Health

A Russian court has fined Alphabet Inc.’s Google 11 million roubles ($137,763) for failing to delete what it terms “fake” information about the conflict in Ukraine and YouTube videos produced by Ukrainian far-right groups, TASS reported. Russia’s communications watchdog said earlier this month that it was taking steps to punish Google for “spreading fakes” on YouTube, and has previously warned the …

DELHI: Australian all-rounder Mitch Marsh has been admitted to hospital in India after testing positive for Covid-19, his Indian Premier League (IPL) team the Delhi Capitals said. Marsh, who has played 32 Tests for his country, was one of a “few” people in the team’s “bio bubble” to test positive but the rest were asymptomatic, Delhi Capitals said. “The Delhi …

GENEVA: The World Health Organisation launched its Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM) at a site in India on Tuesday, aimed at unlocking its potential by blending ancient practices with modern science. The GCTM knowledge hub is intended to create a body of reliable evidence and data on traditional medicine practices and products to help inform standards and the cost-effective …

STOCKHOLM: Cases of hepatitis of unknown origin, first detected in UK children, have now been recorded in four more European countries and the US, the EU health agency said on Tuesday. On Friday the World Health Organisation said it was monitoring 84 cases of severe acute hepatitis that were reported in Britain since April 5 and said it expected more …

A “smart” prosthetic hand that mimics human anatomy and motion has allowed Ahmed Abu Hamda to play with his children and regain self esteem, part of a new project in Palestine’s Gaza Strip, where violence by Israel has left hundreds without limbs. Since March, a Qatari-funded hospital in Gaza has been providing myoelectric prostheses, motorised devices powered by batteries and …

Almost all residents of Indonesia’s most populous island of Java have antibodies against COVID-19, owing to a combination of prior infection and vaccination against the virus, a government-commissioned survey showed. The March study of 2,100 people, conducted on Java, home to 150 million people, and Bali, Indonesia’s top tourism destination, revealed 99.2% of people had COVID antibodies, a 6 percentage …

SHANGHAI: China said on Monday that just three people have died from Covid-19 in Shanghai since a gruelling lockdown began last month, despite recording hundreds of thousands of cases of the fast-spreading Omicron variant in the eastern megacity. Authorities said the first deaths from China’s biggest outbreak since the virus wave in Wuhan over two years ago were three people …

LONDON: Prime Minister Boris Johnson has thrust Britain into a constitutional crisis by breaking the law he set for pandemic restrictions, effectively “shredding the ministerial code”, the country’s leading constitutional expert said on Sunday. Peter Hennessy, a historian and member of the upper house of parliament, said Johnson had become “the great debaser in modern times of decency in public …

Two COVID-19 vaccine candidates developed by units of China National Biotec Group (CNBG) to target the Omicron variant were approved for clinical trials as boosters in Hong Kong, the Sinopharm subsidiary said on Saturday. Scientists worldwide are racing to study upgraded injections against Omicron, as data indicated that antibodies elicited by vaccines based on older strains show weaker activity to …

A fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech provided significant added protection against severe disease, hospitalization and death for at least a month in older individuals, according to a study from Israel conducted when the Omicron variant was dominant. The estimated effectiveness of the fourth dose during days 7 to 30 after it was administered compared with …