Most Recent
Omicron, the highly contagious coronavirus variant sweeping across the country, is driving the daily American death toll higher than during last fall's delta wave, with deaths likely to keep rising for days or even weeks.
BUDVA, Montenegro (AP) — Tennis star Novak Djokovic received honors at a small Adriatic Sea resort in Montenegro on Friday even as doubts re-emerged about the positive COVID-19 test he used to try to compete in the Australian Open.
BANGKOK (AP) — Thai health authorities approved new guidelines Friday outlining the parameters for declaring the coronavirus pandemic an endemic disease.
Official figures show that the country already meets the three criteria, but Ministry of Public Health spokesman Rungrueng Kitphati said it would still be between six months and a year before the government would be able to make the decision to start treating COVID-19 as an illness that is here to stay, like the flu or measles.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government's main health agency is failing to meet its responsibilities for leading the national response to public health emergencies including the coronavirus pandemic, extreme weather disasters and even potential bioterrorist attacks, a federal watchdog said Thursday.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s top infectious disease expert defended the move to expand the use of rapid testing despite accuracy concerns, as the country broke its daily coronavirus record for the third straight day.
PHOENIX (AP) — As some expressed cautious optimism that Arizona's surge of COVID-19 will soon peak, public health experts, overworked health care workers and former Arizona State University students reflected Wednesday on the anniversary of the state's first coronavirus case.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — An administrator with a background in anti-poverty efforts and public health was appointed by the governor Wednesday to lead a new state agency that will try to curb gun violence.
LONDON (AP) — Premier League clubs must have a minimum of four positive coronavirus cases within their playing squad before requesting a postponement, according to new guidelines announced on Wednesday and taking effect next month.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho public health officials activated crisis standards of care for much of southern Idaho on Monday, citing major staffing and blood supply shortages.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare activated the crisis standards for the southwest, central and south central health districts, which encompass 18 counties including the Boise, Nampa and Twin Falls metro regions.
BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium's health ministers have approved a recommendation to use a fourth dose of coronavirus vaccine to better protect people with a weakened immune system against the virus.
Christie Morreale, the minister for public health in the federal government, said Monday that she and her regional counterparts have greenlighted the proposal made by the country's health council.
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey sued the Biden administration on Friday over its demand that the state stop sending millions in federal COVID-19 relief money to schools that don't have mask requirements or that close due to COVID-19 outbreaks.
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal’s government is under fire over its plans to let people infected with COVID-19 cast their ballots at polling stations in an upcoming election, as officials struggle to square the right to vote with the duty to protect public health.
NEW YORK (AP) — From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the top U.S. public health agency has been criticized as too slow to collect and act on new information.
Now, increasingly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also being criticized for moving too fast.
CHICAGO (AP) — The state's top officials in the battle against COVID-19 on Wednesday reported that the vicious surge in the disease fueled by the omicron variant is slowing statewide and in Chicago, the nation's third-largest city.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County public health officials are seeking independent researchers to study the short- and long-term effects of the nation's largest-known natural gas leak on the health of people who lived in nearby communities.
GENEVA (AP) — The worst of the coronavirus pandemic — deaths, hospitalizations and lockdowns — could be over this year if huge inequities in vaccinations and medicines are addressed quickly, the head of emergencies at the World Health Organization said Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump falsely declared in a weekend rally that public health authorities are denying the COVID-19 vaccine to white people because of their race.
The former president seeded racial resentments in remarks that twisted the facts on public-health policy and exaggerated the effects of racially conscious antiviral treatment guidelines in New York.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County on Saturday reported the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in a single day since April 2, 2021, raising its overall death toll to more than 28,000 in the county since the pandemic began.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — With California bracing for an unprecedented number of hospitalizations amid a staggering surge in coronavirus infections, health officials pleaded with residents Friday to reserve emergency rooms for true emergencies and not run to them in a search for scarce virus tests.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana pastor’s lawsuit over Gov. John Bel Edwards’ past COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings was rejected for a second time Wednesday by a federal judge.
U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson in Baton Rouge said the lawsuit by Tony Spell seeking an order blocking the restrictions is moot because the restrictions expired long ago.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Mobile strike teams of medical professionals are being dispatched to parts of Illinois most in need of assistance battling COVID-19 that has sickened record numbers and stretched health care resources thin, Gov.