Seoul, May 11 (IANS) North Korea has raised the alarm over the danger posed by the Hantavirus after an outbreak on a foreign cruise ship has killed three passengers, echoing its response to the COVID-19 pandemic years earlier.The Rodong Simnum, the ruling Workers’ Party’s official newspaper, reported Monday on the outbreak of the Andes strain of the virus on a ship sailing in the Atlantic Ocean, describing it as “raising concerns from the international community.”The US Centres for Disease Contr…
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Madrid, May 11 (IANS) The Embassy of India in Madrid, Spain, stated on Sunday that two Indians who were aboard the Hantavirus-hit cruise ship are safe and asymptomatic.The Dutch-flagged vessel MV Hondius, with around 150 individuals, including two Indian nationals, arrived in Spain on Sunday.In the context of the Hantavirus outbreak, the ship anchored off the coast of the Canary Islands of Spain. The passengers onboard disembarked from the ship in accordance with the protocol established by the …
Islamabad, May 8 (IANS) Over 20,000 patients out of 84,000 registered HIV infected people in Pakistan have gone “missing” after beginning antiretroviral therapy, raising concerns over the potential transmission within the community, a report said on Friday. According to an editorial in leading Pakistani daily ‘The Express Tribune’, Pakistan has emerged as one of the fastest-growing HIV epidemic hotspots in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, covering 22 countries in West Asia, North Africa, th…
Kabul, May 6 (IANS) A mother dies from preventable complications every hour in Afghanistan, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said, showcasing a health system still struggling to protect women during pregnancy and childbirth, local media reported on Wednesday. In a statement issued on International Day of the Midwife, the WHO said the maternal mortality rate in Afghanistan remains among the highest across the world, at 521 deaths per 100,000 live births, even as access to basic care has improv…
Islamabad, May 3 (IANS) The WHO’s Global Hepatitis Report 2026 has revealed that Pakistan is the single largest contributor to the number of people living with hepatitis C in the world, even as field reports from different parts of the country revealed continued availability of banned reusable syringes and fake auto-disable syringes in the market, which experts fear can cause transmission of hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV, when used repeatedly by unqualified practitioners. Pakistan is among t…
Islamabad, May 1 (IANS) Two new polio cases have been reported from Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, bringing the total number of reported cases in the country since the start of this year to three, local media reported on Friday. Speaking on condition of anonymity, an official of the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme, told leading Pakistani daily Dawn that two new cases of wild poliovirus – one in Bannu and another in North Waziristan – were confirmed by the National Emergency Op…
Chennai, April 27 (IANS) The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned that temperatures are likely to rise further across several districts in the coming days, even as the state witnesses a relative cooling of its political climate after weeks of intense activity. With the mercury climbing steadily, health experts have cautioned that the risk of heat-related illnesses is increasing and stressed the need for preventive measures. Doctors say that staying safe during peak summer requires tw…
New Delhi, April 11 (IANS) All India Congress Committee (AICC) Treasurer and former Delhi Assembly Speaker Ajay Maken on Friday alleged a policy failure in the National Capital, claiming that air pollution in the city has reached alarming levels. In a social media post, Maken cited data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to highlight that the Delhi PM2.5 level on Friday was almost four times higher than the 15 ug/m3 safe limit set by the WHO.The senior Congress leader expresse…
Lucknow, March 31 (IANS) The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is considering a proposal to include cancer, especially among children, among the list of notifiable diseases to facilitate early detection and cure, said a senior health department official on Tuesday.A notifiable disease is one that is required by law to be reported to government authorities (health departments) by healthcare providers, laboratories, and veterinarians.The official said that compulsory reporting of childho…
Hanoi, March 31 (IANS) Vietnam’s capital Hanoi has recorded 29 COVID-19 cases since the start of the year, with no deaths reported, local daily Tuoi Tre reported Tuesday.The Hanoi Centre for Disease Control reported 17 new infections across 12 communes and wards between March 20 and 27, up from three cases in the previous week, according to the report.Regarding the BA.3.2 variant, which is currently being monitored by the World Health Organization (WHO), the local health department advised the p…