1st French Omicron Case on Indian Ocean Island of Reunion
Japan and France confirmed their first cases of the new variant of the coronavirus on Tuesday as countries around the world scrambled to close their doors or find ways to limit itsRead More…
Japan and France confirmed their first cases of the new variant of the coronavirus on Tuesday as countries around the world scrambled to close their doors or find ways to limit itsRead More…
U.S. President Joe Biden says a highly transmissible COVID-19 variant, dubbed omicron, is a cause for “concern, not panic” and defended his much-criticized decision to restrict travel from the southern African region,Read More…
The World Health Organization says renewed efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus is needed as scientists scramble to determine the risks posed by the new omicron variant. Low vaccine ratesRead More…
Zimbabwe’s government says the country is very prepared to handle the new COVID-19 variant – omicron – first reported in neighboring South Africa. The World Health Organization says a fourth wave ofRead More…
Dutch health officials said Sunday 13 people who recently arrived in the Netherlands on flights from South Africa have tested positive for the new omicron variant of the coronavirus. The passengers wereRead More…
The new potentially more contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus popped up in more European countries on Saturday, just days after being identified in South Africa, leaving governments around the world scramblingRead More…
The United States praised South Africa on Saturday for quickly identifying the latest coronavirus variant, omicron, and sharing this information with the world. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with South Africa’sRead More…
Federal health regulators say an experimental COVID-19 pill from Merck is effective against the virus, but they will seek input from outside experts on risks of birth defects and other potential problemsRead More…
France is willing to discuss autonomy for the French Caribbean territory of Guadeloupe if it is in the interests of the people who live there, government minister Sebastien Lecornu said. Guadeloupe andRead More…
The world’s largest vaccine maker, the Serum Institute of India has resumed exports of coronavirus vaccines to COVAX the partnership that is distributing vaccines to developing countries. The resumption of exports comesRead More…
With hunting season under way, wildlife agencies in the northeastern U.S. states of New Hampshire and Vermont have started testing for COVID-19 in white-tailed deer, as antibodies for the virus have beenRead More…
U.S. President Joe Biden announced the United States will restrict travel from South Africa and seven other African countries, effective Monday. Any non-U.S. citizen who has been in one of the eightRead More…
As the world grapples with the emergence of the new highly transmissible variant of COVID-19, worried scientists in South Africa — where omicron was first identified — are scrambling to combat itsRead More…
Anxious-looking travelers thronged Johannesburg international airport and stood in long queues on Friday, desperate to squeeze onto the last flights to countries that had just shut their doors to South Africa. ManyRead More…
Top U.S. infectious disease official Anthony Fauci said Friday that a ban on flights from southern Africa was a possibility and the United States was rushing to gather data on the newRead More…
South African scientists are scrambling to determine how quickly a newly discovered variant of the coronavirus can spread and if it is resistant to vaccines. The new strain has led Britain toRead More…
Like many others in Europe, Switzerland is facing a steep rise in coronavirus cases. But its federal government, unlike others, hasn’t responded with new restrictive measures. Analysts say it doesn’t want toRead More…
With the Northern Hemisphere heading into winter and COVID-19 cases on the rise across Europe and North America, political leaders from Washington to Brussels are struggling to persuade a pandemic-weary public toRead More…
A new report warns that Australia’s native wildlife is in the “grip of an unprecedented alien attack.” Experts at the national science agency, the CSIRO, are predicting that much of the country’sRead More…
An expedition to find lost shipwrecks on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef begins Friday. The voyage is part of the Great Reef Census, one of the world’s largest marine citizen science projects. ConservationistsRead More…
Cameroon’s largest lake, Lake Ossa, has been invaded by Salvinia molesta, an aquatic fern native to Brazil that hinders navigation, makes fishing impossible and blocks water access. To combat the spreading plant,Read More…
European countries expanded COVID-19 booster vaccinations, began plans to get shots to young children and tightened some curbs Thursday as the continent battled a surge in coronavirus cases and concerns about itsRead More…
NASA tests an asteroid-assaulting system to protect planet Earth. Plus, Japanese tourists ready for the trip of a lifetime, and a look at the historic, sky-darkening lunar eclipse. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi bringsRead More…
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) says the wheat seeds it recently provided to farmers in northeast Syria meet “high standards for safety and quality.” The announcement comes after claims byRead More…
Their goal was to find a cure for cancer, but the whole world recognized them for developing the first vaccine against the coronavirus. The founders of the German company BioNTech, Ugur SahinRead More…
“I could not understand how this highly educated, powerful trauma nurse is now the patient.” A registered nurse who asks that we call her “Gi” is talking about herself. While working inRead More…
The U.S. space agency NASA has launched a spacecraft on a mission to test the ability to knock an asteroid off a potentially harmful collision course with Earth. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test, orRead More…
CVS, Walgreens and Walmart pharmacies recklessly distributed massive amounts of pain pills in two Ohio counties, a federal jury said Tuesday in a verdict that could set the tone for U.S. cityRead More…
The U.S. space agency, NASA, and its European counterpart, the European Space Agency (ESA), have delayed the long-awaited launch of the James Webb space telescope to no earlier than December 22. InRead More…
A SpaceX rocket was set to blast off from California late Tuesday as NASA seeks to demonstrate a first-of-its-kind planetary defense system, designed to deflect an asteroid from a potential doomsday collisionRead More…
A mission is underway to retrieve scientific data from the rugged ocean floor in the Southern Ocean, formerly known as the Antarctic Ocean, that could explain what triggers underwater earthquakes and tsunamis. Read More…
Multiple Sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system that disrupts communication between the brain and the body. VOA’s Faiza Elmasry talks to a woman diagnosed with the disease about her journeyRead More…
The top U.S. infectious disease expert on Sunday urged millions of Americans who already are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to get booster shots “to optimize their status.” To date, 34.5 million ofRead More…
As coronavirus infections hit Ukraine, a single shift for Dr. Oleksandr Molchanov now stretches to 42 hours — 24 of them in Kakhovka’s hospital, followed by another 18 hours spent visiting tentsRead More…
Police arrested seven rioters in The Hague on Saturday night after youths set fires in the streets and threw fireworks at officers. The unrest came a day after police opened fire onRead More…
This was supposed to be the Christmas in Europe where family and friends could once again embrace holiday festivities and one another. Instead, the continent is the global epicenter of the COVID-19Read More…
A chemical that babies give off from their heads calms men but makes women more aggressive, according to new research in the journal Science Advances. It could be a chemical defense systemRead More…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday expanded emergency use authorization for the booster shot of the PFizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to all U.S. adults. The decision was announced byRead More…
A partial lunar eclipse could be seen from the Americas and East Asia on Friday. The phenomenon, when the Earth partially aligns between the sun and the full moon, was visible inRead More…
In a move that has some environmental activists charging it with hypocrisy, the Biden administration has approved the sale of oil and gas drilling rights to more than 80 million acres ofRead More…