Tag Archives: health

Islamabad, Pakistan | AFP | With porous borders, creaking hospitals and large illiterate populations, Afghanistan and Pakistan face a potentially devastating health crisis after the new coronavirus erupted in neighbouring Iran. Islamabad has closed official border crossings while Kabul has suspended all travel to the Islamic republic, which has reported …

It kills bacteria in a new way | THE INDEPENDENT | A new group of antibiotics with a unique approach to attacking bacteria has been discovered, making it a promising clinical candidate in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. The newly-found corbomycin and the lesser-known complestatin have a never-before-seen way to …

Manila, Philippines | AFP | Filipinos marked Ash Wednesday with a bow and a sprinkling of dust instead of a cross being daubed on their foreheads, as Asia’s bastion of Catholicism guarded against the spread of coronavirus. Leaders of the Philippine church urged priests to adapt the rite in order …

Tehran, Iran | AFP | Iran’s deputy health minister confirmed on Tuesday that he has tested positive for the new coronavirus, amid a major outbreak in the Islamic republic. Iraj Harirchi coughed occasionally and wiped sweat from his brow repeatedly during a news conference in Tehran on Monday with government …

Beijing, China | AFP |  China’s top legislative committee on Monday began deliberating a proposal to ban all trade and consumption of wild animals, a practice believed responsible for the country’s deadly coronavirus outbreak. The official Xinhua news agency said the proposal was submitted to the Standing Committee of the …

Paris, France | AFP | The sharp rise in cases and the geographical spread of the coronavirus outside China confirm WHO fears over dealing with the crisis, experts warned Sunday as they appealed for ever greater vigilance. “There has been a profound shift in the direction that COVID-19 (new coronavirus) …

Paris, France | AFP | Researchers want to know everything about the latest coronavirus, from its mortality rate to its origins, incubation period and much more, and they still have blanks to fill in. – Mortality rate? – COVID-19, as the disease is known, is more lethal than the average …

  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | The World Health Organization warned Saturday that African health systems were ill-equipped to respond to the deadly coronavirus outbreak should cases start to proliferate on the continent. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on African Union member states “to come together to be …

What it means for the pandemic | LINDA-GAIL BEKKER | The discovery of a rare new strain of HIV for the first time in nearly 20 years recently made headlines around the world. The big question is what the discovery means for the overall response to the HIV epidemic. A …

Travel restrictions on China fuelling ‘panic:’ ambassador Brussels, Belgium | AFP |  Travel restrictions imposed on China over its virus outbreak COVID-19 are only fuelling “panic” and threatening attempts to resume business, the country’s ambassador to the EU warned on Tuesday. Envoy Zhang Ming also told a media conference in …