KAKAMMPI News

By   Bloomberg News  - February 22, 2020 This undated electron microscope image made available by the US National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, yellow, emerging from the surface of cells, blue/pink, cultured in the lab. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes COVID-19. The sample was isolated from a patient in the US. IT’S already spread wider than SARS in 2003. It may not sweep the globe as swine flu did in 2009, but is more dangerous. It doesn’t kill at anywhere near the terrifying pace of Ebola in 2014, but it can be passed through the air. Even as the number of new coronavirus cases in China appears to ebb, experts say they’re preparing for a future with a disease that past pandemics have only hinted at. China’s lockdown of Hubei province, where the outbreak began, gave the world several weeks to throw up its defenses, global health officials said Tuesday. But it hasn’t stopped the vir...

By   Susan V. Ople  - February 19, 2020 I am 58 years young, a mother with one daughter, and no family history of breast cancer. Yet, here I am, the latest blip on the breast cancer radar screen. While still trying to come to grips with this disease, I decided to write the beginnings of a new journey, because it is important to me to send this vital message to all women: do not take your breasts for granted. Whatever the size, no matter how perfect you now feel, take some time off to get “mammogrammed.” I had my first-ever mammogram the week I turned 58, on February 9. It was the first I had, because some years back, I was told that a mammogram was painful. “Your breast will be squeezed flat like a pancake. It’s very painful.” A friend of mine told me that. The image of my breast being flattened into a pancake stuck. The reality was galaxies apart in difference. At the Asian Breast Center (ABC), they have a free-standing digital mammogram machine. My...

Beiyi Seow, Agence France-Presse Posted at  Feb 24 2020 08:33 AM People wearing masks walk past a portrait of Chinese President Xi Jinping on a street as the country is hit by an outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Shanghai, China February 10, 2020.  Aly Song, Reuters/file BEIJING - China's leader said Sunday the new-coronavirus epidemic is the communist country's largest-ever public health emergency, but other nations were also increasingly under pressure from the deadly outbreak's relentless global march.  Italy reported a third death while cases spiked and the country's Venice carnival closed early. Iran's confirmed death toll rose to 8, prompting travel bans from neighboring countries.  The virus has so far killed more than 2,400 people, with about 80,000 infected globally, though China remains by far the worst hit.  Chinese President Xi Jinping said the epidemic was the "largest public health emergency" since the founding of t...

Ari Rabinovitch and Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reuters Posted at  Feb 24 2020 09:16 AM Flame and smoke are seen during Israeli air strikes in the southern Gaza Strip February 23, 2020.  Ibraheem Abu Mustafa, Reuters JERUSALEM/GAZA - Israeli fighter jets launched air strikes on suspected Islamic Jihad positions in Syria, the Israeli military said on Monday, after the militant group and Israel exchanged rockets and air strikes around Gaza. An Israeli military statement said its forces had "struck Islamic Jihad terror targets south of Damascus" in addition to "dozens" of Islamic Jihad targets throughout the Gaza Strip. The air strike in the Adeliyah region outside Damascus targeted what the Israeli military called "a hub of Islamic Jihad's activity in Syria," including the research and development of weapons. The Israeli announcement came shortly after Syrian state media said its air defences had intercepted "hostile targets" over ...

Ian Johnson, The New York Times Posted at  Feb 24 2020 09:27 AM  | Updated as of  Feb 24 2020 09:29 AM Village committee members wearing face masks and vests stand at the entrance of a community to prevent outsiders from entering, as the country is hit by an outbreak of the new coronavirus, in Tianjiaying village, outskirts of Beijing, China January 28, 2020.  Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Reuters Earlier this month, the hard-hit town of Caohe, near the center of the coronavirus outbreak in central China, received an unexpected gift: a large donation from a Taoist nunnery 550 miles away. Another Taoist temple, this one in Caohe itself, contributed tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of medical equipment to help those sickened by the virus. “The moment believers heard the news, they called us and asked how to help,” said a nun who organized one of the fundraising drives. In temples, mosques and churches, China’s religious believers have jumped into the na...

Jane Chung and Emily Chow, Reuters Posted at  Feb 24 2020 10:31 AM  | Updated as of  Feb 24 2020 11:00 AM * Investors flee to safety as virus spreads outside China * South Korea reports 161 new cases, 7th death * WHO most concerned about cases with no China link * Trains between Italy and Austria resume SEOUL/SHANGHAI - Fears grew on Monday that the coronavirus outbreak in China will grow into a pandemic with disruptive and deadly consequences for countries around the world, after sharp rises in infections in South Korea, Italy and Iran. A surge of infections in South Korea and Italy, and an alarming rise in the death toll in Iran over the weekend, triggered steep falls in Asian share markets and Wall Street stock futures on Monday as investors fled to safe havens such as gold. Shares and oil prices tumbled while gold soared to a seven-year high. The Korean won fell 0.8% to its lowest since August. "The news flow from the weekend has changed th...

Jane Chung and Emily Chow, Reuters Posted at  Feb 24 2020 09:34 AM Christian faithful wearing masks to prevent contacting coronavirus pray during a service in Seoul, South Korea, February 23, 2020.  Kim Hong-Ji, Reuters SEOUL/SHANGHAI - International concern about the spread of coronavirus outside China grew on Sunday with sharp rises in infections in South Korea, Italy and Iran. The government in Seoul put the country on high alert after the number of infections surged over 600 with six deaths. A focal point was a church in the southeastern city of Daegu, where a 61-year-old member of the congregation with no recent record of overseas travel tested positive for the virus. In Italy, officials said a third person infected with the flu-like virus had died, while the number of cases jumped to above 150 from just three before Friday. Authorities sealed off the worst affected towns and banned public gatherings in much of the north, including halting the carnival...

Agence France-Presse Posted at  Feb 24 2020 11:03 AM  | Updated as of  Feb 24 2020 11:05 AM A man wears a mask to protect himself against a new coronavirus at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, February 10, 2020.  Heo Ran, Reuters​ SEOUL - South Korea reported 161 more coronavirus cases Monday, taking the nationwide total to 763 and making it the world's largest total outside China. The country has seen a rapid surge in the number of coronavirus cases -- adding more than 700 cases in less than a week -- since a cluster of infections emerged from a religious sect in the southern city of Daegu. Most of the country's cases are connected to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the southern city of Daegu, including 129 of Monday's confirmations, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement. Two more people had died, it added -- both of them connected to a second cluster around a hospital in Cheongdo -- taking the...

By DONA MAGSINO, GMA News Ten more Filipinos who were onboard the M/V Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), according to the Department of Health on Monday. This brings to 59 the total number of Filipinos who had been infected while on the vessel, Health Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a press conference in Malacañang. Two of them already recovered and were discharged from the hospital. Five more are expected to be released from medical facilities within the week, according to Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesperson Ed Meñez. A total of 538 Filipinos were onboard the M/V Diamond Princess when it was placed under quarantine in Japan earlier this month after one of the passengers of the ship who disembarked and joined a bus tour turned out to have COVID-19. Vergeire said over 400 have expressed intention to be included in the voluntary repatriation. The repatriates from Japan are  e...