Clinical case reports

North Korea said on Sunday a total of 42 people had died as the country began its fourth day under a nationwide lockdown aimed at stopping the country's first confirmed COVID-19 outbreak. North Korea's admission on Thursday that it is battling an "explosive" COVID-19 outbreak has raised concerns that the virus could devastate a country with an under-resourced health system, limited testing capabilities and no vaccine programme. State news agency KCNA said the country was taking "swift state emergency measures" to control the epidemic, but there is no sign that Pyongyang was moving to accept international offers of vaccines. "All provinces, cities and counties of the country have been totally locked down and working units, production units and residential units closed from each other since the morning of May 12 and strict and intensive examination of all the people is being conducted," KCNA reported on Sunday. A day earlier North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the spread of … [Read more...] about North Korea reports more deaths, says taking ‘swift measures’ against COVID outbreak

North Korea's admission on Thursday that it is battling an "explosive" Covid-19 outbreak has raised concerns that the virus could devastate a country with an under-resourced health system, limited testing capabilities and no vaccine programme. State news agency KCNA said the country was taking "swift state emergency measures" to control the epidemic, but there is no sign that Pyongyang was moving to accept international offers of vaccines. "All provinces, cities and counties of the country have been totally locked down and working units, production units and residential units closed from each other since the morning of May 12 and strict and intensive examination of all the people is being conducted," KCNA reported on Sunday. A day earlier North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the spread of Covid-19 had thrust his country into "great turmoil" and called for an all-out battle to overcome the outbreak. Despite the lockdowns, Kim and other senior officials on Saturday attended … [Read more...] about North Korea reports more deaths, says taking ‘swift measures’ against Covid outbreak

LONDON -- The World Health Organization was holding an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the recent outbreak of monkeypox, a viral infection more common to west and central Africa, after over 100 cases were confirmed or suspected in Europe. In what Germany described as the largest outbreak in Europe ever, cases have been reported in at least nine countries – Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom - as well as the United States, Canada and Australia. Spain reported 24 new cases on Friday, mainly in the Madrid region where the regional government closed a sauna linked to the majority of infections. A hospital in Israel was treating a man in his 30s who is displaying symptoms consistent with the disease after recently arriving from Western Europe. First identified in monkeys, the disease typically spreads through close contact and has rarely spread outside Africa, so this series of cases has triggered concern. … [Read more...] about WHO calls emergency meeting as monkeypox cases top 100 in Europe

Doctor Nguyen Thi Tuong Diem is examining a child (Photo: SGGP) On the morning of May 12, at the Ho Chi Minh City-based Children's Hospital 1 and the Children's Hospital 2, hundreds of parents brought their children to be examined. Ms. Ho Hai from Ben Cat City in the Southern Province of Binh Duong said that her child had a fever, vomiting, and jaundice; because she has read the information about the recommendations of the Ministry of Health on the internet, and fearing that her child would contract acute hepatitis; thus, she quickly took a bus from Binh Duong to take her child to Children's Hospital 1 for a medical checkup. Though doctors said that the baby did not have acute hepatitis, she insisted on a liver enzyme test for her baby as many cases reported gastrointestinal symptoms including abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting preceding presentation with severe acute hepatitis, and increased levels of liver enzymes On the same day, at the Pediatrics Department at many … [Read more...] about Experts warn not to abuse liver enzyme tests to detect acute hepatitis