Argentina announces ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdown as pandemic rages

Argentina will tighten pandemic lockdown measures to combat a severe second COVID-19 wave, President Alberto Fernandez said on Thursday, underscoring concern as daily cases and deaths have broken records over the last week. The strict “circuit-breaker” measures will come into force on Saturday and last until May 31. They include school and non-essential commerce closures

First case of India COVID-19 variant confirmed in Michigan

The first case of the India variant of COVID-19 has been identified in Clinton County north of Lansing, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Bob Wheaton told The Detroit News Friday. The new variant, B.1.617, was initially detected in India in October with two mutations, E484Q and L452R, according to the World Health Organization. The

Canada: Albertans in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s are ending up in ICU with COVID-19 faster than ever before

Intensive-care admissions reach new peaks, raising concerns over variants and long-term health effects More Albertans in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s are ending up in ICU with COVID-19 than ever before, according to a breakdown of data published by Alberta Health. This comes as case rates have soared among these age groups, most of whom

International research: Brazilian COVID-19 variant much more transmissible than other strains

An international team of researchers has found evidence suggesting that the P.1 coronavirus variant that was first seen in parts of Brazil may be up to twice as transmissible as prior strains. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes their work involving study of the variant and what they found. The P.1

Shortage of intubation drugs threatens Brazil health sector

Reports are emerging of Brazilian health workers forced to intubate patients without the aid of sedatives, after weeks of warnings that hospitals and state governments risked running out of critical medicines. One doctor at the Albert Schweitzer municipal hospital in Rio de Janeiro told the Associated Press that for days health workers diluted sedatives to

COVID-19 landing in Canada despite pre-flight testing

More than 1,000 air passengers arrived in Canada infected with COVID-19 over a recent four-week period despite obligatory pre-departure testing, according to federal data that cast doubt on any broad easing of restrictions before the summer travel season. Canada began testing international arrivals in February, requiring air travelers to spend up to three days in