Tag: health

Spain lawmakers extend state of emergency

  MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain’s parliament on Wednesday voted to extend the country’s state of emergency, allowing stringent coronavirus lockdown measures to remain in place for at least two more weeks. The government imposed a nation-wide lockdown nearly eight weeks ago to curb the outbreak, which has killed more than 25,000 people and infected over 220,000 in the country — one of the hardest hit in the world. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned […]

Positive tests for recovered virus patients are not reinfections: WHO

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Coronavirus patients declared recovered who later test positive for the disease are still expelling dead lung cells rather than getting a new infection, the World Health Organization (WHO) told AFP on Wednesday. South Korean health officials reported more than 100 such cases in April, raising concerns that patients who had recovered could become reinfected. “We are aware that some patients test positive after they clinically recover,” a WHO spokesperson told AFP, […]

Nearly 1 in 5 US children left hungry since virus crisis: study

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Nearly a fifth of young children in the United States are not getting enough to eat since the coronavirus pandemic erupted, according to research out Wednesday highlighting the broader health impact of the crisis. The Brookings Institution report said a survey found that 17.4 percent of mothers with children aged 12 or under reported that their offspring were not eating enough due to lack of money. “It is clear […]

US prison COVID-19 infections hit 30,000: university

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US prisons have reported 30,000 cases of coronavirus among inmates and guards, a US university research group reported Wednesday, as a government study said prison guards could be instrumental in the spread of the disease. Data compiled from official sources by the COVID-19 Behind Bars Project of the UCLA law school showed that out of more than two million people incarcerated nationwide, there were 21,007 confirmed coronavirus cases, and 295 […]

Canada says immigrants welcome after pandemic

Eagle News — Canadian Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino, spoke to  a group of immigration lawyers stating that once the pandemic is over, Canada will remain open to immigrants.  “Immigration is an economic driver that we rely on” says Mendicino. He also says that immgration is the key to economic recovery in Canada. Mendicino further explains that the need for people to migrate to Canada helps with population. “Canada’s birth rate is too low. There just […]

LA virus testing center offers quick results for peace of mind

by Laurent BANGUET Agence France Presse LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — For two weeks now, Dr Matthew Budoff has been overseeing a coronavirus antibody testing site in Los Angeles, offering people a rapid answer to a question on everyone’s mind. “It’s the only medical screening that people generally want to be positive,” says Budoff, a professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The procedure is quick and simple. A prick […]

Students in China’s virus centre Wuhan return to school

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese youngsters in the global virus epicenter of Wuhan filed back to class on Wednesday, wearing masks and walking in single file past thermal scanners. Senior school students in 121 institutions were back in front of chalkboards and digital displays for the first time since their city — the ground zero of the coronavirus pandemic — shut down in January. “School is finally reopening!” posted one user of Weibo, China’s Twitter-like […]

South Korea returns largely to normal as outbreak controlled

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea returned largely to normal Wednesday as workers went back to offices, and museums and libraries reopened under eased social distancing rules after new coronavirus cases dropped to a trickle. The South endured one of the worst early outbreaks of the disease outside China and while it never imposed a compulsory lockdown, strict social distancing had been widely observed since March. Employees were urged to work from home where […]

Remember the disabled during virus crisis, UN chief says

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called on governments around the world to specifically take into account the billions of people with disabilities in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Even under normal circumstances, persons with disabilities are less likely to access education, healthcare and income opportunities or participate in the community,” Guterres said in a statement released in support of a UN study on people with disabilities. “The […]

Brazil husband-wife doctors fight virus at work, home

by Florence GOISNARD Agence France Presse SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Neither of the Sztajnboks is getting much sleep these days. Dr. Jacques Sztajnbok, head of intensive care at one of the main coronavirus hospitals in Sao Paulo, Brazil, says the stress of being on the front line of the pandemic often wakes him up in the middle of the night. His wife, Dr. Fabiane Sztajnbok, an infectious disease specialist in the hospital’s emergency room, […]

Test equipment found to be contaminated; 40 cases yielded false positives

Eagle News — A second test found all 40 of the newly suspected COVID-19 cases in Yala on Sunday turned out to be false positives, as the public health ministry has decided to run another test. The Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) however, wants to run a third test through the Department of Medical Sciences. Sources said there are several factors potentially contributing to false positives. Including the possibilities that the equipment had […]

Brazilian Amazon mayor pleads for world help on virus

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — The mayor of Manaus, the biggest city in the Amazon rainforest region, asked world leaders Tuesday for help fighting the novel coronavirus, which has brought his city’s health system to the brink of collapse. Manaus is the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, which has been devastated by the pandemic. Mayor Arthur Virgilio sent video messages and letters pleading for funds and medical equipment to 21 world leaders, […]