Tag: coronavirus pandemic

FDA Lifts Restriction on Remote Prescriptions of Abortion Drugs

– April 13, 2021

The Biden administration cited the coronavirus pandemic to give the green light to at-home, self-administered abortions on Monday.

The FDA said it will allow the prescription of an abortion pill, mifepristone, through the mail, reversing Trump administration restrictions on remote prescription of abortion drugs. The agency wrote that because “the in-person dispensing of mifepristone for medical termination of early pregnancy may present additional COVID-related risks to patients and healthcare personnel because it may involve a clinic visit solely for this purpose,” it will allow doctors and nurses to prescribe the medication remotely.

The letter, sent on Monday to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, states that the agency will exercise “enforcement discretion” in allowing abortion medication to be prescribed without requiring an in-person doctor’s visit.

Republican lawmakers warned against removing the requirement that the abortion medication be prescribed in person. Sen. Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) accused the Biden administration of exploiting the pandemic to advance the interests of the abortion industry.

“This move by the FDA is just using COVID-19 as a cover to dispense abortion-inducing medication remotely,” Sasse said. “We are over a year into this pandemic with health care largely returning to safe, in-person delivery. This isn’t about pandemic caution—it’s a political move to increase abortions.”

https://freebeacon.com

Pope Francis Calls for ‘New World Order’ After the Pandemic

Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D. – March 15, 2021

ROME — Pope Francis insists in a new book things will never be the same in a post-pandemic world, calling instead for the establishment of a “new world order.”

In a book-length interview with journalist Domenico Agasso titled God and the World to Come, scheduled for release in Italian on Tuesday, the pontiff reiterates his case for the Great Reset with a shift away from financial speculation, fossil fuels, and military build-up toward a green economy based on inclusiveness.

After the coronavirus pandemic, “no one today can afford to rest easy,” the pope declares in a lengthy extract from the book published by Vatican News. “The world will never be the same again. But it is precisely within this calamity that we must grasp those signs which may prove to be the cornerstones of reconstruction.”

“Let us all keep in mind that there is something worse than this crisis: the drama of wasting it,” he states. “We cannot emerge from a crisis the same as before: we either come out better or we come out worse.”

We can heal injustice “by building a new world order based on solidarity, studying innovative methods to eradicate bullying, poverty and corruption,” he adds, “all working together, each for their own part, without delegating and passing the buck.”

This new world order will be based on eradicating inequalities and attending to the environment, the pope affirms.

“We can no longer blithely accept inequalities and disruptions to the environment,” he declares. “The path to humanity’s salvation passes through the creation of a new model of development, which unquestionably focuses on coexistence among peoples in harmony with Creation.”

https://www.breitbart.com

‘Super Gonorrhea’ is spreading like wildfire thanks to COVID-19

– December 23rd, 2020

2020 hasn’t been kind to anyone, but it’s almost over. Unfortunately, if you find yourself with a case of “Super Gonnorhea” you might feel the effects of this terrible year for an extended period of time. Doctors are now warning of the increasing spread of the antibiotic-resistant strain of STI, and they’re blaming the coronavirus pandemic for helping it gain momentum.

According to a report from The Sun, the problem has gotten so bad that the World Health Organization has taken notice. The issue is that as the coronavirus pandemic was ongoing, many clinics and hospitals used antibiotics in the treatment of patients and to prevent the cross-infection of hospitalized individuals. That overuse of antibiotics has given a boost to antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea, according to WHO.

Antibiotics are great. They have saved countless lives and provided mankind with the incredible power to rid ourselves of problematic microbes. Unfortunately, as the decades began to pile up, the very microorganisms we fought using antibiotics began to find ways around them. Now, several types of antibiotic-resistant bacteria are known to exist, and these “superbugs” require more complex treatment that sometimes includes multiple antibiotics or newer versions of drugs that are not yet compromised.

In the case of gonorrhea, the bacterium that causes the infection has, over time, adapted to common first-line treatments. In particular, the new “super” strain of the infection doesn’t respond to treatment with azithromycin, which has long been the go-to medication option.

“Overuse of antibiotics in the community can fuel the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in gonorrhoea,” a WHO spokesperson told The Sun. “Azithromycin – a common antibiotic for treating respiratory infections – was used for Covid-19 treatment earlier in the epidemic.”

“During the pandemic, STI services have also been disrupted. This means more STI cases are not diagnosed properly with more people self-medicating as a result. Such a situation can fuel emergence of resistance in gonorrhea including gonorrhea superbug (super gonorrhoea) or gonorrhoea with high level resistance to current antibiotics recommended to treat it.”

The worst part is that the number of people reporting a new gonorrhea infection is growing year-over-year, to the tune of about 17%. That means more and more people are getting the infection, and the antibiotic-resistant strain of the bacteria has an even larger population of people to further its adaptation to medications and other treatments.

https://bgr.com

Suspected case of BUBONIC PLAGUE registered in China, days after Mongolian outbreak

RT – July 5, 2020

A suspected case of bubonic plague has been registered in China’s north, according to local health authorities. The news comes after two similar cases were detected in neighboring Mongolia.

The case was registered at a hospital in China’s Inner Mongolia region, its health commission said in a statement on Sunday.

This prompted a third-level warning of a potential epidemic in the region. The alert comes into force immediately and will be in place until the end of this year. It’s believed the patient in question is suffering from the bubonic form, which causes swollen lymph nodes, and is considered to be the most easily treated variant of the disease.

The plague also has a pneumonic and an extra-deadly septicemic form that can kill a victim within a day.

Earlier this week, two people also tested positive for the bubonic plague in neighboring Mongolia.

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage, the potential return of the dreaded plague is definitely the last thing the world needs. So far, Covid-19 has infected nearly 11.5 million people, killing more than 530,000 of them.

https://www.rt.com

DR Congo announces fresh Ebola outbreak in country’s northwest

Al Jazeera – June 1, 2020

Health officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have reported a fresh Ebola outbreak in the country’s northwest, just weeks before they hoped to declare the end of another Ebola epidemic in the country’s east.

The appearance of the deadly disease on the other side of the vast country comes as an added blow as the DRC attempts to also battle the coronavirus pandemic.

Health Minister Eteni Longondo said on Monday “four people have already died” from Ebola in a district of the northwestern city of Mbandaka.

“The National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) has confirmed to me that samples from Mbandaka tested positive for Ebola,” Longondo told a news conference.

“We will send them the vaccine and medicine very quickly,” the minister said, adding that he planned to visit the site of the outbreak at the end of the week.

The capital of Equateur Province, Mbandaka is a transport hub on the Congo River with a population of more than a million.

Equateur Province was previously hit by an Ebola outbreak between May and July 2018, in which 33 people died and 21 recovered from the disease.

https://www.aljazeera.com

Pandemic Sparks Famines of Biblical Proportions Across the World

Strange Sounds – April 23, 2020

The world is at risk of widespread famines “of biblical proportions” caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

David Beasley, head of the World Food Programme (WFP), said urgent action was needed to avoid a catastrophe.

A report estimates that the number suffering from hunger could go from 135 million to more than 250 million.

Those most at risk are in 10 countries affected by conflict, economic crisis and climate change.

The fourth annual Global Report on Food Crises highlights Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Nigeria and Haiti.

In South Sudan, 61% of the population was affected by food crisis last year, the report says.

Even before the pandemic hit, parts of East Africa and South Asia were already facing severe food shortages caused by drought and the worst locust infestations for decades.

Addressing the UN Security Council during a video conference, Mr Beasley said the world had to “act wisely and act fast”.

https://strangesounds.org

European leaders warn coronavirus could lead to the breakup of their union

Loveday Morris, Michael Birnbaum – April 1, 2020

BERLIN —The coronavirus pandemic, with its simultaneous health and economic crises, is

deepening fault lines within Europe in a way some leaders fear could prove to be a final reckoning.

The cohesion of the European Union had been battered by Brexit, bruised by the political fallout from the 2015 migration surge and the 2008 financial crisis, and challenged by rising autocracy in the east that runs contrary to the professed ideals of the European project.

Now, if Europe’s leaders cannot chart a more united course, the project lies in what one of its architects described this week as “mortal danger.”

In the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, the response among European Union member states showed that national interests trump more-altruistic European ideals. Border restrictions were reimposed haphazardly, and Germany and France threw up export bans on medical equipment such as masks and ventilators, even as Italy clamored for assistance.

Quick to capitalize were the propaganda machines of Russia and China. Moscow and Beijing have swept in with much-trumpeted — if sometimes defective — medical aid, pushing a savior narrative and providing fodder for the region’s Euroskeptics.

E.U. countries have begun to coordinate their efforts to procure supplies, and they have sent more aid to hard-hit Italy than China has. But the past week has seen a reemergence of a north-south rift over how to handle the economic response. The union is also being pulled east and west, as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has used emergency powers to effectively suspend democracy, riding roughshod over Europe’s basic principles of the rule of law.

Collectively, these tensions could overwhelm the alliance.

https://www.msn.com

Covid-19 cases reach 1 MILLION worldwide, 50,000 dead as pandemic continues to ravage the globe

RT – April 2, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has passed its landmark moment, as over one million people worldwide have tested positive for the disease, according to figures from multiple sources.

The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases hit the 1 million mark on Thursday, according to tallies by both the AFP news agency and Johns Hopkins University in the US. Over 51,000 people have died worldwide from the virus.

The novel coronavirus outbreak was first recorded in December 2019, in the city of Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province. The number of infected people in Wuhan skyrocketed, prompting a lockdown by the government. The virus then quickly spread abroad, hitting nearly every country.

On March 11, the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic. Two weeks later, the US became the most-affected nation, surpassing China. In Europe, Italy, Spain, Germany and France were hit the hardest, with each having more than 40,000 cases.

By April 1, close to half the world’s population – most of North America, Europe and India – had been ordered to stay at home, in hopes of slowing or stopping the spread of the contagion.

In many places, the rapidly-spreading virus has overwhelmed local healthcare systems. Doctors have struggled with shortages of hospital space and medical equipment, including testing kits and protective gear.

China said it had turned the tide on the spread of Covid-19 by late March, as the number of new domestic cases decreased significantly, prompting officials to gradually ease travel restrictions in Hubei.

https://www.rt.com

Former U.K. Prime Minister Calls for Temporary Global Government to Combat the Coronavirus

Amanda Casanova |March 27, 2020

A former United Kingdom prime minister is asking world leaders to consider creating a temporary global government to help manage the coronavirus pandemic.

Gordon Brown, who served as prime minister from 2007 to 2010, said he hopes world leaders, health experts and other international leaders can work together on a response to the pandemic, The Guardian reports.

“This is not something that can be dealt with in one country,” he said. “There has to be a coordinated global response.”

Saudi Arabia has since hosted a virtual meeting of the G20 group of developed and developing countries. Brown, however, said the meeting should also include the U.N. security council.

In the meeting, G20 leaders promised to do “whatever it takes” to combat the economic and social damage from the coronavirus pandemic.

Brown was a central part in dealing with the 2008 global recession. Brown approved a bank rescue package for the U.K. and other economic measures to help with the recession.

“That was an economic problem that had economic causes and had an economic solution.

“This is first and foremost a medical emergency and there has to be joint action to deal with that,” he said of the pandemic. “But the more you intervene to deal with the medical emergency, the more you put economies at risk.”

Brown said a coordinated global effort would be able to develop a vaccine and to organize production, purchasing and profiteering.

“We need some sort of working executive,” Brown said. “If I were doing it again, I would make the G20 a broader organization because in the current circumstances you need to listen to the countries that are most affected, the countries that are making a difference and countries where there is the potential for a massive number of people to be affected – such as those in Africa.”

https://www.christianheadlines.com