• Africa Wants Debt Swaps To Support Countries’ Defences Against Pandemics

    African leaders want “explicit commitments” to debt relief and debt restructuring mechanisms, including debt swaps to support country-level pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPPR) in the pandemic agreement. This is one of the continent’s demands, made on the eve of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) pandemic agreement talks, following a high-level meeting of African health […]

  • German coup suspect targeted for his pandemic beliefs, lawyer says

    STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) -The lead suspect in the case against nine men accused of plotting a violent coup against the German state was targeted by prosecutors for his role in organising demonstrations against pandemic-era restrictions, his lawyer told a court on Monday. The defendant, Marco van H., was a victim of the assumption that anybody who disagreed with COVID-19 social distancing measures was a dangerous extremist, his lawyer argued. "This is against the people who organised...

    • CP24

    It could take years to catch up on childhood vaccinations in Ontario post-pandemic

    Ontario is still playing catch-up on routine vaccinations that many children missed during the pandemic and public health officials are warning that it could take years to solve the problem. “What we see around the world is when the vaccination rates drop, you have a resurgence of vaccine preventable disease,” Dr. Anna Banerji, a Toronto-based pediatric infectious disease specialist, told CTV News Toronto. “If someone had measles and they were with a group of unvaccinated kids, then for...

  • From birds, to cattle, to us? Could bird flu be the next pandemic? – podcast

    As bird flu is confirmed in 33 cattle herds across eight US states, Ian Sample talks to virologist Dr Ed Hutchinson of Glasgow University about why this development has taken scientists by surprise, and how prepared we are for the possibility it might start spreading among humans Guardian reporting on this topic Continue reading

  • Guardian: Flu pandemic is likely to be the next global health crisis

    Shafaqna Science- The WHO is worried about the spread of the avian strain of the flu. According to The Guardian, leading scientists say that the flu is the pathogen most likely to trigger a new pandemic. An international survey will be published next weekend. It will show that 57% of

  • ASEAN, Japan, China, S Korea ensure funds for pandemics, disasters

    The Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus Japan, China and South Korea on Friday agreed to provide each other funds in times of emergency such as pandemics and natural disasters, building on their existing currency swap arrangements for the U.S. dollar and its counterparts. The finance ministers and central bank

  • Food delivery services facing hard times in post-pandemic environment

    The spread of Uber Eats and similar food delivery services, even before the coronavirus pandemic, had a pronounced impact on food and beverage services. For instance, experimental restaurants with no tables or chairs began springing up, relying entirely on customer pickups and home delivery. Then COVID hit in the spring of

  • States move to oppose WHO’s ‘pandemic treaty,’ assert states’ rights

    Utah and Florida passed laws intended to prevent the WHO from overriding states’ authority on matters of public health policy, and Louisiana and Oklahoma have legislation set to take effect soon pending final votes.

    • Vox

    Bird flu: What we know (and don’t) about its potential to cause a human pandemic

    Last year, when an H5N1 avian flu virus — commonly known as bird flu — was spilling over from bird populations into a variety of wild mammals, Seema Lakdawala, a virologist and influenza A transmission specialist at Emory University, was “not overly concerned” about human risk. We don’t have “much of an interface with seals or with foxes, for that matter, or polar bears,” she says. But when it comes to cows, that interface is vast. People on dairy farms regularly interact with cows and their...

  • Threat level for public officials drops to ‘low’ after pandemic-era surge

    The threats faced by Canada’s public officials have ebbed since the pandemic to the point attacks are now considered "unlikely," according to documents obtained by Global News.

  • CDC: U.S. Birth Rate at Record Low After Pandemic Boost

    Fertility rates in the United States hit a record low in 2023, according to provisional data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday.

  • Arizona Mexican Mafia Members Indicted for Stealing Pandemic Unemployment Money

    Thirty alleged members of the Arizona Mexican Mafia were indicted on Friday for their role in an alleged conspiracy to steal pandemic unemployment money. The Arizona Attorney General's office confirmed Friday that a state grand jury "returned a 50-count indictment against members and associates of the Arizona Mexican Mafia," with a total of 30 individual defendants.