Germs are everywhere. How can you reduce the risk of viral infection? Here are some simple steps you can take to protect yourself. 
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NASA astronaut Christina Koch, who has spent nearly 11 months in orbit on the longest spaceflight by a woman, landed safely in Kazakhstan on Thursday along with two of her International Space Station crewmates.
    
The Soyuz capsule carrying Koch, along with station Commander Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and the Russian space agency Roscosmos’ Alexander Skvortsov, touched down southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, at 3:12 p.m. (0912 GMT).
    
Koch wrapped up a 328-day mission on her first flight into space, providing researchers the opportunity to observe the effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman. The study is important since NASA plans to return to the moon under the Artemis program and prepare for the human exploration of Mars.
    
Koch smiled and gave a thumbs-up as support crew helped her get out of the capsule and placed her in a chair for a quick post-flight check-up alongside her crewmates. Russian space officials said they were in good shape.
    
Koch, who grew up in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and now lives near the Gulf of Mexico in Galveston, Texas, with her husband, Bob, told The Associated Press last month that taking part in the first all-female spacewalk was the highlight of her mission.
    
Koch said she and fellow NASA astronaut Jessica Meir appreciated that the Oct. 18 spacewalk “could serve as an inspiration for future space explorers.”
    
Parmitano and Skvortsov spent 201 days in space.
    
After preliminary medical evaluations, the crew will be flown by Russian helicopters to the city of Karaganda in Kazakhstan. Koch and Parmitano will then board a NASA plane bound for Cologne, Germany, where Parmitano will be greeted by European space officials before Koch proceeds home to Houston.
    
Skvortsov will be flown to the Star City Cosmonaut Training Center outside Moscow.
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A federal grand jury has indicted the former chief of prosthetics and orthotics at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
    
Court records show David Laufer pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to five counts of making a false statement. The office of the U.S. Attorney in Maryland said Wednesday that the 63-year-old Pittsburgh resident failed to report financial benefits, including travel and tickets to sporting events, he received from an unidentified company that supplied prosthetics and orthotics materials to the hospital in Bethesda.
    
Authorities say Laufer was the facility’s chief of prosthetics until May and was required to disclose to the government outside income sources greater than $200, travel-related reimbursements or other gifts worth more than $350.
    
The charging document alleges that the owner of the company based in Germantown regularly interacted with Laufer about its business with the hospital. It also alleges Laufer falsely told federal agents that he had never received money or gifts from his department’s vendors.
    
Laufer’s public defender could not be reached for comment as the attorney’s name is not listed in court records.
    
If convicted, Laufer faces up to five years in prison for each count of making a false statement.
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Japanese health authorities say 10 more people aboard a cruise ship have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus that has killed hundreds of people in China and triggered a global health emergency.A total of 20 people aboard Carnival Japan’s Diamond Princess have been diagnosed with the virus since it arrived at the port city of Yokohama earlier this week. The vessel and its 3,700 passengers and crew members have been quarantined after a passenger who disembarked after the ship docked in Hong Kong late last month tested positive for the virus.Off the waters of Hong Kong, more than 3,600 passengers and crew are under quarantine after three passengers from a previous voyage tested positive for the virus. The Chinese territory has shut down nearly all land and sea border crossings with the mainland after more than 2,000 medical workers walked off the job Monday demanding that all border crossings be closed completely. Hong Kong was hit hard by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002-03, which killed more than 800 people worldwide.Chinese health authorities said Thursday another 73 people have died from the coronavirus, raising the death toll on the mainland to 563 since it was first detected in December in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, with the total number of confirmed infections exceeding 25,000. There are about 150 confirmed cases in 23 other countries, including one death in the Philippines, the first outside of China.Taiwan announced Thursday it was banning all international cruise ships from docking at the island.WATCH: Coronavirus Cases, Deaths and Global Concerns RisingSorry, but your player cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyThe World Health Organization, which has declared the outbreak a global health emergency, has issued an appeal for $675 million to fight the virus. But the global health agency said earlier this week the outbreak has not yet reached the level of a pandemic, despite its increasing detection across the globe.  The U.S. Department of Defense said about 350 Americans left Wuhan Wednesday aboard two charter planes that are scheduled to land later in the day at two military bases in the U.S. western state of California.The U.S. State Department said it may schedule more flights to China on Thursday but did not provide additional information.Two U.S. based airlines on Wednesday announced plans to temporarily suspend flights to Hong Kong. American Airlines and United Airlines said they were halting flights there through Feb. 20.Chinese authorities have tried to stop the spread by instituting bans on movement in certain regions, and extending holidays to keep people away from schools and other large gatherings.Beijing, however, is upset that a number of countries are restricting travelers from China from crossing their borders.
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The World Health Organization on Wednesday called for $675 million to fight the novel coronavirus, mainly through investment in countries considered particularly at risk. This comes as the number of deaths nears 500 with more than 24,300 confirmed cases in China. Outside of China there are 191 confirmed cases in 24 countries. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo reports.
 
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The World Health Organization is not yet calling the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, although some infectious disease experts are saying it could lead to one. The virus has spread to more than two dozen countries, although the vast majority of cases – and deaths – have been in China. VOA’s Carol Pearson asked experts experienced on disease outbreaks what they would do to stop this one.
 
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“1-2-3,” shouts Dr. Noradhiah Tumirin, a physician and fitness trainer. “You can do it,” she enthusiastically says as her client Sarah Baharudin is lying flat on her back and struggling to lift her legs from the ground to a 90-degree angle.Baharudin, age 35, is breathing heavily throughout the workout. She’s 165 centimeters tall and weighs 110 kilograms.“I eat traditional Malay food, yes and it’s high in fat and calorie,” Baharudin says while explaining how she became obese. “On top of that I was not active, not living an active lifestyle, did not exercise. So years after years of doing that it becomes obesity.”Sorry, but your player cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Dr. Noradhiah Tumirin, right, a physician and fitness trainer, says Malaysia’s obesity crisis is behind increasing rates of hypertension, high cholesterol, heart illnesses and diabetes. (David Grunebaum/VOA)Tumirin, a retired Malaysian Army Major who’s 157 centimeters tall and a very fit 56 kilos, says the country’s obesity crisis is behind increasing rates of non-communicable diseases. “This obesity will lead to multiple illnesses such as hypertension, high cholesterol, heart illnesses and diabetes.” she says.Kevin Zahri is one of Malaysia’s leading fitness influencers. He founded  a local weight loss movement called Jom Kurus which translates to lets get thin or lets lose weight.Every year, thousands of overweight and obese Malaysians join six-week-long Jom Kurus fitness camps across the country. They meet several times a week for exercises and lessons on nutrition, plus there are social media support groups for constant encouragement. At one recent session, participants did leg lifts, push ups and stretches.Jom Kurus founder Kevin Zahri (seen jumping rope) says the goal is to get participants to lead healthy lifestyles long after the six-week program ends. (David Grunebaum/VOA)”The program is designed to help somebody not feel alone and jump on the bandwagon with a group of people who are of similar physical stature and similar objectives, goals and desires,” Zahri said. He says the average participant loses four to five kilos during the six week program. But the real goal is to get them to lead healthy lifestyles long after.“We are hoping the six-week program can become the kick start in the longevity of their journey,” Zahri said.But while Jom Kurus and other programs are helping Malaysians change their lifestyles, it’s clear these fitness routines are just scratching the surface of this nation’s obesity crisis.“All said and done the amount of people we’ve targeted in comparison to the number in the population which are obese is still very very small,” Zahri said.Every year thousands of Malaysians sign up for one of Jom Kurus’ six-week fitness programs across the country. (David Grunebaum/VOA)
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Despite Kenya banning female genital mutilation in 2011, the tradition of circumcising girls has continued in some ethnic communities. President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to end FGM by 2023, but activists say more needs to be done as millions of girls are still at risk of undergoing the cut.At just seven years old, Sylvia Keis’ family told her she would be circumcised.One day before the ceremony, Keis ran away from her home village of Ewaso Ngiro to the town of Narok — a three-hour walk.    “I just decided I better ran away even if I was going to die, because I had that emotion,” Keis said. “My father never took me to school and now he wants to circumcise me. After circumcision and you are not in school, what next? You will get married. I said I better ran away, whether I will get help or not.”The Tasaru Girls Rescue Center gave Keis the shelter and support to avoid circumcision and stay in school.FILE – A man shows the logo of a T-shirt that reads “Stop the Cut” referring to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), in Imbirikani, Kenya, April 21, 2016The center’s 63-year-old founder, Agnes Pareiyo, has helped more than 1,000 girls escape genital mutilation since 1999.Her mission to protect girls is a personal one, as her family put her through FGM when she was 14 years old.”Because of what I went through, nobody could tell me that FGM was good,” Pareiyo said. “I did not know other effects, but I knew the pain I went through, the bleeding the whole day and nobody cared, they kept talking.”Activists: Community, family support needed Kenya banned FGM in 2011, but some ethnic groups like the Masai still see it as a traditional rite of womanhood before marriage.Sorry, but your player cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyThe United Nations says one in five Kenyan women between 15 and 49 years old have been circumcised.      Activists say more needs to be done to reach the U.N. goal to end FGM worldwide by 2030.  “It is estimated that around 200 million girls in the world alive today have undergone one form of FGM or another globally,” said Anne Njuguna, Plan International’s Regional Disaster and Risk Management Specialist. “It is further estimated that 15 million more girls will undergo FGM by 2030, and these girls are between the ages of 15 and 19 years old. This is a huge number that we cannot allow to happen.”Activists say more community and family support is needed to end FGM in Kenya.After final high school exams this year, Keis plans to return home for the first time in 11 years to reconcile with the family that tried to circumcise her.  She wants to share with them her dream of becoming a doctor, and show everyone in the village that girls should not be cut and are instead better off in school.
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A vast transportation lockdown meant to contain the spread of a new coronavirus in central China is complicating the already grueling journey of North Korean refugees, according to two sources who help arrange North Korean defector trips.Chinese authorities have implemented what one World Health Organization official called an “unprecedented” lockdown to contain the viral outbreak, which has infected over 24,000 people and killed nearly 500 worldwide.China has closed public transportation links, restricted access to major highways, and imposed strict  ID and temperature checks – effectively placing tens of millions under quarantine in an expanding circle around Hubei province, where the outbreak began.The lockdown is disrupting the main path through which North Koreans escape, forcing at least dozens of refugees to indefinitely pause their journeys, and leaving them vulnerable in a country that has long sent them back home to certain punishment. “The road closures have blocked the route. It has all stopped — I asked them not to come through that area for now,” a South Korea-based broker who helps organize North Korean defector journeys through China, told VOA.In this image made from video, pedestrians brave the cold as the make their way through an open square, Jan. 30, 2020, in Pyongyang, North Korea.Dangerous journeyAfter fleeing their homes, most North Korean refugees make their way down through China and then onto Southeast Asian countries, including Laos and Thailand, before ending up in South Korea. The journey, which can take months or longer and is thousands of kilometers long, often involves trekking by foot over mountains and using tiny boats to cross rivers.The China portion of the trip is especially risky, since North Korean refugees are forced to use fake ID cards, according to the Seoul-based broker, who himself defected to South Korea in 2004. “But with China now trying to control everyone’s movements, it’s just too dangerous,” says the man, who did not want to publish his name because of the sensitivity of his work.Kim Seung-eun, a pastor at Seoul’s Caleb Mission Church, which also helps defectors escape, estimates that about 40 North Koreans are trapped at various locations in China, unable to move onward because of the lockdown.Tens of thousands of North Koreans are at various stages of transit through China or have decided to settle there illegally, according to estimates by rights groups.If China’s virus lockdown expands to include house inspections, Pastor Kim warns, North Korean refugees could be in danger.As North Korea’s most important international backer, China refuses to grant North Koreans refugee status. It instead returns them to North Korea, where they could face torture or long prison sentences.Loophole?Earlier this week, Pastor Kim told VOA’s Korea Service that he heard North Korea has temporarily stopped demanding that China repatriate defectors, out of concern they may bring the virus into North Korea.It is unclear what would happen to North Korean refugees who are discovered by Chinese authorities during the lockdown.Teodora Gyupchanova, a researcher at the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights in Seoul, says it is possible that the virus-related travel restrictions could create loopholes that defectors and brokers could exploit.That is especially true if Chinese authorities prioritize potential coronavirus cases and focus on monitoring established transportation routes rather than clandestine ones, Gyupchanova says.“People in this line of work are quite inventive, so I am sure that backup routes will soon be found,” she says.Fewer defectionsThe number of North Korean defectors to South Korea reached an 18-year low in 2019, as surveillance and security expanded on both sides of the North Korea-China border.That number could drop even further in 2020, depending on how long China’s coronavirus lockdown lasts.A total of 1,047 North Korean defectors arrived in South Korea in 2019, according to data released last month by South Korea’s Ministry of Unification. That is down from a peak in 2009, when 2,914 defectors made it to the South.The number of defectors arriving in South Korea began to decline after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took power following the death of his father in late 2011.But much of the security buildup has occurred on the Chinese side, with new surveillance methods, including facial recognition technology, making the journey especially tricky.Lee Juhyun contributed to this report.
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Solar power is making a strong showing in Vietnam after years of shuttling from one extreme to the other, with the nation looking sometimes like it would revert to coal, and other times like it would invest in renewable energy.By the end of last year Vietnam had surpassed Malaysia and Thailand to reach the largest installed capacity of solar power in Southeast Asia, with 44% of the total capacity, according to figures from Wood Mackenzie, a firm that sells consulting services in the energy industry.The figures show that Vietnam is serious about solar power, an issue that had been up for debate for years. Solar supporters were encouraged to see the government offer a high feed in tariff (FIT), a fee pioneered in Germany to let solar panel owners sell power to the grid. This helped push Vietnam to reach 5.5 gigawatts of solar capacity last year.Vietnam is also planning to construct more power plants fed with coal, casting doubt on the goal of more clean energy. Public resistance to coal appears to have shelved some of the construction, at least for now.“FITs have proven to be an effective policy tool to induce rapid growth in renewables, and Vietnam’s build is another example of that,” Rishab Shrestha, a solar analyst at Wood Mackenzie, said. He added that “project economics will continue to remain attractive in large parts of Vietnam.”Like other nations, Vietnam has yet to deal with some of the potential drawbacks of solar power, such as how to dispose of photo voltaic panels responsibly. The panels contain toxic chemicals like lead and cannot be recycled easily.However solar and other renewable power, such as from wind, remains one of the cleanest options for Vietnam at the moment. It joins a growing global trend, from California, which enacted a law this year to require all new homes come with solar panels, to India, where railways are switching to solar power.Next, Vietnam will have to decide how much it will pay for solar power. The tariff used to be more than nine U.S. cents per kilowatt hour but that price expired in June. Investors are waiting on a decision, which is being jointly prepared by three ministries, the Office of the Government, and the state power utility, according to Duane Morris Vietnam LLC, a law firm that advises clients on solar power. As part of the process, Vietnam Electricity, the state utility, sent a letter to the trade ministry with recommendations on how to set the tariff and who would be eligible.“The submission letter is not very clear,” said Oliver Massmann, general director of Duane Morris Vietnam LLC, in a blog post.However he predicts that the government will settle on a tariff of just over seven U.S. cents per kilowatt hour for ground-mounted solar power projects, and a slightly higher tariff for floating solar power projects. Vietnam is pushing investors to provide power more affordably as consumption needs rise in the fast-growing economy.
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With many Chinese cities on a virtual lockdown and businesses closed until next week at the earliest, there are growing concerns about coronavirus’s impact on the global economy. On Tuesday, automaker Hyundai Motor said  it will suspend production in South Korea, its biggest manufacturing base, becoming the first major automaker to do so outside China due to disruption in the supply of parts resulting from the coronavirus outbreak. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo reports.
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A smartphone app that combines computer vision with a host of experts is empowering nature enthusiasts across the globe to document the organisms around them. Matt Dibble takes a closer look. 
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Medical workers in Hong Kong are staging a second consecutive day of strikes Tuesday as the Chinese territory reports its first death from a coronavirus that has killed 425 people in mainland China.Hong Kong shut down nearly all land and sea border crossings with the mainland at midnight local time after more than 2,000 medical workers walked off the job Monday demanding that all border crossings be closed completely.  Hong Kong was hit hard by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002-03.Hong Kong health authorities have identified the victim as a 39-year-old male with a pre-existing illness who had recently visited Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.  Meanwhile, the Chinese gambling territory of Macau announced Tuesday that it will temporarily shut down all casino operations for two weeks to help curb the spread of the virus.  The total number of confirmed cases of people sickened by the new coronavirus in China has soared above 20,000. There are about 150 confirmed cases in 23 other countries. On Sunday, the Philippines reported the first coronavirus death outside of China.A new study published Monday in the journal Nature said experts from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which specializes in the study of viruses, say the new virus is 96% genetically identical to a virus found in bats in southern China’s Yunnan province.The study said the new coronavirus is 80% genetically similar to the SARS virus that killed more than 800 people in 2002 and 2003.Passengers on the tram wear face masks in hopes to prevent contracting the spreading coronavirus in Hong Kong, Feb, 3, 2020.Chinese official do not know exactly how the virus could have been transmitted from animals to people, but believe open-air markets in China, where wild and domesticated animals are sold, may be a contributor.The World Health Organization said it expects the number of cases to grow as test results are returned on thousands of pending cases.Chinese authorities have tried to stop the spread by instituting bans on movement in certain regions, and extending holidays to keep people away from schools and other large gatherings.But China is upset that a number of countries are restricting travelers from China from crossing their borders.Government spokeswoman Hua Chunying accused the United States of spreading fear and not offering any substantial assistance in response to the outbreak.She said Washington has “unceasingly manufactured and spread panic,” noting that the WHO has advised against travel restrictions.President Donald Trump has offered to send experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to China, but Beijing has yet to accept the offer of help.The United States began mandatory 14-day quarantines Sunday for U.S. citizens who had been in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital. But non-U.S. citizens who have been in China over the past two weeks are barred.  Chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Rath Hoffman said Monday the United States is already prepared to provide housing for up to 1,000 people who may need to be quarantined. He also said the United States is “always planning for eventualities and how we may be asked by civilian partners to assist.”
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Medical workers in Hong Kong are staging a second consecutive day of strikes Tuesday as the Chinese territory reports its first death from a coronavirus that has killed 425 people in mainland China.Hong Kong shut down nearly all land and sea border crossings with the mainland at midnight local time after more than 2,000 medical workers walked off the job Monday demanding that all border crossings be closed completely.  Hong Kong was hit hard by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002-03.Hong Kong health authorities have identified the victim as a 39-year-old male with a pre-existing illness who had recently visited Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.  Meanwhile, the Chinese gambling territory of Macau announced Tuesday that it will temporarily shut down all casino operations for two weeks to help curb the spread of the virus.  The total number of confirmed cases of people sickened by the new coronavirus in China has soared above 20,000. There are about 150 confirmed cases in 23 other countries. On Sunday, the Philippines reported the first coronavirus death outside of China.A new study published Monday in the journal Nature said experts from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which specializes in the study of viruses, say the new virus is 96% genetically identical to a virus found in bats in southern China’s Yunnan province.The study said the new coronavirus is 80% genetically similar to the SARS virus that killed more than 800 people in 2002 and 2003.Passengers on the tram wear face masks in hopes to prevent contracting the spreading coronavirus in Hong Kong, Feb, 3, 2020.Chinese official do not know exactly how the virus could have been transmitted from animals to people, but believe open-air markets in China, where wild and domesticated animals are sold, may be a contributor.The World Health Organization said it expects the number of cases to grow as test results are returned on thousands of pending cases.Chinese authorities have tried to stop the spread by instituting bans on movement in certain regions, and extending holidays to keep people away from schools and other large gatherings.But China is upset that a number of countries are restricting travelers from China from crossing their borders.Government spokeswoman Hua Chunying accused the United States of spreading fear and not offering any substantial assistance in response to the outbreak.She said Washington has “unceasingly manufactured and spread panic,” noting that the WHO has advised against travel restrictions.President Donald Trump has offered to send experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to China, but Beijing has yet to accept the offer of help.The United States began mandatory 14-day quarantines Sunday for U.S. citizens who had been in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital. But non-U.S. citizens who have been in China over the past two weeks are barred.  Chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Rath Hoffman said Monday the United States is already prepared to provide housing for up to 1,000 people who may need to be quarantined. He also said the United States is “always planning for eventualities and how we may be asked by civilian partners to assist.”
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The World Health Organization reports cancer is on the increase globally. But it says preventive measures can save the lives of millions of cancer sufferers over the next decade. This report comes in regard to World Cancer Day on Feb. 4.Over the past decade, nearly every country in the world has seen an increase in the number of cancer patients. The World Health Organization reports one in six people will develop cancer in their lifetime, causing at least 10 million deaths from this disease every year.  If current trends continue, WHO warns, new cancer cases will rise by 60% by 2040, more than 80% in low- and middle-income countries.The technical officer in cancer control at WHO, Andre Ilbawi, says more people are dying from cancer in the poorer countries because they lack the services and cancer control measures that exist in the richer countries. He says controlling the disease does not have to be expensive.“Our report presents the first investment case from WHO for cancer services that governments by investing in cancer can save 7 million lives by 2030. And that is at the cost of $2.70 per person in low-income countries and $8.15 cents per person in upper middle-income countries. This is feasible,” Ilbawi said.Intravenous bags hang above young cancer patients at Rady’s Children Hospital in San Diego, California, Sept. 4, 2019.WHO says cancer does not have to be a death sentence. Prevention works. The director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, Elisabete Weiderpass, says there have been tremendous advances in research on cancer prevention and treatment. And these are successfully keeping many people alive who otherwise would have died.  “Preventive policies such as the elimination of occupational exposures to carcinogens, tobacco control measures, vaccination against cancer-causing infectious agents, and screening for early stages of cancer are potentially powerful ways to reduce not only the average incidence and mortality for cancer, but also socioeconomical inequality in cancer occurrence,” Weiderpass saidIn its report, WHO highlights a wide range of measures proven to be effective in preventing new cancer cases.  For example, it notes tobacco-related diseases account for 25% of cancer deaths.  Quitting this deadly habit, it says, can save billions of dollars and millions of lives.  WHO says a vaccine against hepatitis B can prevent liver cancer. It notes another vaccine against HPV, the most common sexually transmitted infection, can virtually eliminate cervical cancer.
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Wai Htet Aung, age 27, waits for his turn at a crowded betel quid stand in downtown Yangon. Customers have lined up by the table to place their orders. “It’s tasty,” he says. “I have bad breath and I want my mouth to smell better.”The signs of this popular habit are easy to spot from the roadside stands across the country to the red stains on teeth as well as on streets and sidewalks that stem from betel quid spit. “After I chew betel quids my mouth feels better,” says Ko Zaw Naing. “My mind feels relaxed.”Figures from the World Health Organization show that more than 60% of men in Myanmar chew betel quids and almost 25% of the women do. Aung Thura is 30-years-old and has been chewing betel quids for eight years. “It keeps me awake and keeps me from getting bored when I’m working,” he says.Betel quids are made from areca nuts that are placed in a betel leaf with slaked lime. In Myanmar it’s usually mixed with tobacco. (Dave Grunebaum/VOA)’Addictive chemicals’
Betel quids are made from areca nuts that are placed in a betel leaf with slaked lime. In Myanmar it’s usually mixed with tobacco. Health advocates say the nicotine in the tobacco and the arecoline in the areca nuts are a bad combination.”They are addictive chemicals so by having these two things together people like to chew it more and more,” says Dr. Than Sein, head of the People’s Health Foundation, a health advocacy group in Myanmar that’s trying to educate the public about the risks.The group’s campaigns have included TV spots with betel quid chewers who are terminally ill. “Betel chewing the first major cause is mouth cancer, oral cancer, then larynx cancer, then lung cancer and also stomach cancer,” says Dr. Than Sein.Betel quid stands are easy to find across Myanmar. Surveys show that more than 60% of men in Myanmar chew betel quids and almost 25% of the women do. (Dave Grunebaum/VOA)Widespread skepticism of dangersAccording to the World Health Organization, someone who regularly chews betel quids mixed with tobacco for a long-period of time is more than seven-times more likely to get oral cancer than someone who doesn’t chew it. But many people in Myanmar dismiss the risks.”Chewing betel quid doesn’t lead to mouth cancer,” says Aung Thura. “The mouth cancer happens if you leave the betel quid in your mouth and sleep all night.” His rejection of the risks was echoed by other people interviewed for this story as well.Ni Ni Wah, age 54, runs a betel quid stand and is a chewer too. “It’s not like I’m worried about getting mouth cancer,” she says. “The mouth cancer happens to people who keep betel quids in their mouth all night while they sleep.”Ni Ni Wah puts a betel quid in her mouth. She dismisses the risks of cancer saying “mouth cancer happens to people who keep betel quids in their mouth all night while they sleep.” (Dave Grunebaum/VOA)But Doctor Than Sein says the risks are clearly there for all betel quid chewers especially anyone who chews it regularly for more than a decade. And he adds that all too often they find out they have cancer when it’s too late to cure.”Cancer is caused slowly and people do not know it and once they know it they are almost dying,” he saysBut in Myanmar, all signs point to betel quid chewing remaining one of the country’s most popular habits. 
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The latest trial of a vaccine against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has been halted as results show it is not working.The Maryland-based U.S. National Institutes of Health announced Monday it has stopped the HVTN 702 study in South Africa, following a recommendation of an independent data and safety monitoring board.The study, also called Uhambo — meaning travel or a journey in Zulu — enrolled 5,407 HIV-negative volunteers at 14 sites across South Africa beginning in 2016. Participants were sexually active men and women between the ages of 18 and 35, who were randomly assigned to receive six injections of either the investigational vaccine regimen or a placebo.Over a period of 18 months, enough time for the vaccine regimen to stimulate an immune response, there were 129 HIV infections among the vaccine recipients and 123 HIV infections among the placebo recipients. The findings showed there wasn’t significant evidence that vaccination either decreased or increased infection rates.The trial in South Africa was based on an earlier trial in Thailand, the RV144 clinical trial, the only vaccine that has ever shown any degree of success in protection from HIV. Scientists say they will continue to study the results of the HVTN 702 trial, to find out why the vaccine that had modest efficacy in Thailand didn’t work in South Africa. Researchers said there were no safety concerns about the vaccine itself.Experts have voiced disappointment in the decision to stop the vaccine trial in South Africa.”Whilst this is a significant setback for the field, we need to continue the quest for a preventive vaccine. The rates of HIV infection, which continue unabated in this region, should spur greater urgency, global attention and investment to the quest,” said Linda-Gail Bekker, past president of the International AIDS Society and chair of the Enterprise Advisory Group.”An HIV vaccine is essential to end the global pandemic, and we hoped this vaccine candidate would work. Regrettably, it does not,” said Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is part of the NIH.South Africa has one of the world’s highest HIV rates. According to UNAIDS, more than 20 percent of people between the ages of 15 and 49 were HIV-positive in 2018.Multiple HIV vaccines have been tested since the 1990s.
 
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 The World Health Organization is working with Google to ensure that people get facts from WHO first when they search for information about the new virus that recently emerged in China.
     
Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the opening of WHO’s executive board meeting on Monday that social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Tencent and TikTok have also taken steps to limit the spread of misinformation and rumors about the virus and outbreak that first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December and has now spread to 23 other countries.
    
“To that end, we have worked with Google to make sure people searching for information about coronavirus see WHO information at the top of their search results,” he said.
     
WHO officials like Tedros have heaped praise on China’s response repeatedly in public, echoed Beijing’s calls to avoid panic, sought to reinforce weaker health systems and dispel rumors that may have prompted xenophobic invective against Chinese citizens and even other Asians.
    
Ambassador Li Song, deputy permanent representative for China in Geneva, lashed out at flight cancellations, visa denials and refusals by some countries to admit citizens of Hubei Province, where Wuhan is located, saying those moves went against WHO recommendations.
    
Li noted how Chinese President Xi Jinping, meeting with Tedros last week in Beijing, had said the coronavirus epidemic “is a devil – we cannot let the devil hide.”
    
“At the same time, the international community needs to treat the new virus objectively, fairly, calmly, and rationally, and not over-interpret it negatively and pessimistically, or deliberately create panic,” Li said.
   
 “We need facts, not fear. We need science, not rumors. We need solidarity, not stigma.”
    
Tedros recounted how his own daughter had advised him against the trip to Beijing, and that he tried to explain to her it's ok, it's not all over China.''
    
“Even in China, the virus is not evenly spread everywhere, and the risk is not the same,” he said. “When I was in Beijing, what we had discussed with the authorities is that our concentrated effort should be in the epicenters, or the sources of the virus.”
    
Since the outbreak began, a number of misleading claims and hoaxes about the virus have circulated online. They include false conspiracy theories that the virus was created in a lab and that vaccines have already been manufactured, exaggerations about the number of sick and dead, and claims about bogus cures.
    
On Sunday, WHO lamented that the outbreak and response have been accompanied “by a massive ‘infodemic' - an overabundance of information, some accurate and some not - that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it.”    The report said WHO, the U.N. health agency, was working “24 hours a day to identify the most prevalent rumors that can potentially harm the public's health, such as false prevention measures or cures.”
    
“These myths are then refuted with evidence-based information,” it said, noting that WHO is providing myth busters on its social media channels in China and beyond.
    
Tedros also reiterated his decision last week to classify the virus outbreak as a global emergency, saying the move was prompted by increased human-to-human spread of the virus to numerous countries and the fear it could have a significant impact on developing countries with weaker health systems.
    
As of Monday morning, the outbreak had infected more than 17,300 people, including 17,238 cases and 361 deaths confirmed in China, Tedros said. Outside China, there were 151 confirmed cases in 23 countries, and one death, reported in the Philippines on Sunday, he said.
    
Tedros said recent outbreaks including the new virus and Ebola demonstrated the shortcomings of the “binary” emergency system, calling ittoo restrictive, too simplistic, and not fit for purpose.”
    
“We have a green light, a red light, and nothing in-between,” he said, adding that WHO was considering options to allow for an “intermediate level of alert.”
    
The WHO executive board, which is starting a six-day meeting, plans to hold a special technical session on the coronavirus Tuesday. 
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As the deadly coronavirus continues to spread worldwide, it has killed its first patient outside China. News reports from the Philippines say a Chinese man from Wuhan, in Hubei province where the virus was first detected, died in a hospital in Manila a few days after arriving there. Many countries, including the United States, are denying entry to all foreign visitors who had recently been to China as part of a global effort to stop the spread. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports people returning home from China are being quarantined.
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The Latest:Passengers arrive at LAX from Shanghai, China, after a positive case of the coronavirus was announced in the Orange County suburb of Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 26, 2020.Chad Wolf, acting Homeland Security secretary, said that the overall risk to Americans remains low. He added that the new rules could add stress and travel time for some passengers, but “public health and security experts agree these measures are necessary to contain the virus and protect the American people,” he said.President Donald Trump told Fox News that the United States has “shut down” the coronavirus coming in from China, even as officials in San Francisco reported a ninth confirmed U.S. case.”We’ve offered China help but we can’t have thousands of people coming in who may have this problem, the coronavirus,” Trump said. “So we’re going to see what happens, but we did shut it down.”U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday “a handful more flights” will be going to China to evacuate Americans from Hubei province.  Speaking during a visit to Kazakhstan, Pompeo said the United States “might bring in some medical supplies” as well.He said experts from the U.S. Centers from Disease Control and Prevention already are in Kazakhstan, which shares a long eastern border with China.Indonesia announced Sunday a ban on entry to all foreigners and visitors who visited China, and asked Indonesians not to go there.  A temporary halt on flights from China is due to begin Wednesday.China’s acting ambassador to Israel apologized Sunday for comparing the border closures in Israel and elsewhere to restrictions placed on European Jews trying to escape Nazi Germany in the 1930s.Dai Yuming said China was one of the few nations that opened its borders to Jewish refugees during “the darkest days in human history.”The embassy later issued a statement saying there was no intention to compare what is happening today to the Holocaust and apologized to anyone who “understood our message the wrong way.”The outbreak has taken an economic toll on China, with stock markets closing down nearly 8 percent Monday.The WHO declared the outbreak a global health emergency last week.
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President Donald Trump says the United States has “shut down” the coronavirus coming in from China even as officials in San Francisco report the ninth confirmed U.S. case.”We’ve offered China help but we can’t have thousands of people coming in who may have this problem, the coronavirus,” Trump told Fox News in a special Super Bowl pregame interview. “So we’re going to see what happens, but we did shut it down.”National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien told CBS’s Face the Nation that the administration has offered China help — specifically sending experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But China has yet to accept the U.S. offer.”So far, the Chinese have been more transparent certainly than in past crises and we appreciate that,” O’Brian said. “We’ve got tremendous expertise. This is a worldwide concern. We want to help our Chinese colleagues if we can.”CDC experts are on the ground in Kazakhstan, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. Kazakhstan shares a long eastern border with China. Pompeo was in the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan Sunday.FILE – A man stands in front of a screen showing that multiple departure flights have been cancelled following the outbreak of the coronavirus, at an airport in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, Jan. 23, 2020. (cnsphoto via Reuters)Meanwhile, officials in San Francisco say a woman who arrived from Wuhan, China, late last month has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, making her the ninth confirmed case in the United States.Starting Sunday, U.S. citizens who have traveled to China in the last 14 days will be flown to one of eight U.S. airports for extra screening. U.S. citizens who have been in Hubei province, where the outbreak began, will undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine. Experts say the incubation period for the coronavirus is 14 days.Most non-U.S. Citizens who have traveled to China within the last two weeks will not be allowed to enter the U.S., except for immediate family members of U.S. citizens, permanent residents and flight crews.The eight airports are: John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York; Chicago O’Hare International Airport; San Francisco International Airport; Seattle-Tacoma International Airport; Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu; Los Angeles International Airport in California; Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; and Washington-Dulles International Airport in Virginia.Starting Monday, Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Detroit Metropolitan Airport will be added to the list.FILE – A woman, who declined to give her name, wears a mask, in New York City, Jan. 30, 2020. She works in a doctor’s office and said she wears the mask “partly” out of concern over the coronavirus.Chad Wolf, acting Homeland Security secretary, said that the overall risk to Americans remains low. He added that the new rules could add stress and travel time for some passengers, but “public health and security experts agree these measures are necessary to contain the virus and protect the American people,” he said.Some countries, including the U.S., have closed their borders to foreign nationals who have traveled from China, prompting complains from Chinese officials.China’s acting ambassador to Israel apologized Sunday for comparing the border closures in Israel and elsewhere to restrictions placed on European Jews trying to escape Nazi Germany in the 1930s.Dai Yuming said China was one of the few nations that opened its borders to Jewish refugees during “the darkest days in human history.”The embassy later issued a statement saying there was no intention to compare what is happening today to the Holocaust and apologized to anyone who “understood our message the wrong way.”The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in China appears to grow by the day. As of Monday morning, Chinese health officials report 17,205 cases and 361 deaths.A man in the Philippines died of the coronavirus Sunday, marking the first death from the virus outside of China.The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global health emergency last week. 
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The Latest:A clerk wearing a face mask and a plastic bag stands in a pharmacy in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei Province, Jan. 31, 2020.Reports, including some from Wuhan residents, indicate that early information about the outbreak was covered up, and many people, including doctors, speaking about the virus in December were threatened by the government or even detained.”These rumors were already flying around the Chinese internet,” Flora Fauna, an American Wuhan resident who asked to be referred to by her pseudonym, told VOA Mandarin about the beginning of the outbreak in December.”So, in response, the city governments dispatched the police to arrest people who were spreading this information,” she said.Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks during a news conference on the situation of the coronavirus, at the United Nations’ European Headquarters, in Geneva, Jan. 29, 2020.The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global health emergency on Thursday, fearing the virus could spread to poorer countries that would have great difficulty containing it. The WHO has said it does not recommend that countries initiate any travel or trade restrictions with China. The virus has been detected in at least 27 countries, the majority of cases involving those who visited China.
 
The continuing spread of the coronavirus led U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to also declare a public health emergency on Friday and deny entry into the country to any foreign national who has recently traveled to China, except for those travelers whose immediate family members are U.S. citizens.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed eight cases of coronavirus in the United States. Health officials say the latest patient is a man in Massachusetts, who became ill after traveling to China.Taiwan said it will prohibit Chinese citizens from China’s southeastern coastal province of Guangdong from entering the country beginning Sunday, Taiwan state media reported Saturday. Travelers who visited the Guangdong area recently will be quarantined for 14 days. The U.S. State Department raised the coronavirus Saturday in criticizing China for banning Twitter messages that reference Taiwan. “Blocking Twitter users who make reference to Taiwan’s participation in international organizations, particularly given the global response to the coronavirus crisis, is outrageous, unacceptable, and not befitting of a U.N. organization,” said an official statement released Saturday.Also Saturday, two groups of stranded Hubei residents returned to China on chartered planes sent to Thailand and Malaysia by the Chinese government. The 199 Chinese nationals had been left without a way home when their return flights were canceled amid the virus scare. The state-owned Xinhua news agency reported the retrieved passengers were screened for fever and anyone who displayed symptoms of the coronavirus would be “quarantined immediately.”Members of a Hong Kong union for medical workers voted Saturday to go on strike Monday after the government dismissed their demand to close all entry points from China. The Hospital Authority Employees Alliance said more than 9,000 of its members vowed to participate in a 5-day strike. 
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Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike promised Sunday to implement “thorough measures” to protect people from the deadly coronavirus in the run-up to this summer’s Olympic Games.At the opening of the $330 million Ariake Arena, venue for Olympic volleyball and Paralympic wheelchair basketball, Koike said:”I will implement even more stringent measures to tackle infectious diseases. I am having discussions this weekend with senior officials to assure the safety and security of people in Tokyo — specifically focusing on ways to prevent the spread of the virus and strengthen testing systems.”Koike also urged people to wash their hands and wear surgical masks to help protect them from disease.Japan has warned citizens against non-essential travel to China, where the outbreak began, and fast-tracked new rules including limits on entering the country as it tries to contain the spread of the virulent new coronavirus.The flu-like pathogen, which originated in Hubei’s provincial capital Wuhan, has resulted in more than 300 deaths in China. No deaths have been reported so far in Japan.The health scare has led to the cancellation of Olympic qualifying events in China such as boxing and badminton.Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said the travel warning for China will be raised to level two on the country’s four-point system, advising people to “avoid travel that is not urgent or is not necessary”.The ribbon-cutting for Ariake Arena on Tokyo’s waterfront leaves just the Olympics aquatics centre as the last of eight permanent venues under construction, set to be completed later this month.The new national stadium, built at a cost of $1.4 billion, was unveiled last December after the initial blueprints were torn up by Abe following public anger over spiraling costs.The Tokyo Olympics begin on July 24 with the Paralympics starting on Aug. 25. 
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As if health officials in China don’t have enough on their hands with a spreading coronavirus, now officials announced an outbreak of bird flu.China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs announced Saturday an outbreak of a highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 bird flu at a farm in the southern province of Hunan.The virus was discovered on a farm with nearly 8,000 chickens — more than half of them have already died because of the outbreak.China is not alone in trying to tamp down the spread of this virus.Earlier this week authorities in India started culling chickens and destroying eggs to contain the bird flu virus.And a different strain — the H5N8 virus — has spread throughout eastern Europe in recent weeks.A bird flu outbreak in China back in 2013 ended up costing $6.5 billion in economic losses, according to U.N. experts.
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