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Unite human,animal and environmental health to prevent the next pandemic: UN Report

The report identifies seven trends driving the increasing emergence of zoonotic diseases, including increased demand for animal protein; a rise in intense and unsustainable farming; the increased use and exploitation of wildlife; and the climate crisis. The report finds that Africa in particular, which has experienced and responded to a number of zoonotic epidemics including most recently, to Ebola outbreaks, could be a source of important solutions to quell future outbreaks.

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WHO acknowledges ‘evidence emerging’ of airborne spread of COVID-19

Speaking at Tuesday’s briefing in Geneva, Benedetta Allegranzi, the WHO’s technical lead for infection prevention and control, said there was evidence emerging of airborne transmission of the coronavirus, but that it was not definitive.
“…The possibility of airborne transmission in public settings – especially in very specific conditions, crowded, closed, poorly ventilated settings that have been described, cannot be ruled out,” she said.

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Centre urges states,UTs to effectively address mental health issues

In a letter addressed to Chief Secretaries and the administrators of all states and UTs, Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan said that psychosocial concerns cut across age groups and segments of the population and that it is imperative that all the care providers including volunteers, police and all frontline workers are aware and equipped with the appropriate training.

The country is grappling with the challenge of Covid-l9 and concerns relating to mental health, manifested in feelings of fear, anxiety, negative thoughts about consequences of disease and subsequent depression are being raised, Sudan said in the letter, dated July 6.

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China says G4 swine flu virus not new; does not infect humans easily

That study, by a team of Chinese scientists and published by the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), warned that a new swine flu virus, named G4, has become more infectious to humans and could become a potential “pandemic virus.”However, China’s agriculture ministry said in a statement that the study has been interpreted by the media “in an exaggerated and nonfactual way.”

An analysis by the ministry concluded that sampling of the published study is too small to be representative, while the article lacks adequate evidence to show the G4 virus has become the dominant strain among pigs.

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Trump admin says foreign students must leave US if classes go online

According to immigration attorney Cyrus Mehta, the latest one-pager policy announcement means three things: Students enrolled in US universities that are moving to an online-only education model will be barred from getting F-1 visas, they will be stopped from entering the US on F-1 visas and not allowed to maintain F-1 status in the Fall semester.

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