Latest Disease outbreaks News
S. Dakota GOP leader: Senator accused of harassment
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota's Senate Republican leader said Friday that a committee will investigate a suspended senator for allegedly harassing a legislative aide during an exchange over childhood vaccines and breastfeeding. Sen. Casey Crabtree, the Senate GOP leader, had...
South Korea extends restrictions on travelers from China
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea says it will continue to restrict the entry of short-term travelers from China through the end of February over concerns that the spread of COVID-19 in that country may worsen following the Lunar New Year’s holidays. South Korea in early...
Malawi cholera outbreak death toll rises above 1,000
BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — Malawi’s cholera outbreak has claimed more than 1,000 lives, according to the country’s health minister, who warned that some cultural beliefs and hostility toward health workers were slowing efforts to curb infections. Cholera had killed 1,002 people...
Nigeria confirms diphtheria outbreak; 25 dead in one state
KANO, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian health authorities confirmed an outbreak of diphtheria Friday and reported that 25 people, most of them children, have died so far in one of the worst-hit states in the country's north. The total number of confirmed cases and deaths is not yet known....
Japan to lower COVID-19 to flu status, further easing rules
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday announced plans to downgrade the legal status of COVID-19 to the equivalent of seasonal influenza in the spring, a move that would further relax mask wearing and other preventive measures as the country seeks to return to normalcy. ...
Vietnamese president resigns, criticized for major scandals
BANGKOK (AP) — Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc resigned Tuesday, becoming the most senior member of the government to step down after a series of high-profile corruption scandals for which he was held responsible. The state Vietnam News Agency reported that he had resigned at...
Worst cholera outbreak in decades kills 750 people in Malawi
BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — The worst cholera outbreak to affect Malawi in two decades has now claimed 750 lives, a government minister said, while the World Health Organization chief described the southeast African country as among the hardest-hit amid ongoing global epidemics that are “more...
WHO, officials say Uganda's latest Ebola outbreak is over
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda's latest outbreak of the Ebola virus is over, the government and the World Health Organization said Wednesday. Health Minister Ruth Aceng told journalists that no new cases had been registered in the past 42 days. This outbreak was the...
Saudi Arabia: Hajj pilgrimage returning to pre-COVID levels
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Islam's annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia will return to pre-pandemic levels this year after restrictions saw the annual religious commemoration curtailed over concerns about the coronavirus, authorities say. The hajj, required of all...
Filipino Catholics hold big procession after pandemic eases
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Thousands of Catholic devotees, many donning protective masks and bearing candles, joined a night procession through downtown Manila early Sunday to venerate a centuries-old black statue of Jesus Christ, which was not paraded to discourage an even larger crowd amid...
