Wildfires in the Arctic have already released more planet-warming carbon dioxide this year than all of last year, with smoke plumes from the fires covering an area more than one-third the size of Canada, according to new data from the FILE – In this July 10, 2020 file image taken from video provided by Russian Emergency Ministry, a Russian aircraft releases water in the Trans-Baikal National Park in Buryatia, southern Siberia.Previous studies show that climate change is warming Arctic regions around two times the rate of other parts of the planet.  According to Hoy, as cold and wet regions become dry and flammable, fires burn more readily. The fires can be started by human activity, lightning strikes, or “zombie fires” — fires that smolder beneath the ground over winter.Satellite measurements from CAMS show that most of the Arctic wildfires are in Russia’s Sakha Republic region. But the smoke can travel thousands of miles from the blazes. Wildfire smoke contains pollutants that degrade air quality and affect human health. And dark-colored soot that settles on ice and snow absorbs more heat, accelerating melting of Arctic sea ice and sea level rise.“We like to say that what happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic,” Hoy said. “So it’s not just the people that are living in the Arctic that are affected by these fires. When the permafrost starts to thaw and carbon is emitted into the atmosphere, that’s not just affecting people locally, that’s affecting all of us. So, we’re all going to experience warming temperatures because we’re losing so much carbon in the Arctic region.”The increasingly intense fires in the Arctic are concerning because they burn deeper into the ground, melting permafrost and releasing “legacy” carbon that has accumulated over hundreds or thousands of years, said Douglas Morton, chief of the Biospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, who was not involved with the research.According to Morton, the report from CAMS matches what his own team has been finding.“We too have noticed the uptick in fire activity and fire emissions. There’s some very clear evidence that 2019 and 2020 stand out as really anomalous years for burning in Eastern Siberia and above the Arctic Circle in particular,” he said.CAMS uses satellites to monitor the intensity of wildfires around the planet based on their heat signals. The service also measures the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere to detect changes in greenhouse gases and air quality. According to Parrington, these different measurements help to build a complete picture of global wildfires and the emissions they produce.Above average intensity wildfires have also been observed this summer in the U.S. states of California and Colorado. 
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New studies by the World Health Organization and the United Nations show people suffering from noncommunicable diseases are more susceptible to becoming severely ill and dying from COVID-19.Noncommunicable diseases kill more than 40 million people a year worldwide. The World Health Organization says seven out of 10 deaths globally are caused by cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, respiratory and other NCDs.Of those, the data show, 17 million people die prematurely, the great majority between the ages of 30 and 70.  Most of the deaths occur in low-income countries.Nick Banatvala, the head of a U.N. task force on noncommunicable diseases, said Friday that NCDs and their risk factors are increasing susceptibility to COVID-19 infection and the likelihood of worse outcomes, including in young people.  He said research from academics in several countries demonstrates the scale of the problem.Obesity, smoking, diabetes“In a study in France, the odds of developing severe COVID-19 were seven times higher in patients with obesity,” he said. “Smokers are 1½ times more likely to have severe complications from COVID-19 and had higher mortality rates. … People with diabetes are between two and four times more likely to have severe symptoms or die from COVID-19.”Banatvala said other studies have shown similar outcomes for people with chronic pulmonary or cardiovascular diseases, cancer and so on.“Overall, almost one-quarter of the global population is estimated to have an underlying condition that increases their vulnerability to COVID-19, and most of these conditions are NCDs. … Let me remind you, 70 percent of deaths globally are from NCDs, and yet NCDs receive less than 2 percent of development assistance for health,” he said.Banatvala called this shortsighted. He said a 2018 WHO study showed that investing in cost-effective preventive health measures could save both money and lives.He said the study found that for every dollar invested in preventive measures, there would be a return of $7 by 2030. He also said that using these initiatives over the next decade could result in saving 8.2 million lives.
 
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An independent panel appointed by the World Health Organization to review its coordination of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic will have full access to any internal U.N. agency documents, materials and emails necessary, the panel said Thursday as it begins the probe.
 
The panel’s co-chairs, former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, announced the 11 other members during a media briefing. They include Dr. Joanne Liu, who was an outspoken WHO critic while leading Medecins Sans Frontieres during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.  
 
Also named to the panel are: Dr. Zhong Nanshan, a renowned Chinese doctor who was the first to publicly confirm human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus; Mark Dybul, who led the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and David Miliband, a former British foreign secretary who is CEO of the International Rescue Committee.
 
Clark said she and Johnson Sirleaf chose the panel members independently and that WHO did not attempt to influence their choices.
 
We look forward to a period of intense work together at a key moment in history. We must honor the more than 25.6 million people known to have contracted the disease and the 850,000 and counting who have died from COVID-19,'' Johnson Sirleaf said.  
 
The panel scheduled its first meeting for Sept. 17 and plans to meet every six weeks between then and April. It expects to brief WHO on the group's initial progress in November before presenting a final report next year.  
 
WHO bowed to calls from most of its member states in May to launch an independent investigation of how it managed the international response to the coronavirus after the United States accused the U.N. health agency  of mismanaging the early phase of the pandemic and colluding with China to hide the extent of the outbreak there.  
 
President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of WHO  earlier this year after calling the agency apuppet” of China.  
 
In June, the Associated Press found that China delayed releasing critical information to WHO, including the virus’ genetic sequence, for weeks in January. Internal recordings of WHO meetings revealed officials were frustrated at the lack of data-sharing while Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus publicly praised China for its speed and transparency.
 
To uncover how the global response to COVID-19 was managed, we may ask decision-makers what kept them up at night, Clark said. The panel also plans to examine what WHO and national governments might have done differently had they known more about the coronavirus.
 
She said WHO had “made it clear their files are an open book” and that the panel members would have access to any internal documents or materials they wanted, although no such requests have yet been made. As a U.N. agency, WHO is not subject to any freedom of information requests and does not routinely make its internal deliberations public.
 
The panel is financed by WHO and has its own staff in Geneva, led by Dr. Anders Nordstrom, a former acting director-general at the agency.   
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New Zealand has recorded its first COVID-19 death since the end of May, health officials say, bringing the country’s total death tally from the virus to 23. In contrast, the United States continues to top the list of COVID-19 deaths with more than 186,000, and more than 6.1 million cases.Brazil follows the U.S. with just over 4 million cases and more than 124,000 deaths.   India comes in third with nearly 4 million cases and over 68,000 deaths. Berlusconi hospitalized Former Italian Prime Minister and leader of the Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party Silvio Berlusconi gestures during a rally ahead of a regional election in Emilia-Romagna, in Ravenna, Jan. 24, 2020.Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s former prime minister, has been hospitalized for COVID-j19.  Doctors say the 83-year-old also has been diagnosed with the early stages of double pneumonia. His condition, however, is “not a cause for concern,” his Forza Italia party said in a statement.  His girlfriend, lawmaker Marta Fascina, has also contracted the virus. Trenchcoat maker Burberry has been awarded a more than $700,000 contract to produce personal protective gear and gowns for Britain’s National Health Service. Before the contract, the iconic brand manufactured and donated more than 160,000 pieces of PPE to the NHS and healthcare charities. US college quarantines entire student body
A college in Pennsylvania has quarantined its entire student body after 24 students tested positive for the coronavirus this week.  Gettysburg College students are only allowed to leave their rooms to pick up takeout meals from campus locations, to use the bathroom and to take a coronavirus test. The small liberal arts school has about 2,500 students. After police in Thailand arrested a man, they discovered that he had COVID-19, making the detainee the first locally transmitted case in the country in 100 days, authorities say. UNICEF wants to co-lead vaccine allocation FILE – Small bottles labeled with a “Vaccine COVID-19” sticker and a medical syringe are seen in this illustration taken taken Apr. 10, 2020.The U.N. children’s agency said Thursday it would lead the world’s largest and fastest procurement and distribution system for COVID-19 vaccines from dozens of makers in the next two years so that no country lacks access.UNICEF and the World Health Organization co-lead a COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan known as COVAX.Seventy-six wealthy nations are part of the COVAX plan, which aims to buy and provide equitable access worldwide to the inoculations for 92 low- and lower-middle-income countries, according to a UNICEF statement.  “This is an all-hands on deck partnership between governments, manufacturers and multilateral partners to continue the high-stakes fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” Henrietta Fore, UNICEF executive director, said in a statement. “In our collective pursuit of a vaccine, UNICEF is leveraging its unique strengths in vaccine supply to make sure that all countries have safe, fast and equitable access to the initial doses when they are available.”In August, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned of possible vaccine hoarding by wealthier nations, saying such actions would worsen the effects of the pandemic.He pushed for the creation of the COVAX Global Vaccines Facility as way to share COVID-19 vaccines with developing countries. More than 170 countries have agreed to take part.US opts out
On Wednesday, the United States said White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere waits for the arrival of President Donald Trump to the White House, Friday, Oct. 4, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)White House spokesman Judd Deere issued a statement saying the United States “will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China.”President Donald Trump announced in July that he was withdrawing the United States from WHO, claiming the agency mishandled the outbreak and showed deference to China, where the virus was first detected late last year.In addition to UNICEF and the WHO, COVAX is being supported by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which was founded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to vaccinate children in the world’s poorest countries.Twenty-eight COVID-19 makers shared production plans with UNICEF, which said in a market assessment “that manufacturers are willing to collectively produce unprecedented quantities of vaccines over the coming 1-2 years,” according to a report by Reuters news service.The drugmakers, however, said production levels are “highly dependent” on the success of clinical trials, according to Reuters.Amnesty highlights impact on frontline workers
Also Thursday, Amnesty International said 1,320 health workers in Mexico have died from the coronavirus pandemic, the worst for any country in the world.Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, who is infected with COVID-19, wears a protective face mask as he attends a Brazilian flag retreat ceremony outside his official residence the Alvorada Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, July 22, 2020…Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 and has downplayed the severity of the coronavirus outbreak, said Thursday Brazilians will not be forced to receive a vaccination, when they become available. Brazil on Thursday tallied more than 4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and is second in the world with 124,614 deaths.”Many people want the vaccine to be applied in a coercive way, but there is no law that provides for that,” Bolsonaro said in a Facebook live chat with his supporters, according to a Reuters report.Several COVID-19 vaccines are being tested in Brazil. The government has bought 30 million doses of a vaccine that is being produced by Oxford University/AstraZeneca. Three others are in Phase 3 clinical trials from makers Sinovac Biotech of China, Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech, and Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical subsidiary Janssen, according to Reuters. Next ‘Batman’ Pattinson tests positive
Production on the latest Batman movie was halted in March as the coronavirus swept around the world. It recently resumed, but has halted again after lead actor Robert Pattinson tested positive for the virus. Johns Hopkins University reported early Friday that there are 26.3 million global COVID cases and over 869,000 deaths.    
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The U.N. children’s agency said Thursday it would lead the world’s largest and fastest procurement and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines from dozens of makers in the next two years so that no country lacks access.UNICEF and the World Health Organization co-lead a COVID-19 A workers sanitizes a metro coach in New Delhi, India, Sept. 3, 2020.On Wednesday, Nepalese protesters defying a government coronavirus lockdown to take part in a religious festival clash with riot police, in Lalitpur, Nepal, Sept. 3, 2020.Amnesty’s report highlighted the deadly toll COVID-19 has had on frontline workers. Overall, at least 7,000 health workers have died of the virus.Other countries with high mortality rates include the United States, Brazil and India, where health worker death tolls stand at 1,077, 634 and 573, respectively, Reuters reported. The three countries have the highest number of deaths and confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins.Mexico ranks eighth in the world with 616,894 confirmed cases, but fourth overall in deaths, with 66,329.According to a Reuters analysis of data from the Mexican government, health care workers in that country are four times more likely to die than in the U.S.”Many months into the pandemic, health workers are still dying at horrific rates in countries such as Mexico, Brazil and the USA,” Steve Cockburn, head of Economic and Social Justice at Amnesty International, told Reuters. “There must be global cooperation to ensure all health workers are provided with adequate protective equipment, so they can continue their vital work without risking their own lives.”Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 and has downplayed the severity of the coronavirus outbreak, said Thursday Brazilians will not be forced to receive a vaccination, when they become available.Brazil on Thursday tallied more than 4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and is second in the world with 124,614 deaths.”Many people want the vaccine to be applied in a coercive way, but there is no law that provides for that,” Bolsonaro said in a Facebook live chat with his supporters, according to a Reuters report.Several COVID-19 vaccines are being tested in Brazil. The government has bought 30 million doses of a vaccine that is being produced by Oxford University/AstraZeneca. Three others are in Phase 3 clinical trials from makers Sinovac Biotech of China, Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech, and Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical subsidiary Janssen, according to Reuters. 
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Two COVID-19 vaccines that could arrive as soon as November use a promising new technique that experts say speeds up the development process.  The new vaccines will be the first test to see if vaccines based on genetic code, rather than the germ itself, can be safe and effective. U.S.-based biotech company Moderna is developing one. The other is the product of a collaboration between German drugmaker BioNTech and U.S.-headquartered Pfizer.  FILE – The Pfizer company logo is seen at the company’s headquarters in New York, Dec. 4, 2017.FILE – A sign marks an entrance to a Moderna, Inc., building, in Cambridge, Mass., May 18, 2020.All previous vaccines have triggered the immune system with dead or weakened versions of a germ or parts of it. The active ingredient in each of the new vaccines is a piece of genetic code called mRNA. It instructs the body to produce one small piece of the virus. It does not cause illness, but it primes the immune system to fight off the real virus. Producing enough vaccine for hundreds of millions of doses usually requires large, specialized biological manufacturing systems to grow the germ or its parts. The mRNA vaccines are quicker to develop in part because they do not rely on these complex systems. Plus, mRNA is a string of chemical building blocks that can be quickly modified to produce a new vaccine to combat a different germ.  These are the first vaccines based on genetic code to be developed for human patients. Several veterinary vaccines using this technique are on the market, including immunizations against West Nile virus in horses, melanoma in dogs and a viral disease in salmon.Tests under way In early safety tests, a few dozen healthy people received either a vaccine or a placebo for comparison. Both vaccines produced side effects such as headaches, fever, chills, fatigue, or sore muscles in most patients. None were serious enough to stop the testing. FILE – Wade Bardo of Erin, N.Y., gets an injection as a study of a possible COVID-19 vaccine gets under way in Binghamton, N.Y., July 27, 2020.Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech have advanced their vaccines to the final round of testing, which involves about 30,000 patients each. These trials are designed to determine how effective they are, as well as look for less common side effects. Final results are not expected until the end of the year, but Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn told the FILE – A poster advertises a hunt for volunteers for a study of a possible COVID-19 vaccine, in Binghamton, N.Y., July 27, 2020.And then, he added, at least 150 or so people who received the placebo have to get sick in order to have enough cases to compare to those who received the vaccine.  Though experts are skeptical that results will be conclusive enough by November, they say it’s not a bad idea to start planning now, because it’s going to be an incredibly complicated exercise.  The federal government has committed billions of dollars to buy hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccines. But that’s just the start. “It’s not just buying vaccine. We need to ensure we have the resources to deliver the vaccines to the people who need it,” Orenstein said. That’s no easy task for a nation of 330 million people. Twice the effort Plus, since both vaccines require two doses, “it will take twice the effort to get people vaccinated,” said Vanderbilt University infectious disease expert William Schaffner, a spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “You have to track who’s received which vaccine. You won’t be able to mix and match.”  Then there’s the question of who gets the first doses. There won’t be enough vaccine for everyone right away. Committees at the CDC and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are working on setting priorities with comments from the public.  Once that’s settled, officials not only have to identify who is in the priority groups, “you have to make sure that people who aren’t in those groups don’t get those vaccines initially,” Offit said. “That’s going to be an enormous strain.” Even the basic issue of how to store the vaccine gets complicated. One of the vaccines needs to be stored at -70C. Standard freezers run about -20C. Big institutions may have the capacity, but “I’m a little concerned about the average doctor’s office and clinic,” Schaffner said. All this is being put on state and local public health departments suffering from years of underfunding, the results of which have become abundantly clear under COVID-19.  Are they up to the job? “I’m more hopeful than confident,” Schaffner said. 
 
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NASA this week moved closer to its next crewed mission to the moon.  A successful rocket test means they know how they will get there, while scientists in India have developed eco-friendly bricks for building structures on the lunar surface.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has the week in space.Produced by Arash Arabasadi
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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that it has informed public health officials in all 50 states and several large cities to be prepared to distribute a coronavirus vaccine by November 1, two days before the presidential election.The McClatchy news service was the first to report Wednesday that the CDC had sent out a four-page memo on August 27 for health departments to draft vaccination plans by October 1  “to coincide with the earliest possible release of COVID-19 vaccine.” The Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus crisis hearing, July 31, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington.Fauci’s take on potential vaccine
News of the CDC memo coincided with remarks made Wednesday by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who said that he is confident there will be a “safe and effective” COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year.However Fauci also said in an interview last week with Reuters news agency that “the one thing that you would not want to see with a vaccine is getting an [emergency approval of a vaccine] before you have a signal of efficacy.””One of the potential dangers if you prematurely let a vaccine out is that it would make it difficult, if not impossible, for the other vaccines to enroll people in their trial,” he said.Other  health experts have also expressed skepticism about rolling out a vaccine before the completion of clinical trials, saying hastening its distribution to the public could pose safety risks and deepen anti-vaccination sentiments.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 2 MB480p | 3 MB540p | 3 MB1080p | 9 MBOriginal | 19 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioSafety checks
Patricia Zettler, a former Food and Drug Administration associate chief counsel told the Washington Post this week, “I think it’s extremely critical we have rigorous evidence of safety and effectiveness supporting a vaccine before the FDA gives its okay.” Zettler is currently a law professor at Ohio State University.Some state health departments say they lack the staff, money and tools to educate people about vaccines and then to distribute, administer and track hundreds of millions of doses, according to the Associated Press.  “There is a tremendous amount of work to be done to be prepared for this vaccination program, and it will not be complete by Nov. 1,” Dr. Kelly Moore, associate director of immunization education at the Immunization Action Coalition, a national vaccine education and advocacy organization in Minnesota, told the AP. “States will need more financial resources than they have now.”   Only half of Americans trust vaccine
A recent Thousands of bikers rode through the streets for the opening day of the 80th annual Sturgis Motorcycle rally Friday, Aug. 7, 2020, in Sturgis, S.D. (AP Photo/Stephen Groves)COVID death linked to South Dakota rally
Meanwhile, a resident of the northern state of Minnesota is believed to be the first person to have died of the coronavirus after attending a huge motorcycle rally in the neighboring state of South Dakota last month.Health officials in Minnesota say the man was in his 60s and had underlying health conditions.  He was one of hundreds of motorcycle enthusiasts who converged on the small town of Sturgis for 10 days, many of them also refusing to wear face masks or observe social distancing.  At least 260 new COVID-19 infections in 11 states have been tied directly to the event, according to the Washington Post.    
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