Health & Science

• Sunday, February 28th 2021 - 10:11 UTC

  Caged cattle in a rogue vessel stranded in the Mediterranean will be sacrificed

  

  Some 864 head of cattle aboard the ship “Karim Allah” are to be sacrificed, Spanish authorities confirmed on Saturday, following days of controversy over the animals' health.

• Saturday, February 27th 2021 - 18:21 UTC

  Uruguay starts vaccination campaign on Monday counting 600 deaths due to Covid-19

  

  Without a great media hype, the first 192,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines from the Chinese laboratory Sinovac arrived in Montevideo in the early hours of Friday morning. However, a police operation was deployed throughout the day to begin distributing the vaccines, which will begin to be administered on Monday, March 1, to a small group of essential workers in different parts of the capital and the interior of the country.

• Friday, February 26th 2021 - 21:27 UTC

  Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine can be stored at -20 degrees pharmaceutical freezers

  

  Frozen vials of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine may be stored at temperatures commonly found in pharmaceutical freezers for a period of up to two weeks, the US Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday. The move loosens a previous requirement that the vaccine should be stored at ultra-low temperatures, between -80 to -60 deg C.

• Friday, February 26th 2021 - 21:20 UTC

  Spectacular pictures from Mars sent by NASA's Perseverance rover

  

  The US space agency NASA has released a spectacular panoramic view of the landing site of the Perseverance rover on Mars. The panorama shows the rim of the Jezero Crater where the rover touched down last week and the cliff face of an ancient river delta in the distance.

• Friday, February 26th 2021 - 13:29 UTC

  Argentina receives 904,000 doses of China's Sinopharm vaccine

  

  Argentina has received 904,000 doses of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in its first delivery from the Chinese drugmaker, the government said on Thursday, which should help the country accelerate its inoculation program.

• Friday, February 26th 2021 - 13:19 UTC

  Brazil purchases 20 million doses of India's Bharat Biotech vaccine

  

  Brazil's health ministry on Thursday signed a deal with India's Bharat Biotech to purchase 20 million doses of Covaxin, a Covid 19 vaccine. The news came a day before Brazil marks one year since the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in the country after a Sao Paulo businessman returning from a trip to Italy tested positive.

• Friday, February 26th 2021 - 09:17 UTC

  Brazil's death toll in twelve months of coronavirus, 250,000

  

  One year ago on Thursday, Brazil confirmed its first case of coronavirus. The same day it recorded a quarter of a million deaths from the disease the virus causes and more than 10 million cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

• Friday, February 26th 2021 - 09:10 UTC

  Peruvian justice makes exception and authorizes euthanasia to psychologist

  

  Peru authorized for the first time to respect the decision of a psychologist to end her life when she deems it convenient and ordered the medical authorities to elaborate a protocol for the fulfillment of her wish.

• Thursday, February 25th 2021 - 10:19 UTC

  The Venturer leaves Brazil and is sailing for the Falklands

  

  Following four weeks docked in Bahia, northeast Brazil, because of a Covid 19 outbreak on board, the Red Ensign flagged trawler Venturer left on Tuesday night for the Falkland Islands.

• Thursday, February 25th 2021 - 10:15 UTC

  Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine proves 94% effective in a study with 1,2 million in Israel

  

  AFP – The Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine has proven 94% effective in a study involving 1.2 million people in Israel, the first peer-reviewed real world research confirming the power of mass immunization campaigns to bring the pandemic to a close.