Pakistan has detected its first case of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Official said Thursday the infection was found in a 57-year-old unvaccinated woman in Karachi, the country’s largest city and capital of the southern Sindh province. Local media reported the patient, who was isolating at home after being discharged from the hospital a…
read moreNew Zealand’s government believes it has come up with a unique plan to end tobacco smoking — a lifetime ban for those 14 or younger. Under a new law the government announced Thursday and plans to pass next year, the minimum age to buy cigarettes would keep rising year after year. That means, in theory…
read moreU.S. health authorities on Wednesday authorized the use of synthetic antibodies developed by AstraZeneca to prevent COVID-19 infections in people who react badly to vaccines. It was the first time the Food and Drug Administration has given emergency authorization for such a purely preventative treatment. The FDA warned the drug Evusheld is “not a substitute…
read moreThe Senate narrowly approved a resolution Wednesday to nullify the Biden administration’s requirement that businesses with 100 or more workers have their employees be vaccinated against the coronavirus or submit to weekly testing. The vote was 52-48. The measure now goes to the Democratic-led House, which is unlikely to take up the measure, which means…
read moreMore than 40 people in the U.S. have been found to be infected with the omicron variant so far, and more than three-quarters of them had been vaccinated, the chief of the CDC said Wednesday. But she said nearly all of them were only mildly ill. In an interview with The Associated Press, Dr. Rochelle…
read moreThe World Health Organization says new data is emerging every day about the potential impact of the new omicron variant on the coronavirus pandemic, but that it is premature to draw conclusions about the severity of the infection. Since omicron was detected two weeks ago in South Africa, it has spread rapidly to 57 countries.…
read moreU.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday to “leverage” the federal government’s scale and purchasing power to make it carbon neutral, cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 65% in less than a decade and establish an all-electric fleet of vehicles. The order will cut emissions in federal operations as part of the government’s effort…
read moreA Japanese billionaire and his producer rocketed to space Wednesday as the first self-paying space tourists in more than a decade. Fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa and producer Yozo Hirano, who plans to film his mission, blasted off for the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft along with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. The trio lifted off as scheduled at…
read moreUnited Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was exposed to the coronavirus Tuesday by a U.N. official who already had COVID-19 and is isolating for the next few days, diplomatic sources said. Guterres, 72, has canceled his upcoming in-person engagements, sources told AFP. The U.N. chief was to be the guest of honor of the U.N. Correspondents…
read moreThe omicron variant is making headlines as the world’s newest strain of coronavirus. In the United States, where nearly 200,000 new coronavirus cases were reported Tuesday by Johns Hopkins University, top public health officials warn Americans to stay vigilant even as vaccination rates rise and travelers from countries where the variant was first detected are…
read moreAs South Africa struggles with a new surge of COVID-19 infections due to the omicron variant of the coronavirus, a new study suggests omicron could be less severe than other forms of the virus. The New York Times reports doctors at the Steve Biko Academic and Tshwane District Hospital Complex in Pretoria observed 42 patients…
read moreMore than 5 million people worldwide have had their lives cut short by COVID-19, and the number keeps rising as many countries experience another wave of transmission. The best defense against this disease is a vaccine, experts say. Since the outbreak was first reported in 2019, the best scientists all over the world have been working on a vaccine to…
read moreMore than 5 million people worldwide have had their lives cut short by COVID-19, and the number keeps rising. The best defense against this virus is a vaccine. VOA’s Carol Pearson explains one approach in making a vaccine that’s been effective against polio, measles, Ebola and a host of other viruses. …
read moreThree 2021 Nobel Prize laureates said Monday that climate change is the biggest threat facing the world — yet they remain optimistic — as this year’s winners began receiving their awards at scaled-down local ceremonies adapted for pandemic times. For a second year, COVID-19 has scuttled the traditional formal banquet in Stockholm attended by winners…
read moreThe Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of the U.S. space agency, NASA, says it has new software that will allow its Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) to better assess potential threats posed by asteroids that can come close to Earth. In a press release on Monday, NASA astronomers said they have upgraded their impact…
read moreRick Levin is trying to keep the waters of Chesapeake Bay clean by building oyster reefs. VOA’s Zdenko Novacki visits him in Pasadena, Maryland, to learn how oysters filter water and about the benefits of oyster reefs for the environment and other marine life. Camera: Philip Alexiou, Zdenko Novacki Produced by: Zdenko Novacki …
read moreIn early 2020, a team of scientists from the University of Vermont, Tufts University and Harvard University took stem cells from African clawed frog embryos and turned them into tiny living robots. As if that isn’t amazing enough, then something unexpected happened. Maxim Moskalkov has the story. …
read moreThe World Health Organization reports a significant rise in malaria cases and deaths in 2020 due to COVID-19 disruptions in malaria services. Over the past two decades, global malaria death rates have been cut in half, saving the lives of 10.6 million people. New data gathered by the WHO show COVID-19 has stopped and even…
read moreAmerica’s winter wonderland is starting out this season as anything but traditional. The calendar says December, but for much of the country, temperatures beckon for sandals. Umbrellas, if not arks, are needed in the Pacific Northwest, while snow shovels are gathering cobwebs in the Rockies. Meteorologists attribute the latest batch of record-shattering weather extremes to…
read moreCameroon has begun a measles vaccination drive on its northern border with Nigeria after several dozen children were found with the infection at a demobilization center. Cameroon says most of those infected are children of former fighters fleeing Boko Haram terrorism. A mother comforts her 13-month-old baby in Kanuri, a language spoken in Meri, a…
read moreWhite House Chief Medical Adviser Anthony Fauci said Friday it should be about two weeks before scientists fully understand how transmissible and severe the omicron variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 truly is, and until then, people need to get vaccinations and booster shots. During a briefing by the White House COVID-19 Response Team,…
read moreThe World Health Organization has recognized Botswana for its efforts to prevent the transmission of HIV from expectant mothers to unborn children. Officials say no children born to HIV-positive mothers this year had the virus. WHO awarded Botswana the ‘silver tier’ status this week; The silver tier certification is given to countries that have lowered the mother-to-child HIV transmission rate to under five percent and provided prenatal care and anti-retroviral treatment…
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