Biology Digest

  SANTIAGO, March 29 (Reuters) - Chile detected the first case of bird flue in a human, the country's health ministry reported on Wednesday. The case was detected in a 53-year-old man who presented severe influenza symptoms, according to a statement issued by the ministry, but they noted the patient was in stable condition. The government is also investigating the source of contagion as well as others who were in contact with the patient. Chile has reported cases of the H5N1 bird flu since late last year in wild animals. Recent cases in industrial farms caused the government to halt poultry exports. Industrial cases have also been  detected in Argentina , but Brazil, the world's largest exporter of poultry, remains free of the contagion. Chilean health authorities noted the virus can be transmitted from birds or marine mammals to humans, but there is no known human-to-human transmission. Earlier this year, Ecuador confirmed its first case of human transmission of  bid flu in a

  WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Sunday announced a three-day lockdown in the country’s biggest city Auckland, after three COVID-19 cases emerged, the first local infections since late January. Level 3 restrictions will require everyone to stay home except for essential shopping and essential work, Ardern said, repeating the strict approach the country has taken over the past year in virtually eliminating the pandemic. “We have stamped out the virus before and we will do it again,” Ardern told a news conference in the capital, Wellington. New Zealand, which had gone more than two months without local infections before the January case, is to start inoculating its 5 million people against the new coronavirus on Feb. 20, receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine earlier than anticipated. Restrictions were raised to level 3 through Wednesday, shutting public venues and prohibiting gatherings outside homes, except for weddings and funerals of up to 10 peo

  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Thursday denied a media report that it could split President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal into two bills, as part of a strategy to get the divided Senate to quickly pass some aid for Americans. Biden has made ramping up the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed nearly 430,000 people in the United States and left millions out of work, a major focus of his first week in office. But Republicans and some Democrats have balked at the cost of his proposal, which is on top of $4 trillion in aid approved by Congress last year. With the Senate split 50-50, the misgivings have stirred speculation the White House could propose a two-pronged strategy, beginning with a bill small enough to garner enough Republican support to clear the Senate’s 60-vote threshold for most legislation. Politico reported the administration was considering a bill that would provide $600 billion to $800 billion in aid, including scaled-b

LONDON (Reuters) - People across the world are generally likely to say yes to getting a COVID-19 vaccine, but would be more distrustful of shots made in China or Russia than those developed in Germany or the United States, an international poll showed on Friday. The survey, conducted by the polling company YouGov and shared exclusively with Reuters, found Britons and Danes were the most willing to take the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available to them, while the French and Poles were more likely to be hesitant. The poll was based on questions put to almost 19,000 people. It also found that willingness to take the COVID-19 vaccine has been improving in many countries in recent weeks, just as shots developed by companies in the United States, Russia, China, Germany and Britain were starting to be delivered and administered in countries across Europe, North America and Asia. In Britain, 73% of people said they would get vaccinated, while in Denmark the number was 70%. In the United S