Health

PARIS: “What I miss most is the smell of my son when I kiss him,” says Jean-Michel Maillard. Anosmia — the loss of one’s sense of smell — may be an invisible handicap, but is psychologically difficult to live with and has no real treatment, he says. And it is the price that an increasing number of people are paying …

World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist last month described AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate as the world’s leading candidate and most advanced in terms of development. Soumya Swaminathan had said that Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate was also “not far behind” Astrazeneca’s, among more than 200 candidates, 15 of which have entered clinical trials. Here is what you should know about AstraZeneca’s …

ISLAMABAD: The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has approved a $60 million supplementary fund to Pakistan as a further contribution to the polio eradication programme. This includes a $39m Islamic Development Bank Murabaha and a $21m grant from the IsDB-managed Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF). The new financing has been approved by the IsDB Board of Executive Directors at the virtual …

India has overtaken Russia with the world’s third-highest number of novel coronavirus cases, at nearly 700,000, according to the latest data, as the outbreak shows no sign of slowing. Health ministry data on Monday showed more than 23,000 new cases reported in the previous 24 hours, down slightly from Sunday’s record increase of almost 25,000. There have been almost 20,000 …

ISLAMABAD: Coordinated efforts against the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) are bearing fruit with a continuous drop in number of active cases, as the gap between the total number of patients and those fully recovered has narrowed further, Dawn has learnt. Of the 231,017 cases reported till the late hours of Sunday, only 101,187 (43.8pc) are active as the remaining 129,830 patients have fully …

Prime minister’s aide Dr Zafar Mirza on Monday announced that he was isolating himself at home after testing positive for the novel coronavirus. In a tweet, the special assistant to the prime minister on health said that he was experiencing “mild symptoms” and was taking all precautions. He also applauded the services of his colleagues, saying “Keep up the good …

GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday that it was discontinuing its trials of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and combination HIV drug lopinavir/ritonavir in hospitalised patients with COVID-19 after they failed to reduce mortality. The setback came as the WHO also reported more than 200,000 new cases globally of the disease for the first time in a single …

LONDON: Britain is putting 8.4 million pounds ($10.49 million) into a new study to examine the long-term effects of COVID-19 on patients, the health ministry said on Sunday. The novel coronavirus which causes COVID-19 has been observed to cause many health impacts for some patients beyond immediate respiratory issues, but with other infected people asymptomatic, the workings of the virus …

LONDON: The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported a record increase in global coronavirus cases on Saturday, with the total rising by 212,326 in 24 hours. The biggest increases were from the United States, Brazil and India, according to a daily report. The previous WHO record for new cases was 189,077 on June 28. Deaths remained steady at about 5,000 a …

ISLAMABAD: The US government has donated 100 ventilators to support Pakistan in its fight against Covid-19. The ventilators arrived in Karachi on Thursday and they will be provided to hospitals across the country. The donation delivers on President Donald Trump’s offer of critically needed supplies and supports Pakistan’s urgent response to the pandemic, a press release of the US Embassy …