Health & Science

• Thursday, December 24th 2020 - 08:46 UTC

  Argentina lockdown until 8 January

  

  Argentina established new requirements for entering and leaving the country, starting on Friday through January 8, the Interior Ministry said in a statement issued on Wednesday, in a bid to rein in the coronavirus.

• Thursday, December 24th 2020 - 08:45 UTC

  Chinese vaccine 50% effective, reports Sao Paulo lab, but half of Brazilians reject inoculation

  

  Brazilian researchers said on Wednesday the COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech is more than 50% effective based on trial data, but again withheld full results at the company's request, raising questions about transparency.

• Thursday, December 24th 2020 - 08:33 UTC

  Sao Paulo state doubles lockdown measures over Xmas and New Year

  

  Brazil's southeast state of Sao Paulo, the epicenter of the country's COVID-19 outbreak, said this week it will double down on lockdown measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

• Thursday, December 24th 2020 - 08:25 UTC

  Coronavirus sniffer dogs at Santiago de Chile international airport

  

  The task of sniffing out passengers infected with COVID-19 at Chile's Santiago international airport is going to the dogs. A team of Golden Retrievers and Labradors sit when they smell the virus and get a treat. The canines sport green “biodetector” jackets with a red cross.

• Thursday, December 24th 2020 - 08:20 UTC

  Canada approves Moderna coronavirus vaccine: first batch of doses expected before the end of the year

  

  Canada approved Moderna Inc's coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday, the second country to do so, paving the way for health authorities to step up an inoculation campaign against a worsening second wave.

• Wednesday, December 23rd 2020 - 09:55 UTC

  Argentina extends emergency approval to the Pfizer anti Covid-19 vaccine

  

  Argentina's medicine and food regulator extended on Tuesday an emergency use for the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine in the country. These vaccines are expected to arrive in Argentina sometime between January and March.

• Wednesday, December 23rd 2020 - 09:29 UTC

  In the US last week someone died every 33 seconds from Covid-19

  

  In the United States last week someone died from COVID-19 every 33 seconds.

• Wednesday, December 23rd 2020 - 08:16 UTC

  FAO report on the lanternfish in the deep Atlantic Ocean

  

  Deep below the Atlantic Ocean’s surface, glowing objects glide through the inky black depths. On closer inspection, it is clear that they are actually a special group of fish, lanternfish, who get their name from their incredible ability to produce light.

• Tuesday, December 22nd 2020 - 08:46 UTC

  Chilean army base in Antarctica detects 36 positive Covid-19 cases; Navy support vessel blamed

  

  A coronavirus outbreak with 36 positive tests was reported on Monday at a Chilean Army base in Antarctica, the only continent, up to now, free of the virus. The army's Monday release said that at the Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme base, following suspicions, swabbing testing was practiced in all personnel resulting in 36 positive cases, of which 26 belonging to the Army and ten to members of a contractor, doing maintenance work at the base.

• Tuesday, December 22nd 2020 - 08:40 UTC

  WHO downplays the latest variant of coronavirus: it's part of the pandemic's evolution

  

  The World Health Organization cautioned against major alarm over a new, highly infectious variant of the coronavirus that has emerged in Britain, saying this was a normal part of a pandemic’s evolution.