United Nations

WHO abandons plans for crucial second phase of COVID-origins investigation Nature - Sensitive studies in China were intended to pinpoint the source of the pandemic virus. Mallapaty, Smriti nature

The World Health Organization (WHO) has quietly shelved the second phase of its much-anticipated scientific investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, citing ongoing challenges over attempts to conduct crucial studies in China, Nature has learned. ...

Malawi cholera death toll crosses 1,300: health official The death toll from a cholera outbreak in Malawi has crossed 1,300, a senior Malawian health official said on Thursday, as the southern African country battles its deadliest outbreak yet. Reuters Reuters

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The WHO said in a statement on Thursday that Malawi's current outbreak was the deadliest on record, worse than ones in 1998/99 and 2001/02 that saw 860 and 968 deaths respectively.

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‘No one really wants to talk about COVID anymore,’ the WHO’s pandemic lead laments. But the ‘worst case’ possibility of a new coronavirus exists “Omicron can cause severe disease” and “is not nature’s vaccine,” experts warned, raising concerns that evolution could produce a more dangerous variant—or a new coronavirus altogether. YahooFinance

... “until no one is at risk, everyone is at risk” of a disease that continues to evolve and affect different countries to different extents, Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for COVID-19 at the WHO, added.