(2020-02-15). Chinese tourist dies in France, becomes first coronavirus fatality in Europe – French health minister. rt.com 
Marking the first fatality on European soil, an 80-year-old Chinese tourist succumbed to the coronavirus at a Paris hospital, Health Minister Agnes Buzin reported as the death toll of the epidemic has surpassed 1,500. | The elderly Chinese man had been hospitalized in Paris, Buzin told journalists on Saturday. He was put into quarantine, but his condition "had deteriorated rapidly," the minister told local media. She said the 80-year-old arrived in France from the virus-hit province of Hubei. | The patient's daughter, also suffering from the 2019-nCoV, as the virus is officially called, was also hospitalized,…
(2020-02-15). Brother/Sister Can You Spare a Warm Shelter? dissidentvoice.org 
On the Streets The tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to homelessness is what the average person sees on Newport's streets — mostly men, some women, seeking a public or private building's overhang to get out of the rain. Many on the streets are disheveled, struggling with mental health issues and addiction. Others …
(2020-02-15). Hundreds of people contacted as coronavirus case emerges after bus summit. thecanary.co 
Health officials have contacted more than 200 people who attended a conference in central London after it emerged one delegate is suffering from coronavirus.Public Health England (PHE) sent a letter to those who were at the UK Bus Summit at the QEII Centre in Westminster on February 6, including several MPs, two of whom have now decided to stay mostly at home.The person taken ill is one of the nine people diagnosed with coronavirus in the UK.Dr Yimmy Chow, consultant in health protection at PHE, said: "One of our main priorities has been to identify any people who we think have been in close contact with confirme…
(2020-02-15). Johnson under pressure from key allies over Huawei access to UK 5G network. thecanary.co 
Boris Johnson is coming under renewed pressure from key British allies over his controversial decision to give Chinese tech giant Huawei a role in building the UK's 5G network.A delegation of senior US officials — including Donald Trump's acting chief of staff — are set to fly to London to raise their concerns directly with the Prime Minister, according to the Daily Telegraph.Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that MPs on Australia's intelligence and security committee have pulled out of a visit to the UK next month following a diplomatic row with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.Mick Mulvaney,…
(2020-02-15). John Pilger's The Dirty War on the National Health Service screening on Australia's SBS this Sunday. wsws.org The WSWS urges all our readers to watch this powerful documentary on SBS television, at 8.30 p.m. Sunday night, February 16.
(2020-02-15). Coronavirus cases continue to increase and spread internationally. wsws.org The World Health Organization is alarmed about the implications of the virus taking hold in areas where the medical system is vastly ill-prepared.
(2020-02-15). France confirms first coronavirus death in Europe. yenisafak.com An 80-year-old Chinese man has died from the coronavirus in France, French health authorities said Saturday.The announcement of the first death due to the fatal virus in Europe was made by Health Minister Agnes Buzyn.The man, a tourist originally from Hubei Province, China, has been hospitalized at the Bichat Hospital in Paris since Jan. 25.This is the first reported coronavirus death both in Europe, as well as outside Asia.
(2020-02-15). Ireland remembers how 19th-century aid from Sultan Abdulmejid changed fate of thousands. yenisafak.com Potatoes have a special place in Irish culture, as for centuries the people of the Emerald Isle have depended on this tuber as a diet staple.A seven-year famine in the 19th century, known as the Great Famine or Potato Famine, killed more than a million people in Ireland, and stories from that time have left deep scars on the national psyche.The famine in Ireland, which was under British rule at the time, was triggered by the potato blight or late blight, a disease caused by a fungus-like organism causing collapse and decay.The greatest single disaster Ireland has ever suffered
(2020-02-14). Irish unification back on agenda after election, but it won't be simple. peoplesworld.org 
The victory by Ireland's left-wing Sinn Fein Party in the Republic's recent election has not only overturned some 90 years of domination by the island's two center-right parties, it suddenly puts the issue of Irish reunification on the agenda. While the campaign was fought over bread and butter issues like housing, the collapsing health care …
(2020-02-14). Sanders says his health plan would protect culinary workers in Nevada. peoplesworld.org 
WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday issued a statement saying his Medicare for All plan would protect the benefits workers with good union-negotiated health plans currently have. He issued the statement after Culinary Workers Union Local 226 announced it would not endorse in the 2020 Nevada Democratic caucus: "I very much appreciate the struggle …
(2020-02-14). Virus Cases Rise as Experts Question China's Numbers. truthdig.com 
BEIJING — Infections and deaths from the new virus in China ballooned for a second straight day Friday, on paper at least, as officials near the epicenter of the outbreak struggled to keep up with a backlog of patients' lab work. | The acceleration in cases was not necessarily an indicator of a surge in the illness known as COVID-19 because the hardest-hit province of Hubei and its capital of Wuhan changed the way it counted cases. But public health experts wrestled with what exactly could be deduced from the numbers given the shift in approach. | "If you change the way you count cases, that obviously confo…
(2020-02-14). NPR and the Escalating Attack on Single-Payer Health Care. counterpunch.org National Public Radio's Mara Liasson this weekend entered a new term into the corporate liberal establishment's attack on single payer healthcare. Mandatory Medicare for All. As in — do you want Bernie Sanders' Mandatory Medicare for All — or Mayor Pete Buttigieg's Voluntary Medicare for Those Who Want It? It was the first time that
(2020-02-14). China's Health Workers Are Frontline Fighters Against the Virus. telesurenglish.net China's National Health Commission deputy director Zeng Yixin informed that extensive and strenuous working days are putting pressure on health workers who are physically and psychologically stressed. | RELATED: | He called on hospitals' authorities to distribute shifts rationally while proposing to reward the staff with more vacations when the outbreak remits and offer them psychological support.‚Äã…
(2020-02-14). US Maternal Mortality Rate Is Increasing — and the Data Still Miss Many Deaths. truthout.org Late last month, maternal health experts from around Illinois were videoconferencing in Chicago and Springfield, poring over the files of expectant and new mothers who'd died in the state in 2017. Many of the deaths could have been prevented if only medical and other providers had understood the special risks that women face during this critically vulnerable time. | Then, someone's phone buzzed: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had just released its new, long-awaited U.S. matern…
(2020-02-14). Japan Leads the Way in Child Health: No Compulsory Vaccines. Banned Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) Vaccine. globalresearch.ca Important article first published by Children's Health Defense, posted on Global Research on April 28, 2019 | In the United States, many legislators and public health officials are busy trying to make vaccines de facto compulsory—either by removing parental/personal choice …
(2020-02-14). Caricom Laboratories Ready to Analyze Coronavirus. telesurenglish.net The Caribbean Public Health Agency (Carpha) said Friday that the Caribbean Community (Caricom) is ready and fully equipped to receive and analyze samples of suspected cases of coronavirus (Covid-19) with immediate effect. | RELATED: | According to Carpha's doctor and executive director, Joy St. John, the agency has the capacity and equipment in its laboratories to investigate and manage contagious diseases, and in…
(2020-02-14). World Health Organization: Coronavirus must generate 'solidarity not stigma'. news.un.org Investing in preparedness is the smartest way to ensure that the coronavirus and other disease outbreaks are "identified and stopped quickly", the UN health agency said on Friday.
(2020-02-14). Coronavirus: Media and Politicians Take Anti-China Fear Mongering to New Levels. mintpressnews.com Despite praise from the World Health Organization for its handling of the coronavirus, China has been derided by Western media and politicians alike over nearly every aspect of its response.
(2020-02-14). Newly licensed vaccine, 'milestone in the fight' against Ebola in Africa, UN health agency. news.un.org Four countries in Africa have licensed an Ebola vaccine to "cement hard-fought progress" in keeping their people safe from the deadly disease, the UN health agency said on Friday.
(2020-02-14). Mumps cases soar to highest number in a decade. thecanary.co There were 5,042 recorded cases of mumps in England in 2019 — four times the number in 2018 and the highest level in a decade. | Many of these cases were as a result of outbreaks in universities and colleges and most were in young adults who did not have the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) jab. | A large number of the 2019 cases were people born in the late 1990s and early 2000s who missed out on the MMR vaccine when they were children. | In 1998, doctor Andrew Wakefield led a study that linked the MMR vaccine to autism. | His work was subsequently discredited and he was struck off, but uptake of the vacci…
(2020-02-14). Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Trump's 'Work-or-Die' Medicaid Requirements in Arkansas. commondreams.org Healthcare advocates on Friday applauded a federal appeals court decision striking down the Trump administration's Medicaid work requirements, in which a three-judge panel unanimously ruled that the proposed rule fundamentally disregarded the purpose of the Medicaid program. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2020-02-14). Menace on the Menu in Post-EU Britain. counterpunch.org Environmentalist Dr Rosemary Mason has just written the report 'Bayer Crop Science rules Britain after Brexit — the public and the press are being poisoned by pesticides'. It has been sent to editors of major media outlets in the UK. In it, she outlines her concerns for pesticide regulation, health and the environment in a
(2020-02-14). 'Code for Massive Cuts': Audio Shows GOP Sen. Joni Ernst Telling Donors She Wants 'Changes' to Medicare, Medicaid. commondreams.org "Again, Joni Ernst has shown that she is willing to push our families into poverty with a smile. The programs she plans to cut are a lifeline for millions of Americans. She should be ashamed." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2020-02-13). The Epidemic of Hunger Strikes in Immigrant Detention Centers. thenation.com The Epidemic of Hunger Strikes in Immigrant Detention Centers…
(2020-02-13). Outside China, Coronavirus transmission 'iceberg' may not be as big as feared. news.un.org As infections from COVID-19 coronavirus continue to rise, a senior UN health expert on Thursday said that there were some indications that disease transmission outside China might not be the tip of the "iceberg" that had been feared.
(2020-02-13). Transgender and Intersex Kids Must Have a Voice in Health Care Decisions. thenation.com Transgender and Intersex Kids Must Have a Voice in Health Care Decisions…
(2020-02-12). 'Dirty streets and human waste?' Twitter not buying survey claiming San Francisco is 'healthiest' US city. rt.com 
A new report names San Francisco, California the healthiest city in the United States, but the public seems skeptical, considering the endless coverage of the city's homeless crisis and unsanitary streets. | Though WalletHub is typically used to check credit scores, it turned its attention recently to grading cities in the United States based on how 'healthy' they are. According to their experts and number crunching, San Francisco This has come a…
(2020-02-12). UN health agency developing COVID-19 virus treatment master plan. news.un.org The World Health Organization (WHO) is developing a master plan for coordinating clinical trials that could lead to potential therapies for patients infected with the COVID-19 virus, the agency's chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced on Wednesday.
(2020-02-12). DR Congo Ebola outbreak still an international public health concern. news.un.org The Ebola virus disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remains an international public health concern, experts meeting in Geneva concluded on Wednesday.
(2020-02-11). The Trump Administration Wants Health Insurance Companies to Drop Abortion Coverage from Your Insurance Plan. aclu.org From denying | access to abortion | for unaccompanied immigrant minors, to gutting | the Title X | family planning program, to trying to roll | back the Affordable Care Act's requirement that employers and universities cover | contr…
(2020-02-11). Meeting of top scientists underway to slow coronavirus spread. news.un.org Deaths from the coronavirus epidemic have surpassed 1,000, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on Tuesday, as hundreds of health experts began meeting at its headquarters in Geneva to help halt the spread of the disease, now officially known as COVID-19.
(2020-02-11). $683 million appeal to deliver reproductive health services, where they're most needed. news.un.org With more than half of all maternal deaths occurring in countries affected by humanitarian crises and fragility, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) is calling for greater international support to provide life-saving reproductive health and protection services in these locations.
(2020-02-10). Headlines for February 10, 2020. democracynow.org Coronavirus Deaths Soar as First U.S. Citizen Succumbs to Disease, Iowa Dem. Party Officially Gives Buttigieg the Lead as Candidates Prepare for New Hampshire Vote, Trump Budget Seeks Boost to Military and Nuclear Spending, Cuts to Social Programs and EPA, Two U.S. Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan, Trump Fires Key Impeachment Figures Following Acquittal, Thai Soldier Kills 29 People in Shooting Rampage, Brazilian Police Kill Hitman Suspected of Involvement in Marielle Franco's Assassination, Temperature Reaches Record-Breaking 65 Degrees in Antarctica, Extinction Rebellion Activists Demand New York Divest from Foss…