Biden administration will begin shipping half-a-billion doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to 100 of the world’s low-income countries.Biden is expected to discuss the donations milestone and other efforts later Tuesday.The president’s announcement will come amid an increase in infections in the U.S. and around the world, fueled by the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus. …

With worries of a sharp increase in COVID-19 infections overwhelming the country’s hospitals, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced Tuesday that only seriously ill coronavirus patients or those at risk of becoming so will be admitted for treatment. Others infected with COVID-19 will have to isolate at home in order to try to make sure there are enough beds available. Japan is adding about 10,000 new cases per day, prompting the head of the Japan Medical Association to call Tuesday for a nationwide state of emergency. Residents wait at the observation area during a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination session for those aged between 12 and 14, in Heihe, Heilongjiang province, China, Aug. 3, 2021. (China Daily via Reuters)In China, authorities said Tuesday all residents of Wuhan will be tested after the city recorded its first domestic infections in more than a year. The virus was first detected in Wuhan in late 2019, and the city of 11 million people was put under a strict lockdown in January 2020 that lasted 76 days. As many countries worry about the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus, South Korean health officials on Tuesday reported the country’s first two cases of a sublineage known as delta plus. Britain, Portugal and India are among countries that previously reported a few cases of delta plus infections. Hundreds of people line up to receive their second dose of vaccine against the coronavirus at the municipal ground in Hyderabad, India, July 29, 2021.The World Health Organization has said it is important to closely …

A new study suggests Earth’s supply of oxygen developed thanks to the planet’s gradually slowing rotation creating longer days that allowed a certain form of algae to admit more oxygen as a byproduct of its metabolic process.The study, published Monday in the scientific journal Nature Geoscience, suggests that about 2.4 billion years ago there was so little oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere, it could barely be measured, so no animal or plant life as we know it could exist.Much of the life on Earth consisted of tiny microbes, among them, a blue-green form of algae called cyanobacteria, which breathed in carbon dioxide and exhaled oxygen in the earliest form of photosynthesis.The researchers say about 400 million years ago, the Earth took a relatively enormous leap in the amount of oxygen in its atmosphere, growing from nearly imperceptible levels to one-tenth the amount of oxygen it has now.The researchers suggest the Earth’s rotation, which has been gradually slowing over time, lengthened days from about six hours to about the current 24 hours. The longer days provided more sunlight for the cyanobacteria to produce enough oxygen to give the planet breathable air.The scientists reached their conclusion by studying microbes found growing in a sinkhole under 80 feet of water in Lake Huron, off the coast of the U.S. state of Michigan. The bacteria exist in an oxygen-poor environment similar to the single-celled cyanobacteria that formed matlike colonies billions of years ago, which carpeted both land and seafloor surfaces.This June 19, 2019 photo provided …

Nigeria has been hit by a surge in cholera cases in recent weeks, focused on the country’s north and adding to a public health crisis accompanied by a rise in COVID-19 cases.”In the last two weeks we had new and resurgence cases,” Dr. Bashir Lawan Muhammad, the state epidemiologist and deputy director of public health for northern economic hub Kano State, told Reuters.He said the rainy season was making it worse, while insecurity in the north, where the authorities have been battling Islamist militants and armed criminals, was also hindering the authorities’ ability to respond.Twenty-two of Nigeria’s 36 states, as well as the federal capital territory Abuja, have suspected cases of cholera, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, (NCDC). The illness, which is caused by contaminated water, can kill within hours if not treated.The surge has been focused in the north of the country, where health systems are least prepared.At least 186 people had died in Kano of cholera since March, Muhammad said. The state accounts for the biggest share of the 653 cholera deaths recorded in the country as a whole by the NCDC. Nearby northern states Bauchi and Jigawa are also among the hardest hit, according to the NCDC.Lagos-based consultancy SBM Intelligence said the states with the most fatalities showed a strong correlation with those that performed poorly in its health preparedness index published in May.The cholera surge comes as daily COVID-19 cases hit their highest since March, raising fear of a third wave of the …

Britain will begin offering a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to 32 million Britons starting in early September, The Telegraph reported Sunday. The shots will be available in as many as 2,000 pharmacies with the goal of getting them into arms by early December.   The government has been preparing since at least June, when the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) called for a plan to offer the third shot to people 70 years old or older, care home residents and those who are vulnerable for health reasons.   At least 90% of British adults have received at least one shot, but that rate falls to 60% for those 18-30 years old, government figures show.     To encourage younger adults to get vaccinated before colder weather prompts people to spend more time indoors, the Department of Health and Social Care said that restaurants, food delivery services and ride-hailing apps are offering discounts to persuade people to be vaccinated.   “The lifesaving vaccines not only protect you, your loved ones and your community, but they are helping to bring us back together by allowing you to get back to doing the things you’ve missed,” Health Secretary Sajid Javid said, according to the Associated Press. British Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton, who tested positive for COVID-19 in December, said he may be suffering its effects after appearing unwell Sunday after finishing second at the Hungarian Grand Prix.   “I’ve been fighting all year really with staying healthy after …

With the delta variant of the coronavirus spreading in the United States, officials are instituting new mask guidance and some employers and even restaurants are requiring proof of vaccination. Michelle Quinn reports. Video editor: Mary Cieslak …

The recent success of private space flight companies spiked adventure seekers’ interest, but the price tag is far too high for most people. Experts say in just a few years, prices for a trip to space will likely drop low enough for ordinary people to be able to afford a flight. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has this report. …

The top U.S. infectious disease expert said Sunday that the country is facing “some pain and suffering” with the surging delta variant of the coronavirus. Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser, told ABC’s “This Week” show, “Things are going to get worse,” and laid the blame on millions of people who have not been vaccinated against the virus. As the number of new cases has risen sharply in recent weeks, some people who have not been vaccinated say they now are considering getting shots. But millions more are saying that for one reason or another they have no intention of getting inoculated no matter how many health officials urge them to do so. FILE – Dr. Anthony Fauci responds to accusations by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., as he testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 20, 2021.Fauci, who almost daily prods Americans to get vaccinated, said, “You are protecting yourself from getting seriously ill and perhaps dying. The unvaccinated are allowing the propagation of the virus.” The U.S. is already recording 70,000 new coronavirus cases a day, up nearly 60,000 over the last six weeks, to a level not seen since February. The caseload is being fueled by the delta variant first discovered in India. The coronavirus causes the COVID-19 disease. Some disease trackers are predicting even bigger caseloads, to 140,000 to 300,000 new infections later in August as the highly transmissible delta variant spreads throughout the United States. Scientists now say that even …

Tokyo’s metropolitan government said new coronavirus infections surged to a record high Saturday as the city hosts the Olympic Games.The government reported 4,058 new cases, topping 4,000 for the first time.The new record was set one day after Japan, with a population of more than 126 million, extended a state of emergency for Tokyo through the end of August to contain the spread. The extension also applies to three prefectures near Tokyo and the western prefecture of Osaka.A new record for infections also was set nationwide Saturday. Public broadcaster NHK reported 12,341 new cases, 15% higher than the day before.Since the start of the pandemic, Japan has reported 914,718 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and 15,197 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.Protests related to the coronavirus pandemic occurred Saturday in countries including France, Italy and Israel.In France, more than 200,000 people protested around the country to voice opposition to President Emmanuel Macron’s recent COVID-19 measures, media reported.While most protests were peaceful, in Paris, where more than 14,000 people gathered, three police officers were injured in clashes with demonstrators, according to Reuters.The French government has instituted a mandatory coronavirus health pass in an effort to control the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus. It has pushed the number of COVID-19 cases in the country from a few thousand each day in early July to 24,000 new cases on Friday, health officials said.The health pass will be needed for people to be able …

Greenland’s ice sheet has experienced a “massive melting event” during a heat wave that has seen temperatures more than 10 degrees above seasonal norms, according to Danish researchers.Since Wednesday, the ice sheet covering the vast Arctic territory has melted by about 8 billion tons a day, twice its normal average rate during summer, reported the Polar Portal website, which is run by Danish researchers.The Danish Meteorological Institute reported temperatures of more than 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit), more than twice the normal average summer temperature, in northern Greenland.And Nerlerit Inaat airport in the northeast of the territory recorded 23.4 degrees C (74.1 F) on Thursday — the highest recorded there since records began.With the heat wave affecting most of Greenland that day, the Polar Portal website reported a “massive melting event” involving enough water “to cover Florida with two inches of water” (five centimeters).The largest melt of the Greenland ice sheet still dates to the summer of 2019.The area where the melting took place this time, though, is larger than two years ago, the website added.The Greenland ice sheet is the second-largest mass of freshwater ice on the planet with nearly 1.8 million square kilometers (695,000 square miles), second only to Antarctica.The melting of the ice sheets started in 1990 and has accelerated since 2000. The mass loss in recent years is approximately four times greater than it was before 2000, according to the researchers at Polar Portal.One European study published in January said ocean levels would rise between 10 …

“The pandemic will end when the world chooses to end it,” World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday in Geneva about the global COVID-19 outbreak that is now being driven by the delta variant of the coronavirus. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the delta variant is as contagious as chickenpox and that infections in vaccinated people may be as transmissible as those in the unvaccinated.“WHO’s goal remains to support every country to vaccinate at least 10% of its population by the end of September, at least 40% by the end of this year, and 70% by the middle of next year,” the WHO chief said, but added that the realization of the goals is “a long way off.”“So far, just over half of countries have fully vaccinated 10% of their population, less than a quarter of countries have vaccinated 40%, and only three countries have vaccinated 70%,” Tedros said.He recalled that WHO had earlier “warned of the risk that the world’s poor would be trampled in the stampede for vaccines” and that “the world was on the verge of a catastrophic moral failure” because of vaccine inequity.“And yet the global distribution of vaccines remains unjust,” Tedros said. “All regions are at risk, but none more so than Africa.”“Many African countries have prepared well to roll out vaccines, but the vaccines have not arrived,” he said. “Less than 2% of all doses administered globally have been in Africa,” with only 1.5% of the continent’s …

Mushrooming outbreaks of the highly contagious delta variant prompted China and Australia to impose stricter COVID-19 restrictions on Saturday as the WHO urged the world to quickly contain the mutation before it turns into something deadlier and draws out the pandemic.China’s most serious surge of coronavirus infections in months spread to two more areas Saturday — Fujian province and the sprawling megacity of Chongqing.More than 200 cases have been linked to a delta cluster in Nanjing city where nine cleaners at an international airport tested positive, with the outbreak spanning Beijing, Chongqing and five provinces as of Saturday.The nation where the disease first emerged has rushed to prevent the highly transmissible strain from taking root by putting more than 1 million people under lockdown and reinstituting mass testing campaigns.Worldwide, coronavirus infections are once again on the upswing, with the World Health Organization announcing an 80% average increase over the past four weeks in five of the health agency’s six regions, a jump largely fueled by the delta variant.First detected in India, it has now reached 132 countries and territories.”Delta is a warning: it’s a warning that the virus is evolving but it is also a call to action that we need to move now before more dangerous variants emerge,” the WHO’s emergencies director Michael Ryan told a press conference.He stressed that the “game plan” still works, namely physical distancing, wearing masks, hand hygiene and vaccination.But both high- and low-income countries are struggling to gain the upper hand against delta, with …