The world’s largest vaccine producer has told at least three countries that their COVID-19 vaccine shipments will be delayed.The Serum Institute of India has informed Brazil, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia that India’s overwhelming need for the vaccine is the cause of the delay.India is experiencing a surge in infections. The South Asian nation has the third-highest number of coronavirus cases, with 11.6 million. Only the United States and Brazil have more, at 29.7 million and 11.9 million, respectively.India’s Serum Institute has come under criticism for selling or donating more vaccines than inoculations put in arms in India.Meanwhile, Brazil is in talks with the United States to import excess doses of coronavirus vaccines, its Foreign Ministry tweeted Saturday.The South American nation recorded 79,069 new cases of coronavirus infections in a 24-hour period, its Health Ministry said Saturday, and reported more than 2,400 COVID-19 deaths.The talks between the U.S. and Brazil began March 13. On Friday, the U.S. said it was lending 4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Canada and Mexico but did not mention Brazil.The U.S. has millions of doses of vaccine developed by Britain’s University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical giant that have been approved by the World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency but not for use in the U.S. yet.Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who famously told his country to “stop whining” about the country’s deaths from “a little flu,” has signed three measures to speed the purchase of vaccines, including those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson.Several European countries were under new coronavirus restrictions Saturday to combat new waves of infections.About one-third of France’s population is under lockdown after measures were imposed Friday in Paris and several regions in northern and southern parts of the country. More than 4,300 people are in intensive care units in France, the most this year, the health ministry said Saturday.About 6.1 million people in France have received their first COVID-19 shot, or just less than 12% of the adult population.In Poland, which is seeing the highest number of daily cases since November, new measures have forced nonessential shops and other facilities to close for three weeks.Nonessential stores have also been closed in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, where only food markets are allowed to stay open.France, Germany and Italy resumed use Friday of the coronavirus vaccine made by AstraZeneca after health officials sought to allay concerns it may cause blood clots.The European nations resumed inoculations after the EMA, which regulates medicine, said the AstraZeneca-University of Oxford vaccine was “safe and effective” and the WHO, the United Nations body responsible for public health, said “available data do not suggest any overall increase in clotting conditions” among those who have been vaccinated.However, French Health Minister Olivier Veran said the country’s health advisory body is recommending AstraZeneca vaccinations only for people 55 or older.French officials cited an assessment by the EMA that it could not rule out a possible link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and a small number of blood clots, particularly in younger women. The EMA said that overall, the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks of side effects.The WHO repeated its recommendation Friday for countries worldwide to continue to administer shots of AstraZeneca’s vaccine. The agency’s expert committee on coronavirus vaccines said the AstraZeneca vaccine has “tremendous potential to prevent infections and reduce deaths” and said “it is not certain” the blood clot cases have been caused by the vaccine.Officials in Miami Beach in the southern U.S. state of Florida have imposed an emergency curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. It was not immediately clear how long the lockdown would be in place.“Officials blamed overwhelming and out-of-control spring break crowds for the curfew, which was taking effect Saturday night in South Beach, one of the nation’s top party spots,” the Associated Press reported.Global spectators will be barred from entering Japan for the summer Olympic games because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic organizing committee said Saturday.The committee said tickets bought by overseas residents would be refunded.The pandemic forced the postponement of the Olympic games last year, but organizers have said they are committed to hosting the games this year, despite warnings.
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French language lovers could celebrate International Francophonie Day on Saturday with a new online interactive dictionary. Rolled out by the French government, it reflects not only the language’s evolution but also the reality that most of today’s speakers are not French.Did you receive a “pourriel” or “throw a camel” today? If you are wondering what these expressions mean, you will not find the answers here in France. In Canadian French, a pourriel — a version of courriel, French for email — means spam mail. When you “lance un chameau” or throw a camel in the Democratic Republic of Congo, you have made a spelling mistake.Both these expressions are included in a new online dictionary sponsored by the French government.French Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot says the dictionary is not just for France’s 67 million citizens, but for the 300 million French speakers worldwide. It aims to modernize and enrich the French language, she says, embracing its evolution.President Emmanuel Macron proposed the idea of this Francophones’ Dictionary in 2018. The dictionary already contains about 600,000 terms.It got a new word last week, when Louise Mushikiwabo, who heads the International Organization of la Francophonie, representing French-speaking countries, proposed “techniquer” — which in her native Rwanda means figuring out creative solutions with limited resources.Unlike past dictionaries, which were products of elite French academics, this dictionary is interactive, democratic — and a work in progress. Anybody can propose a word. A group of experts will decide whether it should be added.So, what do non-French francophones think about the new dictionary? A stroll through a multicultural Paris neighborhood provided some insight.Mimi, from Senegal, immediately checked out the dictionary on her smartphone. She couldn’t think of any words to propose right away, but she found the idea interesting.Longtime resident Nicole Sika offered up “go” — which means your female friend in her native Ivory Coast — or “zo” — which means you are smartly dressed.Other French dictionaries have expanded their lexicon. The iconic Le Petit Larousse French dictionary has added words like “taxier” — an Algerian expression meaning, not surprisingly, taxi driver. But this new, interactive dictionary is the first sponsored by France’s government, ending three centuries in which only the elite French Academy determined which words to include.“The French no longer have a monopoly on French,” French magazine L’Express wrote recently, “and that is good news.”
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Throngs of revelers flocking to Miami Beach, Florida, for spring break have become so uncontrollable that authorities imposed a curfew Saturday that they hope will spoil the party.For the next 72 hours, visitors will have to leave the streets and restaurants will close their doors at 8 p.m. in the main tourist areas of South Beach, the epicenter of the city’s party scene, authorities announced.In addition, the three bridges that connect the island with mainland Miami will be closed to traffic after 10 p.m.Only residents, workers and hotel guests will have access.”This is all about the public safety, folks,” said acting City Manager Raul Aguila.Referring to photos of huge crowds gathering on the main Ocean Drive strip, he added: “It looked like a rock concert. You couldn’t see pavement and you couldn’t see grass.”The move followed weeks of wild partying in Miami Beach, which is no stranger to uncontrollable spring break crowds.But this year the volume is clearly higher than in previous years, said Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber.”I think it is in part due to the fact that there are very few places open elsewhere in the country, or they’re too cold, or they’re not open and they’re too cold,” he said.Over the last several days viral videos have emerged showing fights in restaurants that caused serious damage in addition to prompting diners to flee without paying expensive bills, according to local press reports.Miami Beach Police Chief Richard Clements said he is concerned the situation will become unmanageable.On Thursday night “we had an issue where hundreds of people ran at one particular time. Tables and chairs were thrown and used as weapons,” he said.He added that police had hoped it was a one-time event but “last night we had three of those situations and we had a young lady that got hurt as a result of trying to run away from a crowd.””We can’t continue to be fortunate. We have to do some things that are going to mitigate those circumstances,” he said.
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Ahead of World Water Day Monday, the World Meteorological Organization warns climate change is intensifying water-related disasters, threatening the lives and livelihoods of billions of people worldwide.
Climate-related hazards include increased flooding and longer-lasting droughts. Climate change also is altering rainfall patterns, affecting water availability and worsening the damage floods and drought cause worldwide.
The WMO says increased flooding threatens to destroy water points and sanitation facilities and contaminate water sources. As a consequence, WMO spokeswoman Clare Nullis says billions of people have limited or no access to clean water and sanitation.
“So, 39 percent of the global population does not have access to safe drinking water. We expect this problem to be exacerbated because of socio-economic changes, of population growth, and obviously, changes in sources of water, such as glaciers,” Nullis said.The WMO calls glaciers the water towers of the world. It warns the melting of ice cover and glaciers is leading to more hazards and threatening the long-term water security of hundreds of millions of people.
Nullis said one of the most dramatic examples of how this is playing out can be seen in Tajikistan, a country that had more than 14,500 glaciers in the 20th century.
“Today, more than a thousand of these have completely melted and the total volume of the mass has decreased by one-third. This in the short term leads to more hazards like avalanches, mud flows, flooding—what we call glacial outbursts,” Nullis said.
Glaciers are a key source of water. In the long-term, Nullis warned glacier melting will lead to increased water stress for many millions of people. She said the same phenomenon is being repeated throughout the world.
The WMO says more than half of countries worldwide have no quality management systems for water. The agency is calling for more concerted action on safeguarding the world’s diminishing water sources and on mitigating climate change.
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The coughing among the western lowland gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in January was the first warning sign. Soon the fears were confirmed: A troop of gorillas became the first apes known to test positive for the coronavirus.Around the world, many scientists and veterinarians are now racing to protect animals from the coronavirus, often using the same playbook for minimizing disease spread among people: That includes social distancing, health checks and, for some zoo animals, a vaccine.Karen, a 28-year-old orangutan, became the first ape in the world to get a coronavirus vaccine on Jan. 26 at the San Diego Zoo.Two shots for KarenKaren has received two shots of a vaccine from Zoetis, a veterinary pharmaceutical company in New Jersey, and has shown no adverse reactions. Since then, nine other primates at the San Diego Zoo have been fully vaccinated: five bonobos and four orangutans. Four more animals — one bonobo and three gorillas — got their first shot this month and will get a second one in April.“I was really convinced that we wanted to get that to protect our other great apes,” said the zoo’s wildlife health officer Nadine Lamberski, who explained she felt urgency to act after the eight gorillas fell sick.That virus outbreak was linked to a zookeeper who was infected but had no symptoms. Seven gorillas recovered after a mild cases of the sniffles, but one elderly silverback had pneumonia, likely caused by the virus, as well as heart disease. He was put on antibiotics and heart medication, and he received an antibody treatment to block the virus from infecting cells.Zoetis vaccine of choiceAbout three dozen zoos across the United States and abroad have put in orders for the Zoetis vaccine, which is formulated to elicit a strong immune response in particular animal species.“We will jump at the opportunity to get the Zoetis vaccine for our own great apes,” said Oakland Zoo’s veterinary director Alex Herman, who is ordering 100 doses.Zoetis got a permit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide the doses on an experimental basis to the San Diego Zoo. The company will need to apply for the same permission to provide vaccine to additional zoos.Scientists believe the coronavirus likely originated in wild horseshoe bats, before jumping — perhaps through an intermediary species — to humans. Now many researchers worry that humans may unwittingly infect other susceptible species.
“Right now, humans are the main vectors of SARS-CoV-2, with consequences for many animal species,” said Arinjay Banerjee, a disease researcher at McMaster University in Canada.Great apes such as gorillas, which share 98% of their DNA with humans, are especially susceptible, as are felines. So far, confirmed coronavirus cases include gorillas, tigers and lions at zoos; domestic cats and dogs; farmed mink, and at least one wild mink in Utah.Cattle, pigs are safeScientists have also experimentally shown that ferrets, racoon dogs and white-tailed deer are susceptible, although pigs and cattle are not.“This could be a conservation concern, especially if the virus began to spread in a wild species with extremely reduced populations, like the black-footed ferret,” which is endangered, said Kate Langwig, an infectious disease ecologist at Virginia Tech.Another worry is that virus spread among other species could produce new variants, complicating health authorities’ efforts to curb the pandemic.In Denmark, workers at a mink farm accidentally infected the animals. As the coronavirus spread among the mink, it mutated — and human handlers contracted the new variant. In response, the government ordered millions of mink to be killed.“Mutations happen when there’s a lot of disease transfer going on between animals,” said Scott Weese, a veterinary microbiologist at the Ontario Veterinary College.Many recommended steps to minimize disease spread to animals are familiar: wearing masks and sanitizing shared equipment, regular health checks, and maintaining physical distance.Since the outbreak, the San Diego Zoo and its safari park north of San Diego have installed more fans at its indoor primate areas to increase air circulation. The staff wears double masks and face shields and limits their time indoors with animals.’Wake-up call’ for care of apesScientists and conservationists who monitor wild primates have also adapted their daily routines.“COVID-19 has been a wake-up call for the world about the fact that these viruses can go from wild animals to people, and from people to great apes,” said Kirsten Gilardi, executive director of Gorilla Doctors, a conservation group that includes field veterinarians who treat wild gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.There are only about 1,000 wild mountain gorillas, so the threat of coronavirus infection “has changed the way we do our work,” said Felix Ndagijimana, the Rwanda country director for Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, a conservation group.For the past year, field trackers who check on gorillas daily in the rainforest first get a coronavirus test, then stay with other trackers in an encampment for work stints of several weeks. This is to ensure that they don’t pick up the bug by returning to their villages at night.“It was really a big ask of our team, especially during the pandemic. People want to be close to their families, but also keep the gorillas safe,” said Ndagijimana. To date, he said, there have been no coronavirus cases among wild gorillas.No plan to use vaccine on wild gorillasWhile some wild gorillas were vaccinated against measles in the 1980s, there are currently no plans to vaccinate them against the coronavirus. With wild apes, the first choice is always to be as hands-off as possible, said Jean Bosco Noheli, a field veterinarian for Gorilla Doctors in Rwanda. “Let’s focus on other measures we can take first to protect wild gorillas,” he said.But more zoo animals could soon be getting virus shots.“There’s a lot of interest,” said Sharon Deem, a veterinary epidemiologist at the St. Louis Zoo who is also part of a hazard preparedness group of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums that represents 240 zoos.“I think given how horrible this particular pathogen has been to humans, and that we know it can be transmitted between humans and animals, that there is great interest to use an animal vaccine as soon as it is available,” she said.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson received his first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine Friday and urged the public to do the same, saying “he did not feel a thing.”
Johnson, 56, received his vaccine at the same hospital where almost a year ago he was put in an intensive care unit and given oxygen via a tube in his nose after he contracted the virus and fell seriously ill. He later said he was so sick that plans were drawn up on how to announce his death.
“I literally did not feel a thing. It was very good, very quick,” Johnson said after receiving the injection at St Thomas’ Hospital in London.
“I cannot recommend it too highly, everybody when you do get your notification to go for a jab, please go and get it, it is the best thing for you, best thing for your family and for everyone else.”
Pictures showed the prime minister wearing a black mask, and a shirt and tie with his sleeve rolled up, while a nurse gives him the vaccine.Record day for Britain
Britain broke its record for the most coronavirus shots given out in one day Friday and almost half of all adults have received one dose, making it one of the fastest countries in the world to roll out a vaccine program.
This success has helped the ruling Conservatives regain the lead over the main opposition Labour Party in opinion polls after the prime minister last year was accused of acting too slowly to stop the spread of the virus.
Johnson received his vaccine as European countries Friday resumed using the AstraZeneca shot after regulators said its benefits outweighed any risks following recent reports of blood clots.
Countries including Germany and France reversed their decision to temporarily pause its use after reports of about 30 cases of rare brain blood clots sent scientists and governments scrambling to determine any link.
The AstraZeneca vaccine, developed by scientists at the University of Oxford, also has been at the center of tensions between Britain and the European Union, after Brussels expressed anger over the lack of deliveries of the shot coming from Britain.
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Twitter on Friday began a survey of global users about platform rules for world leaders while consulting human rights and academic specialists on its next policy steps.The announcement comes after Twitter joined other social networks banning then-president Donald Trump for his comments seen as inciting the violent attack on the US Capitol in January.The ban was criticized by Trump supporters while others had argued Twitter should have taken action earlier despite its policy of allowing leeway for world leaders and newsworthy posts.”Politicians and government officials are constantly evolving how they use our service, and we want our policies to remain relevant to the ever-changing nature of political discourse on Twitter and protect the health of the public conversation,” the Twitter safety team said in a blog post.”That’s why we’re reviewing our approach to world leaders and seeking your input.”Twitter will be asking users their views in a survey in 14 languages, from Friday until April 12.”Generally, we want to hear from the public on whether or not they believe world leaders should be subject to the same rules as others on Twitter. And, should a world leader violate a rule, what type of enforcement action is appropriate,” the statement said.”We’re also in the process of consulting with a range of human rights experts, civil society organizations, and academics worldwide whose feedback will be reflected in forthcoming revisions to the policy framework.”
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U.S. President Joe Biden announced Friday he plans to nominate former U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson to lead the U.S. space agency, NASA.In a statement, the White House says as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a three-term senator from Florida, Nelson, a Democrat, chaired committees on space, science and transportation. They also note he co-authored the landmark 2010 NASA bill which set the current path of private-sector partnership. In the statement, the White House notes Nelson, as a congressman in 1986, even flew on a six-day space shuttle mission. He currently serves on the NASA advisory council.Nelson, if approved by the Senate, would take over the agency as commercial space projects are already shuttling supplies and astronauts to the International Space Station.NASA is also preparing to return astronauts to the moon in the next four years.Nelson’s nomination has already received the endorsement of Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican.“I cannot think of anyone better to lead NASA than Bill Nelson,” Rubio tweeted on Thursday.
If approved, Nelson would be NASA’s 14th administrator, and would take over from the Trump administration’s appointee, former Oklahoma congressman Jim Bridenstine.
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A 14-year-old South Sudanese girl who could not control her urine or bowel movements for two years is lying on a bed at the Lutheran Medical Center in Juba, recovering from an operation to repair a fistula – a medical condition in which a hole develops in the birth canal that is caused by prolonged obstructed labor.The girl, who VOA is not identifying for privacy reasons, said a doctor friend called her last month from Juba when she was in Rumbek to inform her about a two-week camp being run by the Barbara May Foundation, an Australian organization that helps women suffering from fistula in the South Sudanese capital.The girl told South Sudan in Focus that in 2019 an old man found her by the roadside, kidnapped her, and forced her into marriage. She said she later became pregnant and developed fistula while delivering her first-born child as a child herself.”I delivered a baby at home in the village. It’s not a town where I could be taken to the hospital. I delivered alone. There was a woman who was helping me so that the baby could come in her hands, but she put her hands in and it cut the urinary tube and urine started flowing by itself. The relatives of my husband said they don’t want me, that I am smelling, so I went to my father’s home,” said the girl.Australian surgeon Dr. Andrew Browning, who started the foundation and conducted the operations, said he and his team have operated on more than 100 women and girls in three different camps in South Sudan.“About 30 ladies per camp and [in] this camp, we have 34 ladies to operate on so it’s now about 120 ladies we have treated in South Sudan but that’s just a small part of the problem; there are many thousands of women in South Sudan with this problem, so we need to train more doctors how to do this operation,” Browning told South Sudan in Focus.The obstetrician and gynecologist became involved with helping women suffering from fistula 17 years ago after visiting his aunt Valerie Browning in rural Ethiopia, who assisted women with terrible childbirth injuries.Dr. Browning trained a few South Sudanese surgeons in Ethiopia. He said those surgeons could now be working in Juba, Wau and Aweil, but far more doctors are needed to perform fistula operations.“There are some people doing it but not enough, and the patients that come here are usually patients who have been operated on in other places and they failed,” Browning said. “We pray they succeeded this time,” he added.People believe all kinds of misconceptions about fistula, says Browning.“Some people say it’s a bad spirit, or a curse or maybe the woman was unfaithful in her marriage, but that’s not true. It’s just that the baby was too big for the mother to deliver and that’s how she got stuck, so she was stuck in labor for five days, it’s not her fault, it’s an awful condition to live with, she is leaking all the time, she is very ashamed,” Browning said.Dr. John Sebit, medical director at the Lutheran Medical Center, where the operations have been conducted, said the center started the project to support mothers who are often rejected by their loved ones due to their condition.“This camp we started in 2018 after realizing there are so many mothers outside living with fistula or obstetric fistula and again the specialists who do these surgeries are not so common, there are so few,” Sebit told South Sudan in Focus.The Lutheran Medical Center helps identify women and girls suffering from fistula and transports them “to where they can be operated on,” he said.Obstetric fistula “will continue in South Sudan until mothers start delivering from hospitals” so that if a baby becomes stuck, doctors can carry out a caesarean section, said Browning.
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Students can safely sit just 3 feet apart in the classroom as long as they wear masks but should be kept the usual 6 feet away from one another at sporting events, assemblies, lunch or chorus practice, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday in relaxing its COVID-19 guidelines.The revised recommendations represent a turn away from the 6-foot standard that has sharply limited how many students some schools can accommodate. Some places have had to remove desks, stagger scheduling and take other steps to keep children apart.Three feet “gives school districts greater flexibility to have more students in for a prolonged period of time,” said Kevin Quinn, director of maintenance and facilities at Mundelein High School in suburban Chicago.In recent months, schools in some states have been disregarding the CDC guidelines, using 3 feet as their standard. Studies of what happened in some of them helped sway the agency, said Greta Massetti, who leads the CDC’s community interventions task force.While there is evidence of improved mental health and other benefits from in-person schooling, “we don’t really have the evidence that 6 feet is required in order to maintain low spread,” she said.Also, younger children are less likely to get seriously ill from the coronavirus and don’t seem to spread it as much as adults do, and “that allows us that confidence that that 3 feet of physical distance is safe,” Massetti said.The new guidance:— Removes recommendations for plastic shields or other barriers between desks. “We don’t have a lot of evidence of their effectiveness” in preventing transmission, Massetti said.
— Advises at least 3 feet of space between desks in elementary schools, even in towns and cities where community spread is high, so long as students and teachers wear masks and take other precautions.
— Says spacing can also be 3 feet in middle and high schools, so long as there is not a high level of spread in the community. If there is, spacing should be at least 6 feet.The CDC said 6 feet should still be maintained in common areas, such as school lobbies, and when masks can’t be worn, such as when eating.Also, students should be kept 6 feet apart in situations where there are a lot of people talking, cheering or singing, all of which can expel droplets containing the coronavirus. That includes chorus practice, assemblies and sports events.Teachers and other adults should continue to stay 6 feet from one another and from students, the CDC said.CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the revised recommendations are an “evidence-based roadmap to help schools reopen safely, and remain open, for in-person instruction.”“Safe in-person instruction gives our kids access to critical social and mental health services that prepare them for the future, in addition to the education they need to succeed,” she said in a statement.Last year, the CDC advised that one way for schools to operate safely was by keeping children 6 feet apart, the same standard applied to workplaces and other settings.In contrast, the World Health Organization suggested 1 meter — a little over 3 feet — was sufficient in schools. The American Academy of Pediatrics says desks should be 3 feet apart and “ideally” 6 feet.The CDC guidance was problematic for many schools that traditionally had 25, 30 or more children per classroom in closely grouped desks. Some schools adopted complicated scheduling that might, for example, have half a class come to school on some days and the other half on other days.The Ridley School District in suburban Philadelphia took steps like that to follow the 6-foot guideline after the CDC emphasized it last summer. But neighboring communities went with 3 feet, “and we’re not seeing the data really reflect a different spread rate,” said Lee Ann Wentzel, the district’s superintendent.The district had already decided to shift to 3-foot distancing starting next month and invite all students to attend five days a week. But Wentzel said she was glad to hear of the change in CDC guidance because that will make it easier to explain and defend the district’s decision.A recent study in Massachusetts looked at infections of students and staff members in schools that used the 3-foot standard and those that used the 6-foot one. It found no significant difference in infection rates.Massetti said other research has also been influential, including two studies the CDC released Friday.One was a study in Utah that found low coronavirus transmission rates among students who did a good job wearing masks and whose desks were only 3 feet apart. The other study, done in Missouri, pointed to a similar conclusion, Massetti said.The guidance change comes at a time when new, more contagious variants of the coronavirus are increasingly spreading. That means a continued emphasis on mask wearing and other such measures, Massetti said.
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German health officials Friday said coronavirus cases in the country are rising at “an exponential rate,” forcing the government to reconsider lifting COVID-19 restrictions. At a news conference in Berlin, Robert Koch Institute ((RKI)) for infectious Diseases Vice President Lars Schaade told reporters highly contagious virus variants were getting the upper hand in the nation, wiping out progress seen last month in containing the pandemic.Shaade, appearing with German Health Minister Jens Spahn, reported 17,482 new infections in the previous 24 hours and 226 deaths in Germany, with the seven-day incidence rate soaring to about 96 per 100,000 people, despite a months-long lockdown in much of the country.Shaade said increased infections were notably among younger people. “The incidence increases are clearly in the groups under 60 years old, especially in the group 15 to 49 years old.”Spahn told reporters the numbers mean plans to re-open the country will need to be put on hold. “On the contrary, we may even have to take steps backwards.”Earlier this month, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced plans to gradually lift COVID-19 restrictions, she said she and regional leaders agreed to impose new restrictions in areas where the seven-day incidence rate surpassed 100. At least two regions have already reached that threshold.Meanwhile, Spahn said he has been negotiating with Russia regarding its Sputnik V vaccine, and indicated he is very close to completing a deal. He said the government had been in close contact with the Russians, “and I can also well imagine that we [will] conclude contracts — and conclude them quickly.”He said, however, Germany needs more details on how many doses could be delivered and when. The vaccine has yet to be approved by German or European Union regulators.Germany resumed administering AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine Thursday after the EU regulator Europe Medincines Agency ((EMA)) concluded once again that it was safe and effective. The agency had conducted a study of the vaccine and cases of blood clots reported in several patients after receiving the vaccine.
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Tokyo organizers and the International Olympic Committee are poised to finally make it official that most fans from abroad will be prohibited from attending the postponed Olympics when they open in four months.The announcement is expected to come after “five-party” talks on Saturday with the IOC, local organizers, the Japanese government, the Tokyo metropolitan government and the International Paralympic Committee.”People are waiting eagerly for an early decision so they can move to the next step,” Seiko Hashimoto, the president of the organizing committee, said Friday in a news briefing. “We need to be able to make the decision soon.”Seiko Hashimoto, president of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, speaks during a press conference, March 19, 2021, in Tokyo.Despite some calls to delay it, Hashimoto has promised a decision before the torch relay opens on Thursday from the northeastern prefecture of Fukushima.Hashimoto said all five parties will have to agree on the decision. But she said two have more influence than others: the IOC and the Japanese national government.”All decisions will be made by the IOC in the end,” Hashimoto said. “When it comes to immigration, this is a matter for the national government at the border.”Japanese media, citing unidentified sources, have said for several weeks that the decision on the ban had already been reached. Hashimoto declined to confirm it.About 4.5 million tickets have been sold to Japan residents. Perhaps another 1 million have been sold abroad. Before the postponement a year ago, organizers said a total of 7.8 million tickets would be be available for the Tokyo Games.Toshiro Muto, the CEO of the Tokyo organizing committee, has said ticket holders from abroad would receive refunds. However, those decisions will be made on the ground by Authorized Ticket Resellers that are appointed by national Olympic committees and handle sales outside of the host nation.The local organizing committee budget is sure to take a hit. Its budget projected income of $800 million from ticket sales, the third-largest source of revenue. Any shortfall will have to be made up by Japanese government entities.John Coates, the IOC member who oversees preparations for Tokyo, said earlier this month there would probably be exemptions for some fans from abroad.”We are looking at the other implications of accommodation, looking at implications for national Olympic committees who have sponsors who might have bought tickets. The same with international federations,” Coates said.There is widespread skepticism in Japan about holding the Olympics, and particularly about admitting fans from abroad. Japan has attributed about 8,700 deaths to COVID-19 and has handled the virus better than most countries.The torch relay will present a stern test with 10,000 runners crisscrossing Japan to reach the opening ceremony on July 23. Organizers are asking crowds to stay away, discouraging cheering, and are reserving the right to stop or reroute the relay.The Olympics and Paralympics will involve 15,400 athletes from more than 200 nations, most operating inside a “bubble” linking venues, training facilities, and the Olympic Village on Tokyo Bay.Many may arrive with vaccinations, but the IOC is not requiring this as condition of competing.Ten of thousands of others will also arrive and be operating outside the bubble: officials, judges, sponsors, media, VIPs and broadcasters.
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U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are traveling to the southern U.S. state of Georgia on Friday, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and the massage parlor shootings near Atlanta on Tuesday.The U.S. leaders will meet with Asian American leaders to discuss the shootings and the targeting of people of Asian descent in the U.S. in apparent hate crimes.Georgia officials, however, have not yet labeled the massage parlor shootings as hate crimes because the suspect said the shooting spree was a result of his sexual issues.The president and the vice president will also meet with officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention while in Georgia to get an update on the U.S. handling the COVID-19 pandemic.They were originally also planning to participate in a “Help Is Here” rally to promote the trillion-dollar COVID relief package.The rally has been postponed in the wake of the shootings that killed eight people, six of Asian descent. Biden is, however, slated to meet with former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams whose organizing is widely viewed as being responsible for the Democratic presidential win in Georgia in November, the first Democratic presidential victory in the southern state since 1992.Meanwhile, U.S. and Mexican officials deny Washington is attaching any strings to a likely shipment of millions of coronavirus vaccine doses to America’s southern neighbor at a time of heightened migration passing through Mexico en route to the United States.“[P]reventing the spread of a global pandemic is part of one of our diplomatic objectives. Another one of our diplomatic objectives is working to address the challenges at the border. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that those conversations are both ongoing and happening,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki replied when asked about a link between lending vaccine supplies and commitments from Mexico to tighten the flow of migrants heading north.“These are two separate issues, as we look for a more humane migratory system and enhanced cooperation against COVID-19, for the benefit of our two countries and the region,” said a statement from Roberto Velasco, director general for the North America region at Mexico’s foreign ministry.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 10 MB480p | 14 MB540p | 19 MB720p | 37 MB1080p | 74 MBOriginal | 224 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioPsaki confirmed Thursday that there are discussions to send 2.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Mexico and 1.5 million to Canada.“We are assessing how we can lend doses,” the press secretary said. “That is our aim. It’s not fully finalized yet.”Mexican officials say an agreement among the United States, Canada and Mexico is to be announced Friday.Tens of millions of doses of the Astra Zeneca-University of Oxford vaccine are in U.S. manufacturing sites. That company’s vaccine has been authorized in numerous countries, but not yet in the United States.The AstraZeneca vaccine has received some negative publicity and there is speculation some Americans will hesitate to take that vaccine after it receives expected approval in the United States.Several countries in Europe this week suspended use of the AstraZeneca doses after reports that a few people who received it later developed blot clots and severe bleeding.Europe’s drug regulator Thursday declared the AstraZeneca vaccine safe, adding that a review of the 17 million people who received it found they were actually less likely to develop dangerous clots than others who hadn’t received the vaccine.“It makes sense for the United States to loan its surplus of millions of doses to neighbors where it can be put to good use right away,” said Joshua Busby, assistant professor of public affairs at the University of Texas-Austin.The pending deals with Canada and Mexico, Busby told VOA, do not go far enough because “more countries in the Americas and beyond will need vaccines. But I’m confident that the Biden team is aware of this.”Busby, author of the book Moral Movements and Foreign Policy, said he expects in the coming months the Biden administration will make a major effort to increase global vaccine access “because the longer the epidemic persists globally, the greater the risk of variants that could emerge for which the current vaccines are ineffective.”Asked on Thursday about requests from other countries to make U.S. coronavirus vaccine stock available to them, Psaki replied: “Certainly we’ll have those conversations, and we are open to receiving those requests and obviously making considerations.””Various countries including China have been engaged in so called vaccine diplomacy,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Japanese reporters on Wednesday. “We shouldn’t tie the distribution or access to vaccines to politics or to geopolitics.”Concerns have been raised that the United States and the rest of the West are losing a public relations battle with China and Russia which, at minimum, are using such vaccine distribution to improve their influence and image in developing countries.“Even as nations understandably prioritize their own citizens for vaccines, including their own most vulnerable, we cannot forget that those with the means should also help other countries in need,” said Curtis Chin, former U.S. ambassador to the Asian Development Bank.Vaccine diplomacy competition between nations to help other countries can be a good thing, but “where it falls apart is when that competition overrides necessary cooperation and coordination,” Chin told VOA.
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As the Northern Hemisphere enters a second spring of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts are saying the higher temperatures and sunnier days are unlikely to do much on their own to curtail the spread of the virus.Travel restrictions and mask mandates, along with people’s behavior, have a much bigger impact than the weather, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The report highlights that the steps people can take “far outweigh any external factors, and that’s a really positive thing to know,” said Dev Niyogi, geosciences professor at the University of Texas at Austin, who was not involved in the report but wrote a study published in November with similar findings. “We saw waves of infection rise in warm seasons and warm regions in the first year of the pandemic, and there is no evidence that this couldn’t happen again in the coming year,” Ben Zaitchik, a climate scientist at Johns Hopkins University, said in a statement. Panel to review informationZaitchik chaired an interdisciplinary panel set up by the WMO to make sense of the deluge of research on the issue.When the pandemic began in early 2020, the virus now called SARS-CoV-2 was known simply as the “novel coronavirus.” Scientists could only look to other coronaviruses to guess how this one would behave.Some coronaviruses cause common colds, which rise and fall with the seasons.Scientists do not know exactly why that is, however, the report noted.Some respiratory viruses do not survive as long in a warmer, more humid atmosphere compared with cold, dry winter air. Stronger summer sunlight may zap viruses more with ultraviolet (UV) radiation than on dimmer winter days.In lab studies, SARS-CoV-2 did survive longer in cold, dry conditions with low UV light. But these studies did not show whether those conditions “have a meaningful influence on transmission rates under real-world conditions,” the report said.Affect of weather an unknownOne way the weather could affect how well the virus spreads is by affecting how people behave. Cold weather drives people indoors, where the virus is known to spread more easily. But hot weather and rain can also prompt people to go inside, the report noted.The report also considered how air pollution affected COVID-19, but could not draw firm conclusions on the subject. Some early studies show higher death rates in more polluted air, but they have not been confirmed.While the role of many of these environmental factors are still open questions, the report says the benefit of policies such as travel restrictions and mask mandates “has been clearly established.”Weather and air pollution levels are not a good basis for relaxing these measures, it added.By highlighting how masks and social distancing are more powerful than the weather, the report shows that “for a change, our ability to be exposed or not (to a disease) is in our hands,” Niyogi of the University of Texas said.
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The European Medicines Agency has approved the continued use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the battle to contain the pandemic. The European regulator’s seal of approval comes after several European countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain, stopped using the vaccine following reports that the shots caused blood clots in some vaccine recipients.The agency said in a statement Thursday “the benefits of the vaccine in combating the still widespread threat of COVID-19 (which itself results in clotting problems and may be fatal) continue to outweigh the risk of side effects.”The agency added, “A causal link with the vaccine is not proven but is possible and deserves further analysis.”Meanwhile, the White House announced Thursday that it is sending millions of stockpiled doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Mexico and Canada.The vaccine has not yet been approved for use by U.S. regulators, but it has been approved for use by Mexico and Canada.The announcement comes as the Biden administration wants Mexico’s help in stemming the tide of migrants who are attempting to come into the U.S.Mexico is slated to receive 2.5 million vaccines from the U.S., with Canada receiving 1.5 million.White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the vaccines would be loans to the two U.S. neighbors, with the U.S. eventually being reimbursed with vaccines from the bordering countries.Beginning Friday, several French regions, including Paris, will be under new lockdown orders to contain increasing coronavirus cases.France had 40,000 new cases Wednesday.Prime Minister Jean Castex said Thursday the outbreak in France is “worsening,” adding, “Our responsibility now is that it not get out of control.”On Friday, India’s Union Health Ministry reported an increase in coronavirus infections for a ninth day in a row, with 40,000 new cases in the previous 24-hour period. India has 11.5 million COVID-19 cases.Only two countries have more infections than India — the U.S., with 29.6 million cases, and Brazil, with 11.7 million, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.Johns Hopkins reports there are 121.7 million global coronavirus infections.
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U.S. and Mexican officials deny Washington is attaching any strings to a likely shipment of millions of coronavirus vaccine doses to America’s southern neighbor at a time of heightened migration passing through Mexico en route to the United States.“[P]reventing the spread of a global pandemic is part of one of our diplomatic objectives. Another one of our diplomatic objectives is working to address the challenges at the border. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that those conversations are both ongoing and happening,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki replied when asked about a link between lending vaccine supplies and commitments from Mexico to tighten the flow of migrants heading north.White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing at the White House, March 18, 2021, in Washington.“These are two separate issues, as we look for a more humane migratory system and enhanced cooperation against COVID-19, for the benefit of our two countries and the region,” said a statement from Roberto Velasco, director general for the North America region at Mexico’s foreign ministry.Psaki confirmed Thursday that there are discussions to send 2.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Mexico and 1.5 million to Canada.“We are assessing how we can lend doses,” the press secretary said. “That is our aim. It’s not fully finalized yet.”President Joe Biden, accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris, right, speaks about COVID-19 vaccinations in the East Room of the White House, March 18, 2021, in Washington.In remarks Thursday afternoon, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that the 100 millionth shot of a coronavirus vaccine of his presidency will be administered Friday.The president had previously set a goal of 100 million shots in 100 days. Friday marks the 58th day of his administration.“Scientists have made clear that things may get worse as new variants of this virus spread,” Biden warned. “Getting vaccinated is the best thing we can do to fight back against these variants. Millions of people are vaccinated, we need millions more to be vaccinated.”Biden, in his remarks from the White House East Room, made no mention of sending doses to other countries.Mexican officials say an agreement among the United States, Canada and Mexico is to be announced Friday.Tens of millions of doses of the AstraZeneca-University of Oxford vaccine are in U.S. manufacturing sites. That company’s vaccine has been authorized in numerous countries, but not yet in the United States.Medical workers prepare doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Antwerp, Belgium, March 18, 2021.The AstraZeneca vaccine has received some negative publicity and there is speculation some Americans will hesitate to take that vaccine when it receives expected approval in the United States.Several countries in Europe this week suspended use of the AstraZeneca doses after reports that a few people who received it later developed blot clots and severe bleeding.Europe’s drug regulator Thursday declared the AstraZeneca vaccine safe, adding that a review of the 17 million people who received it found they were actually less likely to develop dangerous clots than others who hadn’t received the vaccine.“It makes sense for the United States to loan its surplus of millions of doses to neighbors where it can be put to good use right away,” said Joshua Busby, assistant professor of public affairs at the University of Texas-Austin.The pending deals with Canada and Mexico, Busby told VOA, do not go far enough because “more countries in the Americas and beyond will need vaccines. But I’m confident that the Biden team is aware of this.”Busby, author of the book “Moral Movements and Foreign Policy,” said he expects in the coming months the Biden administration will make a major effort to increase global vaccine access “because the longer the epidemic persists globally, the greater the risk of variants that could emerge for which the current vaccines are ineffective.”Asked on Thursday about requests from other countries to make U.S. coronavirus vaccine stock available to them, Psaki replied: “Certainly we’ll have those conversations, and we are open to receiving those requests and obviously making considerations.”FILE – In this March 3, 2021, file photo, Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks on foreign policy at the State Department in Washington.”Various countries including China have been engaged in so called vaccine diplomacy,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Japanese reporters on Wednesday. “We shouldn’t tie the distribution or access to vaccines to politics or to geopolitics.”Concerns have been raised that the United States and the rest of the West are losing a public relations battle with China and Russia which, at minimum, are using such vaccine distribution to improve their influence and image in developing countries.“Even as nations understandably prioritize their own citizens for vaccines, including their own most vulnerable, we cannot forget that those with the means should also help other countries in need,” said Curtis Chin, former U.S. ambassador to the Asian Development Bank.Vaccine diplomacy competition between nations to help other countries can be a good thing, but “where it falls apart is when that competition overrides necessary cooperation and coordination,” Chin told VOA.China termed it disappointing that “some in China’s government and state-controlled media might seek to tear down the vaccine development efforts of other nation’s companies and institution as a response to a call for greater transparency and honesty in China when it comes to COVID-19.”Nearly all countries are participating in the COVAX initiative to deliver coronavirus vaccines to poor countries.The administration of then-President Donald Trump last year declined to join the project because of its association with the World Health Organization, which had lost the his support.Since his inauguration in January, Biden has said the United States would join COVAX and play a more active role globally to fight COVID-19.
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NASA calls its latest mission on the surface of Mars a “Wright Brothers moment” of aeronautical pioneering. The ISS gets hardware upgrades, and Russia’s lone, female Cosmonaut now has a Barbie doll in her own image. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space.Camera: NASA/AP/ESA/REUTERS/SPACE X/MATTELProduced by: Arash Arabasadi
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Twitter celebrates its 15th anniversary this month (March 21). With 330 million users around the world, the company that once called itself the free speech wing of the free speech party has been forced to contend with abuses of its platform. Tina Trinh reports.
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The World Health Organization’s (WHO) director for Europe said Thursday that the COVID-19 situation in the continent has taken a step backward, with more people dying from the disease than at this time last year.
During a virtual briefing from his office in Copenhagen, Hans Kluge told reporters he is particularly concerned about central Europe, the Balkans and the Baltic states, where new cases, hospitalizations and deaths are now among the highest in the world.
Kluge said Europe is averaging more than 20,000 deaths from COVID-19 per week, with the overall death toll passing 900,000. He said there were more than 1.2 million new cases reported across Europe last week, the third consecutive week that infection numbers have increased.
Kluge said 46 countries in the region have administered more than 107 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine, with 3% of the population in 45 countries having received a completed vaccination series. He said while that represents progress, it is not enough to significantly slow the spread of the virus.
“Let there be no doubt about it, vaccination by itself — particularly given the varied uptake in countries — does not replace public health and social measures,” Kluge said.
He said 21 European nations are gradually easing COVID-19-related restrictions based on the assumption that increasing vaccinations would immediately lead to an improved epidemiological situation. Kluge added, “Such assumptions are too early to make.”
Kluge also weighed in on the AstraZeneca vaccine controversy, in which several countries have suspended its use after reports of patients developing blood clots. He reiterated a statement from WHO officials Wednesday saying the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh its risks, and it should be used.
Europe’s drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency, though it issued a similar recommendation earlier this week, is expected to announce the results of a review of the vaccine and the blood clot cases later Thursday.
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Leading United Nations agencies are calling for urgent action to combat ageism, which they say harms the well-being of older people and national economies. The World Health Organization, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs and U.N. Population Fund have released the first global report on ageism.A survey of more than 83,000 people in 57 countries finds 1 in every 2 people holds moderately or highly ageist attitudes. Those beliefs are based on stereotypical ideas about older people drummed into them at an early age.Alana Officer is the World Health Organization’s unit head for demographic change and healthy aging. She says biases start early in life and are reinforced over time. She says ageism is pervasive — in health care systems, in workplaces and in the media.Why Aging of America Poses Huge Risk to US Economy
Americans are getting older and family size is shrinking, which means the nation will have fewer working-age adults going forward."I think it is a cause for concern if we are calibrating our expectations of having a strongly growing population," says David Kelly, chief global strategist for JP Morgan Asset Management. "If you're investing in things like the housing industry or the auto industry and you need an ever-growing population, then you have to adjust to a world in which the U.S. population is…
She says ageism leads to poorer physical and mental health and to a reduced quality of life for older people. Ageism, she says, determines who receives medical procedures and treatment and who does not. She says age discrimination denies older people jobs and job training.“Half of the world’s population are ageist against older people, which rates much higher in low- and lower middle-income countries …The report indicates that you are likely to be ageist against older people if you are younger, you are male, you are fearful of dying or you are less educated,” Officer said.The report finds women are more likely to be targets of ageism than men. It says younger people also suffer from ageism across many areas, such as employment, health, housing and politics.Vania de la Fuente-Nunez is technical officer in the WHO’s Demographic Change and Healthy Ageing Department. She says the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed how prevalent ageism is against both the young and the old.“Older people have been systematically and homogenously framed as vulnerable and dependent and younger people have been stereotyped as invincible and selfish, which of course fails to recognize the great diversity that we see in both younger people and in older people,” Fuente-Nunez said.She says the stereotypical portrayal in the media is both inaccurate and harmful.The report finds the economic cost of ageism is huge. A 2020 study in the United States shows ageism led to excess annual costs of $63 billion for a broad range of health conditions.Another study in Australia suggests the national economy would be boosted by $37 billion annually if 5% more people aged 55 or older were employed.
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Twitter celebrates its 15th anniversary this month (March 21). With 330 million users around the world, the company that once called itself the free speech wing of the free speech party has been forced to contend with abuses of its platform. Tina Trinh reports.
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More than 650-million copies of Dr. Seuss books have sold around the world since author Theodor Seuss Geisel published his first title in the 1930s. The prolific author of books like “The Cat in the Hat” is credited with helping millions of children learn to read. But this month, Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced it will no longer publish six of the celebrated author’s books due to racist and insensitive imagery. VOA’s Dora Mekouar has our report. But first, a warning the story you are about to watch contains images that many may find offensive.
Camera: Griffin Harrington
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The European Union’s medications watchdog is due to release initial results Thursday of its investigation into whether there is a connection between the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and cases of recipients developing blood clots.The European Medicines Agency has been examining 30 reported blood coagulation disorders among the 5 million people in the EU who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine. Among the considerations is whether that rate is more common than the incidence found in the general population.The World Health Organization said Wednesday it is conducting its own assessment of the latest available safety data for the vaccine, but that at this time the agency considers the benefits of the vaccine outweigh its risks.“In extensive vaccination campaigns, it is routine for countries to signal potential adverse events following immunization,” the WHO said in a statement. “This does not necessarily mean that the events are linked to vaccination itself, but it is good practice to investigate them.”India said Wednesday it would continue using the AstraZeneca vaccine.Concerns about the vaccine prompted a number of EU countries to suspend its use, including Germany, France, Italy and Spain.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed confidence in AstraZeneca on Wednesday, but continued criticism of the company’s pace of vaccine deliveries.“AstraZeneca has unfortunately under-produced and under-delivered, and this painfully, of course, reduced the speed of the vaccination campaign,” she told reporters.Von der Leyen said the EU is targeting vaccinating 70% of all adults by September.
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Australia is beginning an urgent rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations in the Torres Strait in northern Queensland because of a sharp increase in infections in neighboring Papua New Guinea, a situation Health Minister Greg Hunt called a “clear and present danger” to both nations.Papua New Guinea, a South Pacific nation of more than 7 million people, is Australia’s nearest neighbor.It’s facing a public health crisis, and in Canberra, Australia Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton is increasingly worried. Some of Australia’s most northerly islands are just a few kilometers from Papua New Guinea, raising concern the virus could spread easily and quickly across the border.“We do not want the virus sneaking across what is obviously a very small area, and we do not want people in north Queensland, particularly Indigenous communities, facing the incursion of that disease,” he said.Officially, Papua New Guinea has recorded more than 2,300 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began. More than 25 people have died, according to research from Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.Australia’s Chief medical officer, professor Paul Kelly, believes the real situation is far worse.“We are seeing a large number of health care workers on the front lines in Papua New Guinea now coming down with COVID-19,” he said. “These are all the signs that there is a major epidemic in the community. They do not have the resources for mass testing as we do here in Australia, and so any number you see coming out of Papua New Guinea in terms of cases and even deaths will be a major underestimate.”Australia is sending 8,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to its northern neighbor, along with vital supplies for health workers. It is asking the European Union to provide another 1 million doses to help Papua New Guinea. Australian doctors are also starting an urgent vaccination program to protect islanders on the Australian side of the Torres Strait that separates the two nations.The opposition Labor party in Canberra believes Australia has been too slow to react.In Papua New Guinea, Prime Minister James Marape has said COVID-19 has “broken loose” and he warned that hospitals would soon be overwhelmed.His country occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea between the Coral Sea and the South Pacific Ocean and lies to the east of Indonesia and to the north of Australia. Agriculture provides a subsistence livelihood for an estimated 85% of the population.
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