WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Joe Diffie, a Grammy award-winning country music singer who had several chart-topping hits in the 1990s, has died of coronavirus. He was 61. Diffie’s death was announced on his Facebook page, which said he died on Sunday “from complications of coronavirus.” His death came just two days after he had announced that he had tested positive for the virus and was receiving medical care. “My family and I are asking […]
Tag: health
Demand explodes for New York food banks
by Catherine TRIOMPHE NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — New York food banks have become inundated with newcomers deprived of income since the near-total halt of business in the United States’ economic capital. Sacks of oranges, sweet potatoes and onions are spread over three tables at an open-air market in Washington Heights, a neighborhood in the north of Manhattan. Sterilized milk and cans of tuna and salmon cover three others. Hundreds of people came over […]
North Korea says, it tested ‘super-large’ rocket launchers
by Sunghee Hwang SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Nuclear-armed North Korea successfully tested “super-large multiple rocket launchers”, state media said on Monday, but leader Kim Jong Un was not described as commanding the drill as analysts say Pyongyang seeks to normalize its launches. With the world focused on the coronavirus pandemic and North Korea insisting it has not had a single COVID-19 case, the isolated state has carried out four such firings this month. Unusually, […]
Libya frees over 450 inmates due to virus fears
TRIPOLI, Libya (AFP) — Libya’s justice ministry announced Sunday over 450 prisoners were being freed in a bid to protect against the spread of coronavirus in the wake of the war-torn country’s first declared infections. Judicial officials decided to “free 466 detainees from correctional facilities” in Tripoli, according to a statement by the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord’s justice ministry. The detainees were in pretrial detention or had qualified for conditional release, the statement added. […]
WATCH: Risks of self-medication; What symptoms to look for
WASHINGTON DC (Eagle News) — Eagle News International, Washington DC, interviews Dr. Amorsolo Suguitan, an Internal Medicine Physician and former Virologist, to answer questions and concerns about the virus.
UK warned to expect months of virus measures
by Alice RITCHIE LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Life in locked-down Britain may not return to normal for six months or longer as it battles the coronavirus outbreak, a top health official warned on Sunday, as the death toll reached passed 1,200. Deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries said it would take two or three weeks to assess the impact of the current rules for people to stay at home wherever possible to limit the […]
US sees 518 new coronavirus deaths in 24 hours
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US recorded 518 new coronavirus-linked deaths in the span of 24 hours, according to data published Sunday by Johns Hopkins University. The record toll, higher than the previous day’s increase of 453, brings the country’s total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic to 2,409. The number of cases shot up 21,333 in one day, the data showed. That is about the same as Saturday’s increase of […]
Nature takes back world’s empty city streets
by Laure FILLON / Julie Pacorel Agence France-Presse Paris, France (AFP) — As humans retreat into their homes as more and more countries go under coronavirus lockdown, wild animals are slipping cover to explore the empty streets of some of our biggest cities. Wild boar have descended from the hills around Barcelona while sika deer are nosing their way around the deserted metro stations of Nara, Japan. Indian social media has gone wild about footage of […]
Trump decides against quarantine of New York region
by Paul HANDLEY Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump decided late Saturday against imposing a broad two-week lockdown on New York and its neighbors after a strong pushback from local political leaders and warnings of the panic it could spark. “A quarantine will not be necessary,” Trump tweeted, some eight hours after he stunned the New York metropolitan region, the epicenter of the US coronavirus outbreak, with a […]
US lab unveils portable 5-minute COVID-19 test
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A US-based lab has unveiled a portable test that can tell if someone has COVID-19 in as little as five minutes, it said in a statement Friday. Abbot Laboratories said the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had given it emergency authorization to begin making the test available to healthcare providers as early as next week. The test, which is the size of a small toaster and uses molecular […]
Australians trial TB vaccine to fight coronavirus
SYDNEY. Australia (AFP) — Australian researchers are fast-tracking large-scale human testing to see if a vaccine used for decades to prevent tuberculosis can protect health workers from COVID-19, they announced Friday. The trial of the BCG vaccine will be conducted with 4,000 health workers in hospitals around Australia to determine if it can reduce COVID-19 symptoms, the researchers at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne said. “Although originally developed against tuberculosis, and still given […]
Switzerland virus cases top 10,000
by Robin MILLARD GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Switzerland on Thursday joined the small group of countries to declare more than 10,000 officially-recorded cases of COVID-19, as it launched plans to start tracking crowd build-ups through mobile phone data. The health ministry said 10,661 people in the Alpine country have tested positive for the new coronavirus — nearly 1,000 more than a day earlier — while 161 people have died. Switzerland, which is among the countries […]





