Tracking the spread of the novel coronavirus Reuters maps all places where COVID-19 cases have been confirmed. Gurman Bhatia Reuters

At least 766,383 people globally have died from COVID-19 and 21,577,190 have been infected by the novel coronavirus that causes it, following an outbreak that started in Wuhan, China, in early December. The World Health Organization referred to it as a pandemic on March 11, 2020.

Companies test antibody drugs to treat, prevent COVID-19 With a coronavirus vaccine still months off, companies are rushing to test what may be the next best thing: drugs that deliver antibodies to fight the virus right away, without having to train the... AP NEWS

With a coronavirus vaccine still months off, companies are rushing to test what may be the next best thing: drugs that deliver antibodies to fight the virus right away, without having to train the immune system to make them.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31594-4/fulltext?dgcid=raven_jbs_etoc_email#%20

New York Times

Hong Kong, Spain, and Melbourne, Australia, are seeing resurgences. The U.S. recorded nearly 70,000 new cases, and President Trump canceled part of the Republican National Convention.

A health worker wearing Ebola protection gear at a Biosecure Emergency Care Unit treatment center in Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo.CreditCreditBaz Ratner/Reuters

Donald G. McNeil Jr. - NYTimes - August 12th 2019

In a development that transforms the fight against Ebola, two experimental treatments are working so well that they will now be offered to all patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo, scientists announced on Monday.

The antibody-based treatments are quite powerful — “Now we can say that 90 percent can come out of treatment cured,” one scientist said — that they raise hopes that the disastrous epidemic in eastern Congo can soon be stopped and future outbreaks more easily contained.

submitted by John Carroll

reliefweb.int - September 21, 2018

A. Situation analysis

Description of the disaster

During Epidemiological Week (EW) 28, the Ministry of Public Health and Epidemiology reported that the Los Pinos Health Center (La Descubierta, municipality) saw an increase in the number of patients with acute diarrhoeal diseases from surrounding communities, which were suspected to be cases of cholera.

In EW 32, the Ministry of Health reported that Vibrio cholerae had been identified in samples collected from residents of La Descubierta municipality in the National Public Health Laboratory. The same report also stated that three confirmed cases of cholera in the municipality had been identified.

Since the outbreak began in EW 28 and up to EW 34, 4 confirmed cases of cholera and 91 suspected cases have been identified in the municipality (please see Figure 1 below), in residents of Los Pinos del Edén, Ángel Feliz, urban area of La Descubierta and Los Bolos.

Solar still in water. QIAOQIANG GAN, SUNY BUFFALO

buffalonews.com - by T.J. Pignataro  - October 15, 2017

Distilling water using the sun’s rays . . . a University at Buffalo startup has found a quick way to do it . . . and it could transform how potable water gets to people in developing countries or in areas stricken by natural disasters like earthquakes or hurricanes.

The university’s Sunny Clean Water startup said its method is nearly three times as fast as the industry standard . . . 

. . . The process uses a floating solar still and a specially-engineered carbon-based cloth to capture, desalinate and purify as much as a liter of water every three hours in a prototype developed by UB associate professor of electrical engineering Qiaoqiang Gan, Singer and other university electrical engineering students.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLES WITHIN THE LINKS BELOW . . .

reuters.com - by Sebastien Malo - July 13, 2017

U.S. authorities sent home some 100 Haitian immigrants discovered on a rickety boat this week, the most found at sea in more than a year and a sign of more people likely to flee the impoverished island, advocates said on Thursday.

Haitians are struggling to survive a homeland devastated by natural disasters and disease, and the situation could worsen if U.S. officials return home more than 50,000 Haitians in the United States on temporary visas, they said.

Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has cast uncertainty over whether to extend a special immigration status that has been granted to Haitians since a 2010 earthquake.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

                                A LIST OF INFORMATION RESOURCES RELATED TO HURRICANE MATTHEW - 2016

CLICK HERE - OCHA - Haiti - ReliefWeb

CLICK HERE - ReliefWeb - Hurricane Matthew - 2016

CLICK HERE - ACAPS - Haiti - Hurricane Matthew

CLICK HERE - UN - OCHA - Haiti - Humanitarian Response

CLICK HERE - PAHO - WHO - Visualizations on the impact of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti

CLICK HERE - NASA - Landsat Image Gallery - Hurricane Matthew’s Aftermath in Haiti

CLICK HERE - CDC - reliefweb - Controlling Cholera in Haiti: No Easy Task

CLICK HERE - Compassion and Resilience in Haiti

CLICK HERE - REPORT - A Socio-economic Impact Assessment of the Zika Virus in Latin America and the Caribbean: with a focus on Brazil, Colombia and Suriname

un.org

6 April 2017 – In addition to the impact on public health, the tangible impact of the Zika outbreak, such as on gross domestic product (GDP), could cost the Latin American and the Caribbean region as much as $18 billion between 2015 and 2017, a new United Nations report has revealed.

The report Socio-economic impact assessment of Zika virus in Latin America and the Caribbean, prepared by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), has a particular focus on Brazil, Colombia and Suriname – countries that first reported the outbreak in October-November 2015.