Covid

January 21, 2025 11:31 AM

US President Trump issues executive order to withdraw from WHO

US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order to formally withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO). The decision, announced on Monday (local time), comes after a prolonged period of criticism directed at the WHO, which Trump blamed for mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic and failing to address the broader global health crises. In the executive order, President Trump emphasized that the United States' decision to withdraw, originally announced in July 2020, was...

November 27, 2024 10:24 AM

Trump chooses US COVID policy critic Bhattacharya to lead NIH

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday chose Stanford academic and U.S. COVID policy critic Jay Bhattacharya to run the National Institutes of Health, the country's top public funder of medical research with a budget of some $47.3 billion The NIH has been in the crosshairs of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the NIH. The NIH director oversees 27 institutes and centers that conduct early stage research on everything from va...

November 14, 2024 12:12 PM

Many long COVID patients adjust to slim recovery odds as world moves on

There are certain phrases that Wachuka Gichohi finds difficult to hear after enduring four years of living with long COVID, marked by debilitating fatigue, pain, panic attacks and other symptoms so severe she feared she would die overnight. Among them are normally innocuous statements such as, "Feel better soon" or "Wishing you a quick recovery," the Kenyan businesswoman said, shaking her head. Gichohi, 41, knows such phrases are well-intentioned. "I think you have to accept, for me, it’s no...

September 16, 2024 3:57 PM

Biden administration pressured Meta to censor Covid content, Zuckerberg tells House Committee

Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee has alleged that the Biden-Harris administration "repeatedly pressurised" Meta's teams to censor posts related to Covid. He further said that the platform had to make some changes, that "with the benefit of hindsight and new information," they won't make today. Zuckerberg also said he 'regrets' not being "more outspoken" about it. "In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the Whi...

September 16, 2024 5:05 PM

Experts warn lethal bird flu pandemic could be ‘100 times worse’ than COVID-19

Experts have issued a warning about a potential bird flu pandemic that could be “100 times worse than COVID,” after the detection of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza in a person from Texas who had contact with infected dairy cows. The spread of bird flu is a serious concern for governments and the poultry industry due to the risk of human transmission and potential devastation it could cause to flocks. Though the number of bird flu outbreaks have been fewer this season, it has spread fas...