Science

Chinese scientists identified a ‘wet market’ – where live and dead animals, including many endangered wildlife species, are sold for consumption – as the chief suspect for the origin of the coronavirus. The virus is closely related to the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which transmitted to …

President Trump has turned to a French virologist with a history of criticizing climate science to offer the world hope amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. Last week, Trump tweeted that the combination of two medicines could dramatically alter the often deadly course of COVID-19. “HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have …

The Coronavirus-hysteria has gone viral. Global media outlets report on nothing else but the consequences of what the World Health Organisation (WHO) stamped a pandemic weeks ago. In unprecedented moves people are told (forced) to stay home under lockdowns. Economies are being shut down, while the future consequences are largely …

Dubai – Despite the global panic surrounding the spread of coronavirus as cases and deaths continue to jump in the European Union (EU) and the United States, there is some positive news on potential vaccines, promising recovery rates and people coming closer together. By Arthur Blok | More than 470,000 …

A month ago, predictions about the course of the Corona virus were varied.  Many insisted it was merely a typical mild winter sickness that would quickly dissipate when the weather got warmer.  Others warned this was a pandemic that could impact the world and how we live for decades. It …

Graham E. Fuller (grahamefuller.com) 20 March 2020   These are not, of course, strictly speaking, end times. But for the first time in a long time, there is a whiff of the apocalyptic in the air. The Black Swan has come out of the blue. Events utterly unanticipated in any …

Formula One drivers will join video gamers and others in a series of virtual grands prix to replace a swathe of races postponed by the coronavirus outbreak, the sport announced on Friday. The first, run on the official F1 2019 PC video game, will be held from 2000GMT this Sunday …

By Dr. Haytham Mouzahem   On March 12, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a pandemic after more than three months of its spread in China and many countries all over the world. The coronavirus is affecting 167 countries and territories around the world, with 199,339 cases …

Countries around the world on Saturday continued to close borders, impose strict entry and quarantine requirements and restrict large gatherings in efforts to contain the spread of the new coronavirus. Apple Inc (AAPL.O) said it will close all its retail stores worldwide, outside Greater China, until March 27. Apple reopened …

The coronavirus has infected more than 100,000 people worldwide. With all of the news of event cancellations, empty flights and health precautions (wash your hands!), it’s natural that people may get a little anxious every time they feel a tickle in their throat or the beginnings of a bad cough. …

Iran has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for emergency funding to help it fight the coronavirus outbreak, which has hit the Islamic Republic hard, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a tweet on Thursday. The IMF managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, “has stated that countries affected by #COVID19 will …

Hurricane Katrina. The New Zealand earthquake. Even the Spanish economy. Over the years, LGBT+ people have been blamed for disasters both natural and man-made, and now they stand accused of being responsible for the coronavirus epidemic. Several U.S. religious figures and an influential Israeli rabbi have suggested the emergence of …

Saudi Arabia will impose a fine of up to 500,000 riyals ($133,000) on people who do not disclose health information and travel details at entry points, it said on Monday, as the Gulf state works to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The kingdom on Sunday imposed a temporary lockdown on …

Densitas Inc., a leading provider of AI technologies for digital mammography and breast screening recently partnered with RAD-AID International to establish an AI-based decision support program for breast health in medically underserved regions. The aim of the partnership is to provide low-resource institutions with education, clinical support, and hands-on training …

Unfortunately in the last few hours we have seen the situation in Italy worsen as regards the Coronavirus epidemic. The latest press conference of the Head of Civil Protection Angelo Borrelli at 18 pm on March 5 reports that we have: 3.858 people who contracted the virus, currently positive 3296, …

Iraq reported its first coronavirus death on Wednesday, an elderly man in the Kurdish province of Sulaimaniya, the local health department said. Iraq has so far has recorded 31 cases of the new coronavirus, one Iranian student who has since been sent home and 30 Iraqis who had all visited …

G7 finance officials will on Tuesday discuss ways to bolster their economies against the impact of the spreading coronavirus outbreak, but are not expected to specifically call for new spending or coordinated interest rate cuts, a G7 official said. Finance ministers and central bank governors from the group will hold …

U.S. intelligence agencies are monitoring the global spread of coronavirus and the ability of governments to respond, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday, warning that there were concerns about how India would cope with a widespread outbreak. While there are only a few known cases in India, one …

Israel confirmed on Thursday that a man who had recently returned from Italy tested positive for coronavirus and said it was barring entry to non-Israelis who had visited Italy in the past two weeks. The man had flown back on an El Al Israel Airlines (ELAL.TA) flight from Milan on …

Major Asian cities, including Tokyo, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City and Shanghai, are most at risk from rising sea levels, researchers warned on Thursday, urging authorities to invest more in flood defense and plan to relocate assets and people. A study by UK-based risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft analyzed 500 cities …

It is “not on the agenda” to ban public protests in Algeria over the coronavirus, a health ministry official told a news conference on Wednesday after the country announced its first confirmed case of the disease. Mass protests have been taking place in the capital Algiers and other cities twice …

The United Arab Emirates, a major air transit center, is ready for “worst case scenarios” as the coronavirus spreads in the Middle East and has the facilities to quarantine patients and screen new arrivals, a government official said on Wednesday. It was too early to ban public gatherings in the …

Today, Mike Bezos is the father of the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos. But in 1962, Mike Bezos came to America from Cuba wearing a jacket his mother had hand-stitched from cleaning rags. He was a teenager traveling by himself and he spoke almost no English. “When he …

By Paige Winfield Cunningham This sounds like great news: Drugmakers are starting to develop a coronavirus vaccine. The downside: That’s because they believe the virus is so deadly that developing a vaccine is worth risking a lot of money. Drugmaker Johnson & Johnson has announced its Janssen unit will partner …

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, Chinese authorities have introduced policies and measures to respond to the epidemic and help people get through difficult times. Here we list some of the policies and measures that have been rolled out. 1. Treatment bills of infected patients subsidized Apart from confirmed …

China’s experience in fighting the novel coronavirus could provide more practical experience in upgrading global cooperation in public health emergencies, according to a newly released report. The report, China’s Fight Against COVID-19 Epidemic, said that a full governmental and social mobilization across the country has made a great contribution to …

Residents of a central Ukrainian town clashed with police, burned tires and hurled projectiles at a convoy of buses carrying evacuees from China’s Hubei province, quarantined in case of the coronavirus, to a sanatorium on Thursday. Some protesters and police were lying wounded on the ground after the clashes. At …

A coronavirus outbreak in South Korea fanned fears on Thursday of the global spread of the pathogen as research suggested it was more contagious than thought and two elderly passengers from a cruise ship quarantined in Japan died. China reported a sharp drop in new cases but the data was …

Favipiravir, an antiviral that has shown potential in treating the novel coronavirus, was approved for marketing, the Taizhou government of Zhejiang province announced Sunday. The drug is approved for marketing in the treatment of influenza, and is one of three drugs demonstrating efficacy against the novel coronavirus in human trials. …

Results support testing antiviral against 2019 novel coronavirus. The experimental antiviral remdesivir successfully prevented disease in rhesus macaques infected with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), according to a new study from National Institutes of Health scientists. Remdesivir prevented disease when administered before infection and improved the condition of macaques …

Riyadh – The initiative launched in 2017 by the Environmental Green Horizons Society to transform one mosque in Riyadh into a sustainable building surrounded by greenery has become a success story. In a relatively short period five mosques were transformed, a new public park was established outside the city and …

The coronavirus epidemic could spread to about two-thirds of the world’s population if it cannot be controlled, according to Hong Kong’s leading public health epidemiologist. His warning came after the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said recent cases of coronavirus patients who had never visited China could be …

China has achieved “positive” results in its prevention and control efforts in fighting the new coronavirus, President Xi Jinping told Saudi Arabia’s King Salman by telephone, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported. The two discussed “efforts to combat and control the novel coronavirus epidemic”, the report said. China has declared …

Rarely has such an integral part of multinational industry and trade faced such an abrupt and open-ended freeze out   By James T. Areddy SHANGHAI—China’s isolation amid the coronavirus outbreak, a rare freeze out for such a vital economic center, is rippling across the world. Uncertainty over the virus—which has …

Iran will launch a satellite by the end of this week, a government minister said on Monday, as part of a fledging program that the United States says is a cover for ballistic missile development. “We are not afraid of failure and we will not lose hope. With your prayers …

Italian Minister of Health Roberto Speranza announced Sunday that his country succeeded in isolating the new coronavirus in an unprecedent medical event that opens way for a treatment. “We have isolated the virus,” Minister Speranza told a news conference at Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases, noting that this success means providing …

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud said on Monday the kingdom was closely monitoring developments in global oil markets resulting from “gloomy expectations” over the impact of the new coronavirus on the Chinese and global economy and oil market fundamentals. Prince Abdulaziz said he was confident the …

The Hope Probe will carry with it the UAE Nation Brand’s logo and its accompanying slogan, ‘Make it Happen’, when the spacecraft built by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre takes off for Mars later this year. The brand’s placement on the probe, called ‘Al-Amal’ in Arabic, symbolises the future-forward …

Dubai – Heliatek is the winner of the Online Global Innovation Award 2020. The announcement was made at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) Thursday by H.E. Fahed Al Hammadi, the acting Assistant Undersecretary for Green Development and Climate Change at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment. By Arthur …

Economic shocks stemming from rising sea levels pose a long-term risk to the sovereign credit ratings of dozens of countries which have large areas at risk of submersion, including Vietnam, Egypt, Suriname and the Bahamas, Moody’s said on Thursday. Climate science suggests that sea levels will continue to rise for …

Dubai – In the UAE’s capital the much anticipated annual Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) will kick-off next week. The main theme for this year’s edition is ‘accelerating the pace of sustainable development’. Other focus areas include Youth, Artificial Intelligence and Society. By Arthur Blok | ADSW is hosted by Abu …

Turkey has decided to close five thermal power stations that have not completed necessary environmental investments, Environment Minister Murat Kurum was reported as saying on Wednesday. The power stations were among 13 which had been given a deadline of Dec. 31 to complete the investments, Kurum told a news conference …

From solar-powered ground pumps to 3D-printed filters, new technology can help solve water shortages in African cities facing rapid growth, entrepreneurs and policymakers said. These were among the solutions discussed at a summit hosted by the Islamic Development Bank in Senegal’s capital Dakar this week, focused on how innovation can …

Conflicts over water are likely to flare up in Iraq, Mali and India in the coming year, according to the developers of an app launched on Thursday which aims to help prevent violence by flagging up potential flashpoints. They said the “groundbreaking” early warning tool, which has also predicted risks …