CANBERRA – Researchers from Australia’s national science agency have developed a technology that could eliminate the need to refrigerate vaccines. In a study published on Tuesday, the team from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) found that encapsulating live virus vaccines in metal organic frameworks (MOFs) protects their integrity for up to 12 … Read more
A five-day anti-polio campaign begins in six southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday, Radio Pakistan reported. According to Coordinator Emergency Operation Center Abdul Basit, these districts include Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Tank, Dera Ismail Khan, South and North Waziristan tribal districts. During the five-day campaign, five thousand seven hundred mobile teams of the health department … Read more
Geneva – Biases embedded in artificial intelligence systems increasingly used in healthcare risk deepening discrimination against older people, the World Health Organisation warned. AI technologies hold enormous potential for improving care for older people, but they also carry significant risk, the UN health agency said in a policy brief. “Encoding of stereotypes, prejudice, or discrimination … Read more
GENEVA – Six African countries have been chosen to establish their own mRNA vaccine production, the World Health Organization said Friday, with the continent largely shut out of access to Covid jabs. Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia were selected as the first recipients of technology from the WHO’s global mRNA vaccine hub, in a … Read more
ULAANBAATAR: Mongolia has reopened its borders to fully vaccinated international travellers, state media reported, rolling back coronavirus curbs that had kept the country isolated for two years. The nation has implemented some of the world’s toughest anti-Covid measures since the start of the pandemic, largely sealing off its borders and imposing several lockdowns. The curbs … Read more
The most awaited global sporting event, FIFA World Cup is just around the corner and the football enthusiasts cannot wait for the first whistle to blow in Qatar. As a result, according to FIFA, fans have sought 17 million tickets for this year’s World Cup, making it more than five times over-subscribed. Higher prices being … Read more
BEIJING – While Nato and the Western countries send more troops to the borders of Russia and rumours of war proliferate in the Western media, reminding one of the gladiatorial nature of the ancient Roman Empire, in Beijing the humanist spirit of the ancient Greeks is being revived, in the Beijing Winter Olympics, that successor … Read more
GENEVA: The WHO Wednesday urged rich countries to pay their fair share of the money needed for its plan to conquer Covid-19 by contributing $16 billion as a matter of urgency. The World Health Organization said the rapid cash injection into its Access to Covid Tools Accelerator could finish off Covid as a global health emergency this year. The … Read more
GENEVA – The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday called on countries that are starting to lift COVID-19 measures to do so in a steady and slow way, as recent data have shown a sharp increase in coronavirus-related deaths around the world. “Since the Omicron variant was first identified just 10 weeks ago, almost 90 … Read more
KARACHI: Despite improvement in business activities after complete lockdown, Pakistanis remain pessimistic about the fate of the country’s economy with a continuous hike in inflation, high key policy rates, and burgeoning import bill and twin deficits. At the start of 2022, the world was optimistic that the development of pioneering vaccines would restrict the global … Read more
GENEVA: The World Health Organization has warned that the Covid-19 pandemic is far from over, as France, Germany and Brazil posted new records of infections in the past 24 hours. The highly transmissible Omicron strain has spread unabated around the world, pushing some governments to impose fresh measures while speeding up the rollout of vaccine … Read more
Brussels – The World Health Organization has warned that more than half of the people in its European region will be infected with Covid-19 in the next two months as several countries report record numbers of new cases. The region, which covers 53 countries in Europe and Central Asia, reported more than 7 million new … Read more
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 continues to strike the people as Pakistan has reported 1,572 cases during the last 24 hours which is the first time since October 2, 2021, that the country has recorded more than 1,500 positive cases in a single day. According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), some 49,658 … Read more
PHNOM PENH, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) — The confirmed cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Cambodia have risen to 94 after nine new infections were detected, Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said here on Wednesday. “Nine new Omicron cases were confirmed by the Pasteur Institute in Cambodia (on Tuesday evening), and all of them … Read more
As the country braces for the fifth wave of coronavirus and the rise in Omicron cases, Pakistan on Monday reported 708 Covid cases—the highest since October. According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), some 45,643 tests were conducted across the country during the last 24 hours. Out of them, 708 samples returned positive … Read more
Omicron still poses “very high” risk and could overwhelm healthcare systems, the WHO warned this week, as the highly transmissible coronavirus variant fueled record outbreaks in many countries. Case numbers have shot up 11 per cent globally in the last week, forcing governments from China to Germany and France to find a difficult balance between … Read more
SYDNEY: The world prepared to usher in 2022 on Friday after another tumultuous and pandemic-ridden year capped by new restrictions, soaring case numbers, and a slight glimmer of hope for better times ahead. The past 12 months saw a new US president and a new Adele album, the first spectator-free Olympics, and dreams of democracy … Read more
PARIS: A Covid “tsunami” threatens to overwhelm healthcare systems, the WHO said Wednesday, as record surges fuelled by the Omicron variant dampened New Year celebrations around the world once again. Governments are walking a tightrope between anti-virus restrictions and the need to keep societies and economies open, as the highly transmissible variant drove cases to levels never … Read more
BERLIN, Dec 28, 2021 (AFP) – The WHO warned Tuesday that the Omicron coronavirus variant could lead to overwhelmed healthcare systems even though early studies suggest it leads to milder disease, as China and Germany brought back tough restrictions to stamp out new infection surges. China put hundreds of thousands more people under lockdown, while infections hit … Read more
UNITED NATIONS: The coronavirus pandemic is likely to halt two decades of global progress towards Universal Health Coverage, according to reports released on Sunday from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Bank, which reveal more than half a billion people are being pushed into extreme poverty because they have to pay for health … Read more
GENEVA, Dec 3, 2021 (AFP) – The Omicron variant has been detected in 38 countries but no deaths have yet been reported, the WHO said on Friday, as authorities worldwide rushed to stem the spread of the heavily mutated Covid-19 strain. The United States and Australia became the latest countries to confirm their first locally transmitted … Read more
WASHINGTON, Dec 3, 2021 (AFP) – The United States and Australia announced their first locally transmitted cases of the Omicron variant as authorities worldwide rushed on Friday to stem the spread of the heavily mutated Covid-19 strain. The World Health Organization has warned it could take weeks to determine whether Omicron is more transmissible and whether it causes … Read more
JOHANNESBURG, The newly-discovered Omicron variant is likely to fuel a surge in South Africa’s coronavirus cases that could see daily infections treble this week, a top epidemiologist warned Monday. Health monitors reported over 2,800 new infections on Sunday, up from a daily average of 500 in the previous week and 275 the week before. “We can … Read more
PARIS: Nearly half the world’s population suffer from poor nutrition linked to too much or not enough food, a global assessment said Tuesday with wide-ranging impacts on health and the planet. The Global Nutrition Report (GNR), a yearly survey and analysis of the latest data on nutrition and related health issues, found that 48 per cent … Read more
WASHINGTON: The first case of Covid-19 identified in Wuhan, China and presented as such by the World Health Organization was actually days later than previously believed and at an animal market, a top scientist said in the journal Science Thursday. Rather than the original patient being a man who had never been to the Wuhan market where … Read more
GENEVA: Europe reported almost two million new Covid-19 infections last week, the largest weekly case count in the region since the start of the pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said here on Friday. There were also almost 27,000 coronavirus-related deaths in Europe, more than half of all Covid-19 deaths in the world last week, … Read more
ABIDJAN: A ground-breaking vaccine against malaria has stoked hopes in Africa of rolling back a disease that claims hundreds of thousands of lives a year, many of them youngsters. Since 2019, Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have immunised more than 800,000 children under a pilot programme using the RTS,S vaccine. It is the first to show significant protection … Read more
COPENHAGEN: The rising number of cases of Covid-19 in Europe is of “grave concern” and the region could see another half a million deaths by early next year, the World Health Organisation warned on Thursday. With 78 million cases in the WHO’s European region — which spans 53 countries and territories and includes several nations in Central Asia — … Read more
