Health & Science

• Tuesday, February 8th 2022 - 09:24 UTC

  Brazil reports first two cases of Omicron subvariant

  

  Brazil's Fiocruz Institute Monday announced the first two cases of the BA.2 sublineage of the SARS-Cov-2 Omicron variant had been detected in the country: one in the State of Rio de Janeiro and the other in the State of Santa Catarina.

• Monday, February 7th 2022 - 09:16 UTC

  COVID-19 not the only infectious threat in Argentina

  

  Argentine vacationers can catch diseases other than COVID-19, which can even bring on worse symptoms, it was reported after the Health Ministry announced it had detected cyanobacteria in AMBA (City of Buenos Aires and territories around it) and in the provinces of Entre Ríos, Córdoba and Santa Fe

• Saturday, February 5th 2022 - 23:49 UTC

  Endurance22 expedition nosed its course for Antarctica in search of the whereabouts of Shackleton's shipwreck

  

  Today, February 5th at 0700 GMT, a chunky, cherry-red ice breaker nosed its way out of Cape Town’s famous Table Bay, and shaped a course for Antarctica, 3000 nautical miles to the South West.

• Saturday, February 5th 2022 - 15:45 UTC

  Omicron subvariant found in 57 countries, WHO says

  

  The World Health Organization has released a report this week saying a new sublineage of the SARS-Cov-2 Omicron variant has already been detected in 57 countries. According to some researchers, the new version is more contagious than the original Omicron.

• Saturday, February 5th 2022 - 13:28 UTC

  Argentina closer to producing Sinopharm vaccine locally

  

  Argentine President Alberto Fernández and directors of the Chinese laboratory which produces the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine met Friday in Berlin in another stop of the head of state's tour.

• Thursday, February 3rd 2022 - 09:55 UTC

  US Army instructed to discharge unvaccinated soldiers

  

  The Army of the United States Wednesday announced it would start discharging soldiers who are not vaccinated against COVID-19. As of January 26, 96% of the military were fully vaccinated, while 3,350 had refused to take any injection.

• Thursday, February 3rd 2022 - 09:53 UTC

  Falklands updates international connectivity, but community's health remains the priority

  

  The Falkland Islands Government (FIG) said on Wednesday it recognizes that many people are keen to receive an update on restoring the international connecting flights with mainland South America. Media across the world is starting to report on the relaxations of borders, removal of testing requirements, and returning to a relatively normal way of life in many countries.

• Thursday, February 3rd 2022 - 09:00 UTC

  Three BAS scientists awarded the Polar Medal

  

  Three British Antarctic Survey (BAS) staff have been awarded the Polar Medal. The announcement was published Friday 28 January in the London Gazette.

• Wednesday, February 2nd 2022 - 09:14 UTC

  PAHO says 255 babies do not make it past their first month in the region every day

  

  The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Tuesday said 255 babies under a month old died in Latin America and the Caribbean every day, while 7 out of every 1,000 newborns do not even reach that age.

• Tuesday, February 1st 2022 - 21:55 UTC

  First case of new sublineage of omicron detected in Argentina

  

  Argentine health authorities Tuesday confirmed the first case of COVID-19 caused by the sublineage BA.2 of the coronavirus omicron variant., which is said to be two to three times more contagious than the original omicron.