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Google’s ‘Nest Hub’ screen wants to snoop on your sleep from your bedside

Google says it honed the technology by studying 15,000 sleeping people over a combined 110,000 nights.

That kind of help may sound appealing to the millions of people who have trouble sleeping. But the feature may also raise privacy concerns _ especially given Google’s long history of online surveillance to collect personal details such as interests, habits and whereabouts to help sell the digital ads that generate most of its revenue.

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Coronavirus variants likely evolved inside people with weak immune systems

If true, the idea has implications for vaccination programs, particularly in countries that have not yet begun to immunize their populations. People with compromised immune systems — such as cancer patients — should be among the first to be vaccinated, said Dr. Adam Lauring, a virus expert and infectious disease physician at the University of Michigan. The faster that group is protected, the lower the risk that their bodies turn into incubators for the world’s next supercharged mutant.

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British Airways calls for vaccinated people to travel without restrictions

He wants government to give its backing to health apps that can be used to verify a person’s negative COVID-19 test results and vaccination status. Apps will be key to facilitating travel at scale, the industry has said. Airline staff checking paperwork takes 20 minutes per passenger and is not practical if large numbers of passengers return.

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Facebook finds social media users responsible for spreading vaccine doubt

“Public health experts have made it clear that tackling vaccine hesitancy is a top priority in the COVID response, which is why we’ve launched a global campaign that has already connected 2 billion people to reliable information from health experts and remove false claims about COVID and vaccines. This ongoing work will help to inform our efforts,” Facebook representative Dani Lever said. 

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Covid vax linked to 30% reduction in transmission, says UK study

Meanwhile, where healthcare workers had received a second dose of the vaccine at least 14 days before, their household members had a rate of Covid-19 which was at least 54 per cent lower than household members where healthcare workers had not been vaccinated, said the study.

The latest study came as the UK government said it will discuss with the European Union countries about the possibility of creating a vaccine passport, which will allow those who have had the jab to travel abroad more freely.

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‘No evidence’ of blood clot risk from Covid-19 vaccine, says AstraZeneca

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said Thursday that it did not recommend suspending use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, stating that there is “no indication” the vaccine caused the blood clots in the people who received the vaccine. The agency told countries they could keep rolling out the shot while investigations take place.

“The vaccine’s benefits continue to outweigh its risks and the vaccine can continue to be administered while the investigation of cases of thromboembolic events is ongoing,” the agency said as quoted by CNN.

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