Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
Kelly MACNAMARA Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Early tests of a Russian coronavirus vaccine showed encouraging results when details were published Friday, but experts said the trials were too small to prove safety and effectiveness. Russia announced last month that its vaccine, named “Sputnik V” after the Soviet-era satellite that was the first launched into space in 1957, had already received approval. This raised concerns among Western scientists over a lack […]
by Nina LARSON Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization said Friday it did not expect widespread immunization against the novel coronavirus until mid-2021, tempering hopes just as research revealed encouraging early results from a Russian vaccine. The virus which has killed nearly 870,000 people worldwide continues to spread, with Italy’s flamboyant former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi now in hospital after becoming the latest high-profile figure to test positive for Covid-19. […]
by Ivan Couronne Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — An international group of ethicists on Thursday criticized the World Health Organization’s goal of distributing coronavirus vaccines to treat 20 percent of each country’s population, proposing instead what they said was a more equitable system of distribution. In an article published in the journal Science, US professor Ezekiel Emanuel and more than a dozen experts from Britain, Canada, Australia, Norway and Singapore suggested […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Anglo-Dutch consumer giant Unilever on Wednesday unveiled a one-billion-euro plan to remove fossil fuels in the production of cleaning and laundry products which have experienced soaring demand from coronavirus-fearing consumers. The initiative, worth the equivalent of $1.2 billion, will replace all the carbon derived from fossil fuels used in the production of some of Unilever’s best-known products by 2030, it said in a statement. Unilever aims to transform the sustainability […]
by Kelly MACNAMARA PARIS, France (AFP) — Inflammatory and immune responses linked to obesity could help explain the likelihood of a more severe outcome among patients with Covid-19, European experts said Wednesday. As the new coronavirus has spread, killing more than 800,000 people globally, it has become increasingly clear that co-morbidities put patients at greater risk. In a presentation at European and International Congress on Obesity, researchers said that inflamation caused by a buildup of […]
WASHINGTON D.C., United States (AFP) — A person on a poorly ventilated Chinese bus infected nearly two dozen other passengers with coronavirus even though many weren’t sitting close by, according to research published on Tuesday that offers fresh evidence the disease can spread in the air. Health authorities had initially discounted the possibility that simply breathing could send infectious micro-droplets into the air, but did a U-turn as experts piled on pressure and evidence mounted. […]
WASHINGTON D.C., United States (AFP) — People wearing plastic face shields or masks fitted with a valve can spray invisible droplets over a very wide area when they sneeze or cough, making the devices ineffective at preventing the spread of coronavirus when used on their own, a simulation model shows. In a report published Tuesday in the US journal Physics of Fluids, researchers at Florida Atlantic University used vertical and horizontal laser sheets to track […]
by Nina LARSON Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization urged governments Monday to engage with people demonstrating against Covid-19 restrictions and listen to their concerns, but stressed protesters needed to understand the virus was dangerous. Asked about recent demonstrations in a number of countries against coronavirus restrictions, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was important to “listen to what people are asking, what people are saying”. “We should […]
by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — People who eat a lot of industrially processed junk food are more likely to exhibit a change in their chromosomes linked to ageing, according to research presented Tuesday at an online medical conference. Three or more servings of so-called “ultra-processed food” per day doubled the odds that strands of DNA and proteins called telomeres, found on the end of chromosomes, would be shorter compared […]
PORT LOUIS, Mauritius (AFP) — Tens of thousands of Mauritians protested Saturday in the capital Saint-Louis over the government’s handling of a giant oil spill off its pristine Indian Ocean coast. The Japanese bulk carrier MV Wakashio crashed into a reef off southeastern Mauritius last month spewing more than 1,000 tonnes of oil into waters that are home to mangrove forests and endangered species. After the boat split in two, the larger piece was towed […]
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — A robot at a hospital in the Mexican capital is providing a lifeline for coronavirus patients separated from their relatives and reducing the risk of infection for medical workers. “Hi, I’m LaLuchy Robotina! What’s your name?” the 1.4-meter-tall (4.6 feet) robot asks patients as it goes from room to room. It moves around on wheels and has a camera and display screen enabling relatives and doctors to chat with patients […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The head of the US Food and Drug Administration raised the possibility in an interview published Sunday that a future vaccine against the coronavirus might be given emergency approval before the end of trials designed to ensure its safety and effectiveness. A request for such extraordinary approval would have to come from the vaccine developer, Stephen Hahn told the Financial Times. “If they do that before the end of […]
