Tag - covid-19

 
 

COVID 19

Takanori Takebe (behind the lectern) speaks after his team of researchers and he were awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in physiology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Thursday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 13, 2024
Scientists win Ig Nobel for discovering anal breathing in mammals
The research team of Japanese and American scientists hope the discovery will help treat people with COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases.
A survey showed the use of terminal care and attended deaths at home kept increasing after surging in April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 11, 2024
Terminal care at home surged in Japan during COVID-19 pandemic
Cases of terminal care at home grew for clinics certified to meet standards for supporting home care, such as having doctors available to make house visits.
Elisabeth Furaha applies medication on the skin of her child, Sagesse Hakizimana, who is undergoing treatment for mpox, near Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Aug. 19.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 25, 2024
Why mpox vaccines are only just arriving in Africa after two years
The slow arrival of the shots — available in many places outside Africa — showed that lessons from COVID-19 about global health care inequity must still be learned.
In an image provided by federal agencies, a colorized electron microscope image shows avian influenza grown in cultured cells. The virus is poised to become a permanent presence in cattle, raising the odds of an eventual outbreak among people.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 22, 2024
How U.S. farms could start a bird flu pandemic
The longer the virus circulates in cattle, the more chances it has to acquire the mutations necessary to set off an influenza pandemic.
Health minister Keizo Takemi fields questions from reporters in March after a Cabinet meeting to deal with health problems caused by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's beni kōji red yeast rice supplements.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 14, 2024
Health Minister Keizo Takemi on how to improve Japan's health care system
Digitalization, hiring high-skilled foreign workers and increasing wages are among the steps that Japan could take.
In the past 11 months, health minister Keizo Takemi has been charting his own path, seeking to make Japan's health care policies more global and digitalized.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 14, 2024
Global mindset crucial for reform of Japan's health care, minister says
International strategies and domestic health care reform are inextricably linked, says health minister Keizo Takemi.
American Noah Lyles after taking bronze in the men's 200-meter final on Thursday. It was later revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week.
OLYMPICS / Athletics
Aug 9, 2024
U.S. sprinter Noah Lyles says his Paris run is over after getting COVID-19
Lyles tested positive on Tuesday, officials said, two days after he won the 100-meter final.
A doctor consults with a COVID-19 patient at St. Vincent's Hospital in Sydney in 2021.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 29, 2024
Excess deaths in Australia reveal COVID-19's long, lethal tail
Excess mortality — the increase above the expected toll had the pandemic not occurred — was 5% for Australia in 2023.
A decline in COVID-19-caused deaths likely helped boost the average life expectancy for Japanese men and women to rise for the first time in three years in 2023.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 26, 2024
Japan's average life expectancy rises for first time in three years
The rise in life expectancy may possibly be a reflection of a drop in fatality rates for COVID-19 patients.
The health ministry is calling for people to take infection control measures thoroughly as cases of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases are rising in Japan.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 24, 2024
Japan battling 11th COVID wave, data shows, as KP.3 variant evades immunity
New infections have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks amid the rise of the highly transmissible new coronavirus variant.
Paris is preparing to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which start on Friday. These Summer Games will likely be very different from the previous ones, held in Tokyo in 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 22, 2024
In defense of Tokyo 2020, the loneliest Olympics
As Paris gets ready to host the Olympics, a reflection on the previous Games, held in Tokyo three years ago, prompts doubts about predictions of a COVID-induced disaster.
People hold umbrellas while watching baseball to deal with the heat in the city of Shizuoka on July 7.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 19, 2024
As risk of heatstroke rises in Japan, so does that of COVID-19
Patients examined for suspected heatstroke have been diagnosed with COVID-19 instead, as symptoms can be similar.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he has contracted COVID-19, forcing him to cancel an appearance before a key Latino advocacy group.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 18, 2024
Biden’s COVID-19 case delivers latest blow to hard-luck campaign
While U.S. President Joe Biden's symptoms are mild, the COVID-19 diagnosis removes him from the campaign trail and thrusts his health back into the spotlight.
A child receives an oral Malaria vaccine in Lilongwe, Malawi.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 15, 2024
Rising conflicts globally slowed childhood vaccination rate in 2023, U.N. says
About 14.5 million children failed to get vaccinated in 2023, compared with 13.9 million a year earlier, according to U.N. estimates.
Although air travel in Asia has picked up since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is still below 2019 levels, with many passengers preferring to travel shorter distances.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2024
Asian airlines face a cold summer
Despite seemingly positive results, air travel in Asia hasn't returned to pre-pandemic levels, with many of the continent's travelers preferring to stay closer to home.
The revised action plan for Japan's response to outbreaks of new infectious diseases requires the government to take action to raise awareness about vaccinations, reflecting concerns expressed by many of those who submitted public comments over the revision.
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2024
Japan adopts revised action plan for infectious diseases
The government will implement the plan flexibly while taking into consideration the impact of the measures on people's lives.
Uncompleted residential buildings in Shenyang, China. The Chinese government is trying to support the real estate sector as a property crisis and other economic ailments drag on.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jun 27, 2024
What will it take for China to regain market confidence?
Xi came to power promising high-quality development instead of growth at all costs. But first, his government must tackle structural problems embedded in China's economy.
Internal affairs minister Takeaki Matsumoto bows after a bill to revise the local autonomy law was approved at a plenary meeting of the Upper House on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 19, 2024
Japan enacts bill for emergency state power over local governments
The purpose is to make sure that Japan can respond quickly to incidents not presupposed by existing laws.
Students receive school lunch at Senju Aoba Junior High School in Tokyo in June 2022.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 17, 2024
Obesity increased among children in Japan during pandemic
The study analyzed the health checkup data of about 186,000 people who graduated from junior high school between fiscal 2020 and fiscal 2022.
Kenji Iikura (right), head chef at Akasaka Tantei, and manager Hibiki Kitazawa pose with Okinawan cuisine served at the restaurant in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Jun 17, 2024
How a Michelin-star Okinawan restaurant made a V-shaped recovery
A return to its roots — and Okinawan flavors — struck a chord with new and returning customers.

Longform

A store clerk tries to cool things down in front of their shop by spraying a hose.
Is extreme weather changing the way Japan shops?