By Martin Quin Pollard and David Stanway China's capital Beijing closed more businesses and residential compounds on Friday, with authorities ramping up contact tracing to contain a COVID-19 outbreak, while resentment at the month-long lockdown in Shanghai grew. In...
One Disease Has Already Surged 80% This Year, And We’re in a ‘Perfect Storm’ For More
By DANIEL LAWLER, AFP Measles cases have surged by nearly 80 percent worldwide this year, the UN said Wednesday, warning that the rise of the "canary in a coal mine" illness indicates that outbreaks of other diseases are likely on the way....
External blood oxygenation saved hundreds of Covid-19 sufferers – study
Adding oxygen to blood using ECMO process found to cause big increase in survival rate in severe UK cases By Denis Campbell Scores of severely ill Covid-19 sufferers survived because they were given the NHS’s highest form of intensive care in which an artificial lung...
South Africa may be entering fifth Covid wave earlier than expected
Rise in infections appears to be driven by Omicron sub-variants, say health officials South Africa may be entering a fifth Covid wave earlier than expected after a sustained rise in infections over the past 14 days that seems to be driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron...
China ‘in a very tough spot’ as COVID-19 lockdowns hit economy, China Beige Book CEO explains
By Akiko Fujita Chinese President Xi Jinping recently called for an “all-out” effort this week to boost the world’s second-largest economy through infrastructure investments, signaling growing internal concerns about China’s growth prospects. That may...
First possible US death reported in international outbreak of child hepatitis
At least 5 states have now reported cases of unexplained severe liver inflammation. By BETH MOLE Health officials in Wisconsin are investigating what could be the first child death in the US—and the second worldwide—linked to a growing international outbreak of...
Troops allege military’s COVID vaccine mandate is a ‘religious purge’
By Meghann Myers Three active duty service members appeared in a segment aired Thursday on a podcast hosted by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, accusing the Defense Department of using the COVID-19 vaccine mandate to “intentionally purge” religious service members....
Taiwan faces largest COVID-19 outbreak yet
By HUIZHONG WU Taiwan, which had been living mostly free of COVID-19, is now facing its worst outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic with over 11,000 new cases reported Thursday. Cases have been on the upswing since late March. In April, the island’s central...
Most of us have had Covid
Three in five Americans have been infected. What does this mean for immunity and for the future of the pandemic? New York Times Daily Podcast with Apoorva Mandavilli https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/28/podcasts/the-daily/most-of-us-have-had-covid.html This week, the...
How climate change could drive animal movements — and threaten more viral spillovers
By Andrew Joseph A horseshoe bat.MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES Climate change will force animals to migrate, and in turn, some species — and the pathogens they harbor — will come into contact for the first time. In a new modeling study, scientists forecast that...
A timeline of Fauci’s predictions about the COVID pandemic
By Erin Doherty Biden's chief medical adviser and NIAID director Anthony Fauci said this week that the U.S. is now out of the "full-blown explosive pandemic phase" — more than two years after COVID-19 was first identified in the U.S. The big picture: Fauci, an...
U.S. Right to Know confirms a third maximum containment lab in China
A new maximum biocontainment lab in Kunming, China, was certified three years ago while remaining under-the-radar in the U.S. biodefense community, documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show. China’s plans to build an ABSL-4 under the...
COVID is spreading in deer. What does that mean for the pandemic?
Hundreds of white-tailed deer in North America have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Here’s why scientists aren’t panicking, yet. By Smriti Mallapaty Researchers prepare to swab a white-tailed deer in College Station, Texas, to check for SARS-CoV-2.Credit: Sergio...
What an Unvaccinated Sergeant Who Nearly Died of Covid Wants You to Know
Frank Talarico, a 47-year-old police sergeant, was hospitalized for 49 days with the coronavirus. “If I was vaccinated,” he said, “I have to think I wouldn’t have gotten as sick as I did.” By Tracey Tully No one thought Frank Talarico Jr. was going to live. Not his...
Wokes Gone Wild: Association of Health Care Journalists Ignore CDC, Go All in on Masks
At this week's conference, AHCJ reporters might be the only group walking around Austin wearing N95 respirators. "They're gonna look like Martians." By Paul Thacker The Association of Health Care Journalists will kick off their annual conference in Austin, Texas, on...