The first ODI between South Africa and England in Paarl has been abandoned due to COVID-19 pandemic. This news comes after two members of the hotel staff (where both squads are staying) tested positive for COVID-19.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/sports/india-vs-australia-2nd-t20i-preview-probable-xi-players-to-watch-out-for-347864" hreflang="en">India vs Australia 2nd T20I: Preview, probable XI, players to watch out for</a>

Earlier, an update had to come from the ground that the match has gotten delayed. An official press release from the English Cricket Board said: "The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket South Africa (CSA) have agreed to delay the start time for today’s One-Day International match, which is due to take place in Paarl. The England players and management underwent an additional round of PCR tests on Saturday evening, after two members of the hotel staff testing positive for COVID-19. Whilst the ECB awaits ratification of those test results the decision has been taken to delay the start of today’s ODI match."

However, as a precautionary step, the match has been called off leaving the rest of the Tour hanging.&nbsp;

The match was supposed to be held in Newlands, Cape Town. But it was postponed and the venue shifted and is being held in Paarl. The postponement took place after an unnamed South African player tested positive for the virus. 24 hours later, the results of the entire Protea contingent - who all were made to undergo tests - turned out to be negative. The series seemed to be back on track.&nbsp;

The first ODI between South Africa and England in Paarl has been abandoned due to COVID-19 pandemic. This news comes after two members of the hotel staff (where both squads are staying) tested positive for COVID-19.

The first ODI between South Africa and England in Paarl has been abandoned due to COVID-19 pandemic. This news comes after two members of the hotel staff (where both squads are staying) tested positive for COVID-19. Also read: India vs Australia 2nd T20I: Preview, probable XI, players to watch out for Earlier, an update had to come from the ground that the match has gotten delayed. An official press release from the English Cricket Board said: "The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket South Africa (CSA) have agreed to delay the start time for today’s One-Day International match, which is due to take place in Paarl. The England players and management underwent an additional round of PCR tests on Saturday evening, after two members of the hotel staff testing positive for COVID-19. Whilst the ECB awaits ratification of those test results the decision has been taken to delay the start of today’s ODI match." However, as a precautionary step, the match has been called off leaving the rest of the Tour hanging. The match was supposed to be held in Newlands, Cape Town. But it was postponed and the venue shifted and is being held in Paarl. The postponement took place after an unnamed South African player tested positive for the virus. 24 hours later, the results of the entire Protea contingent - who all were made to undergo tests - turned out to be negative. The series seemed to be back on track.

SA vs ENG: First ODI abandoned as COVID-19 puts series in doubt

Roller-Skating is making comeback in Hong Kong as more adults are taking interest in sports during the pandemic.

Hong Kong: Roller-Skating is making comeback in Hong Kong during the pandemic

There is an urgent need to address long-term symptoms of the coronavirus, leading public health officials said this week, warning that hundreds of thousands of Americans and millions of people worldwide might experience lingering problems that could impede their ability to work and function normally.

In a two-day meeting Thursday and Friday, the federal government’s first workshop dedicated to long-term COVID-19, public health officials, medical researchers and patients said the condition needed to be recognized as a syndrome, given a name and taken seriously by doctors.

“This is a phenomenon that is really quite real and quite extensive,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, said at the conference Thursday.

While the number of people affected is still unknown, he said, if long-term symptoms afflict even a small proportion of the millions of people infected with the coronavirus, it is “going to represent a significant public health issue.”

Such symptoms — ranging from breathing trouble to heart issues to cognitive and psychological problems — are already plaguing an untold number of people worldwide. Even for people who were never sick enough to be hospitalized, the aftermath can be long and grueling, with a complex and lasting mix of symptoms.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently posted a list of some long-term symptoms, including fatigue, joint pain, chest pain, brain fog and depression, but doctors and researchers said they still know little about the extent or cause of many of the problems, which patients will develop them or how to address them.

Over the past several months, coronavirus patients with lingering, debilitating health issues have been widely referred to as “COVID long-haulers.” But some survivors and experts feel that name trivializes the experience, lessening its importance as a medical syndrome that doctors and insurers should recognize, diagnose and try to treat. One of the pressing issues that patients and experts are now weighing is what official medical term should be adopted to describe the collection of post-COVID symptoms.

“We need to dig in and do the work that needs to be done to help relieve the suffering and stop this madness,” said Dr. Michael Saag, an infectious disease expert from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who was a co-chair of a session.

In an inadvertent but stark illustration of the difficulty of the recovery process, two of the four patients scheduled to speak at the meeting were unable to because they had recently been rehospitalized.

“Those individuals had their acute illness several months ago, and they’ve been suffering pretty mightily since then,” Saag said. “And the fact that they’re still struggling with this gives extra power to what we’re trying to do today.”

Dr. John Brooks, chief medical officer of the CDC’s COVID response and the co-chair with Saag of one session, said he expected long-term post-COVID symptoms would affect “on the order of tens of thousands in the United States and possibly hundreds of thousands.”

He added, “If you were to ask me, what do we know about this post-acute phase, I really am hard-pressed to tell you that we know much. This is what we’re really working on epidemiologically: to understand what is it, how many people get it, how long does it last, what causes it, who does it affect — and then, of course, what can we do to prevent it from happening?”

Presentations from COVID-19 survivors — including Dr. Peter Piot, a world-renowned infectious disease expert who helped discover the Ebola virus — made it clear that for many people, recovering from the disease is not like flipping a switch.

Piot, who is director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a special adviser on COVID-19 research to the president of the European Commission, said he contracted the coronavirus in March and was hospitalized for a week in April. The acute phase of his illness involved some but not all of the classic disease symptoms. For example, his oxygen saturation was very low, but he did not develop shortness of breath or a cough until after he got home from the hospital.

For the next month, he experienced a rapid heart rate several hours a day, he said. For nearly four months, he experienced extreme fatigue and insomnia.

“What I found most frustrating personally was that I couldn’t do anything,” said Piot, who now considers himself recovered except for needing more sleep than before his infection. “I just had to wait for improvement.”

Chimére Smith, 38, a teacher in Baltimore who has not been able to work since becoming sick in March, said she had struggled for months to have her symptoms, which included loss of vision in one eye, taken seriously by doctors.

“It’s been a harrowing task, and the task and the journey continues,” she said.

Smith, who is Black, said it was especially important to inform people in underserved communities that long-term effects are “as real and possible as dying from the virus itself.”

The condition, she said, “not only needs to be explored, but it needs to be explained to the same group of people who suffer with being stricken with it the most, and that’s the minority population. I am not just here today for me; I am here for us.”

Hannah Davis, 32, a researcher and artist in Brooklyn, New York, described neurological and cognitive symptoms that began in late March.

“I forgot my partner’s name,” she said. “I forgot about sleep. I would regularly pick up a hot pan, burn myself, put it down, and literally do it again. I forgot how to shower. I forgot how to dress myself.”

Months later, some things have improved, but she still struggles to remember things, saying, “I feel like I am basically on a 48-hour memory cycle.”

Davis is part of a long-term COVID survivor group called Body Politic and said a survey of 3,800 of its members in 56 countries has found that 85% report cognitive dysfunction, 81% had numbness and other neurological sensations, nearly half had speech and language issues, and nearly three-quarters had some difficulty working at their jobs.

Clinics treating COVID survivors are seeing a striking number of people with brain fog and other thinking problems as well as psychological issues, doctors participating in the workshop said.

“Approximately three months after their acute illness, more than half of our patients have at least a mild cognitive impairment,” said Dr. Ann Parker, who codirects a post-COVID clinic at Johns Hopkins. “We’re also seeing substantial mental health impairments.”

Dr. Janet Diaz, head of clinical care for the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 response, said the agency is planning a meeting focused on long-term coronavirus effects and will soon start collecting data on post-COVID symptoms and medical visits.

She said that while doctors are accustomed to prolonged recovery challenges for people hospitalized for serious illnesses, the lingering symptoms in younger people and those who were not hospitalized for the coronavirus “urgently needs to be better understood and investigated.”

There is an urgent need to address long-term symptoms of the coronavirus, leading public health officials said this week, warning that hundreds of thousands of Americans and millions of people worldwide might experience lingering problems that could impede their ability to work and function normally.

There is an urgent need to address long-term symptoms of the coronavirus, leading public health officials said this week, warning that hundreds of thousands of Americans and millions of people worldwide might experience lingering problems that could impede their ability to work and function normally. In a two-day meeting Thursday and Friday, the federal government’s first workshop dedicated to long-term COVID-19, public health officials, medical researchers and patients said the condition needed to be recognized as a syndrome, given a name and taken seriously by doctors. “This is a phenomenon that is really quite real and quite extensive,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, said at the conference Thursday. While the number of people affected is still unknown, he said, if long-term symptoms afflict even a small proportion of the millions of people infected with the coronavirus, it is “going to represent a significant public health issue.” Such symptoms — ranging from breathing trouble to heart issues to cognitive and psychological problems — are already plaguing an untold number of people worldwide. Even for people who were never sick enough to be hospitalized, the aftermath can be long and grueling, with a complex and lasting mix of symptoms. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently posted a list of some long-term symptoms, including fatigue, joint pain, chest pain, brain fog and depression, but doctors and researchers said they still know little about the extent or cause of many of the problems, which patients will develop them or how to address them. Over the past several months, coronavirus patients with lingering, debilitating health issues have been widely referred to as “COVID long-haulers.” But some survivors and experts feel that name trivializes the experience, lessening its importance as a medical syndrome that doctors and insurers should recognize, diagnose and try to treat. One of the pressing issues that patients and experts are now weighing is what official medical term should be adopted to describe the collection of post-COVID symptoms. “We need to dig in and do the work that needs to be done to help relieve the suffering and stop this madness,” said Dr. Michael Saag, an infectious disease expert from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who was a co-chair of a session. In an inadvertent but stark illustration of the difficulty of the recovery process, two of the four patients scheduled to speak at the meeting were unable to because they had recently been rehospitalized. “Those individuals had their acute illness several months ago, and they’ve been suffering pretty mightily since then,” Saag said. “And the fact that they’re still struggling with this gives extra power to what we’re trying to do today.” Dr. John Brooks, chief medical officer of the CDC’s COVID response and the co-chair with Saag of one session, said he expected long-term post-COVID symptoms would affect “on the order of tens of thousands in the United States and possibly hundreds of thousands.” He added, “If you were to ask me, what do we know about this post-acute phase, I really am hard-pressed to tell you that we know much. This is what we’re really working on epidemiologically: to understand what is it, how many people get it, how long does it last, what causes it, who does it affect — and then, of course, what can we do to prevent it from happening?” Presentations from COVID-19 survivors — including Dr. Peter Piot, a world-renowned infectious disease expert who helped discover the Ebola virus — made it clear that for many people, recovering from the disease is not like flipping a switch. Piot, who is director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a special adviser on COVID-19 research to the president of the European Commission, said he contracted the coronavirus in March and was hospitalized for a week in April. The acute phase of his illness involved some but not all of the classic disease symptoms. For example, his oxygen saturation was very low, but he did not develop shortness of breath or a cough until after he got home from the hospital. For the next month, he experienced a rapid heart rate several hours a day, he said. For nearly four months, he experienced extreme fatigue and insomnia. “What I found most frustrating personally was that I couldn’t do anything,” said Piot, who now considers himself recovered except for needing more sleep than before his infection. “I just had to wait for improvement.” Chimére Smith, 38, a teacher in Baltimore who has not been able to work since becoming sick in March, said she had struggled for months to have her symptoms, which included loss of vision in one eye, taken seriously by doctors. “It’s been a harrowing task, and the task and the journey continues,” she said. Smith, who is Black, said it was especially important to inform people in underserved communities that long-term effects are “as real and possible as dying from the virus itself.” The condition, she said, “not only needs to be explored, but it needs to be explained to the same group of people who suffer with being stricken with it the most, and that’s the minority population. I am not just here today for me; I am here for us.” Hannah Davis, 32, a researcher and artist in Brooklyn, New York, described neurological and cognitive symptoms that began in late March. “I forgot my partner’s name,” she said. “I forgot about sleep. I would regularly pick up a hot pan, burn myself, put it down, and literally do it again. I forgot how to shower. I forgot how to dress myself.” Months later, some things have improved, but she still struggles to remember things, saying, “I feel like I am basically on a 48-hour memory cycle.” Davis is part of a long-term COVID survivor group called Body Politic and said a survey of 3,800 of its members in 56 countries has found that 85% report cognitive dysfunction, 81% had numbness and other neurological sensations, nearly half had speech and language issues, and nearly three-quarters had some difficulty working at their jobs. Clinics treating COVID survivors are seeing a striking number of people with brain fog and other thinking problems as well as psychological issues, doctors participating in the workshop said. “Approximately three months after their acute illness, more than half of our patients have at least a mild cognitive impairment,” said Dr. Ann Parker, who codirects a post-COVID clinic at Johns Hopkins. “We’re also seeing substantial mental health impairments.” Dr. Janet Diaz, head of clinical care for the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 response, said the agency is planning a meeting focused on long-term coronavirus effects and will soon start collecting data on post-COVID symptoms and medical visits. She said that while doctors are accustomed to prolonged recovery challenges for people hospitalized for serious illnesses, the lingering symptoms in younger people and those who were not hospitalized for the coronavirus “urgently needs to be better understood and investigated.”

COVID survivors with long-term symptoms need urgent attention, experts say

A California couple had been eagerly waiting for their wedding after four years of staying together. However, the couple was hit with a difficult situation as the bride-to-be tested positive for the novel coronavirus a few days before the big day.

Lauren and Patrick Delgado got engaged in May 2019. The couple was scheduled to get married this year but as the pandemic took over the world, the happy couple had to first change the venue and then their guest list, several times. To make everything worse, when the couple finally did manage to organise their dream wedding amid a pandemic, the bride tested positive for the deadly coronavirus.

"Everything that could go wrong did go wrong," Delgado told local reporters. "I was really saddened because everything we had planned was already getting cancelled."

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/watch-light-weight-plane-makes-dramatic-landing-on-minnesotas-busy-highway-347492" hreflang="en">WATCH| Light weight plane makes dramatic landing on Minnesota's busy highway</a>

However, the couple decided that this time they will have to fight off the bad omen of 2020 and come up with a solution. What they came up with has won the hearts of people all over the world. Dressed in a white traditional bridal gown, Lauren appeared in her window on the day of her window and the couple decided to say "I do" from a distance.

The ceremony took place outside the bride's house in&nbsp;Ontario, California. Patric, the 27-year-old groom, was standing outside the bride's house in a&nbsp;grey suit. Lauren peeked from her second-floor window, and a white piece of long cloth connected the two lovebirds throughout the ceremony. "It was a way of holding each other’s hand despite being so far away from each other," the bride explained.

This ceremony lasted for 45 minutes and was attended by a total of 10 guests, all of whom had first tested negative for the virus. Some of the guests even watched the happy couple tie a knot from their cars, to make sure they do not contract the deadly virus.

"I was just so happy and excited to be surrounded by my closest loved ones there," she said. "It wasn’t about a big wedding, it was just about celebrating our love and life together."

She will be staying at her parents' place for the rest of her recovery period. "It's almost like a funny story we'll one day tell our children," she continued. "Like, we couldn’t sleep in the same bed the same day we got married."

A California couple had been eagerly waiting for their wedding after four years of staying together. However, the couple was hit with a difficult situation as the bride-to-be tested positive for the novel coronavirus a few days before the big day.

A California couple had been eagerly waiting for their wedding after four years of staying together. However, the couple was hit with a difficult situation as the bride-to-be tested positive for the novel coronavirus a few days before the big day. Lauren and Patrick Delgado got engaged in May 2019. The couple was scheduled to get married this year but as the pandemic took over the world, the happy couple had to first change the venue and then their guest list, several times. To make everything worse, when the couple finally did manage to organise their dream wedding amid a pandemic, the bride tested positive for the deadly coronavirus. "Everything that could go wrong did go wrong," Delgado told local reporters. "I was really saddened because everything we had planned was already getting cancelled." WATCH| Light weight plane makes dramatic landing on Minnesota's busy highway However, the couple decided that this time they will have to fight off the bad omen of 2020 and come up with a solution. What they came up with has won the hearts of people all over the world. Dressed in a white traditional bridal gown, Lauren appeared in her window on the day of her window and the couple decided to say "I do" from a distance. The ceremony took place outside the bride's house in Ontario, California. Patric, the 27-year-old groom, was standing outside the bride's house in a grey suit. Lauren peeked from her second-floor window, and a white piece of long cloth connected the two lovebirds throughout the ceremony. "It was a way of holding each other’s hand despite being so far away from each other," the bride explained. This ceremony lasted for 45 minutes and was attended by a total of 10 guests, all of whom had first tested negative for the virus. Some of the guests even watched the happy couple tie a knot from their cars, to make sure they do not contract the deadly virus. "I was just so happy and excited to be surrounded by my closest loved ones there," she said. "It wasn’t about a big wedding, it was just about celebrating our love and life together." She will be staying at her parents' place for the rest of her recovery period. "It's almost like a funny story we'll one day tell our children," she continued. "Like, we couldn’t sleep in the same bed the same day we got married."

Bride says 'I do' from window after testing positive for COVID-19

The UN said Tuesday that $35 billion would be needed for aid in 2021, as the pandemic leaves tens of millions more people in crisis, and with the risk of multiple famines looming.

The world body's annual Global Humanitarian Overview estimated that 235 million people worldwide will need some form of emergency assistance next year — a staggering 40-per cent increase in the past year.

"The increase arises almost entirely because of Covid-19," United Nations emergency relief coordinator Mark Lowcock told reporters.

Next year, one in 33 people worldwide will be in need of aid, the report found, stressing that if all of them lived in one country, it would be the world's fifth-largest nation.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/will-do-everything-to-discover-origin-of-covid-19-says-who-346541">'Will do everything' to discover origin of COVID-19, says WHO</a>

The annual appeal by UN agencies and other humanitarian organisations usually presents a depressing picture of soaring needs brought on by conflicts, displacement, natural disasters and climate change.

But now, it warned, the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 1.45 million people worldwide, has disproportionately hit those "already living on a knife's edge."&nbsp;

"The picture we are presenting is the bleakest and darkest perspective on humanitarian need in the period ahead that we have ever set out," Lowcock said.&nbsp;

The money requested in the appeal would be enough to help 160 million of the most vulnerable people across 56 countries, the UN said.

'Alarm bells are ringing'

For the first time since the 1990s, extreme poverty is set to rise, life expectancy will fall and the annual death toll from HIV, tuberculosis and malaria could potentially double.

"Possibly the most alarming thing... is the threat of the return of famines, potentially in multiple locations," Lowcock said.

With only one true famine so far in the 21st century —&nbsp;in Somalia nearly a decade ago — mass starvation had appeared to have been "assigned to the dustbin of history," he said.

But now, he warned, "the red lights are flashing and the alarm bells are ringing."

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/un-sudan-needs-150-million-to-cope-with-migration-crisis-346469">Also watch|</a>

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By the end of 2020, the number of acutely food-insecure people worldwide could swell to as much as 270 million -- an 82-per cent increase over the pre-Covid-19 number.&nbsp;

Conditions in Yemen, Burkina Faso, South Sudan and northeastern Nigeria indicated they are already on the brink of famine, while a range of other countries and regions, including Afghanistan and the Sahel, were also "potentially very vulnerable", he said.

"If we get through 2021 without major famines, that will be a significant achievement."

Tuesday's appeal shows that war-ravaged Syria and Yemen top the list of the countries most in need of humanitarian assistance.

The UN is seeking close to $6 billion to help millions of Syrians inside and outside the country wracked by a decade of conflict.

And it is asking for nearly $3.5 billion to help nearly 20 million Yemenis caught up in the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

'Darkest hour'

Other major crises requiring substantial funds include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan and Ethiopia.

Raising the full $35 billion needed at a time of global economic crisis could meanwhile be a daunting task -- the amount is more than double the $17 billion raised so far this year.

That amount is already a record but still falls far short of the nearly $29 billion asked for during last year's appeal, even before the pandemic reared its head.

"The crisis is far from over. Humanitarian aid budgets face dire shortfalls as the impact of the global pandemic continues to worsen," UN chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

"Together we must mobilise resources and stand in solidarity with people in their darkest hour of need."

Lowcock meanwhile insisted that while the total dollar amount asked for seemed high, it was actually tiny compared to the amounts wealthy countries are pumping in to rescue their tanking economies.

"What is at stake is the lives of huge numbers of vulnerable people, and the cost of safeguarding their lives is actually very small in relation to all of the other challenges we face."

The UN said Tuesday that $35 billion would be needed for aid in 2021, as the pandemic leaves tens of millions more people in crisis, and with the risk of multiple famines looming.

The UN said Tuesday that $35 billion would be needed for aid in 2021, as the pandemic leaves tens of millions more people in crisis, and with the risk of multiple famines looming. The world body's annual Global Humanitarian Overview estimated that 235 million people worldwide will need some form of emergency assistance next year — a staggering 40-per cent increase in the past year. "The increase arises almost entirely because of Covid-19," United Nations emergency relief coordinator Mark Lowcock told reporters. Next year, one in 33 people worldwide will be in need of aid, the report found, stressing that if all of them lived in one country, it would be the world's fifth-largest nation. Also read| 'Will do everything' to discover origin of COVID-19, says WHO The annual appeal by UN agencies and other humanitarian organisations usually presents a depressing picture of soaring needs brought on by conflicts, displacement, natural disasters and climate change. But now, it warned, the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 1.45 million people worldwide, has disproportionately hit those "already living on a knife's edge." "The picture we are presenting is the bleakest and darkest perspective on humanitarian need in the period ahead that we have ever set out," Lowcock said. The money requested in the appeal would be enough to help 160 million of the most vulnerable people across 56 countries, the UN said. 'Alarm bells are ringing' For the first time since the 1990s, extreme poverty is set to rise, life expectancy will fall and the annual death toll from HIV, tuberculosis and malaria could potentially double. "Possibly the most alarming thing... is the threat of the return of famines, potentially in multiple locations," Lowcock said. With only one true famine so far in the 21st century — in Somalia nearly a decade ago — mass starvation had appeared to have been "assigned to the dustbin of history," he said. But now, he warned, "the red lights are flashing and the alarm bells are ringing." Also watch| × By the end of 2020, the number of acutely food-insecure people worldwide could swell to as much as 270 million -- an 82-per cent increase over the pre-Covid-19 number. Conditions in Yemen, Burkina Faso, South Sudan and northeastern Nigeria indicated they are already on the brink of famine, while a range of other countries and regions, including Afghanistan and the Sahel, were also "potentially very vulnerable", he said. "If we get through 2021 without major famines, that will be a significant achievement." Tuesday's appeal shows that war-ravaged Syria and Yemen top the list of the countries most in need of humanitarian assistance. The UN is seeking close to $6 billion to help millions of Syrians inside and outside the country wracked by a decade of conflict. And it is asking for nearly $3.5 billion to help nearly 20 million Yemenis caught up in the world's worst humanitarian crisis. 'Darkest hour' Other major crises requiring substantial funds include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan and Ethiopia. Raising the full $35 billion needed at a time of global economic crisis could meanwhile be a daunting task -- the amount is more than double the $17 billion raised so far this year. That amount is already a record but still falls far short of the nearly $29 billion asked for during last year's appeal, even before the pandemic reared its head. "The crisis is far from over. Humanitarian aid budgets face dire shortfalls as the impact of the global pandemic continues to worsen," UN chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement. "Together we must mobilise resources and stand in solidarity with people in their darkest hour of need." Lowcock meanwhile insisted that while the total dollar amount asked for seemed high, it was actually tiny compared to the amounts wealthy countries are pumping in to rescue their tanking economies. "What is at stake is the lives of huge numbers of vulnerable people, and the cost of safeguarding their lives is actually very small in relation to all of the other challenges we face."

UN sees emergency aid needs exploding due to pandemic

Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com on Monday announced “pandemic” as their word of the year.

"Pandemic" is the Word of the Year for both Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com. It informed top searches on both sites and reshaped the language we use daily, both companies said.

"Sometimes a single word defines an era, and it's fitting that in this exceptional - and exceptionally difficult - year, a single word came immediately to the fore," the dictionary publisher said.

Pandemic is defined as "an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area (such as multiple countries or continents) and typically affects a significant proportion of the population," according to Merriam-Webster.com.

The word's Greek roots are "pan," meaning all or every and "demos," meaning people, Merriam-Webster said.

Dictionary lookups skyrocketed on March 11 when the World Health Organization officially labelled COVID-19 a pandemic.

The word "saw the single largest spike in dictionary traffic in 2020, showing an increase of 115,806% over lookups on that day in 2019," said the company, founded in 1831.

Last year's winner was "they" as used to describe someone who does not identify as male nor female. That follows winners "justice" in 2018, "feminism" in 2017 and "surreal" in 2016.

(With inputs from agencies)

Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com on Monday announced “pandemic” as their word of the year. "Pandemic" is the Word of the Year for both Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.

Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com on Monday announced “pandemic” as their word of the year. "Pandemic" is the Word of the Year for both Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com. It informed top searches on both sites and reshaped the language we use daily, both companies said. "Sometimes a single word defines an era, and it's fitting that in this exceptional - and exceptionally difficult - year, a single word came immediately to the fore," the dictionary publisher said. Pandemic is defined as "an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area (such as multiple countries or continents) and typically affects a significant proportion of the population," according to Merriam-Webster.com. The word's Greek roots are "pan," meaning all or every and "demos," meaning people, Merriam-Webster said. Dictionary lookups skyrocketed on March 11 when the World Health Organization officially labelled COVID-19 a pandemic. The word "saw the single largest spike in dictionary traffic in 2020, showing an increase of 115,806% over lookups on that day in 2019," said the company, founded in 1831. Last year's winner was "they" as used to describe someone who does not identify as male nor female. That follows winners "justice" in 2018, "feminism" in 2017 and "surreal" in 2016. (With inputs from agencies)

'Pandemic': The word of the year for Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com

Coronavirus was first reported in late December 2019 in Wuhan's Hubei province in China. The deadly virus since then has infected more than 63.2 million people and led to over 1.47 million deaths around the world, according to John Hopkins University coronavirus resource centre. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/chinese-scientists-now-claim-coronavirus-originated-in-india-in-summer-2019-346039">Also read: Chinese scientists now claim coronavirus originated in India in summer 2019</a> 
 
Many reports in past have proved that China deliberately suppressed or destroyed evidence related to the coronavirus outbreak. Communist regime endangered other countries by silencing doctors and whistleblowers who spoke about the virus. If this was not enough, Beijing destroyed evidence of it in laboratories and also refused to provide live samples to international scientists who were working on a vaccine. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/opinions-blogs/coronavirus-spread-china-must-allow-global-probe-to-ascertain-origin-of-covid-19-291113">Also read: International survey shows China has lost international backing after the emergence of COVID-19</a> 
 
According to a report published in CNN, a document marked as "internal document, please keep confidential," local health authorities in the province of Hubei, where the virus was first detected, list a total of 5918 newly detected cases on February 10, more than double the official the public number of confirmed cases, breaking down the total into a variety of subcategories.

A whistleblower, who worked in the Chinese health care system, provided 117 pages of internal documents from the Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to CNN.&nbsp;

The files, which CNN had verified by six experts, showed how the region struggled to manage the coronavirus between October 2019 and April 2020 – a critical time period in which the virus spread from China to cause a worldwide pandemic.&nbsp;

There are many theories around the origin of the virus, from being leaked of the Wuhan virus Lab to many of them linking it to the wet market in Wuhan.

The reason for the origin of the virus remains unknown, though. Local health authorities initially thought the patients had fallen ill through exposure to common infection source in the market and ruled out the pathogen as contagious until January 20.

The Xi Jinping government has been rejecting&nbsp;accusations made by the United States and other Western governments that it deliberately concealed information relating to the virus, maintaining that it has been upfront since the beginning of the outbreak.

Should China be held accountable for mishandling the deadly virus at the initial stage, it is the answer that the world is looking for.

(With inputs from agencies)

Coronavirus was first reported in late December 2019 in Wuhan's Hubei province in China. The deadly virus since then has infected more than 63.2 million people and led to over 1.

Coronavirus was first reported in late December 2019 in Wuhan's Hubei province in China. The deadly virus since then has infected more than 63.2 million people and led to over 1.47 million deaths around the world, according to John Hopkins University coronavirus resource centre. Also read: Chinese scientists now claim coronavirus originated in India in summer 2019 Many reports in past have proved that China deliberately suppressed or destroyed evidence related to the coronavirus outbreak. Communist regime endangered other countries by silencing doctors and whistleblowers who spoke about the virus. If this was not enough, Beijing destroyed evidence of it in laboratories and also refused to provide live samples to international scientists who were working on a vaccine. Also read: International survey shows China has lost international backing after the emergence of COVID-19 According to a report published in CNN, a document marked as "internal document, please keep confidential," local health authorities in the province of Hubei, where the virus was first detected, list a total of 5918 newly detected cases on February 10, more than double the official the public number of confirmed cases, breaking down the total into a variety of subcategories. A whistleblower, who worked in the Chinese health care system, provided 117 pages of internal documents from the Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to CNN. The files, which CNN had verified by six experts, showed how the region struggled to manage the coronavirus between October 2019 and April 2020 – a critical time period in which the virus spread from China to cause a worldwide pandemic. There are many theories around the origin of the virus, from being leaked of the Wuhan virus Lab to many of them linking it to the wet market in Wuhan. The reason for the origin of the virus remains unknown, though. Local health authorities initially thought the patients had fallen ill through exposure to common infection source in the market and ruled out the pathogen as contagious until January 20. The Xi Jinping government has been rejecting accusations made by the United States and other Western governments that it deliberately concealed information relating to the virus, maintaining that it has been upfront since the beginning of the outbreak. Should China be held accountable for mishandling the deadly virus at the initial stage, it is the answer that the world is looking for. (With inputs from agencies)

Leaked documents show China bluntly lied about Covid-19 and mishandled early pandemic

Sri Lanka freed hundreds of prisoners and said it would release thousands more after a riot sparked by anger over coronavirus cases at one of its many overcrowded jails left nine inmates dead and 113 wounded.

Guards opened fire at the high-security Mahara prison outside Colombo on Sunday night after prisoners went on the rampage demanding to be freed because of soaring coronavirus cases in jails.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Tuesday granted an amnesty to 637 convicts across the country and Justice Minister Ali Sabry said the government was working on expediting the release on bail of thousands of remand prisoners to ease congestion.

Rajapaksa meanwhile sacked Prison Reforms Minister Sudharshini Fernandopulle and shifted her to a new ministry dealing with the pandemic.

Sri Lanka's prisons house just over 30,000 inmates, nearly three times their capacity, and about 1,200 of them have tested positive for the coronavirus with two deaths, according to official figures.

Jails in the South Asian nation have seen weeks of unrest as the number of Covid-19 cases soared and authorities banned visits and prevented staff from travelling across the country.

One prisoner was killed when he fell while trying to scale the wall of a jail in central Bogambara region.

The number of Covid-19 deaths across Sri Lanka increased six-fold last month to 118, while infections more than doubled to nearly 24,000.

The island nation of 21 million people eased a three-month curfew on June 28, but a second wave hit in October prompting tighter restrictions.

The prison riot was the worst since police commandos controversially shot dead 27 inmates after disturbances at Sri Lanka's main Welikada prison in 2012.

Sri Lanka freed hundreds of prisoners and said it would release thousands more after a riot sparked by anger over coronavirus cases at one of its many overcrowded jails left nine inmates dead and 113 wounded.

Sri Lanka freed hundreds of prisoners and said it would release thousands more after a riot sparked by anger over coronavirus cases at one of its many overcrowded jails left nine inmates dead and 113 wounded. Guards opened fire at the high-security Mahara prison outside Colombo on Sunday night after prisoners went on the rampage demanding to be freed because of soaring coronavirus cases in jails. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Tuesday granted an amnesty to 637 convicts across the country and Justice Minister Ali Sabry said the government was working on expediting the release on bail of thousands of remand prisoners to ease congestion. Rajapaksa meanwhile sacked Prison Reforms Minister Sudharshini Fernandopulle and shifted her to a new ministry dealing with the pandemic. Sri Lanka's prisons house just over 30,000 inmates, nearly three times their capacity, and about 1,200 of them have tested positive for the coronavirus with two deaths, according to official figures. Jails in the South Asian nation have seen weeks of unrest as the number of Covid-19 cases soared and authorities banned visits and prevented staff from travelling across the country. One prisoner was killed when he fell while trying to scale the wall of a jail in central Bogambara region. The number of Covid-19 deaths across Sri Lanka increased six-fold last month to 118, while infections more than doubled to nearly 24,000. The island nation of 21 million people eased a three-month curfew on June 28, but a second wave hit in October prompting tighter restrictions. The prison riot was the worst since police commandos controversially shot dead 27 inmates after disturbances at Sri Lanka's main Welikada prison in 2012.

Sri Lanka frees prisoners after pandemic sparks deadly jail riot

When the pandemic lockdown led the Manhattan restaurant where Natanael Evangelista was an employee to close for good, he quickly shifted to working for food delivery apps. He had few options. He was undocumented, did not speak much English and needed money badly. He owed months’ worth of rent, and his family in Mexico needed help.

But he was worried. Two of his cousins were also delivery workers — one had contracted the coronavirus and fallen into a coma, while the other had been assaulted and had his bike stolen.

With hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers out of work and the city’s unemployment rate at 14.1%, many desperate people have turned to working for food delivery apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub, which have seen huge demand from customers who are working from home.

While delivery drivers have been essential to feeding New Yorkers and keeping them safe, their working conditions, already precarious before the pandemic, have gotten worse.

The recent surge in cases means greater risk of exposure traveling from restaurants to homes. Rising crime in New York City has also led to instances of assault and bicycle theft.

“Delivery work is a dangerous business,” Evangelista, 27, said. “It’s very worrying.”

Some workers also complain that many restaurants deny them the use of their bathroom out of health concerns, forcing them to carry plastic bottles.

Even as the food delivery companies have seen sales surge, the workers’ pay has remained erratic. Because the drivers are independent workers, they are not entitled to a minimum wage, overtime or any other benefits, like health insurance. Undocumented immigrants, who are not eligible for unemployment or federal coronavirus assistance, make up the bulk of the workforce in New York.

The added competition from the surge in new workers has compounded the financial challenges. While there are no precise figures, advocacy groups estimate that there were roughly 50,000 delivery workers before the pandemic — a number they say has grown exponentially. Uber alone said it had added 36,000 couriers in New York since March.

DoorDash and Uber said they had provided extra help to delivery drivers during the pandemic, including offering sick pay to those who had gotten the virus. DoorDash, the nation’s largest food delivery app, said it provided masks, gloves, hand sanitizer and wipes to drivers, as well as access to low-cost telemedicine appointments.

“Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, we have taken action to protect and support Dashers who are on the front lines,” Becky Sosnov, a spokeswoman for DoorDash, said.

DoorDash said it had changed its pay model, which came under fire last year after it was revealed that tips were being used to subsidize its payments to workers. But workers interviewed for this article said the practice still occurred. The company recently reached a $2.5 million settlement with prosecutors in Washington, D.C., after being accused of misleading consumers over how it tipped its workers.

At Uber Eats, “delivery people receive 100% of all tips,” Meghan Casserly, a spokeswoman for the company, said. She said Uber Eats has provided 10 million safety supplies — masks, wipes and hand sanitizer — to workers in the United States and Canada.

Some food delivery apps say drivers can earn as much as $22 per hour, including tips, though many drivers said they never earned anywhere close to that much.

At a park on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Edgar Usac, a delivery driver, was waiting for orders on a recent Saturday. After four hours, he said, he had made $11. Another driver, Elias Pacheco, 35, said: “I have made $32 so far. I started at 10:30 this morning.” It was 5 p.m.

Drivers for food delivery apps are typically paid per delivery depending on the estimated duration and distance of a trip, plus tips. The work can be convenient for people supplementing a main source of income, but a struggle for those who depend on it as a primary job, advocates for the workers said.

“The pandemic really exacerbated the challenges that these workers are facing and that they regularly face,” said Maria Figueroa, director of labor and policy research for the Cornell University Worker Institute. “In addition to getting low pay, they don’t get enough work from each of the applications, so they have to work for at least three or four of them, and there are more workers than the market can hold.”

Treating the drivers as essentially freelancers, Figueroa said, has allowed the food delivery apps to offset what have been thin profit margins by not having to pay for health insurance, retirement benefits or workers’ compensation for injuries on the job.

On good days, Evangelista makes roughly $100 after working five to six hours, but other days he can make as little as $42. In his old job, working in the kitchen of a restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, he made about $15 an hour, he said.

Workers said food delivery apps do not always give them all of their tips, or sometimes deduct them from their pay.

“They don’t think about you, your life, your bicycle,” said Otoniel Timoteo, 36, who turned to delivery work in May after being laid off from a restaurant in Queens where he worked as a waiter. “We cannot make demands, otherwise they will block you. But we have no choice. How can we live?”

The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission two years ago adopted a $17.22 per hour minimum wage for drivers for ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft, but it does not apply to delivery workers. Efforts in New York state to provide more rights to gig workers by reclassifying them as employees have stalled in the Legislature.

In California, companies that employ gig workers won a major victory on Election Day when voters approved a ballot referendum that allowed the companies to continue treating the workers as independent contractors.

Across the nation, the demand for takeout during the pandemic has been a boon for food delivery apps.

“The pandemic has certainly been a nice tailwind for revenue growth, and it has also helped them start to close the gap towards profitability in a speedier fashion,” said Tom White, a senior internet analyst at D.A. Davidson, a wealth management firm.

Uber’s delivery service brought in $1.45 billion in sales nationwide between July and September compared with $645 million during the same period last year.

DoorDash, which also owns another food delivery app, Caviar, reported revenue of $1.92 billion in the nine months through September, compared with $587 million for the same period last year, according to a prospectus filed earlier this year for its planned initial public offering. It recorded 543 million orders through September, compared with 181 million in the same period last year.

When the pandemic lockdown led the Manhattan restaurant where Natanael Evangelista was an employee to close for good, he quickly shifted to working for food delivery apps.

When the pandemic lockdown led the Manhattan restaurant where Natanael Evangelista was an employee to close for good, he quickly shifted to working for food delivery apps. He had few options. He was undocumented, did not speak much English and needed money badly. He owed months’ worth of rent, and his family in Mexico needed help. But he was worried. Two of his cousins were also delivery workers — one had contracted the coronavirus and fallen into a coma, while the other had been assaulted and had his bike stolen. With hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers out of work and the city’s unemployment rate at 14.1%, many desperate people have turned to working for food delivery apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub, which have seen huge demand from customers who are working from home. While delivery drivers have been essential to feeding New Yorkers and keeping them safe, their working conditions, already precarious before the pandemic, have gotten worse. The recent surge in cases means greater risk of exposure traveling from restaurants to homes. Rising crime in New York City has also led to instances of assault and bicycle theft. “Delivery work is a dangerous business,” Evangelista, 27, said. “It’s very worrying.” Some workers also complain that many restaurants deny them the use of their bathroom out of health concerns, forcing them to carry plastic bottles. Even as the food delivery companies have seen sales surge, the workers’ pay has remained erratic. Because the drivers are independent workers, they are not entitled to a minimum wage, overtime or any other benefits, like health insurance. Undocumented immigrants, who are not eligible for unemployment or federal coronavirus assistance, make up the bulk of the workforce in New York. The added competition from the surge in new workers has compounded the financial challenges. While there are no precise figures, advocacy groups estimate that there were roughly 50,000 delivery workers before the pandemic — a number they say has grown exponentially. Uber alone said it had added 36,000 couriers in New York since March. DoorDash and Uber said they had provided extra help to delivery drivers during the pandemic, including offering sick pay to those who had gotten the virus. DoorDash, the nation’s largest food delivery app, said it provided masks, gloves, hand sanitizer and wipes to drivers, as well as access to low-cost telemedicine appointments. “Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, we have taken action to protect and support Dashers who are on the front lines,” Becky Sosnov, a spokeswoman for DoorDash, said. DoorDash said it had changed its pay model, which came under fire last year after it was revealed that tips were being used to subsidize its payments to workers. But workers interviewed for this article said the practice still occurred. The company recently reached a $2.5 million settlement with prosecutors in Washington, D.C., after being accused of misleading consumers over how it tipped its workers. At Uber Eats, “delivery people receive 100% of all tips,” Meghan Casserly, a spokeswoman for the company, said. She said Uber Eats has provided 10 million safety supplies — masks, wipes and hand sanitizer — to workers in the United States and Canada. Some food delivery apps say drivers can earn as much as $22 per hour, including tips, though many drivers said they never earned anywhere close to that much. At a park on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Edgar Usac, a delivery driver, was waiting for orders on a recent Saturday. After four hours, he said, he had made $11. Another driver, Elias Pacheco, 35, said: “I have made $32 so far. I started at 10:30 this morning.” It was 5 p.m. Drivers for food delivery apps are typically paid per delivery depending on the estimated duration and distance of a trip, plus tips. The work can be convenient for people supplementing a main source of income, but a struggle for those who depend on it as a primary job, advocates for the workers said. “The pandemic really exacerbated the challenges that these workers are facing and that they regularly face,” said Maria Figueroa, director of labor and policy research for the Cornell University Worker Institute. “In addition to getting low pay, they don’t get enough work from each of the applications, so they have to work for at least three or four of them, and there are more workers than the market can hold.” Treating the drivers as essentially freelancers, Figueroa said, has allowed the food delivery apps to offset what have been thin profit margins by not having to pay for health insurance, retirement benefits or workers’ compensation for injuries on the job. On good days, Evangelista makes roughly $100 after working five to six hours, but other days he can make as little as $42. In his old job, working in the kitchen of a restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, he made about $15 an hour, he said. Workers said food delivery apps do not always give them all of their tips, or sometimes deduct them from their pay. “They don’t think about you, your life, your bicycle,” said Otoniel Timoteo, 36, who turned to delivery work in May after being laid off from a restaurant in Queens where he worked as a waiter. “We cannot make demands, otherwise they will block you. But we have no choice. How can we live?” The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission two years ago adopted a $17.22 per hour minimum wage for drivers for ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft, but it does not apply to delivery workers. Efforts in New York state to provide more rights to gig workers by reclassifying them as employees have stalled in the Legislature. In California, companies that employ gig workers won a major victory on Election Day when voters approved a ballot referendum that allowed the companies to continue treating the workers as independent contractors. Across the nation, the demand for takeout during the pandemic has been a boon for food delivery apps. “The pandemic has certainly been a nice tailwind for revenue growth, and it has also helped them start to close the gap towards profitability in a speedier fashion,” said Tom White, a senior internet analyst at D.A. Davidson, a wealth management firm. Uber’s delivery service brought in $1.45 billion in sales nationwide between July and September compared with $645 million during the same period last year. DoorDash, which also owns another food delivery app, Caviar, reported revenue of $1.92 billion in the nine months through September, compared with $587 million for the same period last year, according to a prospectus filed earlier this year for its planned initial public offering. It recorded 543 million orders through September, compared with 181 million in the same period last year.

Food delivery apps are booming. Their workers are often struggling.

'A yum to-go': Vienna's Hotel Sacher establishes drive-in cake centre amid pandemic

World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a precautionary guideline for teenagers and adults on staying fit — mentally and physically — in the time of coronavirus pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced everyone to stay indoors, bringing a temporary halt in their fitness routine. however, the WHO has urged people to get rid of the lethargic routine and spend at least one hour on daily exercises.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/kind-of-lonely-america-marks-covid-altered-thanksgiving-345678">'Kind of lonely': America marks COVID-altered Thanksgiving</a>

Since the beginning of the pandemic, many studies and surveys have revealed that teenagers and adults spend more time in front of the electronic screens to pass their time, rather than indulging in physical exercises. This has led to a massive decrease in the health of humans. To combat this problem, WHO has started an "Every Move Counts" campaign.

"Increasing physical activity not only helps prevent and manage heart disease, type-2 diabetes and cancer, it also reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety, reduces cognitive decline including Alzheimer’s and improves memory," said Ruediger Krech, WHO director for health promotion.

ALso read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/around-29-million-women-and-girls-victims-of-modern-slavery-un-report-334530">Around 29 million women and girls victims of modern slavery: UN report</a>

As per WHO reports, four out of five&nbsp;adolescents do not get the bare minimum quota of physical activity —&nbsp;which can simply be counted as walking, cycling, cleaning one's house, or even gardening.

The officials and health experts at WHO fear this lethargy can lead to an increase in obesity and deadly diseases, if not controlled now. "These guidelines emphasise what many are experiencing during the COVID restrictions that are applied all over the world. And that is that being active every day is good not only our bodies but also our mental health," said Fiona Bull, head of WHO’s physical activity unit.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="wionews.com/world/one-stillbirth-every-16-seconds-and-this-could-get-worse-due-to-covid-19-pandemic-333385">One stillbirth every 16 seconds and this could get worse due to COVID-19 pandemic</a>

Experts are urging people to indulge in physical activities without stepping out — by making the best out of the advanced technology that the 21st century offers. "Phone a friend and do classes online together, help your family members, do it as a family. And when you can, get outside,"&nbsp;Bull said.

She also advised people to monitor&nbsp;their daily physical activity, as it can lead to motivation and can also give people a feeling of achievement. "Monitoring how active you are is very good feedback," she said. "That is important because we tend to think we might be more active. We tend to underestimate how much time we spend sedentary.”

World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a precautionary guideline for teenagers and adults on staying fit — mentally and physically — in the time of coronavirus pandemic.

World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a precautionary guideline for teenagers and adults on staying fit — mentally and physically — in the time of coronavirus pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic has forced everyone to stay indoors, bringing a temporary halt in their fitness routine. however, the WHO has urged people to get rid of the lethargic routine and spend at least one hour on daily exercises. Also read| 'Kind of lonely': America marks COVID-altered Thanksgiving Since the beginning of the pandemic, many studies and surveys have revealed that teenagers and adults spend more time in front of the electronic screens to pass their time, rather than indulging in physical exercises. This has led to a massive decrease in the health of humans. To combat this problem, WHO has started an "Every Move Counts" campaign. "Increasing physical activity not only helps prevent and manage heart disease, type-2 diabetes and cancer, it also reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety, reduces cognitive decline including Alzheimer’s and improves memory," said Ruediger Krech, WHO director for health promotion. ALso read| Around 29 million women and girls victims of modern slavery: UN report As per WHO reports, four out of five adolescents do not get the bare minimum quota of physical activity — which can simply be counted as walking, cycling, cleaning one's house, or even gardening. The officials and health experts at WHO fear this lethargy can lead to an increase in obesity and deadly diseases, if not controlled now. "These guidelines emphasise what many are experiencing during the COVID restrictions that are applied all over the world. And that is that being active every day is good not only our bodies but also our mental health," said Fiona Bull, head of WHO’s physical activity unit. Also read| One stillbirth every 16 seconds and this could get worse due to COVID-19 pandemic Experts are urging people to indulge in physical activities without stepping out — by making the best out of the advanced technology that the 21st century offers. "Phone a friend and do classes online together, help your family members, do it as a family. And when you can, get outside," Bull said. She also advised people to monitor their daily physical activity, as it can lead to motivation and can also give people a feeling of achievement. "Monitoring how active you are is very good feedback," she said. "That is important because we tend to think we might be more active. We tend to underestimate how much time we spend sedentary.”

Stay connected and healthy: WHO urges children, adults to stay fit in COVID-19 era

Walt Disney Co said on Wednesday it would layoff 32,000 workers, primarily at its theme parks, an increase from the 28,000 it announced in September as the company struggles with limited customers due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The layoffs will be in the first half of 2021, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Earlier this month, Disney said it was furloughing additional workers from its theme park in Southern California due to uncertainty over when the state would allow parks to reopen.

Disney`s theme parks in Florida and those outside the United States reopened earlier this year without seeing new major coronavirus outbreaks but with strict social distancing, testing and mask use.

Disneyland Paris was forced to close again late last month when France imposed a new lockdown to fight a second wave of the coronavirus cases.

The company`s theme parks in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo remain open.

Disney did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on whether the 28,000 layoffs announced earlier were included in the latest figure, but a spokesperson for the company confirmed to Variety that the figure includes the previously announced number.

Walt Disney Co said on Wednesday it would layoff 32,000 workers, primarily at its theme parks, an increase from the 28,000 it announced in September as the company struggles with limited customers due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Walt Disney Co said on Wednesday it would layoff 32,000 workers, primarily at its theme parks, an increase from the 28,000 it announced in September as the company struggles with limited customers due to the coronavirus pandemic. The layoffs will be in the first half of 2021, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Earlier this month, Disney said it was furloughing additional workers from its theme park in Southern California due to uncertainty over when the state would allow parks to reopen. Disney`s theme parks in Florida and those outside the United States reopened earlier this year without seeing new major coronavirus outbreaks but with strict social distancing, testing and mask use. Disneyland Paris was forced to close again late last month when France imposed a new lockdown to fight a second wave of the coronavirus cases. The company`s theme parks in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo remain open. Disney did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on whether the 28,000 layoffs announced earlier were included in the latest figure, but a spokesperson for the company confirmed to Variety that the figure includes the previously announced number.

Disney to layoff about 32,000 workers in first half of 2021

LOS ANGELES — As the pandemic spikes, the economy convulses and democracy fissures, the urgent need to restore faith in government cries out for leaders with authenticity.

Instead, in one costly dinner, Gov. Gavin Newsom dramatized the chasm that divides California — more severely than North versus South or inland versus the coast. Flouting his own guidelines and exhortations to Californians to avoid socializing, Governor Newsom and his wife joined a birthday celebration for a friend — and prominent lobbyist — at the luxurious French Laundry restaurant in the Napa Valley. It is hard to say which was more astounding, the hypocrisy or the hubris.

Blurry photos from the dinner capture a careless, Gatsby-esque vibe, the governor seated next to top officials for the California Medical Society. At the “board room” where the party appears to have been held, prix fixe meals can start at $450 per person; the political power broker and Newsom mentor Willie Brown wrote that he heard the meal’s wine bill alone “was $12,000.”

Sure, it’s just one dinner. And the governor did apologize, calling it a “bad mistake.” But the party at a restaurant where dinner for two costs more than many people earn in a week reinforced a fundamental schism between those who value government as a force for good and those who resent it as the bastion of an out-of-touch elite oblivious to peoples’ needs.

Coming during a profound economic and public health crisis, the incident reinforces the notion that the state government — indeed, government all across this country — is a mess of bureaucratic dysfunction and aristocratic indifference.

The starkest example in California is the state’s stumbles in performing the basic function of dispensing unemployment benefits. The state’s jobless rate, which peaked in May at 16 percent, in October dipped below double digits for the first time since the spring (though the new spike in Covid cases seems sure to reverse that trend). As usual, the burden falls hardest on the poor and working class.

Indeed, the disparities here could not be more stark: Because for the most part the rich have continued to flourish, the state is reaping an unexpected windfall of billions of dollars in tax revenue — producing an unexpected surplus to help the next budget. The stock market is doing well, and the state has benefited from a surge in capital gains tax.

But for millions who lost jobs and struggle to pay rent and buy food, the state has failed to deliver unemployment benefits reliably. After horror stories and hearings, a gubernatorial “strike force,” audits and the shift of hundreds of employees to help deal with the staggering demand for unemployment payments, the state’s Employment Development Department still has an enormous backlog.

Appeals, which are won in about half the cases, can’t be filed on time because letters of denial go unissued. More than 300,000 recipients recently found that the debit cards on which their benefits are loaded were inexplicably locked, a glitch that caused embarrassment, inconvenience and worse. A year after the agency was warned to stop including full Social Security numbers in mailings, the state auditor said last week the practice has continued, with numbers printed on more than 38 million pieces of mail since the pandemic began.

Yes, the onset of the coronavirus swamped an agency burdened by an obsolete computer system. But in California — home to Silicon Valley, proud of its innovation — surely in eight months, the government could do better.

The state has failed another vulnerable population with even less recourse, and less political clout: The virus has spread through all the state prisons; more than 19,000 inmates have been infected and more than 80 have died. State officials set off one of the worst outbreaks when they inadvertently transferred infected inmates to San Quentin. A recent court decision ordering the state to significantly reduce the population at San Quentin said officials had acted with “deliberate indifference” toward inmates’ health.

Crises create opportunity. The predations of pandemic are also a chance to spur changes that help bridge divides in California, to build faith in government and to promote the sense of a common good. Leadership could hasten efforts to deliver potable water to the million Californians with poisoned water, a task even more critical during the pandemic, or provide internet access so schoolchildren don’t have to sit in the parking lot of fast food restaurants to do their homework.

All across California are tangible reminders of another crisis, the Great Depression. Public works projects became popular economic saviors; hundreds of schools, parks, libraries, courthouses, murals, bridges, dams and hiking trails today are testament to the New Deal spending on services, recreation and art.

The public works of the Depression “continue to haunt” California with their “expressions of shared value and public life, achieved after a great controversy,” wrote the historian Kevin Starr. “Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, visiting an improved campground, Californians of the 1930s, torn from each other by so much social controversy and economic tension, were re-reminded that they still possessed something in common: California improved. California as a public place.”

The pandemic is far from over; perhaps that sort of unity can still arise. That would take leadership more focused on nonglamorous but essential government functions. A strategy that looked to score runs by hitting single after single, rather than always swinging for elusive home runs. So far that leadership has been in short supply, and California remains in its own way just as divided as the rest of the nation.

(Miriam Pawel (@miriampawel) is the author of “The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty That Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation” and a contributing opinion writer.)

LOS ANGELES — As the pandemic spikes, the economy convulses and democracy fissures, the urgent need to restore faith in government cries out for leaders with authenticity.

LOS ANGELES — As the pandemic spikes, the economy convulses and democracy fissures, the urgent need to restore faith in government cries out for leaders with authenticity. Instead, in one costly dinner, Gov. Gavin Newsom dramatized the chasm that divides California — more severely than North versus South or inland versus the coast. Flouting his own guidelines and exhortations to Californians to avoid socializing, Governor Newsom and his wife joined a birthday celebration for a friend — and prominent lobbyist — at the luxurious French Laundry restaurant in the Napa Valley. It is hard to say which was more astounding, the hypocrisy or the hubris. Blurry photos from the dinner capture a careless, Gatsby-esque vibe, the governor seated next to top officials for the California Medical Society. At the “board room” where the party appears to have been held, prix fixe meals can start at $450 per person; the political power broker and Newsom mentor Willie Brown wrote that he heard the meal’s wine bill alone “was $12,000.” Sure, it’s just one dinner. And the governor did apologize, calling it a “bad mistake.” But the party at a restaurant where dinner for two costs more than many people earn in a week reinforced a fundamental schism between those who value government as a force for good and those who resent it as the bastion of an out-of-touch elite oblivious to peoples’ needs. Coming during a profound economic and public health crisis, the incident reinforces the notion that the state government — indeed, government all across this country — is a mess of bureaucratic dysfunction and aristocratic indifference. The starkest example in California is the state’s stumbles in performing the basic function of dispensing unemployment benefits. The state’s jobless rate, which peaked in May at 16 percent, in October dipped below double digits for the first time since the spring (though the new spike in Covid cases seems sure to reverse that trend). As usual, the burden falls hardest on the poor and working class. Indeed, the disparities here could not be more stark: Because for the most part the rich have continued to flourish, the state is reaping an unexpected windfall of billions of dollars in tax revenue — producing an unexpected surplus to help the next budget. The stock market is doing well, and the state has benefited from a surge in capital gains tax. But for millions who lost jobs and struggle to pay rent and buy food, the state has failed to deliver unemployment benefits reliably. After horror stories and hearings, a gubernatorial “strike force,” audits and the shift of hundreds of employees to help deal with the staggering demand for unemployment payments, the state’s Employment Development Department still has an enormous backlog. Appeals, which are won in about half the cases, can’t be filed on time because letters of denial go unissued. More than 300,000 recipients recently found that the debit cards on which their benefits are loaded were inexplicably locked, a glitch that caused embarrassment, inconvenience and worse. A year after the agency was warned to stop including full Social Security numbers in mailings, the state auditor said last week the practice has continued, with numbers printed on more than 38 million pieces of mail since the pandemic began. Yes, the onset of the coronavirus swamped an agency burdened by an obsolete computer system. But in California — home to Silicon Valley, proud of its innovation — surely in eight months, the government could do better. The state has failed another vulnerable population with even less recourse, and less political clout: The virus has spread through all the state prisons; more than 19,000 inmates have been infected and more than 80 have died. State officials set off one of the worst outbreaks when they inadvertently transferred infected inmates to San Quentin. A recent court decision ordering the state to significantly reduce the population at San Quentin said officials had acted with “deliberate indifference” toward inmates’ health. Crises create opportunity. The predations of pandemic are also a chance to spur changes that help bridge divides in California, to build faith in government and to promote the sense of a common good. Leadership could hasten efforts to deliver potable water to the million Californians with poisoned water, a task even more critical during the pandemic, or provide internet access so schoolchildren don’t have to sit in the parking lot of fast food restaurants to do their homework. All across California are tangible reminders of another crisis, the Great Depression. Public works projects became popular economic saviors; hundreds of schools, parks, libraries, courthouses, murals, bridges, dams and hiking trails today are testament to the New Deal spending on services, recreation and art. The public works of the Depression “continue to haunt” California with their “expressions of shared value and public life, achieved after a great controversy,” wrote the historian Kevin Starr. “Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, visiting an improved campground, Californians of the 1930s, torn from each other by so much social controversy and economic tension, were re-reminded that they still possessed something in common: California improved. California as a public place.” The pandemic is far from over; perhaps that sort of unity can still arise. That would take leadership more focused on nonglamorous but essential government functions. A strategy that looked to score runs by hitting single after single, rather than always swinging for elusive home runs. So far that leadership has been in short supply, and California remains in its own way just as divided as the rest of the nation. (Miriam Pawel (@miriampawel) is the author of “The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty That Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation” and a contributing opinion writer.)

Gavin Newsom, what were you thinking?

Europe’s largest economy partly recovered from an unprecedented plunge caused by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring, German Economy Grows 8.5 % In Third Quarter.

Germany's Stronger than expected rebound

California prisoners including high-profile serial killers and murderers on death row received hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic relief funds in one of the biggest frauds in the US state's history, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Investigators alerted to reports of illegal unemployment claims made from prisons under Covid-19 relief schemes discovered tens of thousands filed in the name of inmates, Sacramento County district attorney Anne Marie Schubert told a press conference.

"Hundreds of millions of dollars -- that may well amount to upwards of a billion dollars -- having already been paid in their names... it will be one of the biggest fraud of taxpayer dollars in California history," warned Schubert, who is chairing a taskforce into the "behemoth" scheme.

A confirmed figure of $140 million already paid to 20,000 inmates is merely a "snapshot" based on state prison data for March to August, with the true cost of the fraud potentially many times higher.

More than $420,000 alone was paid to some 130 death row inmates, including notorious serial killer Wayne Ford, who murdered four women before handing himself in to a California sheriff's office in 1998 with a severed breast in his pocket.

Scott Peterson, convicted of killing his pregnant wife and unborn son, and "Yosemite Killer" Cary Stayner also received payments.

"Quite frankly, the inmates are mocking us," added Schubert, who sent a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday co-signed by nine district attorneys.

Many of the claims used prisoners' real names, addresses and social security numbers to obtain debit cards sent to homes across California and other US states under pandemic unemployment relief schemes.

The fraud was possible because, unlike other states, California did not cross-check lists of inmates against unemployment claims made for lost income since the coronavirus lockdown began in March, Schubert said.

A newly formed California taskforce carried out a partial cross-check within the last month, and found payments had been sent to "rapists and child molesters, human traffickers and other violent criminals in our state prisons."

Highlighting further dysfunction in California's Employment Development Department under the pandemic relief scheme, other fraudulent claims had been made under fake names including "John Doe" and "Poopy Britches," Schubert said.

Newsom responded with a statement later Tuesday calling the fraud "absolutely unacceptable" and pledging to "direct as many resources as needed to investigate and resolve this issue speedily."

Vern Pierson, president of the California District Attorneys Association, told Tuesday's press conference that the fraud is taking place in "essentially every [prison] institution."

"It is open and notorious within the correctional facilities, being discussed about how 'everybody's getting paid and we need to get ours,' things along those lines."

California prisoners including high-profile serial killers and murderers on death row received hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic relief funds in one of the biggest frauds in the US state's history, prosecutors said Tuesday.

California prisoners including high-profile serial killers and murderers on death row received hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic relief funds in one of the biggest frauds in the US state's history, prosecutors said Tuesday. Investigators alerted to reports of illegal unemployment claims made from prisons under Covid-19 relief schemes discovered tens of thousands filed in the name of inmates, Sacramento County district attorney Anne Marie Schubert told a press conference. "Hundreds of millions of dollars -- that may well amount to upwards of a billion dollars -- having already been paid in their names... it will be one of the biggest fraud of taxpayer dollars in California history," warned Schubert, who is chairing a taskforce into the "behemoth" scheme. A confirmed figure of $140 million already paid to 20,000 inmates is merely a "snapshot" based on state prison data for March to August, with the true cost of the fraud potentially many times higher. More than $420,000 alone was paid to some 130 death row inmates, including notorious serial killer Wayne Ford, who murdered four women before handing himself in to a California sheriff's office in 1998 with a severed breast in his pocket. Scott Peterson, convicted of killing his pregnant wife and unborn son, and "Yosemite Killer" Cary Stayner also received payments. "Quite frankly, the inmates are mocking us," added Schubert, who sent a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday co-signed by nine district attorneys. Many of the claims used prisoners' real names, addresses and social security numbers to obtain debit cards sent to homes across California and other US states under pandemic unemployment relief schemes. The fraud was possible because, unlike other states, California did not cross-check lists of inmates against unemployment claims made for lost income since the coronavirus lockdown began in March, Schubert said. A newly formed California taskforce carried out a partial cross-check within the last month, and found payments had been sent to "rapists and child molesters, human traffickers and other violent criminals in our state prisons." Highlighting further dysfunction in California's Employment Development Department under the pandemic relief scheme, other fraudulent claims had been made under fake names including "John Doe" and "Poopy Britches," Schubert said. Newsom responded with a statement later Tuesday calling the fraud "absolutely unacceptable" and pledging to "direct as many resources as needed to investigate and resolve this issue speedily." Vern Pierson, president of the California District Attorneys Association, told Tuesday's press conference that the fraud is taking place in "essentially every [prison] institution." "It is open and notorious within the correctional facilities, being discussed about how 'everybody's getting paid and we need to get ours,' things along those lines."

California inmates paid millions in pandemic unemployment relief scam

France is all set to began easing of the COVID-19 restrictions. During an address to the nation the French President Emmanuel Macron said that the worst of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic is over in France.

French President Macron says second wave of COVID-19 pandemic is over

The youth in UK has found a unique ways to battle mental heath issues arising due to coronavirus pandemic. Care farms in the British countryside are providing a lifeline for people struggling with mental health during the pandemic, allowing them to swap therapy sessions on zoom for the joys of fresh air, mucking out cow sheds and cuddling donkeys. Here is a special report with all the details.

Uk care farms a lifeline for many during pandemic

COVID-19 measures hit London's Taxi services. Taxies in London and Hong Kong lies in open field collecting dust. Our report brings you more detail.

WION Dispatch: Taxies in london parked in fields due to lack of demand amid pandemic

The promising news that not just one, but two coronavirus vaccines were more than 90% effective in early results has buoyed hopes that an end to the pandemic is in sight.

But even if the vaccines are authorized soon by federal regulators — the companies developing them have said they expect to apply soon — only a sliver of the American public will be able to get one by the end of the year. The two companies, Pfizer and Moderna, have estimated they will have 45 million doses, or enough to vaccinate 22.5 million Americans, by January.

Industry analysts and company executives are optimistic that hundreds of millions of doses will be made by next spring. But the companies — backed with billions of dollars in federal money — will have to overcome hurdles they have encountered in the early days of making vaccines. Moderna's and Pfizer’s vaccines use new technology that has never been approved for widespread use. They are ramping up into the millions for the first time. Other challenges include promptly securing raw vaccine ingredients and mastering the art of creating consistent, high-quality batches.

“The biology of scaling manufacturing is a very temperamental activity, and there were many, many different attempts over the months until we cracked it,” said Paul Mango, deputy chief of staff for policy at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Operation Warp Speed — the federal effort to accelerate vaccine development — set as a goal producing 300 million doses this year this year, but fell far short of that, reflecting just how difficult and unpredictable the manufacturing process has been.

“If that was an aspiration — of 300 million by the end of the year — I would say that was the biggest challenge that we had,” Mango said.

Pfizer said this summer that it expected to make 100 million doses by year’s end, but has now said it can produce only half that goal.

The more realistic timelines for manufacturing the vaccines are no surprise to those who closely follow the industry, even as these remarkable scientific and pharmaceutical feats have shattered speed records for vaccine development.

“They always used the same four words: in a perfect world,” said Steve Brozak, president and managing director of WBB Securities in Cranford, New Jersey, who invests in and researches companies that focus on infectious diseases.

“That world does not exist,” Brozak said. “Instead, we have a COVID world.”

One of the main goals of Operation Warp Speed was to work with drug companies to manufacture the vaccines even before clinical trials were completed, so that millions of doses would be ready to go if a vaccine was successful — something never before tried at this scale.

But it turns out, it’s a lot easier to make thousands of doses for a clinical trial than to churn out millions a month. Making vaccines is a complex, sometimes finicky process, requiring sterile conditions and precise control of temperature and humidity.

At the same time, the global scramble for vaccines is straining supplies of everything from stainless steel tanks to the custom-made plastic bags that line them.

Adding to the difficulty, Pfizer and Moderna are using a technology, involving genetic material known as messenger RNA, that allows scientists to quickly adapt the technique for new pathogens. But it has never been commercially manufactured.

“Manufacturing a biological product is a science and an art in some ways,” said Prashant Yadav, who studies health care supply chains at the Center for Global Development in Washington.

Moderna, a small Massachusetts company that has never brought a vaccine to market, has been careful in its estimates, predicting since the summer that it would have “tens of millions” of doses by the end of the year, with two doses required for each person to be fully immunized. Moderna has received more than $2 billion from the federal government to develop and manufacture 100 million doses, and the company has said it can supply about 20 million doses before January.

Unlike most of its competitors, Pfizer did not accept federal money to ramp up its manufacturing, instead agreeing to sell the government 100 million doses for $1.95 billion. It has made similar advance purchase agreements with Britain, Canada and Japan, among others.

Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chief executive, has said the company can produce up to 50 million doses by the end of the year, and half of that supply will go to other countries. Because the vaccine requires two doses, there will initially be enough for only 12.5 million of 330 million Americans.

“Very important protection, but still a small part of the population,” Bourla told the news outlet Axios.

A Pfizer spokeswoman, Amy Rose, acknowledged that the company was falling short of its initial goals, partly because it had to order new equipment and obtain raw materials for the vaccine. In addition, when Pfizer expanded its trial to 44,000 from 30,000 people this fall, the push to make enough vaccine for thousands more volunteers diverted its attention from scaling up commercial production.

The company has since updated its production lines in the United States and Europe, Rose said, and it is confident in its ability to supply about 1.3 billion doses by the end of next year.

Some companies are developing vaccines that will likely be easier to mass produce than Pfizer’s and Moderna’s, but they have paused their clinical trials for safety reasons.

AstraZeneca said it had manufactured enough of its vaccine to meet its promise of hundreds of millions of doses by January, but a six-week pause in its trial meant that it probably wouldn’t get data on the performance of its vaccine in time to win federal authorization for its use this year.

The company’s chief executive, Pascal Soriot, recently told investors that it would fill the vials once it had a clearer picture of when the vaccine, which requires two doses, could be approved. “As soon as you turn this vaccine into vials, the shelf life starts ticking,” he said.

Vaccine maker Novavax — which had robust results in early studies and said it could supply the world with more than 2 billion doses next year — had to delay a large clinical trial by at least a month in part because of problems manufacturing tens of thousands of doses needed for the trial. The company has a $1.6 billion deal with the federal government to develop and manufacture its vaccine, which requires two doses.

In a statement, a Novavax spokeswoman said, “There are a number of things that can slow a trial start from the ideal plan, and it’s an immensely complex undertaking.” She said the company was ramping up manufacturing around the world.

Johnson &amp; Johnson, which started its clinical trial in September, later than its competitors, has said it is on track to manufacture 100 million doses of its single-dose vaccine by March and 1 billion by the end of next year. Its executives have said they do not expect trial results until early next year.

Still, even seasoned manufacturers can experience setbacks. Yadav, the supply chain expert, pointed to a shortage of flu vaccines in 2004, when a major manufacturer announced that 50 million doses, or half of the national supply for the United States, had been contaminated. “Those are risks that we will have to keep in mind,” he said.

The global race for a vaccine, as well as the pandemic’s disruption of factories and transportation, has severely taxed supply chains, causing delays or shortages for everything from glass vials to syringes.

James Robinson, who serves on the scientific advisory board for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, which is helping to develop vaccines to supply low- and middle-income countries, said some companies have encountered delays because of shortages of custom-made plastic bags that line the stainless steel bioreactors where the vaccines are produced.

These bags function like the liners that chefs use for their slow cookers. Just like at home, the bags are removed when the batches are done, cutting down on the time needed to clean and sterilize the bioreactors.

But they are difficult to make, requiring their own complex supply chain. Several manufacturing experts said there were now weekslong delays in delivering them.

In October, the federal government awarded $31 million to the manufacturer Cytiva to expand production of vaccine supplies, like the bags and other equipment and ingredients. That was on top of the more than $1 billion the government awarded other supply-chain companies.

As the realities of vaccine manufacturing became clear, some federal health leaders, such as Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser to Operation Warp Speed, moderated their predictions in the late summer.

But others, including President Donald Trump, did not. He promised in October that a vaccine was only weeks away, and that it would go immediately to the general public. His chief of staff, Mark Meadows, said in September that 100 million doses would be available by October. At the same time, Trump slapped down some of his top health officials who laid out more realistic timelines.

Once additional vaccines are authorized — especially ones like Novavax that use older, more tried-and-true technologies — factories can begin churning out doses by the tens of millions.

Mango, of the Health and Human Services Department, said Operation Warp Speed is now estimating that, if several vaccines are authorized by the Food and Drug Administration in the next few months, the United States may have “several hundred million” doses available by the end of March, and then a few months after that, there might be enough for every American to receive a vaccine who wants one.

“Let’s not lose sight of the fact that never in the history of vaccine development has a vaccine been developed at scale in this period of time,” he said.

The promising news that not just one, but two coronavirus vaccines were more than 90% effective in early results has buoyed hopes that an end to the pandemic is in sight.

The promising news that not just one, but two coronavirus vaccines were more than 90% effective in early results has buoyed hopes that an end to the pandemic is in sight. But even if the vaccines are authorized soon by federal regulators — the companies developing them have said they expect to apply soon — only a sliver of the American public will be able to get one by the end of the year. The two companies, Pfizer and Moderna, have estimated they will have 45 million doses, or enough to vaccinate 22.5 million Americans, by January. Industry analysts and company executives are optimistic that hundreds of millions of doses will be made by next spring. But the companies — backed with billions of dollars in federal money — will have to overcome hurdles they have encountered in the early days of making vaccines. Moderna's and Pfizer’s vaccines use new technology that has never been approved for widespread use. They are ramping up into the millions for the first time. Other challenges include promptly securing raw vaccine ingredients and mastering the art of creating consistent, high-quality batches. “The biology of scaling manufacturing is a very temperamental activity, and there were many, many different attempts over the months until we cracked it,” said Paul Mango, deputy chief of staff for policy at the Department of Health and Human Services. Operation Warp Speed — the federal effort to accelerate vaccine development — set as a goal producing 300 million doses this year this year, but fell far short of that, reflecting just how difficult and unpredictable the manufacturing process has been. “If that was an aspiration — of 300 million by the end of the year — I would say that was the biggest challenge that we had,” Mango said. Pfizer said this summer that it expected to make 100 million doses by year’s end, but has now said it can produce only half that goal. The more realistic timelines for manufacturing the vaccines are no surprise to those who closely follow the industry, even as these remarkable scientific and pharmaceutical feats have shattered speed records for vaccine development. “They always used the same four words: in a perfect world,” said Steve Brozak, president and managing director of WBB Securities in Cranford, New Jersey, who invests in and researches companies that focus on infectious diseases. “That world does not exist,” Brozak said. “Instead, we have a COVID world.” One of the main goals of Operation Warp Speed was to work with drug companies to manufacture the vaccines even before clinical trials were completed, so that millions of doses would be ready to go if a vaccine was successful — something never before tried at this scale. But it turns out, it’s a lot easier to make thousands of doses for a clinical trial than to churn out millions a month. Making vaccines is a complex, sometimes finicky process, requiring sterile conditions and precise control of temperature and humidity. At the same time, the global scramble for vaccines is straining supplies of everything from stainless steel tanks to the custom-made plastic bags that line them. Adding to the difficulty, Pfizer and Moderna are using a technology, involving genetic material known as messenger RNA, that allows scientists to quickly adapt the technique for new pathogens. But it has never been commercially manufactured. “Manufacturing a biological product is a science and an art in some ways,” said Prashant Yadav, who studies health care supply chains at the Center for Global Development in Washington. Moderna, a small Massachusetts company that has never brought a vaccine to market, has been careful in its estimates, predicting since the summer that it would have “tens of millions” of doses by the end of the year, with two doses required for each person to be fully immunized. Moderna has received more than $2 billion from the federal government to develop and manufacture 100 million doses, and the company has said it can supply about 20 million doses before January. Unlike most of its competitors, Pfizer did not accept federal money to ramp up its manufacturing, instead agreeing to sell the government 100 million doses for $1.95 billion. It has made similar advance purchase agreements with Britain, Canada and Japan, among others. Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chief executive, has said the company can produce up to 50 million doses by the end of the year, and half of that supply will go to other countries. Because the vaccine requires two doses, there will initially be enough for only 12.5 million of 330 million Americans. “Very important protection, but still a small part of the population,” Bourla told the news outlet Axios. A Pfizer spokeswoman, Amy Rose, acknowledged that the company was falling short of its initial goals, partly because it had to order new equipment and obtain raw materials for the vaccine. In addition, when Pfizer expanded its trial to 44,000 from 30,000 people this fall, the push to make enough vaccine for thousands more volunteers diverted its attention from scaling up commercial production. The company has since updated its production lines in the United States and Europe, Rose said, and it is confident in its ability to supply about 1.3 billion doses by the end of next year. Some companies are developing vaccines that will likely be easier to mass produce than Pfizer’s and Moderna’s, but they have paused their clinical trials for safety reasons. AstraZeneca said it had manufactured enough of its vaccine to meet its promise of hundreds of millions of doses by January, but a six-week pause in its trial meant that it probably wouldn’t get data on the performance of its vaccine in time to win federal authorization for its use this year. The company’s chief executive, Pascal Soriot, recently told investors that it would fill the vials once it had a clearer picture of when the vaccine, which requires two doses, could be approved. “As soon as you turn this vaccine into vials, the shelf life starts ticking,” he said. Vaccine maker Novavax — which had robust results in early studies and said it could supply the world with more than 2 billion doses next year — had to delay a large clinical trial by at least a month in part because of problems manufacturing tens of thousands of doses needed for the trial. The company has a $1.6 billion deal with the federal government to develop and manufacture its vaccine, which requires two doses. In a statement, a Novavax spokeswoman said, “There are a number of things that can slow a trial start from the ideal plan, and it’s an immensely complex undertaking.” She said the company was ramping up manufacturing around the world. Johnson & Johnson, which started its clinical trial in September, later than its competitors, has said it is on track to manufacture 100 million doses of its single-dose vaccine by March and 1 billion by the end of next year. Its executives have said they do not expect trial results until early next year. Still, even seasoned manufacturers can experience setbacks. Yadav, the supply chain expert, pointed to a shortage of flu vaccines in 2004, when a major manufacturer announced that 50 million doses, or half of the national supply for the United States, had been contaminated. “Those are risks that we will have to keep in mind,” he said. The global race for a vaccine, as well as the pandemic’s disruption of factories and transportation, has severely taxed supply chains, causing delays or shortages for everything from glass vials to syringes. James Robinson, who serves on the scientific advisory board for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, which is helping to develop vaccines to supply low- and middle-income countries, said some companies have encountered delays because of shortages of custom-made plastic bags that line the stainless steel bioreactors where the vaccines are produced. These bags function like the liners that chefs use for their slow cookers. Just like at home, the bags are removed when the batches are done, cutting down on the time needed to clean and sterilize the bioreactors. But they are difficult to make, requiring their own complex supply chain. Several manufacturing experts said there were now weekslong delays in delivering them. In October, the federal government awarded $31 million to the manufacturer Cytiva to expand production of vaccine supplies, like the bags and other equipment and ingredients. That was on top of the more than $1 billion the government awarded other supply-chain companies. As the realities of vaccine manufacturing became clear, some federal health leaders, such as Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser to Operation Warp Speed, moderated their predictions in the late summer. But others, including President Donald Trump, did not. He promised in October that a vaccine was only weeks away, and that it would go immediately to the general public. His chief of staff, Mark Meadows, said in September that 100 million doses would be available by October. At the same time, Trump slapped down some of his top health officials who laid out more realistic timelines. Once additional vaccines are authorized — especially ones like Novavax that use older, more tried-and-true technologies — factories can begin churning out doses by the tens of millions. Mango, of the Health and Human Services Department, said Operation Warp Speed is now estimating that, if several vaccines are authorized by the Food and Drug Administration in the next few months, the United States may have “several hundred million” doses available by the end of March, and then a few months after that, there might be enough for every American to receive a vaccine who wants one. “Let’s not lose sight of the fact that never in the history of vaccine development has a vaccine been developed at scale in this period of time,” he said.

The vaccines will probably work. Making them fast will be the hard part.

The deadly Covid-19 across the world has now infected more than 53 million people, with over 13 lakh people succumbing to the virus that was first reported in late December 2019.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has risen by 657,312 within the past 24 hours marking the largest daily increase since the outbreak of the pandemic, the World Health Organisation said on Saturday.

As of 19:30 GMT, the global tally of COVID-19 infections amounts to 53,927,158.

Most of those new cases were registered in Europe (over 285,000) and the Americas (over 269,000).

Meanwhile, the death toll worldwide has reached 1,311,192, with 9,797 fatalities being recorded over the past day.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

The deadly Covid-19 across the world has now infected more than 53 million people, with over 13 lakh people succumbing to the virus that was first reported in late December 2019.

The deadly Covid-19 across the world has now infected more than 53 million people, with over 13 lakh people succumbing to the virus that was first reported in late December 2019. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has risen by 657,312 within the past 24 hours marking the largest daily increase since the outbreak of the pandemic, the World Health Organisation said on Saturday. As of 19:30 GMT, the global tally of COVID-19 infections amounts to 53,927,158. Most of those new cases were registered in Europe (over 285,000) and the Americas (over 269,000). Meanwhile, the death toll worldwide has reached 1,311,192, with 9,797 fatalities being recorded over the past day. (With inputs from agencies)

WHO confirms record 657,312 coronavirus cases worldwide in a single day

Scientists on Monday said initial trial results for Pfizer Inc and BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine far outpaced their expectations for protection against a completely new disease, but that many questions remain unanswered.

Pfizer, BioNTech initial vaccine results impress, but scientists remain cautious

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday said that coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll in ways that no one can measure.&nbsp;

It was vital, he said, for people to follow the science and resist the urge to turn a blind eye to the virus.

"We might be tired of COVID-19. But it is not tired of us," he said.

Tedros, speaking from quarantine after coming in contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19, warned that the virus preys on weakness.

"It preys on those in weaker health, but it preys on other weaknesses too: inequality, division, denial, wishful thinking and willful ignorance, he said.

"We cannot negotiate with it, nor close our eyes and hope it goes away."

"It pays no heed to political rhetoric or conspiracy theories," he said.

"Our only hope is science, solutions and solidarity."

Addressing the WHO's main annual assembly he said that "We can’t measure the grief of families who weren’t able to say goodbye to their loved ones. We can’t measure the fear felt by so many in the face of an uncertain future."

"Almost 50 million cases of COVID-19 have now been reported to WHO, and more than 1.2 million people have lost their lives. Millions more have died due to disruption of essential health services".

"No one knows the long-term effects of this virus on the human body, or on the type of world, our children and grandchildren will inherit. Although this is a global crisis, we must remember that countries have responded differently, and they have been affected differently,”.

(With inputs from agencies)

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday said that coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll in ways that no one can measure. It was vital, he said, for people to follow the science and resist the urge to turn a blind eye to the virus.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday said that coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll in ways that no one can measure. It was vital, he said, for people to follow the science and resist the urge to turn a blind eye to the virus. "We might be tired of COVID-19. But it is not tired of us," he said. Tedros, speaking from quarantine after coming in contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19, warned that the virus preys on weakness. "It preys on those in weaker health, but it preys on other weaknesses too: inequality, division, denial, wishful thinking and willful ignorance, he said. "We cannot negotiate with it, nor close our eyes and hope it goes away." "It pays no heed to political rhetoric or conspiracy theories," he said. "Our only hope is science, solutions and solidarity." Addressing the WHO's main annual assembly he said that "We can’t measure the grief of families who weren’t able to say goodbye to their loved ones. We can’t measure the fear felt by so many in the face of an uncertain future." "Almost 50 million cases of COVID-19 have now been reported to WHO, and more than 1.2 million people have lost their lives. Millions more have died due to disruption of essential health services". "No one knows the long-term effects of this virus on the human body, or on the type of world, our children and grandchildren will inherit. Although this is a global crisis, we must remember that countries have responded differently, and they have been affected differently,”. (With inputs from agencies)

World may be tired, but the virus 'not tired of us': WHO chief

Queen Elizabeth donned a face mask for the first time since the pandemic began. The Royal highness attended the 100th anniversary of the burial at Westminster Abbey in London, England. 
 
The 94-year-old Queen was wearing an all-black outfit with the mask of the same colour as she honoured the unknown warrior, which became a symbol of mourning for all who lost their lives in World War I.

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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CHTjumInsdC/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">The Queen honours the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey. 100 years ago, on 11th November 1920, an unidentified British serviceman, who died on the battlefields during the First World War, was brought from Northern France and buried @westminsterabbeylondon. The Unknown Warrior’s final resting place became an important symbol of mourning for bereaved families, representing all those who lost their lives in the First World War but whose place of death was not known, or whose bodies remained unidentified. It remains a solemn tribute to all service personnel who have lost their lives in combat. During the small private ceremony, a bouquet of flowers featuring orchids and myrtle - based on Her Majesty’s own wedding bouquet from 1947 - was placed on the grave of the Unknown Warrior in an act of remembrance. Take a look at our story to find out why... #WeWillRememberThem #LestWeForget</a>

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Pictures of the ceremony were officially released on Saturday “It was wonderful to see Her Majesty in such good spirits and good health,” Dr. David Hoyle, the Dean of Westminster, said after the service. “We talked about the centenary and the life of the abbey. This is the place where she was married and she’s conscious of those associations.” 
 
While she attended several public occasions over the past few months and was heavily criticised for not wearing a mask amid COVID-19 pandemic.&nbsp; 
 
The queen and her grandson Prince William was <a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/queen-elizabeth-and-prince-william-draw-criticism-for-not-wearing-a-mask-at-a-public-gathering-335971">heavily criticised</a> for not wearing mask last month when she visited the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down in southern England. 
&nbsp; 
It was recently revealed that Prince William battled coronavirus back in April.

Queen Elizabeth donned a face mask for the first time since the pandemic began. The Royal highness attended the 100th anniversary of the burial at Westminster Abbey in London, England.

Queen Elizabeth donned a face mask for the first time since the pandemic began. The Royal highness attended the 100th anniversary of the burial at Westminster Abbey in London, England. The 94-year-old Queen was wearing an all-black outfit with the mask of the same colour as she honoured the unknown warrior, which became a symbol of mourning for all who lost their lives in World War I. View this post on Instagram The Queen honours the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey. 100 years ago, on 11th November 1920, an unidentified British serviceman, who died on the battlefields during the First World War, was brought from Northern France and buried @westminsterabbeylondon. The Unknown Warrior’s final resting place became an important symbol of mourning for bereaved families, representing all those who lost their lives in the First World War but whose place of death was not known, or whose bodies remained unidentified. It remains a solemn tribute to all service personnel who have lost their lives in combat. During the small private ceremony, a bouquet of flowers featuring orchids and myrtle - based on Her Majesty’s own wedding bouquet from 1947 - was placed on the grave of the Unknown Warrior in an act of remembrance. Take a look at our story to find out why... #WeWillRememberThem #LestWeForget A post shared by The Royal Family (@theroyalfamily) on Nov 7, 2020 at 2:03pm PST × Pictures of the ceremony were officially released on Saturday “It was wonderful to see Her Majesty in such good spirits and good health,” Dr. David Hoyle, the Dean of Westminster, said after the service. “We talked about the centenary and the life of the abbey. This is the place where she was married and she’s conscious of those associations.” While she attended several public occasions over the past few months and was heavily criticised for not wearing a mask amid COVID-19 pandemic. The queen and her grandson Prince William was heavily criticised for not wearing mask last month when she visited the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down in southern England. It was recently revealed that Prince William battled coronavirus back in April.

Queen Elizabeth wears face mask for the first time in public amid COVID-19 pandemic

New Yorkers these days are infusing positivity while battling the coronavirus pandemic. They are dancing and throwing away their anxiety

Infusing positivity while battling the coronavirus pandemic

The United States on Saturday recorded the world's highest daily COVID-19 cases with over 1 lakh new cases recorded in the country.&nbsp;

The exact cases count in the United States stood at 9,158,275 as of Sunday. The number of confirmed virus-related death reached 230,732, according to data provided by John Hopkins University.

The global count of confirmed coronavirus cases has surpassed 46 million on Sunday, according to data provided by the University.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11. The biggest number of cases so far have been registered in the United States, India, and Brazil.

(With inputs from agencies)

The United States on Saturday recorded the world's highest daily COVID-19 cases with over 1 lakh new cases recorded in the country. The exact cases count in the United States stood at 9,158,275 as of Sunday.

The United States on Saturday recorded the world's highest daily COVID-19 cases with over 1 lakh new cases recorded in the country. The exact cases count in the United States stood at 9,158,275 as of Sunday. The number of confirmed virus-related death reached 230,732, according to data provided by John Hopkins University. The global count of confirmed coronavirus cases has surpassed 46 million on Sunday, according to data provided by the University. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11. The biggest number of cases so far have been registered in the United States, India, and Brazil. (With inputs from agencies)

US records world's highest daily COVID-19 cases

The deadly Covid-19 across the world has now infected more than 46 million people, with 12 lakh people succumbing to the virus that was first reported in late December 2019.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the world has witnessed a total of 46,312,467 confirmed coronavirus cases.

The death count has also surged to 1,198,000.

The US, the worst-hit country, has 9,158,275 cases. It is followed by India, which has 8,184,082.

The World Health Organization (WHO) had declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

The deadly Covid-19 across the world has now infected more than 46 million people, with 12 lakh people succumbing to the virus that was first reported in late December 2019.

The deadly Covid-19 across the world has now infected more than 46 million people, with 12 lakh people succumbing to the virus that was first reported in late December 2019. According to Johns Hopkins University, the world has witnessed a total of 46,312,467 confirmed coronavirus cases. The death count has also surged to 1,198,000. The US, the worst-hit country, has 9,158,275 cases. It is followed by India, which has 8,184,082. The World Health Organization (WHO) had declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11. (With inputs from agencies)

Global coronavirus cases exceed 46 million; death toll at 1,198,000

A team of doctors from the Delhi-based All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) under the AYUSH Ministry has found that Ayurveda interventions like Ayush kwatha and Fifatrol tablets can be effective in treatment of mild to moderate cases of COVID-19 infection in a "very short period" with "complete regression of symptoms".

Use of four Ayurveda interventions-- Ayush kwatha, Sanshamanivati, Fifatrol tablets and Laxmivilasa rasa not only improved the condition of COVID-19 patient but also turned the rapid antigen test negative within six days of treatment, according to a case report published in the journal of AIIA -- ''Ayurved Case Report'' in October.

Presently, there is no specific cure for the disease that has infected over 44.7 million people and claimed 1.17 million lives world over.

Citing the case of a 30-year-old male health worker infected with coronavirus, the report said his infection was managed with Samshamana therapy that included oral administration of Ayush kwatha, Sanshamani vati, Fifatrol tablets, and Laxmivilasa rasa.

The patient, a resident of Delhi, after testing positive for COVID-19 was advised home quarantine.He reported with predominantly moderate symptoms of the infection, and the management approach was personalised and holistic in nature incorporating diet, lifestyle, and Samshamana aushadha (pacifying treatment) along with Satvavajaya chikitsa (psychotherapy).

"The mentioned treatment plan was effective in the symptomatic relief (fever, dyspnea, anorexia, fatigue, anosmia, and dysgeusia) as well as in the resolution of viral load, as the patient tested negative in the RAD for COVID-19 within six days of intervention and RT-PCR test was also done on day 16, which was reported negative," the study said.

Herbal drug Fifatrol developed by AIMIL Pharmaceutical helps fight infection, flu and cold. It has immunity strengthening herbs like guduchi, sanjeevini ghanvati, daruharidra, apamarga, chirayata, karanja, kutaki, tulsi, godanti (bhasam), mrityunjaya rasa, tribhuvana kriti rasa and sanjivani vati.

Ayush Kwatha is a combination of four medicinal herbs commonly used in every Indian kitchen - basil leaves (tulsi), cinnamon bark (dalchini), Zingiber officinale (sunthi), and krishna marich (Piper nigrum).

Sanshamani Vati (also called guduchi ghana vati) is an ayurvedic herbal formulation used for all types of fevers.

Laxmivilas Ras is a traditional herbomineral medicine that mainly contains Abhrak Bhasma and cures cough, cold and rhinitis. It soothes the throat and sinuses.

The report has been authored by Dr Sisir Kumar Mandal, Dr Meenakshi Sharma, Dr Charu Sharma, Dr Shalini Rai and Dr Anand More from the AIIA.

"The present case study proved the efficacy of Ayurveda interventions in mild-to-moderate case of COVID-19 infection in a very short period with complete regression of symptoms," the report said.

“The treatment was personalised, holistic, and purely based on Ayurvedic principles, and no conventional medicines were used. With this case study, it can be inferred that Ayurveda has vast potential to address COVID-19 and such other pandemics; a large sample-sized, multi-center randomized and controlled clinical studies are the need of the hour," the report added.

A team of doctors from the Delhi-based All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) under the AYUSH Ministry has found that Ayurveda interventions like Ayush kwatha and Fifatrol tablets can be effective in treatment of mild to moderate cases of COVID-19 infection in a "very short period" with "complete regression of symptoms".

A team of doctors from the Delhi-based All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) under the AYUSH Ministry has found that Ayurveda interventions like Ayush kwatha and Fifatrol tablets can be effective in treatment of mild to moderate cases of COVID-19 infection in a "very short period" with "complete regression of symptoms". Use of four Ayurveda interventions-- Ayush kwatha, Sanshamanivati, Fifatrol tablets and Laxmivilasa rasa not only improved the condition of COVID-19 patient but also turned the rapid antigen test negative within six days of treatment, according to a case report published in the journal of AIIA -- ''Ayurved Case Report'' in October. Presently, there is no specific cure for the disease that has infected over 44.7 million people and claimed 1.17 million lives world over. Citing the case of a 30-year-old male health worker infected with coronavirus, the report said his infection was managed with Samshamana therapy that included oral administration of Ayush kwatha, Sanshamani vati, Fifatrol tablets, and Laxmivilasa rasa. The patient, a resident of Delhi, after testing positive for COVID-19 was advised home quarantine.He reported with predominantly moderate symptoms of the infection, and the management approach was personalised and holistic in nature incorporating diet, lifestyle, and Samshamana aushadha (pacifying treatment) along with Satvavajaya chikitsa (psychotherapy). "The mentioned treatment plan was effective in the symptomatic relief (fever, dyspnea, anorexia, fatigue, anosmia, and dysgeusia) as well as in the resolution of viral load, as the patient tested negative in the RAD for COVID-19 within six days of intervention and RT-PCR test was also done on day 16, which was reported negative," the study said. Herbal drug Fifatrol developed by AIMIL Pharmaceutical helps fight infection, flu and cold. It has immunity strengthening herbs like guduchi, sanjeevini ghanvati, daruharidra, apamarga, chirayata, karanja, kutaki, tulsi, godanti (bhasam), mrityunjaya rasa, tribhuvana kriti rasa and sanjivani vati. Ayush Kwatha is a combination of four medicinal herbs commonly used in every Indian kitchen - basil leaves (tulsi), cinnamon bark (dalchini), Zingiber officinale (sunthi), and krishna marich (Piper nigrum). Sanshamani Vati (also called guduchi ghana vati) is an ayurvedic herbal formulation used for all types of fevers. Laxmivilas Ras is a traditional herbomineral medicine that mainly contains Abhrak Bhasma and cures cough, cold and rhinitis. It soothes the throat and sinuses. The report has been authored by Dr Sisir Kumar Mandal, Dr Meenakshi Sharma, Dr Charu Sharma, Dr Shalini Rai and Dr Anand More from the AIIA. "The present case study proved the efficacy of Ayurveda interventions in mild-to-moderate case of COVID-19 infection in a very short period with complete regression of symptoms," the report said. “The treatment was personalised, holistic, and purely based on Ayurvedic principles, and no conventional medicines were used. With this case study, it can be inferred that Ayurveda has vast potential to address COVID-19 and such other pandemics; a large sample-sized, multi-center randomized and controlled clinical studies are the need of the hour," the report added.

Ayurveda interventions can be effective in treatment of mild to moderate cases of COVID-19: AIIA

The Tokyo International Film Festival kicked off on Saturday with live screenings and a host of coronavirus prevention measures to ensure the show could go on. Audiences were barred from cheering festival guests, required to wear masks, have their temperature taken and use hand sanitiser. 
 
Foreign guests were mostly absent given Japan`s international border closure to prevent the spread of COVID-19, although a small number of directors opted to quarantine for two weeks in order to attend the 33rd annual festival. 
 
Many screenings during the 10-day event were sold out. "The fact that in these challenging times that you`ve found a way to honour and enjoy watching films on the big screen is a source of inspiration to myself and filmmakers around the world," said "Tenet" director Christopher Nolan in a video message at the opening ceremony. 
 
The decision to push ahead with the festival highlights the relative progress toward a post-COVID life in Japan and other Asian countries while surging infections in the United States and parts of Europe prompt renewed lockdowns.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/sports/rip-sean-connery-james-bond-actor-who-almost-became-a-manchester-united-player-339297" hreflang="en">RIP Sean Connery: James Bond actor who almost became a Manchester United player</a>

As Hollywood struggles, Japanese animated film 'Demon Slayer'&nbsp;is breaking box office records at home after the government recently allowed cinemas to operate again at full capacity. Festival Chairman Hiroyasu Ando said organisers had agonised over what to do after many other international festivals were cancelled or restricted to online events. With the pandemic easing in Japan and cinemas reopened, they decided to go ahead and provide courage through the "power of the arts," he said. 
 
"More than anything, going to the cinema, everyone sitting together and laughing and crying together, the feeling that comes from that is so important," Ando told Reuters in an interview. "This excitement you feel in the cinema - it`s a happiness you just can`t get from watching something alone online."

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/from-dr-no-to-never-say-never-again-sean-connerys-iconic-james-bond-movies-339294" hreflang="en">From 'Dr. No' to 'Never Say Never Again', Sean Connery's iconic James Bond movies</a> 
 
Organizers did make one major concession because of the pandemic, scrapping most of the competition sections because of the lack of an in-person jury with foreign members. Instead, 32 of the films screening through Nov. 9 will compete for an Audience Award.

The Tokyo International Film Festival kicked off on Saturday with live screenings and a host of coronavirus prevention measures to ensure the show could go on. Audiences were barred from cheering festival guests, required to wear masks, have their temperature taken and use hand sanitiser.

The Tokyo International Film Festival kicked off on Saturday with live screenings and a host of coronavirus prevention measures to ensure the show could go on. Audiences were barred from cheering festival guests, required to wear masks, have their temperature taken and use hand sanitiser. Foreign guests were mostly absent given Japan`s international border closure to prevent the spread of COVID-19, although a small number of directors opted to quarantine for two weeks in order to attend the 33rd annual festival. Many screenings during the 10-day event were sold out. "The fact that in these challenging times that you`ve found a way to honour and enjoy watching films on the big screen is a source of inspiration to myself and filmmakers around the world," said "Tenet" director Christopher Nolan in a video message at the opening ceremony. The decision to push ahead with the festival highlights the relative progress toward a post-COVID life in Japan and other Asian countries while surging infections in the United States and parts of Europe prompt renewed lockdowns. RIP Sean Connery: James Bond actor who almost became a Manchester United player As Hollywood struggles, Japanese animated film 'Demon Slayer' is breaking box office records at home after the government recently allowed cinemas to operate again at full capacity. Festival Chairman Hiroyasu Ando said organisers had agonised over what to do after many other international festivals were cancelled or restricted to online events. With the pandemic easing in Japan and cinemas reopened, they decided to go ahead and provide courage through the "power of the arts," he said. "More than anything, going to the cinema, everyone sitting together and laughing and crying together, the feeling that comes from that is so important," Ando told Reuters in an interview. "This excitement you feel in the cinema - it`s a happiness you just can`t get from watching something alone online." From 'Dr. No' to 'Never Say Never Again', Sean Connery's iconic James Bond movies Organizers did make one major concession because of the pandemic, scrapping most of the competition sections because of the lack of an in-person jury with foreign members. Instead, 32 of the films screening through Nov. 9 will compete for an Audience Award.

Tokyo film festival taps 'power of the arts' to give courage amid pandemic

The world economy is in desperate need of fiscal stimulus with investments drying up and economic activity slowing down again, however, countries have found a way to stave off an economic meltdown.

They are selling off gold reserves to strengthen their chequebook for the first time in a decade. Central banks have become net gold sellers combined together they have sold more gold than they bought. The logic is simple gold prices are at record highs, selling now means more money especially for countries reeling from the effects of the pandemic.

Turkey and Uzbekistan have done most of the selling. Turkey sold 22.3 tonnes of gold with its economy battered by the pandemic. Uzbekistan has sold 34.9 tonnes. It was largely in tune with the country's declared policy. Uzbekistan has been diversifying its reserves away from gold, overall central banks have sold 12 tonnes compared to their purchase of 141 tonnes last year.

Russia too joined in becoming a net seller for the first time in 13 years. Six countries however have continued their buying spree, chief among them are India, UAE and Qatar. The Reserve Bank of India bought 6.8 tonnes of gold and the UAE bought 7.4 tonnes with Qatar grabbing 6.2 tonnes.

India's gold demand plunged 30 per cent in the third quarter but it is expected to stage a recovery in Q4 especially with the ongoing festival season.&nbsp;

However, a slump could be around the corner. Traditionally, central banks have kept gold prices afloat, they have underpinned the stability of the gold bullion. A selling spree by these banks could trigger a collapse but experts feel this trend is temporary. Once the pandemic is under control, economies should be able to recover and central banks should return to being net buyers.

There is also the added cushion of rising investors' demand. Stock markets are too volatile right now. Oil is trading extremely low, so investors are looking at gold as a stable option. The surge in demand is expected to keep gold prices steady but the total gold supply has fallen 3 per cent this year with activity at mines remaining stalled by COVID-19 restrictions.

The great gold bailout is not a long-term solution. It will ultimately increase the pressure on central banks, the key, therefore, is not gold but a vaccine.

The world economy is in desperate need of fiscal stimulus with investments drying up and economic activity slowing down again, however, countries have found a way to stave off an economic meltdown.

The world economy is in desperate need of fiscal stimulus with investments drying up and economic activity slowing down again, however, countries have found a way to stave off an economic meltdown. They are selling off gold reserves to strengthen their chequebook for the first time in a decade. Central banks have become net gold sellers combined together they have sold more gold than they bought. The logic is simple gold prices are at record highs, selling now means more money especially for countries reeling from the effects of the pandemic. Turkey and Uzbekistan have done most of the selling. Turkey sold 22.3 tonnes of gold with its economy battered by the pandemic. Uzbekistan has sold 34.9 tonnes. It was largely in tune with the country's declared policy. Uzbekistan has been diversifying its reserves away from gold, overall central banks have sold 12 tonnes compared to their purchase of 141 tonnes last year. Russia too joined in becoming a net seller for the first time in 13 years. Six countries however have continued their buying spree, chief among them are India, UAE and Qatar. The Reserve Bank of India bought 6.8 tonnes of gold and the UAE bought 7.4 tonnes with Qatar grabbing 6.2 tonnes. India's gold demand plunged 30 per cent in the third quarter but it is expected to stage a recovery in Q4 especially with the ongoing festival season. However, a slump could be around the corner. Traditionally, central banks have kept gold prices afloat, they have underpinned the stability of the gold bullion. A selling spree by these banks could trigger a collapse but experts feel this trend is temporary. Once the pandemic is under control, economies should be able to recover and central banks should return to being net buyers. There is also the added cushion of rising investors' demand. Stock markets are too volatile right now. Oil is trading extremely low, so investors are looking at gold as a stable option. The surge in demand is expected to keep gold prices steady but the total gold supply has fallen 3 per cent this year with activity at mines remaining stalled by COVID-19 restrictions. The great gold bailout is not a long-term solution. It will ultimately increase the pressure on central banks, the key, therefore, is not gold but a vaccine.

Why countries are selling off gold reserves during pandemic

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his monthly radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat' on Sunday, urged people to show patience while celebrating festivals during COVID-19 pandemic and said in this battle victory is certain.

Addressing the nation through his monthly radio programme, Mann Ki Baat, the Prime Minister urged for low key Dussehra celebrations. "Today, all of you are living with great restraint, celebrating festivals with modesty. Therefore, in the Covid-19 battle, we are fighting, victory is certain," he said.

He said that Dussehra is also a festival of victory of patience over crises. Today, all of you are living with great restraint, celebrating festivals with modesty. Therefore, in the COVID-19 battle, we are fighting, victory is certain.

"This time, amid the enthusiasm of festival, when you go shopping make sure to remember your resolve of 'vocal for local.' When purchasing goods from market give priority to local products," PM Modi said.

"Previously, a large number of people used to gather in Durga Pandal. It was a fair-like atmosphere during Durga Pooja and Dussehra, but this time it didn't happen. Many more festivals are to be observed, we've to work with restraint during this Corona crisis," he added.

(With inputs from agencies)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his monthly radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat' on Sunday, urged people to show patience while celebrating festivals during COVID-19 pandemic and said in this battle victory is certain.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his monthly radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat' on Sunday, urged people to show patience while celebrating festivals during COVID-19 pandemic and said in this battle victory is certain. Addressing the nation through his monthly radio programme, Mann Ki Baat, the Prime Minister urged for low key Dussehra celebrations. "Today, all of you are living with great restraint, celebrating festivals with modesty. Therefore, in the Covid-19 battle, we are fighting, victory is certain," he said. He said that Dussehra is also a festival of victory of patience over crises. Today, all of you are living with great restraint, celebrating festivals with modesty. Therefore, in the COVID-19 battle, we are fighting, victory is certain. "This time, amid the enthusiasm of festival, when you go shopping make sure to remember your resolve of 'vocal for local.' When purchasing goods from market give priority to local products," PM Modi said. "Previously, a large number of people used to gather in Durga Pandal. It was a fair-like atmosphere during Durga Pooja and Dussehra, but this time it didn't happen. Many more festivals are to be observed, we've to work with restraint during this Corona crisis," he added. (With inputs from agencies)

'Show patience' while celebrating festivals during a pandemic: PM Modi

The United States of America (USA) is facing a continued COVID-19 public health challenge through the winter and half million Americans could die from COVID-19 by the end of February next year, according to a study by University of Washington. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-election-2020-joe-biden-pledges-free-covid-vaccine-for-everyone-in-the-us-if-elected-337576">Also read | US election 2020: Joe Biden pledges free Covid vaccine for ‘everyone’ in the US if elected</a>

According to estimates from a modelling study by researchers at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation with few effective COVID-19 treatment options and no vaccines yet available the Covid situation going to be dangerous in coming months.

"We are heading into a very substantial fall/winter surge," said IHME director Chris Murray, who co-led the research.

He said the projections, as well as the real-life current evidence of rising infection rates and deaths, showed there is no basis to "the idea that the pandemic is going away," adding: "We do not believe that is true."

US President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 221,000 Americans so far, has become the top election issue for him and Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Polls have shown that Americans trust Biden more than Trump to handle the crisis.

The IHME study forecast that large, populous states such as California, Texas and Florida will likely face particularly high levels of illness, deaths and demands on hospital resources.

"We expect the surge to steadily grow across different states and at the national level, and to continue to increase as we head towards high levels of daily deaths in late December and in January," Murray said.

The modelling study, which mapped out various scenarios and their projected impact on the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic in the United States, found that universal mask-wearing could have a major impact on deaths rates, potentially saving 130,000 lives.

Current mask use in the United States varies widely. While some states, like New York, set strict rules on when to wear masks, others have no requirements. The issue has become political, in which some supporters have taken their cues from Trump, who is often seen without a mask and has repeatedly questioned their usefulness.

"Expanding mask use is one of the easy wins for the United States ... and can save many lives," Murray said.

Meanwhile, the worldwide number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has surpassed 42 million, Johns Hopkins University says.

The exact number of the coronavirus cases stood at 42,020,333 as of 21:40 GMT on Friday. More than 1.14 million people have died of the disease, the university added.

&nbsp;The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11. The biggest number of cases so far have been registered in the United States, India and Brazil.

(With inputs from agencies)

The United States of America (USA) is facing a continued COVID-19 public health challenge through the winter and half million Americans could die from COVID-19 by the end of February next year, according to a study by University of Washington.

The United States of America (USA) is facing a continued COVID-19 public health challenge through the winter and half million Americans could die from COVID-19 by the end of February next year, according to a study by University of Washington. Also read | US election 2020: Joe Biden pledges free Covid vaccine for ‘everyone’ in the US if elected According to estimates from a modelling study by researchers at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation with few effective COVID-19 treatment options and no vaccines yet available the Covid situation going to be dangerous in coming months. "We are heading into a very substantial fall/winter surge," said IHME director Chris Murray, who co-led the research. He said the projections, as well as the real-life current evidence of rising infection rates and deaths, showed there is no basis to "the idea that the pandemic is going away," adding: "We do not believe that is true." US President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 221,000 Americans so far, has become the top election issue for him and Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Polls have shown that Americans trust Biden more than Trump to handle the crisis. The IHME study forecast that large, populous states such as California, Texas and Florida will likely face particularly high levels of illness, deaths and demands on hospital resources. "We expect the surge to steadily grow across different states and at the national level, and to continue to increase as we head towards high levels of daily deaths in late December and in January," Murray said. The modelling study, which mapped out various scenarios and their projected impact on the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic in the United States, found that universal mask-wearing could have a major impact on deaths rates, potentially saving 130,000 lives. Current mask use in the United States varies widely. While some states, like New York, set strict rules on when to wear masks, others have no requirements. The issue has become political, in which some supporters have taken their cues from Trump, who is often seen without a mask and has repeatedly questioned their usefulness. "Expanding mask use is one of the easy wins for the United States ... and can save many lives," Murray said. Meanwhile, the worldwide number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has surpassed 42 million, Johns Hopkins University says. The exact number of the coronavirus cases stood at 42,020,333 as of 21:40 GMT on Friday. More than 1.14 million people have died of the disease, the university added. The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11. The biggest number of cases so far have been registered in the United States, India and Brazil. (With inputs from agencies)

More than half a million people in the US may die of coronavirus by February: Study 

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