(2020-06-16). Colombians mobilize against hunger and state negligence. peoplesdispatch.org 
Thousands mobilized against state negligence, repression and the precarious conditions that communities are forced to endure amid the global health crisis. The protests were attacked by the police and ESMAD agents…
(2020-06-16). Why Cuban doctors should receive the Nobel Peace Prize? peoplesdispatch.org Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuba has taken an active role in extending international solidarity to nations hard-hit by the virus. So far, they have sent medical brigades to 27 countries to assist in the fight against coronavirus. Due to Cuba's extraordinary commitment to humanity, to public health and to internationalism, a group of human rights organizations and social movements across the world have launched a campaign to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Cuba's Henry Reeve medical brigade. | On the
(2020-06-16). Trump Hammers Cuba While Cuba Cures the Sick. mintpressnews.com 
Not content to sabotage Cuba's domestic health sector, the Trump administration has been attacking Cuba's international medical assistance, from the teams fighting coronavirus to those caring for underserved communities in 164 countries.
(2020-06-16). "Normal" Isn't Coming Back, Prioritize Your Mental Health: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix. thealtworld.com 
Speaking of which, please prioritize your mental health at this point in history. Like, really, truly prioritize it. Things are only going to get more unusual and confusing from here on out, and you'll need to keep your feet underneath you. | ~ | Keep truthfully saying what you believe to be true in each moment and eventually you will have pissed off everyone. | ~ | Me, a naive idiot: It's a real problem how US police brutalize and kill people who don't obey them. | Half of the entire internet: Well obviously the police are going to brutalize and kill someone who disobeys them, you naive idiot. | Me, now informed…
(2020-06-16). Trump's 'AIDS vaccine' gaffe torn apart on social media — but was it really a gaffe? rt.com 
US President Donald Trump is being savaged for praising the government scientists who'd "come up with the AIDS vaccine," with his haters holding it up as proof of incipient dementia. But it's not as outlandish as it sounds. | Trump made the remark during a press conference on Tuesday before signing an executive order on police reform, making a momentary diversion to update reporters on the progress towards a vaccine against Covid-19. Predicting researchers will have "a very successful vaccine, therapeutic, and cure" before the end of 2020, he hailed the "incredible scientists and doctors" who'd come up with "m…
(2020-06-16). US/UK trade deal — what your digital life will look like. truepublica.org.uk TruePublica Editor: At TruePublica we have taken the stance that doing a trade deal with America, on balance, will be a bad thing for Britain as a country and its overall way of life. America is already Britain's largest trading partner outside of the EU and provides us with a healthy trade surplus. But once …
(2020-06-16). Virus case tally rises in Kuwait, Morocco. yenisafak.com Kuwait confirmed new fatalities due to the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, while Morocco reported fresh infections. | The Kuwaiti Health Ministry said five people died from COVID-19 and 257 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours. | The country's tally now stands at 36,095 confirmed cases, including 303 deaths, and 28,206 recoveries. | In Morocco, 36 fresh cases and 52 recoveries were recorded, according to the Health Ministry. | Morocco's total cases now stand at to 8,921 including 212 deaths and 7,880 recoveries. | After emerging last December in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the virus has spread to at least…
(2020-06-16). COVID-19: Indonesia to reopen schools in low-risk areas. yenisafak.com Indonesia will reopen schools located in low risk areas starting July after months of closure due to coronavirus, the Education Ministry said Tuesday.Sri Wahyuningsih, a ministry official, said in a webinar that the reopening of schools will be carried out in phases depending on the level of education and the provisions of the health protocols."Middle and high schools will start to reopen in July, elementary schools in September, while kindergartens will be the last to reopen in November at the earliest," said Wahyuningsih.She said that only 6% of all schools in the country are located in low risk areas."Despite…
(2020-06-16). World Bank approves $1 billion for health, education in Congo. yenisafak.com The World Bank said on Tuesday it had approved $1 billion in funding for Democratic Republic of Congo's education and health systems that have been weakened by years of under-funding, conflict and mismanagement.The financing comprises $800 million to support free primary school education and $200 million to improve maternal and child health."This funding is all the more important because it will help alleviate the economic and social consequences of the coronavirus affecting the poorest," said Jean-Christophe Carret, World Bank country director.The funding includes $435 million in grants and $565 million in credi…
(2020-06-16). '22% of world population at risk of severe COVID-19'. yenisafak.com According to the study published by The Lancet medical journal, an estimate of 1.7 billion people or 22% of the global population "have at least one underlying condition that puts them at increased risk of severe COVID-19 if infected.""Estimates of the number of individuals at increased risk were most sensitive to the prevalence of chronic kidney disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and chronic respiratory disease," it added.The researchers said the study focused on underlying health conditions for considering the number of individuals that might need to be shielded or vaccinated as the global pandemic unfo…
(2020-06-15). Unfinished Revolution: Where Do The George Floyd Protests Go From Here? popularresistance.org Will we release some steam for a few days, be satisfied with the prosecution and (if we're lucky) conviction of a few cops, accept a few reforms of a police system that will never be accountable to anyone else but their maker — the ruling class? Will we settle for mere survival, be content not to be killed, so that we can live under the peace of everyday violence and robbery forced upon our communities, our health, and our lives? | Will we hang onto illusions that equate equal opportunity with being as exploited as a vanishing group of white, middle-class workers are or as a few black and brown faces rising…
(2020-06-15). Body count grows in Trump drive to kill off seniors. peoplesworld.org 
Donald Trump started in earnest soon after his election to endanger the health and lives of America's seniors by putting Social Security and Medicare cuts in every single one of his budget proposals. Further endangering their health and lives, he is now holding giant rallies in the middle of a pandemic that has already killed …
(2020-06-15). Face coverings: What does the law say? thecanary.co 
Face coverings are now mandatory on public transport in England.Passengers caught not complying with the regulations risk being fined £100 and removed from services.We take a look at the new laws: — What is new?Legislation called The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings on Public Transport) (England) Regulations 2020 came into force on Monday.— What does this mean?It is mandatory to wear a face covering — meaning anything which covers someone's nose and mouth — while using public transport unless you have a reasonable excuse.The rules apply in England and in English a…
(2020-06-15). Supreme Court Ruling on LGBTQ Rights Defangs Trump's Attack on Trans Health Care. truthout.org The Supreme Court's ruling on anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people is not only an extraordinary victory for workplace equity, it also provides strong legal pushback against Donald Trump's attempts to roll back health care discrimination protections for LGBTQ people. | The Supreme Court on Monday unambiguously
(2020-06-15). Bank of England Infringes Human Rights: Venezuelan Central Bank. telesurenglish.net The Bank of England (BoE) is "putting lives at risk" by denying access to gold reserves, Legal representatives of the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) denounced Monday. | RELATED: | BoE refuses to release around US$1.13 billion of gold reserves which the South American nation could use to fight the health emergency derived from the COVID-19 outbreak. Venezuela is seeking to get a court order for the urgent release of abo…
(2020-06-15). COVID-19: Preparations for southern flu season must be a priority: WHO's Tedros. news.un.org Despite the ongoing global response to COVID-19, the world cannot lose sight of the significant public health risk posed by influenza, which affects every country every year and takes its own deadly toll, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Monday.
(2020-06-15). Health Passports — biosurveillance and pervasive health monitoring to be rolled out. truepublica.org.uk By Rob Woodward — TruePublica: VST Enterprises Ltd (VSTE) the British cybersecurity company founded by tech entrepreneur Louis-James Davis announced recently that a 'sports health passport' style app was now in play to help kick start attendance at all British sporting events over the coming months as Britain emerges and recovers from Covid-19. VSTE want …
(2020-06-15). Nurses outraged over US hospital chain bailouts, layoffs and bloated CEO pay. wsws.org The largest health care corporations and hospital chains have collected billions in federal grants and laid off tens of thousands of health care workers, while compensating top executives hundreds of millions.
(2020-06-15). Towards a Digital Police State? Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair Calls for Coronavirus Digital IDs to Prove 'Disease Status'. globalresearch.ca 'Unless you're able to record some of this data in a way that people can use it's going to be difficult to go back to anything like a near normal in things like transport,' said Tony Blair. | *** | Former U.K. …
(2020-06-15). Iran's coronavirus deaths near 9,000. yenisafak.com A further 2,449 people tested positive for COVID-19, raising the overall count to 189,876, Health Ministry spokesman Sima Sadat Lari said. | A total of 150,590 people have recovered and been discharged from hospitals so far, he said, adding that 2,765 remain at hospitals in critical conditions. | Some 1.269 million tests have been done in the country to date, Lari said. | Iran's daily number of COVID-19 cases dropped to around 800 in early May, but since authorities eased restrictions, daily figures have shown an upward trend, especially in the southwestern Khuzestan province. | Despite the rising number of in…
(2020-06-15). S.Africa: COVID-19 cases top 70,000, deaths at 1,480. yenisafak.com South Africa saw a massive jump in coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, with 4,302 cases recorded, bringing the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country to 70,038.Zweli Mkhize, South Africa's health minister, also said in a statement that 57 more COVID-19 deaths had been recorded, bring the total fatalities to 1,480 with a mortality rate of 2.2%.Despite the high numbers of cases and deaths, health experts continue to applaud South Africa's mass testing campaign.South Africa has so far tested 1.12 million people for COVID-19, with 34,071 tests done over the weekend."The recoveries to date ar…
(2020-06-15). Coronavirus cases in Africa exceed 242,000. yenisafak.com The number of coronavirus cases in Africa has reached 242,105, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday.Death toll across 54 countries in the continent went up to 6,464, while recoveries stand at 109,977, bringing the total number of active cases to 125,664.The Southern Africa region recorded 73,600 cases, of which South Africa's number stood at 70,000 cases, and with the second most-affected country Zambia registering 1,400 cases.North Africa has 67,600 infections, West 51,300, East 26,700 and Central Africa 22,900.At least 2,700 people have died of the virus so far in North Africa, 1…
(2020-06-15). Imperial to begin first human trials of new COVID-19 vaccine. imperial.ac.uk Clinical researchers are this week set to begin human trials of a new coronavirus vaccine developed by researchers at Imperial College London.
(2020-06-14). [Commentary] Contact tracing: Can 'Big tech' come to the rescue, and if so, at what cost? thelancet.com COVID-19 has resulted in a unique amalgamative failure of economics, healthcare, and society. Without an effective vaccine, the precise mechanism to resuming "normal" activity remains unknown. Public health consensus seems to align on the need to test, trace and isolate infected individuals with a stepwise repeal of lock-down measures. The infrastructure for contact-tracing, however, are woefully underdeveloped worldwide. In the US, it is estimated that 180,000 contact-tracers would be required and only 0.5% of that number currently exist [1].
(2020-06-14). Health workers left in the lurch as pandemic spreads in Bangladesh. peoplesdispatch.org Bangladesh continues to see a high number of COVID-19 cases even two weeks after restrictions were eased. The first case was reported on March and restrictions were in place til May 31. Activist groups had raised concerns that the restrictions were eased without adequate preparations being put in place. Peoples Dispatch spoke to Manisha Chakraborty, International Secretary of the Socialist Student Front, shortly after the restrictions were eased to understand the situation. | Peoples Dispatch (PD): What is the situation in Bangladesh after the government declared the lifting of the nationwide restrictons? | Mani…
(2020-06-14). Sanders Proposes 10% Cut to Pentagon Budget For Social Programs. telesurenglish.net United States Senator Bernie Sanders announced Friday he will introduce an amendment in the coming days to cut the Department of Defense's US$740 billion budget by 10 percent and redirect that money toward healthcare, housing, and education in the poorest communities. | RELATED: | "Instead of spending US$740 billion on the Dept. of Defense, let's rebuild communities at home devastated by poverty and incarceration,"
(2020-06-14). Economic revival, border openings & no tax hikes, Macron unveils his plans for post-Covid-19 France. rt.com 
French President Emmanuel Macron has announced the next stage of easing coronavirus restrictions in a televised address, two weeks ahead of delayed local elections which do not look promising for his party. The president attempted to lighten the mood of his fellow citizens by telling them France enters the "Green Zone" — a lower state of alert over the epidemic — starting Monday. That means that Paris restaurants in particular can now operate as normal, he said. | "The fight against the epidemic is not finished but I am happy about this first victory against the virus," Macron stated. He also promise…
(2020-06-14). Trump administration rolls back LGBTQ and women's healthcare protections. liberationnews.org 
Is the Trump administration making being queer or female a" pre-existing condition?"
(2020-06-14). Brazil Tops 850,000 COVID-19 Cases as Virus Plagues Country. telesurenglish.net In the last 24 hours, Brazil has registered 892 new deaths from the virus with 21,704 new cases, according to the health ministry. | RELATED: | Sao Paulo, the epicenter of the virus in Brazil and the country's most populous state, has registered 172,875 cases and 10,581 deaths, followed by Rio de Janeiro with 78,836 cases and 7,592 deaths, and Ceara with 76,429 cases and 4,829 deaths. | Brazil, with the second-highest number of cases in the worl…
(2020-06-14). UN chief in 'support migrants' plea, as remittances drop by 20 per cent predicted. news.un.org Marking International Day of Family Remittances, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, has released a message appealing for "people everywhere" to support migrants, at a time when remittances — the money migrants send home to support their families — have fallen by more than $100 billion, causing hunger, lost schooling and deteriorating health, for tens of millions of families.
(2020-06-14). Chile's Health Minister Resigns as Pandemic Hits Hard. telesurenglish.net Chile's Health Minister, Jaime Manalich, resigned Saturday amid controversy over the official death toll from COVID-19 in the country that the ministry presented to the World Health Organization (WHO) and citizens. | RELATED: | The departure was announced by President Sebastian Piñera, who said that Manalich had spared "no effort" in carrying out his "difficult and noble duty" to protect Chileans' health. He repl…
(2020-06-14). Corrupt Propositions: AstraZeneca and the Coronavirus Vaccine Drive. globalresearch.ca Putting your destiny into the hands of a drug company is much like seeking reassurances from an opportunistic pimp. The returns are bound to mixed, dressed up in deceptive language. The promises, however, are always remarkable. The back-breaking pace in …
(2020-06-14). Mayo Clinic launches neutralizing antibody test to advance COVID-19 therapies. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic has launched a new SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody test in support of the national Expanded Access Program for Convalescent Plasma and other critical research efforts to establish effective therapies and vaccines for COVID-19. The test will be available through Mayo Clinic Laboratories to select labs, blood banks, and biopharma clients in …
(2020-06-14). Mayo researchers define type of Alzheimer's that affects people in their younger years. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org ROCHESTER, Minn. ? Mayo Clinic researchers have defined a form of Alzheimer's disease that strikes younger people as early as their 40s, presents with atypical symptoms, and affects a different part of the brain not usually associated with Alzheimer's. In their study, the researchers describe a progressive dysexecutive syndrome which they say affects a person's …
(2020-06-14). Delhi to use 500 railway coaches as hospital facilities to fight coronavirus. yenisafak.com The coaches will increase Delhi's capacity by 8,000 beds, home minister Amit Shah said on Twitter after a meeting with the capital's chief minister.The government will also ramp up testing in the city, especially in containment zones, conduct a door-to-door health survey of residents and provide sufficient supplies of oxygen cylinders and ventilators, he said.India is the fourth-worst affected country in the world, with cases steadily increasing. It reported a record single-day jump in cases on Sunday, adding nearly 12,000 confirmed infections and taking the total to more than 320,000, according to health ministr…
(2020-06-14). Iran records 107 new deaths from coronavirus. yenisafak.com Iran on Sunday confirmed 107 more fatalities from the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 8,837. | A further 2,472 people tested positive for COVID-19, raising the overall count to 187,427, Health Ministry spokesman Sima Sadat Lari said. | A total of 148,674 people have recovered and been discharged from hospitals so far, he said. | Some 1.244 million tests have been done in the country to date, Lari said. | Iran's daily number of COVID-19 cases dropped to around 800 in early May, but since authorities eased restrictions, daily figures have shown an upward trend, especi…
(2020-06-14). Hospital's COVID-19 Policy Separated Native American Mothers From Their Newborns. truthout.org Albuquerque, New Mexico — A prominent women's hospital here has separated some Native American women from their newly born babies, the result of a practice designed to stop the spread of COVID-19 that clinicians and health care ethicists described as racial profiling. | Lovelace Women's Hospital in Albuquerque implemented a secretive policy in recent months to conduct special coronavirus screenings for pregnant women, based on whether they appeared to be Native American, even if they…
(2020-06-14). USA Plan: Militarized Control of Population. The "National Covid-19 Testing Action Plan" globalresearch.ca The Rockefeller Foundation has presented the "National Covid-19 Testing Action Plan", indicating the "pragmatic steps to reopen our workplaces and our communities". However, it is not simply a matter of health measures. The Plan prefigures a real hierarchical and militarized social model.
(2020-06-14). Amid Growing Death Toll in Brazil, Bolsonaro's Handling of the Covid-19 Pandemic Condemned as 'Pitiful'. commondreams.org Brazil is now second only to the United States in terms of both Covid-19 cases and deaths, and its daily death toll is the highest in the world—conditions that public health officials within and beyond the South American country continue to partly blame on far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's "reckless" response to the pandemic. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2020-06-13). [Perspectives] Accountability for medical participation in torture. thelancet.com After revelations of the participation of US health professionals in torture of detainees in military or CIA custody in the wake of 9/11, citizens filed complaints to disciplinary and licensing boards in seven states against psychologists who had been publicly identified as having been part of the torture apparatus. All of the complaints were eventually dismissed, only one with an explanation. In light of the disciplinary bodies' resistance to investigate participation in torture, much less impose sanctions, colleagues and I, then representing Physicians for Human Rights, helped a New York legislator, Richard Got…
(2020-06-13). [Correspondence] NICE guideline for rectal cancer: already out of date. thelancet.com As members of a colorectal multidisciplinary team, some of whom have contributed to previous National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance1 and European Society of Medical Oncology guidelines in rectal cancer,2 we disagree with the current recommendations in the update to NICE guidance that was published in 2020: "offer preoperative radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy to people with rectal cancer that is cT1-T2, cN1-N2, M0, or cT3-T4, any cN, M0."3…
(2020-06-13). [Comment] Offline: COVID-19—what we can expect to come. thelancet.com The verdicts are now coming in. In Mark Honigsbaum's updated edition of The Pandemic Century, he has included a new chapter on COVID-19. As a historian of epidemics, he offers his judgments about how countries have responded to what he calls "China's Chernobyl moment". His critique is sharp. For decades, we have known that the world is intrinsically and increasingly vulnerable to pandemics—and yet, "we failed to heed the warnings about Covid-19 and act when our actions could have prevented the outbreak from spinning out of control".
(2020-06-13). [World Report] COVID-19 vaccines for all? thelancet.com If an effective COVID-19 vaccine is developed, how will it get to everyone in need? Ann Danaiya Usher reports on the initiatives being planned to ensure equitable access, and their shortcomings.
(2020-06-13). [Review] Meningococcal disease and sexual transmission: urogenital and anorectal infections and invasive disease due to Neisseria meningitidis. thelancet.com Neisseria meningitidis is an obligate human commensal bacterium that frequently colonises the upper respiratory tract. Person-to-person transmission occurs via direct contact or through dispersion of respiratory droplets from a carrier of the bacteria, and can lead to invasive meningococcal disease. Rare sporadic cases of meningococcal urogenital and anorectal infections, including urethritis, proctitis, and cervicitis, have been reported, typically following orogenital contact with an oropharyngeal meningococcal carrier.
(2020-06-13). [Correspondence] Questioning statin therapy for older patients. thelancet.com Single clinical trials have not yet determined whether statin therapy provides more benefit than harm to people older than 75 years with or without a history of vascular disease. The Cholesterol Treatment Trialists' Collaboration, which alone has access to patient-level data from most trials, is best able to answer these questions. However, we have several concerns about the Article by the Collaboration1 and the presentation of its results to the media.
(2020-06-13). [Correspondence] Questioning statin therapy for older patients — Authors' reply. thelancet.com We were correct in stating that, among patients with established cardiovascular disease, the rates of use of statin therapy have been shown to decline among people older than 75 years.1 Not only do the Dutch data2 that we cited demonstrate this trend, but so do the US data reported by Salami and colleagues.3 Supplementary table 5a in the latter paper3 indicates that, after adjusting for other factors, the odds of statin use among patients with cardiovascular disease are about one-fifth lower among patients aged 75 or older than among patients aged 65—74 years.
(2020-06-13). [Correspondence] Major burns: debt recovery or ethics? thelancet.com As one of the UK's largest tertiary burns centres, St Andrew's Burns Service has an ethical obligation to raise awareness about issues that compromise the care of patients. In 2017, new regulations placed a legal requirement on Health Authorities to establish patients' eligibility for free National Health Service treatment.1 An increasing number of patients ineligible for free care have been admitted to the St Andrew's Burns Service and subsequently presented with large invoices as soon as they recover.
(2020-06-13). Black Lives Matter-Lansing event declares racism a public health crisis, confronts mayor. fightbacknews.org Lansing, MI – Police brutality protests continue in both Lansing and East Lansing after the downtown march on May 31 but they are not the only challenge to police brutality based in the Lansing metropolitan area. Black Lives Matter-Lansing and One Love Global hosted a live "Call to Action" on Facebook and Eventbrite. | After a spoken word performance and moment of silence for victims of racist violence, One Love Global CEO and Black Lives Matter-Lansing cofounder Angela Waters Austin spoke with panelists from the Ingham County Health Department about public health deficits experienced by African Americans and oth…
(2020-06-13). CDC reminds every public event is Covid-19 risk… after weeks of mass protests & just as Trump is set to hold own rally. rt.com 
The CDC has warned that the Covid-19 pandemic is far from over and that states may be forced to reintroduce lockdowns — just as President Trump prepares to resume his campaign rallies after weeks of crowded protests nationwide. | "If cases begin to go up again, particularly if they go up dramatically, it's important to recognize that more mitigation efforts such as what were implemented back in March may be needed again," the health agency's deputy director for infectious diseases, Jay Butler, told reporters on Friday. | Every activity that involves interacting with others has some degree of risk right n…
(2020-06-13). #ExposeBillGates explodes on Twitter as conspiracy theorists vow to avoid Covid-19 vaccine connected to billionaire. rt.com 
Bill Gates' omnipresence in the media during the Covid-19 pandemic has turned into a mass obsession with many, and conspiracy theorists got #ExposeBillGates trending on Twitter on a planned "day of action." | The coronavirus pandemic created a number of speculations around the Microsoft Founder over his support of extended lockdown measures, his large contributions to the World Health Organization, and past comments on vaccines. | "The public is finally waking up. I've never liked this guy and if you really listen to him talk and watch his interviews you'll know he DOESN'T have our best interest in mind," auth…