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(Reuters) - The World Health Organization advised Ukraine to destroy high-threat pathogens housed in the country's public health laboratories to prevent "any potential spills" that would spread disease among the population, the agency told Reuters on Thursday. Biosecurity experts say Russia's movement of troops into Ukraine and bombardment of its cities have raised the risk of an escape of disease-causing pathogens, should any of those facilities be damaged. Like many other countries, Ukraine has public health laboratories researching how to mitigate the threats of dangerous diseases affecting both animals and humans including, most recently, COVID-19. Its labs have received support...

Only a few a dozen NYPD members were placed on unpaid leave Monday after refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine — but thousands of unvaccinated employees remain on the job with pending exemption requests, the city’s top cop said. Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said 34 cops and 40 civilian members of the force — which account for fewer than .15 percent of NYPD employees — did not comply with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s mandate requiring most city workers to get their first jab by Monday.

As vaccinations become more widely available for people in the United States and travel starts picking up, many people have started sharing their simple white vaccination cards on social media as prized new possessions. With some destinations, cruise lines and venues already requiring travelers to provide proof of vaccination against Covid-19, keeping that record is key. In New York, for example, proof of vaccination or a recent negative test will be required for entry into large venues or catered events when they are allowed to reopen at reduced capacity on April 2. Proof will be required at events with more...

More US states are beginning to lift lockdown orders even as US leaders say social distancing guidelines will be necessary throughout the summer. But governors warn that life will not quickly return to normal, and that restrictions will remain in some places to keep the virus from resurging. On Friday, the US saw its largest single-day spike in cases. But the infection rate has dropped significantly in several hotspots, including New York, the US epicentre.

After two months of frantic response to the coronavirus, the White House is planning to shift President Donald Trump’s public focus to the burgeoning efforts aimed at easing the economic devastation caused by the pandemic. Days after he publicly mused that scientists should explore the injection of toxic disinfectants as a potential virus cure, Trump has now rejected the utility of his daily task force briefings, where he has time and again clashed with scientific experts. Trump’s aides are aiming to move the president onto more familiar — and safer, they hope — ground: talking up the economy, in tighter...

The Westport Police Department, located in Connecticut’s hardest-hit county of Fairfield, has abandoned its idea to use high-tech drones that can detect symptoms of coronavirus infection from up to 190 feet away. The backtracking came after people expressed privacy concerns about the program. On Thursday, Police Chief Foti Koskinas and First Selectman Jim Marpe said the drone surveillance plan would not come to fruition because it was “not well-received,” according to Westport News. “In our good faith effort to get ahead of the virus and potential need to manage and safely monitor crowds and social distancing in this environment, our...

The White House and CNN reportedly continued their fight over press room access in dispute over a reporting seat at Friday's coronavirus briefing. The altercation could be the next step in the White House exerting what it argues is its constitutionally-sound right to maintain order in its press briefings. Under the existing media seating chart created by the journalist-run White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA), CNN has prime real estate on the front row. "Earlier today before the briefing, a White House official instructed the print pooler to take CNN’s seat in the briefing room because the seating would be swapped...

The wife of CNN host Chris Cuomo is being criticized after revealing on her lifestyle blog that she poured half a cup of Clorox in her bath twice a week to help cure her coronavirus. Magazine editor Cristina Cuomo shared that the bleach is ‘technically salt’ and she used it to ‘combat the radiation and metals in my system’, in direct contrast to warnings given by Clorox that contact with skin should be avoided. Cristina, 50, claims the advice was provided by Dr. Linda Lancaster, who describes herself as an energy medicine and homeopathic physician and lists high-profile names such...

Dr. Anthony Fauci said the nation’s economic recovery is not going to happen “unless we get the virus under control” amid protests of stay-at-home orders. During an interview Monday, he acknowledged it could be painful to follow guidelines for a gradual reopening, but warned opening the economy too quickly will backfire. He said testing will increase in the coming weeks from the millions of tests currently being conducted. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director also highlighted a few issues with the effectiveness of anti-body testing.

Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious diseases expert, has warned that baseless “conspiracy theories” are swirling around the coronavirus crisis following claims that America’s official death toll from Covid-19 has been overstated. Fauci, who has been director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, said he had seen unfounded conjecture attach itself to previous crises and dismissed the emerging idea, largely promoted by high-profile figures in rightwing media, that the US’s Covid-19 death toll is being inflated by unrelated medical conditions. “There is absolutely no evidence that that’s the case at all,” Fauci told NBC on...

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top expert on infectious disease, on Friday, rejected a conspiracy theory that the novel coronavirus escaped a Chinese lab. "A group of highly-qualified evolutionary virologists looked at the sequences in bats as they evolve. The mutations that it took to get to the point where it is now is totally consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human," Fauci said at the daily White House press briefing in response to a question from a reporter on the theory, which has been pushed by President Donald Trump's allies in recent days....

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf is issuing an executive order Friday to authorize the early release of up to 1,800 inmates from Pennsylvania state prisons in an effort to minimize the spread of the new coronavirus. The governor’s office said that releases to halfway houses or home confinement could start as early as Tuesday. The plan is similar to what other states and some Pennsylvania counties have undertaken. It allows the release of inmates serving time for nonviolent offenses who are within nine months of scheduled release, or within 12 months for those considered at heightened risk from...

No one likes to be seated near a sick passenger — and that’s especially true during a pandemic. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently puts the risk of contracting COVID-19 on planes at “low” due to the nature of “how air circulates and is filtered on airplanes,” that doesn’t mean travelers shouldn’t take every health precaution possible, and maintain social distancing from anyone exhibiting symptoms of respiratory illness. Should you find yourself on a plane with a sick passenger, however, you should be aware that the federal government and the CDC have a protocol in place...

Pre-exposure prophylaxis use to protect against HIV infection was associated with higher infection rates of other sexually transmitted diseases, according to a new study. An analysis in Australia found more than 2,900 sexually transmitted infections were diagnosed in nearly half of the study's participants from when they started using PrEP. Nearly 3,000 gay and bisexual men were given access to the medication. The study found infections per participant ranged from zero to 12. The study, published Tuesday in JAMA, found 25% of study participants had multiple infections that accounted for 76% of all infections diagnosed. The incidence of infections increased...

A Pentagon spokeswoman says the suspicious substance found in envelopes turned over to the FBI contained the substance from which the poison ricin is derived, but not ricin itself. Dana W. White, the chief Pentagon spokeswoman, told reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in Brussels that the substance was castor seeds. ADVERTISING

The Trump administration is hitting Russia with new sanctions punishing President Vladimir Putin's government for using a chemical weapon against an ex-spy in Britain, U.S. officials told NBC News Wednesday. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed off on a determination that Russia violated international law by poisoning the former spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter in March, officials said, a decision that was announced Wednesday afternoon by State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert. Although the U.S. joined European countries in publicly blaming Moscow within days of the attack, the Trump administration had never issued the formal determination that triggers automatic sanctions...

A package labeled “Anne Thrax” was delivered to the building where Representative Maxine Waters’ district offices are located on Tuesday. Although parts of the building were evacuated, according to CNN, the Los Angeles Fire Department determined that there was no hazard. The Los Angeles Times reports a spokesperson from the LAPD said there was no evidence of any dangerous substance, however, there will most likely be an investigation into where the package came from. The package isn’t the first time Waters has received threats. Time reports she had to cancel two public events in June after receiving a serious death...

Officials at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute say the fourth baboon who escaped from their facility Saturday has been captured. All four baboons have been checked by veterinary staff and are well, a news release reports. No details were given on where the baboon was caught... Officials did not say how the animals escaped, only that the four were able to get past perimeter fencing at the institute. Witnesses quickly took to to social media to report baboons on the loose after catching sight of the runaways near Northwest Loop 410 and West Military Drive. Jannell Bouton, 26, snapped photos...

One month after Sergei and Yulia Skripal collapsed on a shopping center bench, apparently poisoned, the Russian ex-spy and his daughter are showing marked signs of improvement. Hospital officials announced Friday that Sergei is "responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition," just one week after his daughter reached stable condition. "As Yulia herself says, her strength is growing daily and she can look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave the hospital," Christine Blanshard, medical director at Salisbury District Hospital, said in a statement released Friday. Their pets, however,...

Boris Johnson under pressure to explain whether position has changed after tweet blaming Moscow is deleted. Boris Johnson is facing embarrassing questions over his claims that Russia had produced the Salisbury nerve agent after it emerged that the Foreign Office had deleted a tweet blaming Moscow for the attack. With the foreign secretary already under pressure over his remarks two weeks ago that a Porton Down scientist had been “absolutely categorical” that the novichok had originated in the country, Jeremy Corbyn accused Johnson of “completely exceeding the information he had been given” after the emergence of the deleted tweet. But...