Health officials in South Korea have approved a new test that’s designed to detect both COVID-19 and seasonal influenza from the same samples, which would help prevent disruption at hospitals as the pandemic stretches into the flu season.The country has struggled to stem the coronavirus, which some experts say could spread more broadly during cold weather when people spend more time indoors.The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Wednesday reported 118 new cases of COVID-19, most of them in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area. The national caseload is …

Organizers of next year’s rescheduled Tokyo Olympics will have measures in place to limit the spread of the coronavirus. However, little is known about how the virus affects the long-term health of those who were already infected, including athletes. South African researchers are leading an international effort to try to find answers. South African Olympic hurdler Wenda Nel is grateful to be back on track for next year’s rescheduled Tokyo Olympics after recovering from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.  “It was about two to four weeks that I’ve took …

Kenyan health officials say the public has failed to follow health protocols to limit the spread of COVID-19, leading to a jump in daily infections. Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta now is reintroducing new measures to curb the virus’s spread, just weeks after lifting some restrictions. Speaking to the country Wednesday following several weeks of rising number of COVID-19 infections, President Uhuru Kenyatta called on Kenyans to adhere to public health protocols meant to limit the spread of the virus.   FILE – A health worker takes the temperature of a person …

Hurricane Eta continues on a destructive path over the Central American nations of Nicaragua and Honduras hours after making landfall along the Nicaraguan coast. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Eta is moving inland over northeastern Nicaragua carrying maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers an hour.  Forecasters are warning of life-threatening storm surges, damaging winds and flash floods over portions of Central America.   Hurricane Eta made landfall Tuesday near the eastern Nicaraguan coastal town of Puerto Cabezas, carrying maximum sustained winds of 225 kilometers an hour, making it a Category 4 storm on the …

As voters across the United States lined up to cast their ballots in a hotly contested presidential race Tuesday, the nation posted one of its biggest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 infections in a single day.  Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Research Center shows a total of 91,530 total confirmed cases on Election Day, including 1,130 deaths. Additionally, there were more than 50,000 hospitalizations on Tuesday, according to separate data compiled by The COVID Tracking Project, an effort launched by The Atlantic magazine. Votes are counted at the Pennsylvania Convention …

The United States contributes much more to ocean plastic pollution than previously estimated, according to a In this April 23, 2019, aerial photo, plastic bottles and other garbage float in river Drina near Visegrad, eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina.In 2016, the U.S. recycled just 9% of its total plastic waste. About half of this was recycled domestically and half was shipped overseas. The researchers estimate that up to 1 million metric tons of U.S. plastic waste entered the environment from these exports in 2016.“For years, so much of the plastic we have put …

The United States formally exited the Paris Agreement on Wednesday, fulfilling a years-long promise by President Donald Trump to withdraw the world’s second-largest greenhouse gas emitter from the global pact to fight climate change. But the outcome of the tight U.S. election contest will determine for how long. Trump’s Democratic rival, Joe Biden, has promised to rejoin the agreement if elected.  “The U.S. withdrawal will leave a gap in our regime, and the global efforts to achieve the goals and ambitions of the Paris Agreement,” said Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the …