Health

Beijing, Dec 19 (AP-PTI) China will soon begin coronavirus inoculations for workers in health care, transport and border control, a senior official said Saturday.

Vice Minister of the National Health Commission Zeng Yixin gave few specifics but said the government was prioritising those most at risk of catching the virus.

Lucknow, Dec 19 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh government has approved over 19,000 posts of doctors to ensure availability of specialists in the health services, an official statement said on Saturday.

Of the 19,011 approved posts, 10,580 will be for MBBS doctors and 8,431 for specialists, it said.

Half of the specialist doctors will be recruited directly and the remaining posts will be filled up through promotion, the statement said.

Till now, in the absence of direct recruitment of specialist doctors, a large number of posts used to remain vacant.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — In October, Indonesian diplomats and Muslim clerics stepped off a plane in China. While the diplomats were there to finalize deals to ensure millions of doses reached Indonesian citizens, the clerics had a much different concern: Whether the COVID-19 vaccine was permissible for use under Islamic law.

As companies race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine and countries scramble to secure doses, questions about the use of pork products — banned by some religious groups — has raised concerns about the possibility of disrupted immunization campaigns.

19 Dec 2020; MEMO: A new report issued by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) shows how European Union (EU) migration policies have led to a mental health crisis among thousands of asylum seekers trapped in the Greek islands.

Beijing, Dec 19 (AP-PTI) China will soon begin coronavirus inoculations for workers in health care, transport and border control, a senior official said Saturday.

Vice Minister of the National Health Commission Zeng Yixin gave few specifics but said the government was prioritising those most at risk of catching the virus.

Workers in logistics and in markets selling fresh meat and seafood would also be placed higher on the list of those receiving vaccines, along with the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions.

Geneva, Dec 19 (AP-PTI) The head of emergencies at the World Health Organisation says a team of international experts looking into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic will travel to China the first week of January.

Dr Michael Ryan says there will be quarantine arrangements for the team, which will visit the suspected site of the outbreak in the city of Wuhan.

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday blamed his COVID-19 on a combination of negligence and bad luck, urging his compatriots to stay safe as critics called out slip-ups in his behavior to prevent infection, from a close-quarters handshake to repeated big-group meals over the past week.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. added a second COVID-19 vaccine to its arsenal Friday, boosting efforts to beat back an outbreak so dire that the nation is regularly recording more than 3,000 deaths a day.

Much-needed doses are set to arrive Monday after the Food and Drug Administration authorized an emergency rollout of the vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. and the National Institutes of Health.

17 Dec 2020; MEMO: Iran said on Thursday that around 60,000 nurses have contracted the coronavirus across the country, including 100 of them losing their lives, Anadolu Agency reports.

According to the Iranian ISNA news agency, head of the Nurses Association Mohammad Mirzabeigi said that out of 145,000 nurses across the country, around 60,000 of them have so far contracted the novel coronavirus.

BRUSSELS, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- A host of European leaders are self-isolating after contact with French President Emmanuel Macron, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.

Macron "will isolate himself for seven days" but "will continue to work and carry out his activities remotely," the French presidency said in a statement.

The 42-year-old French president attended a European Union summit in Brussels last week and an event organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris on Monday.