Two years ago, in January 2019, the World Health Organization said vaccine hesitancy was among the top 10 threats to global health. That was before COVID-19 spread around the globe. VOA’s Carol Pearson tells us how doctors are working to overcome that hesitancy.
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Month: January 2021
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden named pioneering geneticist Eric Lander as the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy on Friday, elevating the post to Cabinet-level status for first time.Lander, a Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who helped lead the Human Genome Project, will also serve in the role of presidential science adviser, Biden’s team said.”Science will always be at the forefront of my administration — and these world-renowned scientists will ensure everything we do is grounded in science, facts and the truth,” Biden said in a statement, which announced several personnel appointments to the White House science team.”Their trusted guidance will be essential as we come together to end this pandemic, bring our economy back and pursue new breakthroughs to improve the quality of life of all Americans,” Biden said.Lander, 63, will succeed meteorologist Kelvin Droegemeier, who was named director by President Donald Trump in 2019 after the role was left vacant for nearly two years.Biden, who will be sworn in as president on January 20, excoriated Trump repeatedly during the election campaign for undermining faith in science, whether it was Trump’s downplaying of evidence of climate change or suggesting injecting disinfectants might treat COVID-19.Biden has pledged to increase funding in U.S. research and development, including medical research and clean energy. He also appointed former Secretary of State John Kerry as a special presidential envoy for climate.”Tremendously excited to work alongside so many bright minds to advise the President-elect and push the boundaries of what we dare to believe is possible. We need everyone,” Lander said in a tweet.The duties of OSTP, the White House’s top body for space policy formation under former President Barack Obama, could clash with the National Space Council that Trump revived in 2017.Biden’s transition team is weighing whether to disband or keep the council, a person familiar with the team’s planning said.
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World Health Organization officials said Friday that they would like to see vaccination programs under way in every country in the world within the next 100 days, with frontline health workers and high-risk groups prioritized.Speaking at the agency’s regular briefing at its headquarters in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the WHO emergency committee met this week and stressed the need for equitable access to vaccines around the world.FILE – Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director- general of the World Health Organization, attends a session on the coronavirus, in Geneva, Switzerland, Oct. 5, 2020.Tedros said the committee recommended use of the WHO-organized COVAX vaccine cooperative to ensure this is happening. The WHO’s European division Thursday noted 95% of the vaccines that have been administered in the world so far have gone to 10 countries.The WHO chief, who is from Ethiopia, said he knows what it is like to come from a continent where not all health services are available. He said AIDS drugs were available only to rich nations until international health advocates put pressure on manufacturers. Likewise, he said, low-income nations did not receive H1N1 drugs until that pandemic was over.Tedros said that he went into public health to ensure this does not happen again. “It is critical this momentum on equitable vaccine rollout continues in the weeks ahead,” he said.On the subject of COVID-19 variants that have developed around the world, Tedros said the WHO emergency committee called for a global expansion of genomic sequencing and sharing of data, along with greater scientific collaboration to identify and address the new strains.Tedros said the more a virus spreads, the more it mutates, and preventing the spread of COVID-19 is the best way to stop the development of variants.
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The numbers for the coronavirus pandemic continue upward, with more than 93 million global infections and nearly 2 million worldwide deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.The U.S. remains at the top of the list with the most cases and deaths. Johns Hopkins reports more than 23 million COVID-19 cases in the U.S., with a death toll rapidly approaching 400,000.Some states, having vaccinated their frontline workers, have opened vaccinations to older people, but have been overrun with requests. Medical facilities are on the verge of running out of vaccines. In many instances, the technology used to take the requests has crashed.President-elect Joe Biden announced a nearly $2 trillion American Rescue Plan for the pandemic and the U.S. economic crisis Thursday, with $400 billion of the package slated for the COVID-19 outbreak.“A crisis of deep human suffering is in plain sight,” Biden said.China has reported its first COVID-19 death in eight months amid a surge in the country’s northeast as a World Health Organization team arrived in Wuhan to investigate the beginning of the pandemic.China’s death toll is more than 4,600, a relatively low number resulting from the country’s stringent containment and tracing measures.China has imposed various lockdown measures on more than 20 million people in Beijing, Hebei and other areas to contain the spread of infections before the Lunar New Year holiday in February.The relatively low number of COVID-related deaths in China has raised questions about China’s tight control of information about the outbreak.The investigative team arrived Thursday after nearly a year of talks with the WHO and diplomatic disagreements between China and other countries that demanded that China allow a thorough independent investigation.Two members of the 10-member team were stopped in Singapore after tests revealed antibodies, while the rest of the team immediately entered a 14-day quarantine period in Wuhan before launching their investigation.The coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan in late 2019 and quickly spread throughout the world.Officials said Thursday that infections in the northeastern Heilongjiang province have surged to their highest levels in 10 months, nearly tripling during that period.Elsewhere in Asia, Japanese authorities have expanded a state of emergency to stop a surge in coronavirus cases.Coronavirus infections and related deaths have roughly doubled in Japan over the past month to more than 310,000, according to Johns Hopkins.The emergency was initially declared a week ago and was expanded to cover seven new regions. The restrictions are not binding, and many people have ignored requests to avoid nonessential travel, prompting the governor to voice concern about the lack of commitment to the guidelines.Indonesia reported 12,818 new infections Friday, its largest daily tally.Hungary says it plans to buy vaccines from China’s Sinopharm. If the country’s medical officials sign off on the deal, Hungary would be the first European Union country to purchase the Chinese product.
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The European Space Agency previews a big 2021 starting with a new boss. Data show last year’s temperatures tied the hottest on record, and French wines return to Earth after a year aboard the International Space Station. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space. Producer: Arash Arabasadi.
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At age 22, poet Amanda Gorman, chosen to read at the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, already has a history of writing for official occasions.
“I have kind of stumbled upon this genre. It’s been something I find a lot of emotional reward in, writing something I can make people feel touched by, even if it’s just for a night,” says Gorman. The Los Angeles resident has written for everything from a July 4 celebration featuring the Boston Pops Orchestra to the inauguration at Harvard University, her alma mater, of school president Larry Bacow.
When she reads next Wednesday, she will be continuing a tradition — for Democratic presidents — that includes such celebrated poets as Robert Frost and Maya Angelou.
The latter’s “On the Pulse of Morning,” written for the 1993 inauguration of President Bill Clinton, went on to sell more than 1 million copies when published in book form. Recent readers include poets Elizabeth Alexander and Richard Blanco, both of whom Gorman has been in touch with.
“The three of us are together in mind, body and spirit,” she says.
Gorman is the youngest inaugural poet in memory, and she has made news before. In 2014, she was named the first Youth Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, and three years later she became the country’s first National Youth Poet Laureate. She has appeared on MTV; written a tribute to Black athletes for Nike; published her first book, “The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough,” as a teenager, and has a two-book deal with Viking Children’s Books. The first work, the picture book “Change Sings,” comes out later this year.
Gorman says she was contacted late last month by the Biden inaugural committee. She has known numerous public figures, including former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former first lady Michelle Obama, but says she will be meeting the Bidens for the first time. The Bidens, apparently, have been aware of her: Gorman says the inaugural officials told her she had been recommended by the incoming first lady, Jill Biden.
She is calling her inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb” while otherwise declining to preview any lines. Gorman says she was not given specific instructions on what to write, but was encouraged to emphasize unity and hope over “denigrating anyone” or declaring “ding, dong, the witch is dead” over the departure of President Donald Trump.
The siege last week of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters seeking to overturn the election was a challenge for keeping a positive tone, but also an inspiration. Gorman says that she has been given 5 minutes to read, and before what she described during an interview as “the Confederate insurrection” of Jan. 6 she had only written about 3 1-2 minutes worth.
The final length runs to about 6 minutes.
“That day gave me a second wave of energy to finish the poem,” says Gorman, adding that she will not refer directly to Jan. 6, but will “touch” upon it. She said last week’s events did not upend the poem she had been working on because they didn’t surprise her.
“The poem isn’t blind,” she says. “It isn’t turning your back to the evidence of discord and division.”
In other writings, Gorman has honored her ancestors, acknowledged and reveled in her own vulnerability (“Glorious in my fragmentation,” she has written) and confronted social issues. Her poem “In This Place (An American Lyric),” written for the 2017 inaugural reading of U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, condemns the racist march in Charlottesville, Virginia (“tiki torches string a ring of flame”) and holds up her art form as a force for democracy.
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The numbers for the coronavirus pandemic continue upward, with more than 93 million global infections and nearly 2 million worldwide deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.The U.S. remains at the top of the list with the most cases and deaths. Johns Hopkins reports more than 23 million COVID-19 cases in the U.S., with a death toll rapidly approaching 400,000.Some states, having vaccinated their frontline workers, have opened vaccinations to older people, but have been overrun with requests. Medical facilities are on the verge of running out of vaccines. In many instances, the technology used to take the requests has crashed.President-elect Joe Biden announced a nearly $2 trillion American Rescue Plan for the pandemic and the U.S. economic crisis Thursday, with $400 billion of the package slated for the COVID-19 outbreak.“A crisis of deep human suffering is in plain sight,” Biden said.China has reported its first COVID-19 death in eight months amid a surge in the country’s northeast as a World Health Organization team arrived in Wuhan to investigate the beginning of the pandemic.China’s death toll is more than 4,600, a relatively low number resulting from the country’s stringent containment and tracing measures.China has imposed various lockdown measures on more than 20 million people in Beijing, Hebei and other areas to contain the spread of infections before the Lunar New Year holiday in February.The relatively low number of COVID-related deaths in China has raised questions about China’s tight control of information about the outbreak.The investigative team arrived Thursday after nearly a year of talks with the WHO and diplomatic disagreements between China and other countries that demanded that China allow a thorough independent investigation.Two members of the 10-member team were stopped in Singapore after tests revealed antibodies, while the rest of the team immediately entered a 14-day quarantine period in Wuhan before launching their investigation.The coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan in late 2019 and quickly spread throughout the world.Officials said Thursday that infections in the northeastern Heilongjiang province have surged to their highest levels in 10 months, nearly tripling during that period.Elsewhere in Asia, Japanese authorities have expanded a state of emergency to stop a surge in coronavirus cases.Coronavirus infections and related deaths have roughly doubled in Japan over the past month to more than 310,000, according to Johns Hopkins.The emergency was initially declared a week ago and was expanded to cover seven new regions. The restrictions are not binding, and many people have ignored requests to avoid nonessential travel, prompting the governor to voice concern about the lack of commitment to the guidelines.Indonesia reported 12,818 new infections Friday, its largest daily tally.Hungary says it plans to buy vaccines from China’s Sinopharm. If the country’s medical officials sign off on the deal, Hungary would be the first European Union country to purchase the Chinese product.
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The European Space Agency previews a big 2021 starting with a new boss. Data show last year’s temperatures tied the hottest on record, and French wines return to Earth after a year aboard the International Space Station. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space. Producer: Arash Arabasadi.
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In the drive to educate people about COVID-19, a man in Kenya can be found literally pulling strings. Puppeteer Michael Mutahi uses his craft to entertain and teach kids about the dangers of the virus and is gaining quite a following.
Putting his two decades of puppeteering skills to use for educating kids about COVID-19, Mutahi records his puppet shows in front of a small audience and shares the video online. ‘It’s hand washing, keep distance – everyone was actually saying the same thing. But I look to myself and ask myself – am a writer, am a puppeteer, I can edit, I can do all these things so I think can come up with something more creative because guys are so bored at home and they need information and also need to be entertained,” said Mutahi, who is 41.
Kenya has close to 100,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 1,700 deaths.
Mutahi’s grandma and grandpa puppets – known as Kuhu and Babu in Swahili – teach coronavirus prevention to his growing audience.
Nairobi resident Steve Maina watched a recent taping of the show.
“For kids it’s better, cause kids would like more fun. It would draw their attention when they are watching puppetry. It draws the attention for young age,” Maina said.
Mutahi is among 100 professional puppeteers in Kenya.Director of Kenya’s Institute of Puppet Theater (KIPT) Phylemon Okoth says they are doing more than just entertaining.
“We have managed also to play role in creating awareness in the community in relation to COVID-19 and we have several clips out there not only from KIPT but also from partner organizations that we’ve trained that actually coordinate most of their work and also from individuals,” Okoth said.
Kenyan authorities are supporting the use of puppets for COVID-19 education.
Ezekiel Mutua, the chief executive officer of Kenya’s Film Classification Board, says the trend is gaining popularity.“So, we take the art to them. More importantly because of COVID-19 right now the idea of having closed door theater is not very popular because you are limited because of social distancing. So, this cinema, mobile cinema units will become very popular,” Mutua said.For Mutahi, the merging of COVID prevention teaching and puppetry means his art will also reach an even larger audience in Kenya.
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The World Health Organization’s ((WHO)) European chief says 95% of the 23.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines that have been administered around the world so far have been given out in just 10 countries.
At a Copenhagen news briefing Thursday, WHO Europe Director Hans Kluge voiced perhaps the health agency’s most recurring theme of the COVID-19 pandemic: To effectively stop the virus, the world’s vaccines must be shared equitably, with low-income nations as well as poor ones.
In the global effort to end the pandemic, Kluge said, “collectively, we simply cannot afford to leave any country, any community behind.” The WHO and its partners in the COVAX cooperative, he added, are making “huge efforts to get the vaccines into every country; we need every country capable of contributing, donating and supporting equitable access and deployment of the vaccines, to do so.”
WHO Public Health Specialist Ihor Perehinets joined Kluge at the news conference and expressed confidence that those who need vaccines will get them.
“The scope and availability of vaccines will increase at a rapid rate in all countries and we will reach the necessary level of immunity to protect not just vulnerable groups, but the whole population of the European region and the world,” he said. “The question isn’t if this will happen, but when.”
Kluge said public health measures designed to fight the pandemic must be based on what he called humanity’s “core values:” solidarity, equity and social justice.
“It is the only way out of these uncertain times because no one is safe until everyone is safe.”
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Europe’s populist leaders are outraged by the decision of U.S. social-media giants to block U.S. President Donald Trump from posting on their sites. They fear Facebook, Twitter and other major social media companies could start banning them, too.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki condemned the internet giants Tuesday. “The censorship of freedom of speech, the domain of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, is returning today in the form of a new, commercial mechanism fighting against those who think differently,” he wrote on Facebook.
Poland’s ruling populist Law and Justice Party (PiS) already has introduced legislation aimed at limiting the power of social media giants to remove content or ban users.
The draft law was proposed after Twitter started flagging as misleading content tweets by Trump and supporters disputing the U.S. election result. PiS lawmakers say there shouldn’t be any censorship by social media companies or curtailment of speech because debate is the essence of democracy.
Opposition critics say the proposed measure sits oddly with the ruling party’s efforts to muzzle the national media and to turn the public broadcaster into a propaganda vehicle. Those moves are currently being investigated by the European Union, which has accused the PiS government of rolling back democratic norms.
The Polish government also has vowed to bring foreign-owned media outlets in the country under Polish control, which critics fear means turning them into government propaganda outlets.
Under the draft law, if content is removed, a social media company would have 24 hours to respond to a complaint from a user and any decision could be appealed to a newly created special court.
Populist leaders aren’t alone in denouncing the moves by social media giants. Across Europe there is unease regardless of political affiliation at censorship by social media giants and their expulsion of Trump, a response to last week’s bid to derail the certification of the U.S. election results by pro-Trump agitators storming the U.S. Capitol. Twitter cited violations of its civic integrity policies to block Trump.
Facebook is blocking and deleting content that uses the phrase “stop the steal,” which refers to false claims by Trump supporters of election fraud. And Twitter says it has suspended more than 70,000 accounts of adherents of the QAnon conspiracy, who believe Trump is waging a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping pedophiles in government, business and the media.FILE – A figure representing hate speech on Facebook is seen featured during a carnival parade in Duesseldorf, Germany, Feb. 24, 2020.German Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed her concerns about the actions of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, saying they are a step too far.
“The right to freedom of opinion is of fundamental importance,” her spokesperson Steffen Seibert told reporters this week. But campaigns are mounting in Germany and in other European countries for social media giants to block hate speech, populist misinformation and fake news from their sites, regardless of authorship.
Additionally, political pressure is mounting for a tightening of regulatory restrictions that some European governments have already introduced aimed at policing social media.
When voicing concern about the social media blocking of Trump, Merkel’s spokesperson cited Germany’s Network Enforcement Act, which was approved in 2018 and requires social media platforms to remove potentially illegal material within 24 hours of being told to do so, or face fines of up to $60 million.
Seibert said free speech should only be restricted in line “with the laws and within a framework defined by the legislature, not by the decision of the management of social media platforms.”
But some German lawmakers want the law toughened and are also urging social media companies to be more forward-leaning in efforts to block what they see as dangerous speech. German Social Democrat lawmaker Helge Lindh told broadcaster Deutsche Welle that Germany is “not doing enough,” saying more restrictions are needed.
The German parliament approved legislation last year that would ensure prosecution for those perpetrating hate or for inciting it online. Under the legislation, social media companies would have been obliged to report hate comments to the police and identify the online authors.
Final passage of the legislation was halted, though, because of objections raised by the country’s Constitutional Court, which ruled parts of the new legislation were in conflict with data protection laws. The court called for adjustments that are scheduled to be debated this month by German lawmakers.
Populist politicians stand to lose more from the renewed focus on misinformation on the internet, whether the outcome from the new focus is more stringent state regulations or just social media giants being more restrictive in Europe.
Populists tend to be able to galvanize support using social media more than mainstream politicians and parties have managed, says Ralph Schroeder, an academic at the Oxford Internet Institute, part of Britain’s University of Oxford.
“They stand to lose most along with other politicians, on the left and the right and beyond, that seek a politics that is anti-establishment and exclusionary toward outsiders,” he told VOA. “The reason is that social media gives them a means to express ideas that cannot be expressed in traditional news media or in traditional party affiliations.”
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More than 150,000 people from 154 countries are at the U.S. Consumer Electronics Show – all online – this week. Michelle Quinn reports.
Contributors: Elizabeth Lee, Julie Taboh
Video editor: Matt Dibble
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A new study indicates the kind of bacteria found in a person’s digestive tract can affect the severity of coronavirus infections and the body’s immune response. The study, conducted by researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and published Monday in the medical journal Gut, shows there is growing evidence that the health of the human gastrointestinal tract, or gut, has direct influence on the immune system and hence its response to infections like the coronavirus.The researchers examined 100 patients who had tested positive and divided them by the severity of their cases. Through blood and stool testing, the researchers compared the microbiome in their tracts with patients without coronavirus infections.Netherlands Begins Mass Testing to Isolate COVID-19 Variant Testing center set up after new strain found in 30 schoolchildren Across the board, the microbiome makeup differed significantly between patients with and without COVID-19. Dr. Siew Ng, one of the authors of the study, said they found “COVID-19 patients lack certain good bacteria known to regulate our immune system.” The presence of an abnormal assortment of gut bacteria, or dysbiosis, can persist after the virus is gone and prolong symptoms. COVID-19 is the illness caused by the coronavirus.Ng said her team developed an oral formula of “good” bacteria — known as probiotics — which they gave to the patients. The study showed that more COVID-19 patients who received the probiotics “achieved complete symptom resolution,” and developed neutralizing antibodies to the virus.Other researchers who have reviewed the research say more study is needed to determine whether the altered gut bacteria found in the COVID-19 patients is an effect of the disease or was already present in the patients and was an underlying cause of the disease development.
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Lady Gaga will sing the national anthem at Joe Biden’s inauguration and Jennifer Lopez will give a musical performance on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol when Biden is sworn in as the nation’s 46th president next Wednesday.
The announcement of their participation comes one day after word that Tom Hanks will host a 90-minute primetime TV special celebrating Biden’s inauguration. Other performers include Justin Timberlake, Jon Bon Jovi, Demi Lovato and Ant Clemons.
At the swearing-in ceremony, the Rev. Leo O’Donovan, a former Georgetown University president, will give the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance will be led by Andrea Hall, a firefighter from Georgia. There will be a poetry reading from Amanda Gorman, the first national youth poet laureate, and the benediction will be given by Rev. Silvester Beaman of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Wilmington, Delaware.
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U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is set to unveil Thursday a coronavirus response plan that includes boosting the rate of vaccinations and helping counter the economic effects of the pandemic. Biden is scheduled to detail the program in an evening address. He has already set a goal of administering 100 million vaccine shots in the first 100 days after he takes office on January 20, and his plan is expected to include funding to expand the vaccination campaign. FILE – Florida Department of Health medical workers prepare to administer a COVID-19 vaccine to seniors in the parking lot of the Gulf View Square Mall in New Port Richey near Tampa, Florida, Dec. 31, 2020.The U.S. government has approved two different vaccines for emergency use. Both require a two-shot regimen, and so far, more than 10 million people have received the first dose of vaccine. Biden’s plan is also expected to include a new round of direct payments to U.S. households. A previous coronavirus relief bill was delayed last month amid disagreements about how big the stimulus payment should be. FILE – A stimulus check issued by the Internal Revenue Service to help combat the adverse economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic is seen in San Antonio, Texas, April 23, 2020.Biden’s incoming White House economic adviser, Brian Deese, said at a Reuters event Wednesday the proposal would feature aid for small businesses as well. Deese said Biden would ask Congress to focus first on passing the economic stimulus measures and then work on longer-term economic recovery areas such as healthcare and infrastructure. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has said passing a coronavirus relief bill would be the first priority when Democrats assume control of the Senate. The impeachment of President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatens to crowd the Senate calendar, but Biden said he hopes the Senate can balance impeachment with other priorities. US House Impeaches Trump for Inciting Deadly Capitol RiotFirst US leader to be impeached twice now faces Senate trial after Biden inaugurationThe United States has recorded roughly 385,000 COVID-19 deaths, and for more than two months it has been dealing with its worst surge in infections. During the past week, the country has added an average of 245,000 new cases per day with 3,300 deaths. Hospitalizations for COVID-19 are at record highs.
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After months of negotiations and accusations that China was obstructing an independent investigation, a team of World Health Organization experts has landed in Wuhan, China, where they will try to uncover the origin of the coronavirus that has killed nearly 2 million people globally.Chinese state media on Thursday reported the arrival of the WHO team, composed of researchers from top universities around the world, including experts in animal science and epidemiology. The 15-member team will spend about a month in China. At the insistence of Chinese authorities, the scientists will spend their first two weeks in quarantine.Its goals are to discover how the virus emerged, how it transferred to humans, and how such outbreaks can be prevented in the future. Those tasks won’t be easy; it has been more than a year since COVID-19 was first detected, with the initial outbreak linked to a Wuhan market selling wild animals for food.Their task will also be tricky from a diplomatic and political perspective. Though China has promised to give WHO officials adequate access, Beijing has often become defensive and sought to deflect blame for the devastation brought by the global pandemic.There have also been repeated delays in the arrival of the WHO experts. Earlier this month, the team was held up because of a visa issue that Chinese officials later attributed to a “misunderstanding.”Those delays continued Thursday. The WHO reported that two of its scientists are still in Singapore completing COVID-19 tests. Although it said all team members “had multiple negative PCR and antibody tests for COVID-19 in their home countries prior to traveling,” two members tested positive for IgM antibodies, which the body produces as its first response to a new infection. It is not clear when the two scientists will arrive in China.More than 120 countries have called for an independent investigation into the origins of the virus, with many governments accusing Beijing of not doing enough to contain its spread. Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump has been especially outspoken, frequently speaking of the “China virus” and demanding the United Nations hold Beijing accountable.Won’t assign blameBut several members of the WHO team, as well as other officials in the global health agency, say their mission is not to assign blame.“This is not about finding China guilty or saying ‘it started here, give or take three meters.’ This is about reducing the risk. And the media can help by avoiding Trump style finger-pointing,” WHO team member Fabian Leendertz, a biologist at Germany’s Robert Koch Institute, told The Guardian newspaper.“Let this mission and let other missions be about the science, not about the politics,” WHO Health Emergencies Program chief Mike Ryan said at a Monday press briefing.” We are looking for the answers here that may save us in (the) future — not culprits and not people to blame.”China for months rejected calls for an international probe. In July, China and the WHO finally agreed on a framework for the investigation. As part of that plan, China insisted on allowing its scientists to do the initial research, including testing sewage and blood samples and interviewing the earliest known coronavirus patients.“It’s not like nothing’s been happening for the last 12 months. There’s a lot that’s been happening and a lot of evidence that’s been generated. So one of the tasks of the WHO team is to go to China and meet with the scientists and to look at the evidence,” said professor Archie Clements, an infectious diseases epidemiologist at Australia’s Curtin University.So far, China has not revealed publicly what its scientists have found. But many experts hope the WHO team will gain access to that data during the trip.“A big part of this investigation is actually around developing relationships with people. Having that personal contact. Being able to ask questions privately in a safe environment. Building rapport. Having the sort of open-ended conversations that may bring out things that you hadn’t previously anticipated might be important,” Clements said.But WHO officials have cautioned the team may not conclusively trace the exact origin of the virus. That’s in part because, experts say, viruses change very quickly.Virus originThe coronavirus was first discovered in late 2019 in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province. Many experts believe the virus had long been present in bats but was transferred to humans via another wild animal sold at the Wuhan food market.Some U.S. officials, including Trump, have suggested the virus may have accidentally emerged from the nearby Wuhan Institute of Virology, one of China’s top research labs that had been studying bat coronaviruses for years. U.S. officials have offered no proof of that hypothesis.China has been criticized for initially downplaying the seriousness of the outbreak and attempting to silence those who tried to speak out.Perhaps most notably, Li Wenliang, a doctor at the Wuhan Central Hospital, was investigated and chastised by police for “spreading rumors” after he tried to warn fellow medical professionals about the disease. Li later died of the virus.China also imposed strict controls on domestic conversation about the outbreak. A recent investigation by The Associated Press found that Chinese scientists have been barred from speaking to reporters and that the publication of any data or research must be approved by a task force managed by China’s cabinet, under direct orders from President Xi Jinping.In recent months, Beijing has repeatedly suggested the virus did not originate in China. Many state media reports now claim COVID-19 may have emerged in Italy, suggesting it was brought to China via frozen seafood. (The WHO says it is “highly unlikely that people can contract COVID-19 from food or food packaging.”)A team of Chinese scientists recently argued the virus originated in the summer of 2019 in India. In March, a Chinese foreign ministry official offered an unfounded theory the U.S. military may have brought the epidemic to Wuhan.With disinformation and speculation abounding, many public health experts hope the WHO team will soon be able to offer some credible answers.“What I would hope is that politicians, global leaders, give the investigative team some space to do their job, which is a scientific task,” Clements said. “It isn’t a political investigation.”
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A team of experts from the World Health Organization arrived in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on Thursday to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.The 10-member international team flew into Wuhan after a direct flight from Singapore and immediately entered a 14-day quarantine period. Two other members of the WHO team remained in Singapore after testing positive for COVID-19 antibodies, according to a series of tweets from the agency.They were tested again in #Singapore and were all negative for PCR. But two members tested positive for IgM antibodies. They are being retested for both IgM and IgG antibodies.https://t.co/3Yg9UoZ1mx— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) January 14, 2021The virus was first detected in Wuhan in late 2019, and eventually spread to nearly every corner of the globe, leading to more than 1.9 million fatalities out of more than 92.3 million total infections, according to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus openly expressed “disappointment” with China last week after Beijing failed to grant final permission to the delegation to enter the country, although the plans had been jointly arranged between the two sides. Beijing defended the delay as a “misunderstanding.”The team’s arrival comes as China reports its first new COVID-19 death since last May, part of a surge of new coronavirus infections in the northern provinces of Hebei and Heilongjiang. The National Health Commission reported 138 new cases on Thursday, up from the 115 new cases posted just the day before, with Hebei province recording 81 new cases and 43 coming out of Heilongjiang. The other 14 came from outside the country.The surge of new infections has prompted officials in Hebei province to place several cities in lockdown, while authorities in northeastern Heilongjiang province have declared an “emergency state” for the entire province and its 37 million residents.The world appears to be on the verge of another effective COVID-19 vaccine. A study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine found that an experimental vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson generated a strong immune response in both young and elderly volunteer participants in early-stage trials.Unlike the vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine only requires one dose, making it easier to both transport and refrigerate for long periods of time. The vaccine is currently undergoing late-stage trials involving 45,000 volunteers. Johnson & Johnson is expected to seek emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sometime next month.The company has signed a $1 billion contract with the U.S. government to provide up to 100 million doses of the vaccine once it is granted approval.
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Racing against a surging COVID-19 death toll, the United States is releasing all available doses of the coronavirus vaccine and has instructed states to immediately begin vaccinating Americans 65 and older and adults with medical conditions. Patsy Widakuswara has this story.
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Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder was charged Wednesday with willful neglect of duty after an investigation of ruinous decisions that left the city of Flint with lead-contaminated water and a deadly regional outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease.The charges, revealed in an online court record, are misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.The charges are groundbreaking: No governor or former governor in the state of Michigan’s 184-year history had been charged with crimes related to their time in that office, according to the state archivist.“We believe there is no evidence to support any criminal charges against Gov. Snyder,” defense attorney Brian Lennon said Wednesday night, adding that state prosecutors still hadn’t provided him with any details.FILE – Michigan Gov. Rick SnyderLennon said Tuesday that a criminal case would be “outrageous.” Snyder and others were scheduled to appear in court Thursday, followed by a news conference by Attorney General Dana Nessel and prosecutors.Besides Snyder, a Republican who was governor from 2011 through 2018, charges are expected against former officials who served as his state health director and as a senior adviser.The date of the alleged offense is April 25, 2014, when a Snyder-appointed emergency manager who was running the struggling, majority Black city carried out a money-saving decision to use the Flint River for water while a regional pipeline from Lake Huron was under construction.The corrosive water, however, was not treated properly and released lead from old plumbing into homes.Despite desperate pleas from residents holding jugs of discolored, smelly water, the Snyder administration took no significant action until a doctor reported elevated lead levels in children about 18 months later.“I’m sorry and I will fix it,” Snyder promised during his 2016 State of the State speech.Authorities counted at least 90 cases of Legionnaires’ disease in Genesee County, including 12 deaths. Some experts found there was not enough chlorine in the water-treatment system to control legionella bacteria, which can trigger a severe form of pneumonia when spread through misting and cooling systems.The disaster made Flint a national symbol of government dereliction, with residents forced to line up for bottled water and parents fearing their children had suffered permanent harm. Lead can damage the brain and nervous system and cause learning and behavior problems. The crisis was highlighted as an example of environmental injustice and racism.More than 9,700 lead service lines at homes have been replaced. Flint’s water, which now comes from a Detroit regional agency, gets good marks, although many distrustful residents still use filters.Separately, the state, Flint, a hospital and an engineering firm have agreed to a $641 million settlement with residents over the water crisis, with $600 million coming from Michigan. A judge said she hopes to decide by Jan. 21 whether to grant preliminary approval. Other lawsuits, including one against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are pending.
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The Trump administration said Wednesday that it would slash millions of acres of protected habitat designated for the imperiled northern spotted owl in Oregon, Washington state and Northern California, much of it in prime timber locations in Oregon’s coastal ranges. Environmentalists immediately decried the move and accused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under President Donald Trump of taking a parting shot at protections designed to help restore the species in favor of the timber industry. The tiny owl is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and was rejected for an upgrade to endangered status last year by the federal agency, despite losing nearly 4% of its population annually. “This revision guts protected habitat for the northern spotted owl by more than a third. It’s Trump’s latest parting gift to the timber industry and another blow to a species that needs all the protections it can get to fully recover,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director for the Center for Biological Diversity. FILE – A large fir tree heads to the forest floor after it is cut by a logger in the Umpqua National Forest near Oakridge, Ore., in this undated file photo.Timber groups applauded the decision, which will not take effect for 60 days. More thinning and management of protected forests is necessary to prevent wildfires, which devastated about 121 hectares (300 acres) of spotted owl habitat last fall, said Travis Joseph, president of the American Forest Resources Council. Loss of the ability to log in areas protected for the spotted owl has devastated rural communities, he said. The 1.4 million hectares (4.4 million acres) removed from federal protections Wednesday includes all of Oregon’s so-called O&C lands, which are big timber territory. The more than 800,000 hectares (2 million acres) are spread in a checkerboard pattern over 18 counties in western Oregon. “This rule rights a wrong imposed on rural communities and businesses and gives us a chance to restore balance to federal forest management and species conservation in the Pacific Northwest,” Joseph said. 1990 federal protections The Fish and Wildlife Service agreed in a settlement with the timber industry to reevaluate the spotted owls’ protected territory following a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a different federally protected species. The Trump administration has moved to roll back protections for waterways and wetlands, narrow protections for wildlife facing extinction, and open more public land to oil and gas drilling. But for decades, the federal government has been trying to save the northern spotted owl, a native bird that sparked an intense battle over logging across Washington, Oregon and California. The dark-eyed owl prefers to nest in old-growth forests and received federal protections in 1990, a listing that dramatically redrew the economic landscape for the Pacific Northwest timber industry and launched a decadeslong battle between environmentalists and loggers. Old-growth Douglas firs, many 100 to 200 years old, that are preferred by the owl are also of great value to loggers.
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The World Health Organization’s (WHO) emergencies chief warned Wednesday the second year of the coronavirus pandemic may be tougher than the first, at least in the first few months.During an online discussion with other WHO officials, Mike Ryan said given the transmission dynamics and other issues they have seen so far, 2021 is looking tougher, especially in the Northern Hemisphere.At least two variants of the virus, identified in Britain and South Africa, have shown to be more transmissible, if not more dangerous and raised concern in European countries.Patients are seen lying on hospital beds inside a temporary ward for possible COVID-19 coronavirus patients at Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, Jan. 11, 2021.Ryan said it is important to learn from what has worked and not worked in every country to fight the virus in all aspects — science, public communication, governance and find the best combinations of all that learning. Ryan said at the end of last year, during the holiday period, there was a deceptive drop in reporting on the infection, creating an appearance of a lull in the pandemic. He said in the last week it picked up again, with 5 million cases added globally and 85,000 deaths.He said except for Southeast Asia, all regions of the world have shown increases in infections over the past week, with the Americas leading away, accounting for half of all cases globally and 45% of all deaths. Europe still accounts for one-third of new cases but showed a 10% drop from the previous week.WHO technical specialist Maria Van Kerkhove said she also expects the post-holiday surge in cases to make the situation much worse in some countries before it gets better. She said there are nations where the virus has been brought under control and the societies reopened. She urged those countries to do everything they can to maintain that situation.Van Kerkhove said the important thing to remember is that the world situation is much better than it was at the beginning of the pandemic. She said, “We know so much more than we knew a year ago. There is much to be proud of.”
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Aid workers this week confirmed several cases of COVID-19 in Sudan’s camps for refugees who fled the fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region. The United Nations refugee agency and aid group Mercy Corps say an urgent intervention is needed to avoid a humanitarian disaster.Aid organizations reported four confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Sudan’s Um Rakouba camp for Ethiopian refugees this week. The camp houses 25,000 people who have arrived since November, living in very basic, overcrowded conditions that present an opportunity for the coronavirus to easily spread.FILE – Tigray refugees who fled the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, wait to receive aid at Umm Rakouba refugee camp in Qadarif, eastern Sudan, Nov. 24, 2020.Mercy Corps is running a health clinic in the Um Rakouba camp and has treated nearly 5,000 refugees. The group’s regional director Sean Granville-Ross called for swift and decisive action to prevent further spread of the virus.“It’s a matter of great concern for all of us — the conditions of the camp, the vulnerability of the people, the population density which make social distancing very difficult,” said Granville-Ross. “And the lack of materials, PPE and equipment to enable us to really mange this outbreak and take care of people.”The four people confirmed to have COVID-19 have been quarantined, says UNHCR officer Guilia Raffaelli.“The confirmed positive cases undergo isolation and have contact tracing primary contacts pending their test results. Other activities are being stopped, like communications with communities and office relations centers, and more funding is needed in order to respond,” said Raffaelli.IRC Works With Sudanese Authorities to Expand Aid Delivery to Ethiopian Refugees Hundreds continue to flee Ethiopia’s troubled Tigray region despite government assurances of safety back home Sudanese authorities received aid from UAE and other Arab countries to help the Ethiopian refugees in December. Health observers say more money is needed due to the increasing influx and the growing risk of COVID-19.Sudan has registered more than 23,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since late October, with more than 2,000 deaths.Meanwhile, Sudan’s government and aid organizations have finished preparations to move the refugees to a new camp west of Al-Qadarif. The government says the move will take refugees away from the tense border area and improve security.
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British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Wednesday he is hoping the nation’s current situation is the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, as infection rates and hospitalizations are at or near record levels.
In televised interviews. Hancock said Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) is facing intense pressure due to the high number of COVID-19 cases, treating 55 percent more people than during the first pandemic peak in April, with more than 30,000 patients across the country.
He said the government is considering many options to ease the strain on the NHS. Authorities have reopened temporary field facilities – known as “Nightingale Hospitals” in London and elsewhere and are even considering using hotels for patient overflow.
The health secretary said if hotels were used it would only be “for step-down patients… who no longer need full hospital care.”
Britain on Monday launched an ambitious program to vaccinate 14 million people by the middle of next month. Hancock said that program is still on track to meet that goal, but as of now, it difficult to determine when enough people will be vaccinated to lift some of the COVID lockdown restrictions that are in place. He said they would remain “long as they are necessary.”
The government opened seven mass vaccination centers Monday as it moved into the most perilous moment of the COVID-19 pandemic, with exhausted medical staff reeling under the pressure of packed hospitals and increasing admissions.
Hancock said the single most important thing people can do to ensure the situation does not get worse is to stay home.
Britain has so far had at least 3,180,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and more than 83,000 deaths the world’s fifth-highest official toll.
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China has recorded its highest daily increase of new coronavirus infections since last July after a recent cluster of cases in northern Hebei province. The National Health Commission reported 115 new cases on Tuesday, with 90 cases located in Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing. The commission also said 107 of the new cases were local transmissions — the highest daily jump since July 30. Officials in Hebei province have ordered a lockdown of several cities, while authorities in northeastern Heilongjiang province, which posted 16 new cases, have declared an “emergency state” for the entire province and its 37 million residents. Meanwhile, Brazilian researchers say a COVID-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech was shown to be just over 50% overall effective after large-scale human trials in that country, far below the 78% efficacy rate against mild-to-severe cases announced just last week. Researchers said the most recent data included results from a group of participants who reported “very mild” cases of infection, which explains the huge discrepancy between the two figures. FILE – A worker performs a quality check in the packaging facility of Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac Biotech, developing an experimental COVID-19 vaccine, during a government-organized media tour in Beijing, China, Sept. 24, 2020.The Sinovac vaccine has been approved for emergency use by Indonesia, where President Joko Widodo received the very first inoculation Wednesday. The shot launched the Southeast Asian nation’s drive to vaccinate its 181 million citizens, who are spread out across the vast archipelago. Indonesia has one of the region’s worst COVID-19 outbreaks, having recorded 858,043 total infections, including 24,951 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced Wednesday the government is expanding a state of emergency to seven other prefectures in central and western Japan to curb an escalating surge of new coronavirus cases. The new decree, which takes effect Thursday and remains in effect until February 7, will cover Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Fukuoka, Aichi, Gifu and Tochigi. People wearing face masks due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak walk in Nagoya, Japan, Jan. 13, 2021. (Kyodo via Reuters)Wednesday’s declaration comes more than a week after Prime Minister Suga issued an emergency declaration for Tokyo and the neighboring prefectures of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa. Japan has recorded a total of 302,740 total infections, including over 4,000 deaths. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that international travelers will have to prove they have tested negative for COVID-19 before flying to the United States. Under the new rules that will take effect on January 26, travelers will have to test negative within three days of their departure. FILE – Travelers walk through O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Nov. 29, 2020.FILE – President Donald Trump, left, listens as Moncef Slaoui, a former GlaxoSmithKline executive, speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, May 15, 2020, in Washington.Cable business channel CNBC reported Tuesday that Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the chief advisor to the Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. government’s COVID-19 rapid vaccine development program, has resigned his post at the request of the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden. Sources say Slaoui will remain in the role for a month after Biden takes office on January 20 to help with the transition. Slaoui’s resignation comes as the Trump administration is changing strategies in distributing the available vaccines, announcing Tuesday that it will release millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses it was holding back for use as second shots to inoculate Americans older than 65, as well as Americans with underlying health conditions. The U.S. set another single-day record in coronavirus deaths Tuesday with 4,327, increasing the nation’s overall death toll to a world-leading 380,670 people. The U.S. also leads in the overall number of COVID-19 infections with 22.8 million out of the world’s 91.5 million total cases, including 1.9 million deaths.
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