Building A Better Global Health Framework
29 November 2021
Could The Omicron Variant Have Been Avoided?
29 November 2021
Omicron Shuts Borders Across The Globe
29 November 2021
PCRs Detect Omicron: WHO
29 November 2021
Philippines: Managing Disputes In The SCS
28 November 2021
COVID: Early Action Against Omicron Is Imperative
28 November 2021Geopolitics
Geopolitics
Could The Omicron Variant Have Been Avoided?
I am an epidemiologist working in global health and have worked in the field of vaccines for nearly 15 years. While the scientific successes of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development have been surreal, the inequity of the pandemic and access to vaccines has left me despondent.
As Australia reaches almost 90 percent coverage for two doses of COVID-19 vaccination, it’s a success story worth celebrating.
COVID-19 vaccination has already proved to be highly effective at dampening wide-scale community transmission in settings such as New South Wales, where a rapid rollout with high levels of first-dose
Omicron Shuts Borders Across The Globe
A new, heavily mutated COVID-19 variant spread across the globe on Sunday, shutting borders, renewing curbs, and sparking fears for the fight against the nearly two-year-old coronavirus pandemic.
Dubbed Omicron, the strain has cast doubt on global efforts to battle the pandemic because of fears that it is highly infectious, forcing countries to reimpose measures many had hoped were a thing of the past.
Dutch health authorities said they had identified at least 13 cases of Omicron among 61 quarantined passengers who tested positive for coronavirus after arriving from South Africa.
"The
PCRs Detect Omicron: WHO
While PCR tests can detect infection with Omicron, studies are looking to whether the COVID-19 variant of concern has any impact on other test types, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Sunday.
"The widely-used PCR tests continue to detect infection, including infection with Omicron, as we have seen with other variants," the WHO said in an update on what is known so far about the new variant.
"Studies are ongoing to determine whether there is any impact on other types of tests, including rapid antigen detection tests."
The WHO on Friday declared Omicron, first detected earlier this
COVID: Early Action Against Omicron Is Imperative
It was only a matter of time before a new SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern emerged, requiring an urgent global response.
It would seem that the Omicron variant, identified by scientists across Africa, including the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), poses the next major threat in the course of the pandemic. Early evidence from their genomic surveillance suggests that this new variant is a serious cause for concern and it is imperative that we act fast in response to this new information.
The variant has also been detected in Botswana and Hong Kong, and will undoubtedly
Energy
The World's Slow Transition To Cleaner Energy
The transition towards cleaner energy has made progress but not quick enough to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, as agreed in the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
While the COVID-19 pandemic initially…
ASEAN To Push Utilisation Of Storage Technologies
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Asia Disputes IEA Call To Curb Energy Investments
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Geothermal Key To Philippines’ Energy Demand
Today, there are nearly eight billion people living on the planet. As this number continues to grow, the need for water, food, land, and energy will also rise. The climate is one of the earth’s fundamental life support…
Markets
Indonesia: Religious Council Says Crypto Is Haram
The use of crypto assets as a currency is forbidden for Muslims, according to Indonesia’s council of religious leaders.
The National Ulema Council, or MUI, has deemed cryptocurrency as haram, or banned, as it has…
Supply Chain Woes Slowing Global Recovery
Power outages in China, chaos in Britain's petrol stations, factory closures in Germany – supply chain problems around the world are threatening to gnarl up a global recovery as countries try to re-emerge from pandemic-…
Philippine Economy Needs 10 Years To Recover
The Philippine economy will take more than a decade to return to pre-pandemic growth, an official said Thursday, warning the next two generations of Filipinos would be paying for the cost of COVID-19. Lockdowns and…
Global Brands Trapped In Vietnam’s COVID Lockdown
From shoes and sweaters to car parts and coffee, Vietnam's strict and lengthy coronavirus lockdown has sparked product shortages among worldwide brands such as Nike and Gap which have grown increasingly dependent on the…
Technology
Instagram Investigated Over Impact On Kids
A bipartisan coalition of United States (US) state attorneys general said on Thursday it has opened a probe into Facebook, now known as Meta Platforms, for promoting its subsidiary Instagram to children despite…
Facebook Changes Parent Company Name To 'Meta'
Facebook changed its parent company name to "Meta" on Thursday as the tech giant tries to move past being a scandal-plagued social network to its virtual reality vision for the future.
The new handle comes as the…
Facebook Harms Children, Stokes Division: Ex-Employee
Frances Haugen, a 37-year-old former product manager turned whistleblower, heavily criticised the company at a hearing on Capitol Hill.
Facebook has faced growing scrutiny and increasing calls for its regulation.…
Tech Titan Shake-Up
A big quake may be headed towards California. No, it is not the 7.5 magnitude earthquake that Californians have been worried about. This has only a 31 percent chance of happening. And that too from now to 30 years. Of a…
Environment
COVID: Women Bore Brunt Of Social, Economic Impacts
The social and economic burden of COVID-19 has fallen disproportionately on women around the world, the Red Cross has warned, in a stark analysis of the impact of the pandemic.
Women were particularly affected by the…
China’s #MeToo Movement Faces Crackdown
China's #MeToo movement has stumbled in the face of swift internet censors, a patriarchal society and a legal system that places a heavy burden on the claimant.
Explosive claims this month by tennis star Peng Shuai…
Vietnam Tourist Island Reopens With Big Dreams
Tour guide Lai Chi Phuc has been counting down the days until travellers return to the white-sand beaches and thick tropical jungle of Vietnam's Phu Quoc, a once-poor fishing island pushing to be Asia's next holiday…
Fast Spreading Bird Flu: Europe, Asia On Alert
Several outbreaks of severe bird flu in Europe and Asia have been reported in recent days to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), in a sign the virus is spreading quickly again.
The spread of highly…
Opinion
Opinion
10 Fun & Exciting Places in Singapore to Take Your Kids to
As a parent, thinking of a holiday in Singapore with your children will be equal parts fun and stressful. It’ll be fun because you get to project your own childhood dreams of visiting or experiencing a certain activity (wink wink) and also get to spend time with your little buddies. However, it can also get...
