WASHINGTON — Four months after a mysterious new virus began its deadly march around the globe, the search for a vaccine has taken on an intensity never before seen in medical research, with huge implications for public health, the world economy and politics. Seven of the roughly 90 projects being pursued by governments, pharmaceutical makers,…
When Eliana Marcela Rendón was finally able to visit her grandmother, who had spent four weeks at a Long Island hospital, a staff member met her in the lobby to ask if the 74-year-old patient had a favorite song. Ms. Rendón, after calling family members, requested several religious selections in Spanish: “Sumérgeme,” or “Immerse Me”;…
Here’s what you need to know: ImageBiking at the Broadway Skate Park in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Friday.Credit…Calla Kessler/The New York Times Looser rules and warmer temperatures make social distancing a matter of trust. Texas lifted stay-at-home orders for its 29 million residents. Hair salons in Maine welcomed customers back inside. In Alabama, clothing boutiques…
Here’s what you need to know: ImageA seafront promenade in Barcelona, Spain, on Saturday, as teenagers and adults took their first outdoor exercise in seven weeks.Credit…Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press Spain’s adults and teenagers are allowed out to exercise, in shifts. And now, it’s the adults’ turn. Last weekend, young children in Spain, who endured arguably the…
Takuo Aoyagi, a Japanese engineer whose pioneering work in the 1970s led to the modern pulse oximeter, a lifesaving device that clips on a finger and shows the level of oxygen in the blood and that has become a critical tool in the fight against the novel coronavirus, died on April 18 in Tokyo. He…
Remdesivir, an antiviral drug designed to treat both hepatitis and a common respiratory virus, seemed fated to join thousands of other failed medications after proving useless against those diseases. The drug was consigned to the pharmaceutical scrap heap, all but forgotten by the scientists who once championed it. But on Friday, the Food and Drug…
The former chief executive of Blue Bell Creameries was charged with conspiracy in connection with his repeated efforts to cover up what became a deadly outbreak of listeria in some of the company’s products in 2015, federal prosecutors said on Friday. In addition, the company pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of distributing adulterated ice…
The world is eager to come out of lockdown. But if countries simply return to business as usual, new outbreaks of Covid-19 will follow. The only solution that public health experts see is to keep careful track of the coronavirus and clamp down on new flare-ups. The trouble is that the most obvious way to…
The World Health Organization extended its declaration of a global health emergency on Friday amid increasing criticism from the Trump Administration about its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The move comes exactly three months after the organization’s original decision to announce a “public health emergency of international concern” on Jan. 30. At the time, only…
Before the coronavirus outbreak, Dr. Lindy Fox, a dermatologist in San Francisco, used to see four or five patients a year with chilblains — painful red or purple lesions that typically emerge on fingers or toes in the winter. Over the past few weeks, she has seen dozens. “All of a sudden, we are inundated…