Category: Medical & Health

Authorities have found the bodies of two people killed during firefighting operations in Turkey’s southern Antalya province, sources said on Saturday, raising the overall death toll to six.

Two others injured by the raging blazes in Antalya’s Manavgat district were evacuated and taken to a local hospital, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

“We lost our two heroic brothers involved in fighting the fires as martyrs. Our pain is immense. May their place be heaven,” Bekir Pakdemirli, Turkey’s agriculture and forestry minister, said on Twitter.

He wished for patience for the families and loved ones of the victims.

The fires in Manavgat had affected at least 275 people as of Friday afternoon, according to official data.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey's agriculture and forestry minister on Saturday said his country has contained most (91 of 101) of the forest fires that started on Wednesday.

In a statement, Bekir Pakdemirli said efforts are underway to take the remaining blazes under control. He added that firefighters and volunteers are doing everything they can to stem their spread.

According to the figures he shared, forest fires are still continuing in Antalya, Mersin and Mugla provinces.

Emphasizing that the whole world is fighting wildfires, Pakdemirli said their risk has increased due to climatic changes induced by global warming.

"Each country uses firefighting tools and techniques suitable to its geography in the fight against forest fires," he said. We increased the number of helicopters, and aircraft are also being utilized, the minister added.

Besides material damage, at least six people have lost their lives in the fires.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The World Health Organization said Friday countries have the responsibility to work together, in partnership with WHO, so scientists can try to find the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, after China rejected a plan for a second phase of investigations.

China, the day before, rejected the WHO’s second stage to investigate the coronavirus pandemic’s origins that could also include the supposition the virus may have escaped from a Chinese laboratory, and countries, including the United States, had called for a new probe.

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic was asked at a UN press briefing for comment and quoted WHO's Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus and its head of emergencies Mike Ryan as "consistent in saying that this is all about science."

Tedros had agreed last week to a call for further studies after the release of an inconclusive report on an international team's field visit to Wuhan, China to research the origins of COVID-19, citing difficulties accessing raw data.

"Countries have the responsibility to work together and to work with WHO in the spirit of partnership, so scientists can have their space to try to find the origins of this pandemic," said Jasarevic.

"Now countries are looking into the proposal that the director-general outlined last week. They need some time. We look forward to input and constructive dialogue."

Zeng Yixin, deputy head of China's National Health Commission, had said, "The work plan on the second phase origins study proposed by the WHO contains language that does not respect science."

Second phase of studies proposed

The decision came after the new WHO proposal Friday for the second phase of studies, including inspection of laboratories and markets in Wuhan, from where the first cases of the virus were reported in December 2019.

On July 16, Tedros said he expects China to support the next phase of the scientific process to identify the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus after the first part was criticized.

The WHO had addressed representatives of the health organization's member states on the origins of the virus that has wreaked havoc worldwide since early in 2020, killing millions and shutting down economies.

"Finding where this virus came from is essential not just for understanding how the pandemic started and preventing future outbreaks, but it's also important as an obligation to the families of the 4 million people who have lost someone they love, and the millions who have suffered," said Tedros.

"We expect China to support this next phase of the scientific process by sharing all relevant data in a spirit of transparency."

He said the WHO expects all member states to support the scientific process "by refraining from politicizing it."

At the end of March, a WHO-led international scientific team delivered its report following a mission to China in January, in line with the World Health Assembly for a probe into the virus, said Tedros.

Source: Anadolu Agency

New Zealand on Friday announced a temporary end to travel bubble with Australia over the spread of more severe Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a news conference in Wellington that the quarantine-free travel with Australia “will be suspended from 11:59 p.m. (local time) tonight for at least eight weeks.”

Expressing caution over deteriorating situation due to the Delta variant, Ardern said: “Immigration New Zealand staff are being deployed to Australian ports to check pre-departure tests.”

“Every traveler will be stopped and checked before they can fly,” she said, adding that her government conveyed the decision to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison early this morning.

New Zealand and Australia opened the travel bubble in April and more than 200,000 people have flown between the two countries since then, Arden said.

“The Delta variant has materially changed the risk profile … For New Zealanders in Australia we are absolutely committed to getting you home,” she said.

“There is considerable pressure on our managed isolation facilities at the moment and my strong urging to everyone is do not travel to Australia in the next eight weeks,” the prime minister added.

In Australia, New South Wales declared “national emergency” after the region reported new 136 new cases – the highest since the Delta variant was detected last month -- and one more death, ABC News reported.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said: “The outbreak now had the potential to impact the entire nation as no border was perfect and the virus could seep through.”

“[There is] no doubt that the numbers are not going in the direction we were hoping they would at this stage,” said Berejiklian.

New Zealand has reported 2,855 virus cases, including 26 deaths, while Australia has seen 32,588 cases, including 916 deaths, since the outbreak in December 2019.

Source: Anadolu Agency

At least 37 people have been rescued after a boat carrying 45 Syrian refugees capsized southeast of the Greek island of Crete, Turkish authorities said on Friday.

The boat sank at 9.10 p.m. local time (1800GMT) on Thursday in the search and rescue area of Turkey due to severe weather conditions, the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry said in a statement.

It was sailing to Italy before it ran out of fuel, the statement also said.

In a separate statement, the National Defense Ministry said a search and rescue operation was carried out by the Turkish Navy, including two frigates -- TCG Gelibolu and TCG Gokova -- and a plane.

While the refugees were rescued, eight could not have been found despite efforts, said the ministry.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The World Health Organization is urging African countries to ramp up preparations for COVID-19 vaccination rollouts in anticipation of the imminent arrival of millions of vaccine doses on the continent. WHO reports more than 6.2 million people have been infected with COVID-19 and more than 159,000 have died.

New cases of COVID-19 in Africa have fallen slightly following eight weeks of a fast-moving surge. The decline is attributed to a sharp drop in cases in South Africa. However, the World Health Organization reports the situation could change quickly as violent protests and mass gatherings in the country could trigger another rise in cases.

WHO regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti says Africa’s third wave is not over. She notes 21 countries, three more than last week, are experiencing a resurgence. She says the highly contagious delta variant has now been detected in 26 countries and 13 of them need more oxygen due to a surge in cases.

She says Africa continues to lag in COVID-19 vaccines, with just 20 million Africans or 1.5 percent of the continent’s population fully vaccinated. But she says Africa’s supply crunch is starting to ease.

She says the first delivery of doses donated by the United States through the COVAX Facility is arriving in Africa this week and altogether nearly 60 million doses from other sources are expected in the coming weeks.

"African countries must go all out and speed up their vaccine rollouts by five to six times if they are to get all these doses into arms and fully vaccinate the most vulnerable 10 percent of their people by the end of September," Moeti said. "Around 3.5 to four million doses are administered each week on the continent, but this needs to rise to 21 million doses each week at the very least to meet this goal.”

Moeti says more than half a billion doses are expected through COVAX alone this year. This massive influx, she says, means countries must up their game.

"We need to address the issue of vaccine hesitancy," Moeti said. "So, this communication—targeting people, targeting the messages that we are tracking and the misinformation or the fears and misconceptions is absolutely vital now because the time to mobilize people to be ready to be vaccinated is not when the vaccines are landing. It is now in this narrow period of a window that we have to do all of this.”

Regional director Moeti says countries must scale up their operations. She says countries need sufficient vaccine sites, storage facilities, adequate transport, plans for distribution and, of course, health care workers to carry out this life-saving activity.

Source: Voice of America

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday extended condolences over the loss of lives in a road accident in Pakistan.

"Learned with deep sorrow that many Pakistani brothers and sisters passed away in a bus accident in Punjab (northeastern province of Pakistan)," Cavusoglu wrote on Twitter.?

"I wish Allah's mercy to those who lost their lives, a speedy recovery to the injured and condolences to the brotherly people of Pakistan," he said.?

Early Monday, a bus collided with a container truck, killing at least 27 people and injuring 40, according to Pakistani officials.

Source: Anadolu Agency