Category:

Disaster & Management

India ‘flying blind’, needs better data collection to control Covid-19

India’s death registration data was patchy even before the virus struck. The vast majority of deaths, especially in rural villages, take place at home and routinely go unregistered. For others the cause of death listed is often anodyne — old age or heart attack. Experts believe that only between 20 per cent-30 per cent of all deaths in India are properly medically certified.

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WHO says China team interviewed Wuhan scientists over virus origins

The results of the WHO investigation are keenly awaited by scientists and governments around the world, none more so than Washington, which lobbied hard for the mission. The
“The team had extensive discussions with Chinese counterparts and received updates on epidemiological studies, biologic and genetic analysis and animal health research,” Christian Lindmeier told reporters, saying these included video discussions with Wuhan virologists and scientists.
Trump administration accuses the WHO of being China-centric and plans to leave the agency over its handling of the pandemic.

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Anxious WHO implores world to ‘do it all’ in long war on COVID-19

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and WHO emergencies head Mike Ryan exhorted nations to rigorously enforce health measures such as mask-wearing, social distancing, hand-washing and testing.
“There are concerns that we may not have a vaccine that may work, or its protection could be for just a few months, not more. But until we finish the clinical trials, we will not know,” he said

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COVID-19 long-term toll signals billions in healthcare costs ahead

Bruce Lee of the City University of New York (CUNY) Public School of Health estimated that if 20% of the U.S. population contracts the virus, the one-year post-hospitalization costs would be at least $50 billion, before factoring in longer-term care for lingering health problems. Without a vaccine, if 80% of the population became infected, that cost would balloon to $204 billion.

Some countries hit hard by the new coronavirus – including the United States, Britain and Italy – are considering whether these long-term effects can be considered a “post-COVID syndrome,” according to Reuters interviews with about a dozen doctors and health economists.

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Moral challenges ahead of developing & distributing a COVID-19 vaccine 

The newly published “Ethics and Pandemics,” an anthology edited by philosophy professor Meredith Schwartz of Ryerson University in Toronto, presents contrasting views of academics, doctors and commentators along with a series of impossibly difficult case studies. The scientific, economic and political choices involve moral issues that have divided ethicists for centuries.

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Australia’s Victoria declares disaster, sets curfew to curb COVID-19

“The current rules have avoided thousands and thousands of cases each day, and then thousands of people in hospital and many more tragedies than we have seen. But it is not working fast enough,” Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews told a televised briefing.

A curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. every day will be implemented from Sunday evening in Melbourne, barring the nearly five million people in the city from leaving their houses except for work or to receive or give care.

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Bihar flood situation worsens, 53.67 lakh people across 14 districts affected

With 16.89 lakh flood-affected people, Muzaffarpur is the worst-hit district, followed by 12.40 lakh people in Darbhanga and 8.09 lakh in East Champaran.

More than half of the affected populace live in Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga districts.

Of the 13 deaths in flood-related incidents, Darbhanga registered the highest seven casualties, followed by four in West Champaran and two in Muzaffarpur.

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U.S.makes deal for 100 million doses of coronavirus vaccine, deaths expected to rise

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control on Friday forecast between 168,000 and 182,000 total fatalities by August 22, predicting that deaths will rise fastest in Alabama, Kentucky, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Tennessee and Washington state.
Coronavirus deaths in the United States are rising at their fastest rate since early June. Roughly one American died about every minute from COVID-19 on Wednesday.

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