Health & Science

• Friday, January 21st 2022 - 09:40 UTC

  First case of flurona in Argentina spotted in Santa Fe

  

  Health officials in the Argentine province of Santa Fe Thursday confirmed the first case of flurona (inFLUenza + coRONAvirus) had been detected in the country in a 3-year-old boy hospitalized in the provincial capital.

• Friday, January 21st 2022 - 09:10 UTC

  Austria passes law making COVID-19 vax mandatory

  

  The Austrian parliament Thursday approved the introduction of mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 by 137 votes in favor and 33 against. The measure will take effect Feb. 4. Austria has thus become the first European nation to legalize such a practice.

• Thursday, January 20th 2022 - 09:52 UTC

  Tonga vulcano eruption 500 times stronger than Hiroshima bomb

  

  A NASA scientist has compared this weekend's volcanic eruption off Tonga with the atomic bomb dropped by the United States at the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945 and said the recent episode was “500 times” worse.

• Thursday, January 20th 2022 - 09:51 UTC

  Argentine lorry drivers stage protest due to Chile's tight sanitary controls

  

  After the Government of Chile reinstated the requirement that people must undergo a PCR test -which must come out negative- to get across the border crossings through the Andes, some 2,000 lorry drivers have been lining up along the Cristo Redentor-Los Libertadores international crossing, which links Mendoza to Valparaíso.

• Wednesday, January 19th 2022 - 20:45 UTC

  UK to lift Plan B COVID-19 restrictions, PM announces

  

  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed Wednesday that his so-called Plan B sanitary restrictions applied in the Government's fight against COVID-19 will be lifted as of next week.

• Wednesday, January 19th 2022 - 20:20 UTC

  US adds Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia to list of destinations to avoid due to covid

  

  The United States' Centers for Disease Control has added 22 countries to the level four travel warning list due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases, particularly of the omicron variant.

• Wednesday, January 19th 2022 - 09:08 UTC

  Guayaquil welcomes first cruise ship of the season with 11 COVID-19 cases

  

  Passengers of the Silver Whisper cruise ship were not allowed to go ashore by themselves in Guayaquil after 11 of the 228 travelers tested positive for COVID-19, it was announced. The first cruise ship of the 2021-2022 season moored in Guayaquil Tuesday.

• Tuesday, January 18th 2022 - 20:30 UTC

  Sacking unvaccinated health care workers corners already understaffed NHS

  

  England's National Health System (NHS), already short of some 100,000 workers, may start facing yet another crisis soon if authorities insist on applying to the fullest of the letter the mandatory immunization rule against COVID-19.

• Tuesday, January 18th 2022 - 09:29 UTC

  Chilean Deputies test positive for COVID-19, voting postponed

  

  Two Chilean lawmakers have been tested positive for COVID-19 in the Lower House, thus affecting a key voting process scheduled for this Tuesday, it was reported.

• Monday, January 17th 2022 - 20:22 UTC

  Most Brazilians find Bolsonaro a hindrance to vaccinating kids against COVID-19

  

  A Datafolha survey released Monday showed 58% of Brazilians considered President Jair Bolsonaro was a hindrance to vaccinating children aged 5 to 11 against COVID-19, while 25% of respondents, thought things were the other way around.