Category:

Facts

Latest

Facebook removes 7 mn posts for sharing false information on Covid-19

The world’s biggest social media company removed about 22.5 million posts containing hate speech on its flagship app in the second quarter, up from 9.6 million in the first quarter. It also deleted 8.7 million posts connected to extremist organizations, compared with 6.3 million in the prior period.

Facebook said it relied more heavily on automation technology for reviewing content during the months of April, May and June as it had fewer reviewers at its offices due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

read more

Last doctor standing: Pandemic pushes Indian hospital to brink

Interviews with dozens of staff, patients and relatives at the hospital paint a picture of conditions that might shock those accustomed to images of hermetically sealed ICUs during the pandemic, with relatives not even allowed to touch their dying loved ones.

They tell of a chronic shortage of manpower and resources such as blood and medicines. All 37 beds in the ICU are occupied; on the floor next to one of the beds, a relative sits on a brightly colored blanket he has brought from home, a water bottle by his side.

read more

Bayer takes on Astellas in purchase of experimental menopause relief

Bayer is seeking to revive its women’s healthcare business as cheaper copied versions have lowered its sales of birth control pills.

It is close to settling injury claims over inserted birth control device Essure for more than 1 billion euros.

“We are one of the leaders in the area of women’s health… resulting in synergies on many levels, starting with product development, but also commercialisation,” Oelrich said.

read more

Jobless youth risk lifelong ‘scarring’ from pandemic – ILO

“The COVID-19 pandemic has a systematic, deep and disproportionate impact on young people,” Sangheon Lee, director of ILO’s employment policy department, told a news briefing.

Evidence from previous crises suggests young people who lack access to job opportunities when entering the labour market face ongoing consequences throughout their working lives, he said. “That is what we call ‘scarring effects’.”

Young women and youths in low-income countries are among the hardest hit, he said.

read more

Scientists develop low-cost way to test mask against viral droplets

According to the researchers from Duke University in the US, the preliminary, proof-of-principle findings suggest that professional-grade N95 masks, surgical or polypropylene masks, and handmade cotton masks may all block much of the droplet-spray produced when wearers speak.

However, they said bandanas and neck fleeces likely provide little protection, as the scientists observed that more droplets are expelled through these materials.

read more

Why the Coronavirus Is More Likely to ‘Superspread’ Than the Flu

“There’s this small percentage of people who appear to infect a lot of people,” said Dr. Joshua Schiffer, a physician and mathematical modeling expert who studies infectious diseases at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Estimates vary from population to population, but they consistently show a striking skew: Between 10 and 20 percent of coronavirus cases may seed 80 percent of new infections. Other respiratory diseases, like the flu, are far more egalitarian in their spread.

read more