Germany has pledged an unprecedented € 500 million to the World Health Organization for 2020, making this the “highest amount” ever provided by the country, said Jens Spahn, German Minister of Health at an impromptu WHO press briefing on Thursday.  The German contribution, equal to about 20% of WHO’s annual budget, plugs the major funding […] Continue reading ->
Africa must tackle both the climate and coronavirus crises at the same time, according to a new paper published by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), joining other regional agencies such as the European Commission and the World Health Organization in calling for a “green recovery” from COVID-19. The paper, Climate Change and Development […] Continue reading ->
About 1.7 billion people, or 22% of the world’s population, has at least one underlying health condition that puts them at increased risk of becoming seriously ill with COVID-19, according to a new modelling study published in Lancet Global Health.   Based on the new assessment, about 4% of the world’s population, in total, is at […] Continue reading ->
A major clinical trial ongoing in the United Kingdom has fingered dexamethasone, a common anti-inflammatory drug used to treat arthritis and asthma, as the “first” treatment to actually reduce mortality among COVID-19 patients – by as much as one-third.  The preliminary findings were announced by the trial’s principal investigators, Martin Landray and Peter Horby, both […] Continue reading ->
Preliminary results from a Swiss study found that the prevalence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in children ages 5 to 9 years old is 68% lower than the seroprevalence in adults aged 20 to 49 years old.  The study, titled SEROCoV-POP, reported seroprevalence results from almost 2800 participants followed from April […] Continue reading ->
Switzerland is now the world’s safest country since the pandemic started, followed by Germany and Israel, according to a Regional Safety Assessment of 200 territories and regions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, Asia and Europe were the regions most successful in fighting the coronavirus although there were wide variations within Europe in terms of how countries […] Continue reading ->
A novel study published in preprint form by Harvard University suggests that cases of the novel SARS-COV-2 virus that has caused a global pandemic may have begun appearing in Wuhan hospitals as early as August 2019 – several months before China officially admitted that a new coronavirus was circulating. The study Tuesday found an unusual […] Continue reading ->