The international Future City Competition recently announced its 2021 winners in the first ever all-virtual event. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more.
…
Day: April 13, 2021
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday she is asking Parliament for temporary powers that would allow her federal government to implement nationwide coronavirus lockdowns to curb a third wave of the pandemic in the country.
Merkel spoke to reporters after her Cabinet approved a draft of legislation that would give her government the power to impose pandemic-related restrictions, including curfews and school and business closings in areas with high infection rates.
The chancellor said the measures are needed to “break the third wave of the pandemic and stop the rapid rise in infections” in those areas where infection rates are more than 100 per 100,000 residents for three consecutive days within a week.
Earlier this year, when laying out a plan for reopening the nation and lifting restrictions, Merkel mentioned the need for what she called “an emergency brake” should infections rise.
Merkel said it is clear that emergency brake is overdue. Citing daily figures from the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases, she said the latest daily infection rate is at nearly 11,000 new cases, and nearly all the nation’s intensive care unit beds are in use. Merkel said she hoped Parliament would swiftly debate and pass the bill.
She again asked for Germans to show patience and noted the vaccine program has been “building momentum every day,” with the recent start of vaccinations in doctors’ offices.
…
U.S federal health officials Tuesday said “out of an abundance of caution” they are recommending an immediate pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after six cases of blood clots were reported in the United States.
At a joint virtual news briefing, officials of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the pause would last “a matter of days” while the agencies investigate the cases of blood clotting, known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), which occurred in women between 18 and 48 years old within six to 13 days after receiving the one-dose vaccine.
They note the six cases occurred out of more than 6.8 million doses of the vaccine administered.
CDC Principal Deputy Director Anne Schuchat said people who received the vaccine more than two weeks ago have very little to fear. Those who received the vaccine within the last week or so who develop symptoms such as severe headache, abdominal or leg pain, or shortness of breath, should contact their health care provider.
The officials said they are working to reschedule those people who had appointments to receive the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Schuchat said the decision is not a mandate, and people who, after discussions with their physicians, feel they can safely take it, will be allowed to do so.
In a statement Tuesday, White House COVID-19 Response Team Coordinator Jeff Zients said the decision to pause the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will not have a significant effect on the nation’s vaccine program, as it made up less than five percent of the vaccine administered to date. Zients says the U.S. has secured enough doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for 300 million people.
The New York Times is reporting that one woman has died and another woman in the state of Nebraska has been hospitalized in critical condition.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is the second one linked to potential blood clots. Several nations have issued new guidelines on the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine after the European Union’s medical regulator announced a link between the vaccine and rare, possibly fatal blood clots.
Meanwhile, a new single-day record of COVID-19 cases has pushed India into second place, behind the United States, as countries with the world’s largest number of confirmed coronavirus infections.
The South Asian nation’s 168,912 new COVID-19 cases posted on Monday gives India 13,527,717 total cases, compared to Brazil’s 13,517,808 total cases, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
The new surge coincides with an acute shortage of vaccine in some Indian states, along with the annual Kumbh Mela, or pitcher festival, on the Ganges River, where millions of Hindu devotees bathe to seek absolution, raising fears it could evolve into a superspreader event.
…
Scientists with the U.S. space agency, NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) say the much-anticipated first flight of the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars has been delayed again while scientists make some software modifications.
Scientists had hoped to perform the first controlled powered flight of an aircraft on a planet other than Earth as early as Sunday. Problems encountered last week, though, when high-speed tests on the rotors were performed switching from “pre-flight” means the helicopter won’t be attempted as planned Wednesday.
A statement issued by JPL Tuesday said they identified a software solution to the problem, but that it would take some time to implement. They said it is not clear at this point when the tiny helicopter will make its first brief flight, but it likely will be next week sometime.
They scientists say all other systems on the Ingenuity helicopter are working as designed.
Ingenuity, weighing a mere 1.8 kilograms, was stowed away on the Perseverance rover probe when it landed on Mars in February. It was unfolded and dropped from the rover a bit more than a week ago to prepare its launch.
The helicopter is considered by NASA to be a technology demonstration, designed to test a new capability – in this case, flight in the thin Marian atmosphere – for the first time. It has specially designed rotors that spin much faster than they would have to on Earth to achieve flight. It also has innovative batteries and solar cells for recharging.
But aside from cameras, Ingenuity carries no scientific instruments. If successful, Ingenuity will pave the way for other more ambitious future robotic projects.
…
Predicting whether an outbreak is likely to happen is now possible with the COVID-19 Outbreak Detection Tool, a map that shows the coming hotspots for the disease, if accurate data is available. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details.Producer: Elizabeth Lee
…
Much of Europe has been forced back into lockdown amid a deadly third wave of the coronavirus. In Britain however, pubs, shops and services reopened Monday as the government hailed its vaccination program for cutting infections. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.Camera: Henry Ridgwell
Producer: Jason Godman
…
A new single-day record of COVID-19 cases has pushed India into second place behind the United States for the world’s most confirmed coronavirus infections.The South Asian nation’s 168,912 new COVID-19 cases posted on Monday gives India 13,527,717 total cases, compared to Brazil’s 13,517,808 total cases, according to the FILE PHOTO: File labelled “Sputnik V coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine”, March 24, 2021.Reuters is reporting that India has approved the use of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.In the United States, the Biden administration is urging the midwestern state of Michigan to impose a mandatory lockdown to deal with a new surge of coronavirus infections sweeping the state.Michigan ‘s Governor Gretchen Whitmer has pleaded with the administration to provide extra doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the state in an effort to blunt the surge, which has the highest rate of new infections in the nation. But Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday “the answer is not necessarily to give vaccine” because of the length of time it takes for one to become effective.“The answer is really to close things down, to shut things down, to flatten the curve, to decrease contact,” Walensky said. The administration says it will send extra supplies of COVID-19 antibody treatments and tests to Michigan, but says it will stick with its plan to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to all states based on population.Governor Whitmer came under fire last year from conservatives for implementing strict coronavirus restrictions at the start of the pandemic, including armed groups entering the state capitol building in Lansing during a heated protest.FILE PHOTO: World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference in GenevaThe ongoing surge of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and India comes as the World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday blamed “confusion, complacency and inconsistency in public health measures and their application” for seven consecutive weeks of rising COVID-19 infections and four consecutive weeks of increasing numbers of deaths, after starting the year with six weeks of declining numbers.During a briefing Monday from WHO’s headquarters in Geneva, Tedros said while vaccines are a vital and powerful tool in fighting the pandemic, the standard mitigation efforts of social distancing, hygiene, masks and continued testing and tracking continue to be effective means of saving lives.People drink in the Soho area of London, on April 12, 2021, as coronavirus restrictions are eased across the country in step two of the government’s roadmap out of England’s third national lockdown.In a relatively positive development, Britain announced that it is ahead of schedule of offering a first shot of COVID-19 vaccine to its older citizens on Monday. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said vaccinating all people 50 years old and older by the self-imposed deadline of April 15 means “more than 32 million people have been given the precious protection vaccines provide against COVID-19.”The prime minister’s triumphant statement capped the end of a three-month strict lockdown imposed across Britain in response to a wave of infections triggered by a more transmissible strain of the virus, which was discovered late last year in the southeastern county of Kent.Thousands of gyms, hair salons, retail shops and zoos reopened their doors across England, along with bars and restaurants, which are limited to just outdoor service. Similar restrictions remain in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which have their own timetables for reopening.
…
The international Future City Competition recently announced its 2021 winners in the first ever all-virtual event. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more.
…