Global Health

Health & Safety

Questions For An Emergency Medicine Doctor And An Epidemiologist About COVID-19

10:56am April 01, 2020

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with emergency medicine physician Dr. Megan Ranney about treating COVID-19 patients, and UCLA epidemiologist Anne Rimoin answers questions about the spread of the virus.

U.S. Buys Masks From China While Criticizing It For COVID-19

7:38am April 01, 2020

by Jackie Northam

While Secretary of State Pompeo denounces China for its handling of what he calls the "Wuhan virus," the U.S. is racing to acquire medical masks and other protective equipment from China.

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Japan Considers Declaring National Lockdown Over Coronavirus

7:10am April 01, 2020

by Anthony Kuhn

Hopes that Japan had managed to avoid an explosion in COVID-19 cases fade, as the numbers rise and the country teeters on the brink of declaring a national emergency and lockdown.

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Migrant workers and their family members line up outside a New Delhi bus terminal hoping to board a bus for their villages. Millions have lost their ability to earn an income because of the government-imposed lockdown aimed at limiting the spread of the c

Health & Safety

Coronavirus Lockdown Sends Migrant Workers On A Long And Risky Trip Home

9:06pm March 31, 2020

Amid a 21-day lockdown to help control the spread of the coronavirus, millions of workers in India's cities have no income, no food — and so are heading back to their villages.

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Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), speaks during a news conference in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, March 10th, 2020.

To Stop The Pandemic, Seema Verma Is 'Getting Rid Of A Lot Of Regulations'

7:41pm March 31, 2020

by Mary Louise Kelly

As head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Verma says she's working to ease safety rules and lighten licensing requirements, to expand the number of hospital beds and health workers.

Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, seen here in Ashgabat in October 2019, earlier offered remedies to combat the virus from a book on medicinal plants that he authored.

Turkmenistan Has Banned Use Of The Word 'Coronavirus'

6:39pm March 31, 2020

by Joanna Kakissis

Reporters Without Borders says the government has forbidden state-controlled media from using the word and ordered its removal from health brochures distributed at hospitals, schools and workplaces.

During a minute of silence commemorating COVID-19 victims, flags fly at half-staff Tuesday at Rome's monument to the unknown soldier.

Italy Observes Moment Of Silence For COVID-19 Victims, As Case Numbers Plateau

4:46pm March 31, 2020

by Sylvia Poggioli

As the country moves into its fourth week of lockdown, the head of Italy's national institute of health announced that the country "has reached a plateau" in its infection rate.

A health worker wears a protective suit at a nursing home, in Madrid, Spain, on Tuesday. With some of the highest cases of COVID-19 in the world, Spain's public health system is overstretched and in need of supplies.

Spain's Health Staff Are Catching The Coronavirus As Protective Gear Runs Short

4:44pm March 31, 2020

by Lucía Benavides

Thousands of medical workers now have COVID-19 in Spain, one of the countries hardest-hit by the disease.

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A Coronavirus Spike In A Big City, And In A Small One

4:22pm March 31, 2020

As the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States, cities big and small are seeing outbreaks. In Detroit, doctors say there aren't enough tests. Albany, Ga. has seen hundreds of cases.

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Top Chicago Public Health Official Addresses The City's Challenges Ahead

4:22pm March 31, 2020

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Dr. Allison Arwady, public health commissioner for the city of Chicago, about her city's preparations for a growing number of cases.