The Lancet (2020-04-04). [Editorial] Open versus endovascular repair of aortic aneurysms. thelancet.com When the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) released draft guidelines on the diagnosis and management of abdominal aortic aneurysms in May, 2018, it caused outcry. By recommending that endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) of unruptured aneurysms should not be offered—even in patients for whom open surgical repair was contraindicated—critics said that many patients would be denied life-saving treatment and that the guidelines were unworkable.

The Lancet (2020-04-04). [Editorial] COVID-19 will not leave behind refugees and migrants. thelancet.com Never has the "leave no one behind" pledge felt more urgent. As nations around the world implement measures to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2, including lockdowns and restrictions on individuals' movements, they must heed their global commitments. When member states adopted the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, they promised to ensure no one will be left behind. Chief among the world's most vulnerable people are refugees and migrants. The COVID-19 crisis puts these groups at enormous risk.

Renato D Lopes, Claudio Gimpelewicz, John J V McMurray (2020-04-04). [Correspondence] Chagas disease: still a neglected emergency? thelancet.com 10 years after highlighting the health consequences for millions of people infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, a 2019 report from the Pan American Health Organization concluded that there has been little progress in the prevention and treatment of Chagas disease, a problem that now extends beyond Latin America.1…

Alastair Brown, Richard Horton (2020-04-04). [Comment] A planetary health perspective on COVID-19: a call for papers. thelancet.com It is natural during the unfolding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to focus on emergency response planning, including containment, treatment procedures, and vaccine development, and nobody would doubt the need for these measures. However, an emergency can also open a window of opportunity for reflection and learning. We live in increasingly global, interdependent, and environmentally constrained societies and the COVID-19 pandemic exemplifies these aspects of our world. We would therefore be wise to take a broad integrated perspective on this disease, the impacts of which are already spilling over in…

Anna Petherick (2020-04-04). [World Report] Developing antibody tests for SARS-CoV-2. thelancet.com Laboratories and diagnostic companies are racing to produce antibody tests, a key part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Anna Petherick reports.

Genichi Sugihara, Nori Takei (2020-04-04). [Correspondence] Obsolete medical law in Japan harms doctors' health. thelancet.com Japan has achieved one of the most successful health-care systems in the world.1 Under the nation's insurance scheme, Japanese citizens have taken for granted that anyone can choose any health-care facility and receive the most advanced medical care across the nation. However, little attention has been paid to the fact that such a health system is supported by dedicated and self-sacrificing medical professionals. Such overloaded expectation is especially high in rural areas where the number of doctors remains low.

Talha Burki (2020-04-04). [World Report] 2020 Canada Gairdner Award winners announced. thelancet.com On March 31, the Gairdner Foundation announced the winners of its annual prizes in biomedical science and global health. Talha Burki spoke with the laureates.

Juan M Pericà s (2020-04-04). [Correspondence] Authoritarianism and the threat of infectious diseases. thelancet.com Punitive social policy, encompassing the dismantling of the welfare state with the expansion of the penal state and its associated institutions, as nicely stated by Elias Nosrati and Michael Marmot in their Perspective,1 might indeed be considered an upstream social determinant of health. Nosrati and Marmot's analysis relates to the findings described by Navarro and colleagues,2 linking political ideology with policies aimed at reducing social inequalities such as welfare state and labour market policies.

Gerardo Chowell, Kenji Mizumoto (2020-04-04). [Comment] The COVID-19 pandemic in the USA: what might we expect? thelancet.com As of March 19, 2020, 191‚Äà127 cases of, including 7807 deaths attributed to, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been reported worldwide.1 The incidence of reported cases in China has dramatically reduced to tens per day as a result of strict social distancing measures; however, the pandemic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is now generating sustained transmission in many countries including the USA. In The Lancet, Isaac Ghinai, Tristan D McPherson, and colleagues2 report details of the first known human-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the USA, which was…

Fathiah Zakham, Olli Vapalahti, Hilal A Lashual (2020-04-04). [Correspondence] Education and research are essential for lasting peace in Yemen. thelancet.com Yemen, known to many as the land of Sheba, and Manhattan of the desert, is now referred to only as one of the poorest countries on Earth. The name Yemen has become synonymous with cholera, famine, death, instability, and war. The war continues to erase the lives, history, and the future of Yemenis, and meaningful aid and peace have yet to reach Yemen.

thelancet (2020-04-04). [Department of Error] Department of Error. thelancet.com Mease PJ, Rahman P, Gottlieb AB, et al. Guselkumab in biologic-naive patients with active psoriatic arthritis (DISCOVER-2): a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial. Lancet 2020; 395: 1126—36—In this Article, the following sentence from the Participants section has been corrected as follows: "Patients were permitted, but not required, to continue stable use of selected standard treatments, including NSAIDs or other analgesics up to the regional marketed dose approved; oral corticosteroids (‚â§10 mg/day of prednisone or equivalent dose); or non-biologic DMARDs (limi…

Fay Bound Alberti (2020-04-04). [Perspectives] Face transplants as surgical acts and psychosocial processes. thelancet.com In 2017 the face of Katie Stubblefield made headlines. Not the face she was born with or the face that emerged after 22 reconstructive surgeries. This was another face altogether: a transplant that Stubblefield would receive from Adrea Schneider. There have been 46 recorded face transplants in history. Katie's was the 40th—only the third to have taken place at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, which also undertook the first face transplant in the USA, on Connie Culp, in 2008. According to the Cleveland Clinic, it took 11 surgeons and staff from 15 specialties more than 31 hours to transplant Stubblefield's new…

Gorka Orive, Unax Lertxundi (2020-04-04). [Correspondence] Mass drug administration: time to consider drug pollution? thelancet.com Mass drug administration is the strategy recommended by WHO to control or eliminate many neglected tropical diseases that cause devastating consequences worldwide. This strategic approach, which has produced unquestionable benefits, consists of treating every person, infected or not, living in a defined geographical area at approximately the same time.1 In 2017, more than 1 ∑7 billion treatments (mainly albendazole, mebendazole, ivermectin, azithromycin, and praziquantel) were delivered to 1 ∑04 billion individuals.

Richard Horton (2020-04-04). [Comment] Offline: COVID-19—what countries must do now. thelancet.com How should countries plan for the approaching health crisis caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)? In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, himself struck down with infection, has written to every household warning that, "we know things will get worse before they get better". The UK Government is right to prepare the public for the coming human catastrophe. All governments have a responsibility to do the same. But this advice does not go far enough. Here are five critical actions that need to be considered immediately.

The Lancet (2020-04-04). [Editorial] Redefining vulnerability in the era of COVID-19. thelancet.com What does it mean to be vulnerable? Vulnerable groups of people are those that are disproportionally exposed to risk, but who is included in these groups can change dynamically. A person not considered vulnerable at the outset of a pandemic can become vulnerable depending on the policy response. The risks of sudden loss of income or access to social support have consequences that are difficult to estimate and constitute a challenge in identifying all those who might become vulnerable. Certainly, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, vulnerable groups are not only elderly people, those with ill health and comorbidities, or…

RT (2020-04-03). Lockdown in Italy 'will probably continue' beyond May 1, civil protection chief says. rt.com Italy's national lockdown imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus will probably continue beyond the start of May, Angelo Borrelli, the head of the Civil Protection Agency, said on Friday. | The government extended the lockdown this week. Severe restrictions were imposed on movement and all services and firms not deemed essential to Italy's supply chain were shuttered until April 13. | Answering a question about whether the measures would need to remain in place many more weeks, Borrelli said in a radio interview with state broadcaster RAI: "Unfortunately they will." | "I don't believe this situation… wi…

RT (2020-04-03). New grim record: US becomes 1st country to report 1,000+ Covid-19 deaths in single day as global infections top 1 million. rt.com The United States has reached yet another dark milestone in the coronavirus pandemic, counting over 1,000 fatalities in the span of 24 hours and shattering the global record for daily deaths as worldwide cases soar past 1 million. | Surpassing both its own one-day record — broken every day this week — as well as that of Italy and Spain, the previous world leaders in daily fatalities, the US reported 1,169 new deaths on Thursday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University. |

RT (2020-04-03). Spain surpasses Italy in confirmed Covid-19 cases, with 7,000+ people reported ill on Friday. rt.com Spain now has more confirmed cases of Covid-19 than Italy, with the number of infections soaring to over 117,000 on Friday — an increase of around 7,000 from the previous day. | The death toll from the virus in Spain also surged to 10,935 in the last 24 hours, according to the country's health ministry. | While the numbers are grim, the ministry said it also marked the first fall in the daily death toll since March 26. | With almost 14,000 fatalities, Italy is still the country with the highest number of deaths, but it now appears Spain could reach similar figures within days. | Spain's government impose…

The Canary (2020-04-03). The Tories are probably hoping we're too distracted to notice the investigation into EU election spending. thecanary.co The Conservative Party is probably hoping that we're all too distracted by the coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic to notice the party is under investigation over their campaign spending during the European Parliament elections.The Electoral Commission said five parties are being examined after submitting spending reports which were missing information that would give voters a "complete picture of their campaign spending".It added that parties are required by law to provide complete lists of all campaign payments and supporting invoices or receipts for payments of more than £200.It confirmed two investigations…

RT (2020-04-03). EU member states in talks over possible border closure extension — von der Leyen. rt.com European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday that talks were under way among EU member states over whether or not to extend border closures beyond Easter in order to tackle the coronavirus crisis. | "We are in consultation with member states on how to proceed beyond Easter," she told radio station Europe 1. | Von der Leyen also reiterated that the next EU budget should take the form of a new "Marshall Plan" to drive Europe's recovery from the coronavirus outbreak. | She feels that Europe will emerge from the coronavirus crisis in a stronger state, Reuters quoted her as saying.

RT (2020-04-03). Russian declaration aimed at stopping sanctions amid coronavirus crisis REJECTED at UN General Assembly. rt.com The US, UK, and EU, as well as Ukraine and Georgia, rejected a Russian draft declaration calling for unilateral sanctions to be lifted to fight Covid-19. | Moscow's permanent mission to the UN issued a statement on Thursday questioning why Ukraine, Georgia, the UK, US, and EU had shot down its proposal, arguing that these nations "refused to cast aside politicized approaches and interests," and that their decision could negatively affect "a great number of people" — especially in developing nations currently under sanctions. | The rejected motion called for broad international cooperation on combating the…

RT (2020-04-03). Coronavirus cases in Russia increase by 601, surpass 4,100. rt.com The number of coronavirus cases in Russia has increased by 601 over the past 24 hours, amounting to 4,149 in 78 regions. A total of 281 patients have recovered, 34 people have died, the coronavirus crisis center said on Friday. | "Four coronavirus patients have died over the past 24 hours. In total, 34 people have died," the center said. Fatalities have been recorded in Komi Region (2), Moscow (1) and Perm Region (1), TASS reports. | New coronavirus cases have been recorded in 32 regions over the past 24 hours, including Moscow (448), Moscow Region (34), Krasnodar Region (17), Penza Region (11), Leningrad Regi…

RT (2020-04-03). Trump doubles down on 'hopes' that Russia & Saudi Arabia will agree on oil production cut after Kremlin denies talks. rt.com Upping the ante on his expectations but not ready to offer concessions, US President Donald Trump said it "would be great" if Saudi Arabia and Russia reached a deal on cutting oil production "soon" to stabilize the global market. | "It would be great for Russia, it would be great for Saudi Arabia… hopefully they announce something soon," Trump told reporters at the White House. "I hope they can make a deal, they both want to make a deal." | Reiterating that he expects an oil output cut of 15 million barrels per day, Trump said he spoke personally with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Pri…

RT (2020-04-03). OPEC+ set to hold urgent meeting to stabilize oil market. rt.com The members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and major oil producers are set to hold their first meeting after the collapse of the previous deal, non-OPEC member Azerbaijan has announced. | During the talks, which are set to be held on Monday via video conference, the participants will discuss the situation in the oil market and the new declaration of cooperation, Azerbaijan's Ministry of Energy said in a statement on Friday. It added that the meeting will be held on the invitation of the de facto leader of the oil alliance, Saudi Arabia, which called for an urgent meeting "to tr…

RT (2020-04-03). Germany's Merkel ends self-quarantine, returns to work at chancellery. rt.com German Chancellor Angela Merkel has ended her self-quarantine and returned to the chancellery on Friday after testing negative for coronavirus several times, according to her spokesman. | Merkel had been self-quarantining and working from home after receiving a vaccination on March 20 from a doctor who was later found to have coronavirus. | On Wednesday, Merkel said Germany will extend social distancing measures introduced last month to slow the spread of the coronavirus to April 19. The government will re-evaluate the situation after the Easter holiday, Reuters quoted her as saying.

RT (2020-04-03). Spanish parking lot converted into huge makeshift morgue as Covid-19 deaths surge (VIDEO). rt.com An indoor parking lot in Barcelona has been converted into a makeshift extension of the morgue, as the city struggles to cope with the death toll from the novel coronavirus. | Memora funeral home will be the largest field morgue in Spain, with the capacity for almost 2,000 coffins. | Fernando Sanchez, the director of communications for the facility in Barcelona, said on Thursday, "We have the possibility to increase the capacity here and in other big funeral homes we have around the city, so the capacity will be very, very high." | In comparison, two new morgues set up in Madrid combined only have the capac…

WSWS (2020-04-03). Germany marked an increase in violent attacks on refugees in 2019. wsws.org The Left Party has been instrumental, along with the country's other political parties, in creating a hostile climate and the corresponding explosion of violence against refugees and immigrants.

Kathy Kelly (2020-04-03). "He's Got Eight Numbers, Just Like Everybody Else" dissidentvoice.org On April 4, 2020, my friend Steve Kelly will begin a third year of imprisonment in Georgia's Glynn County jail. He turned 70 while in prison, and while he has served multiple prison sentences for protesting nuclear weapons, spending two years in a county jail is unusual even for him. Yet he adamantly urges supporters …

Juan Cole (2020-04-03). Coronavirus and Georgia's Kemp: How the GOP Stupidocracy will Kill us All. zcomm.org I don't think Kemp is stupid in the sense of lacking intelligence. I think he is stupid in the sense of letting things get in the way of his intelligence— whether they be ridiculous ideological commitments or slavish obedience to campaign donors or fear of angering Donald Trump…

Ramzy Baroud (2020-04-03). Tunisia Leads the Way: New Report Exposes Israel's False Democracy. counterpunch.org Tunisia is the Middle East's greatest success story, according to the findings of the V-Dem Annual Democracy Report 2019. One of the world's most regarded annual reports on democracy and good governance, the V-Dem Report is produced by the V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. While Tunisians can be

WSWS (2020-04-03). Europe: Over 520,000 coronavirus cases and almost 38,000 deaths. wsws.org With 4,199 new deaths yesterday, 37,864 have already perished in Europe from COVID-19.

teleSUR (2020-04-03). Russia Extends Paid Leave Nationwide to End of April. telesurenglish.net Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Thursday an extension of paid leave for all Russians to April 30 due to COVID-19. | RELATED: | "If the situation allows, we will adjust the announced period of forced non-working days in the direction of its reduction," Putin said in a televised address to the nation. | The country's regions, depending on the objective situation, would decide which institutions and organ…

James Carden (2020-04-03). American Un-Exceptionalism in the Time of Coronavirus. thenation.com American Un-Exceptionalism in the Time of Coronavirus…

yenisafak (2020-04-03). Italian luxury shoemaker Sergio Rossi dies from coronavirus. yenisafak.com Italian luxury shoemaker Sergio Rossi has died aged 85 after being hospitalised with the coronavirus, the mayor of the designer's home town said on Friday.Italy has recorded more deaths from coronavirus than any other country in the world, with 13,915 fatalities as of Thursday. The elderly have been particularly hard hit.Rossi died on Thursday in the small town of Cesena in central Italy."He was among the founders of the high-end women's footwear district in the area of Forlਠand Cesena in the mid-20th century," said Luciana Garbuglia, mayor of San Mauro Pascoli, where Rossi was born in 1935 and where he fou…

yenisafak (2020-04-03). No quick deliveries of COVID-19 ventilators, EU says. yenisafak.com The European Union will struggle to get hold of large numbers of ventilators quickly to treat patients suffering from COVID-19 due to the complexity of the machines and high demand for them, the executive European Commission said on Friday.With medical equipment in short supply as Europe battles the pandemic, the Commission launched a joint procurement procedure on March 17 to buy ventilators on behalf of the bloc's 26 member states, in a bid to cut prices and reduce competition among states seeking the machines.The Brussels-based Commission said suppliers had been selected and it was sending contracts out to the…

yenisafak (2020-04-03). Dutch coronavirus deaths rise to 1,487. yenisafak.com The Netherlands announced a further 148 deaths linked to the coronavirus on Friday, bringing the country's total to 1,487.It also confirmed 1,026 new coronavirus cases, taking the overall tally of infections to 15,723, according to the daily report from The National Institute for Health.

yenisafak (2020-04-03). Femicide down 22% in first quarter of year in Turkey. yenisafak.com Turkey's femicide rate has decreased by 22% in the first quarter of the year compared to last year, the country's Interior Ministry announced on Friday.According to the statement, 64 women were murdered over the past three months, while in January-March 2019, 82 had been killed.The ministry said this decrease was the result of its struggle against violence towards women and domestic violence, conducting research and instituting preventative measures against perpetrators to protect women who had been victims.As part of this struggle, 157,367 such preventive measures had been placed in the first three months of 202…

yenisafak (2020-04-03). Turkey starts evacuating citizens from Algeria. yenisafak.com Turkey started Friday evacuating almost 1,200 citizens from Algeria amid coronavirus pandemic.Turkish citizens will be brought back to home via Turkish Airlines and Air Algeria through Sunday.As a part of the evacuation process, three airplanes belonging to the Algerian airline carry 555 Turkish citizens to Samsun province, on the Black Sea coast of Turkey, and it will take Algerian citizens in Karabuk back home.The evacuated citizens will be put into 14-day quarantine in the northern Tokat and Amasya provincesThe rest of the citizens in Algeria will be brought back to Turkey via Turkish Airlines over the weekend…

yenisafak (2020-04-03). Hospitals are 'at maximum stress' in Spain's second worst-hit region by coronavirus. yenisafak.com Hospitals in Catalonia, Spain's second worst-hit region by the coronavirus pandemic, are at "maximum stress", the regional leader Quim Torra told Reuters on Friday.Spain's second most populous region has the highest number of coronavirus patients in intensive care in the country – 2,053, according to the latest data – and has registered 2,335 fatalities, second only to the Madrid region."At the hospital level we are being able to give response to all the cases that are arriving but we are at the limit, we are at maximum stress," Catalan regional government chief Torra said in an interview. He added that the main…

yenisafak (2020-04-03). Coronavirus cases continue rising in Belgium. yenisafak.com More than 1,400 new coronavirus cases were diagnosed in Belgium and 132 people lost their lives in the past 24 hours, health authorities announced on Friday.The latest data by the Federal Public Service of Health brought the total number of infections to 16,770, and the death toll to 1,143 since March 15.Some 5,500 patients are currently treated at hospitals, with 1,205 of them being treated at intensive care units. 45% of intensive care beds are still available.So far, more than 2,800 people were discharged from healthcare facilities after treatment.Six out of 10 coronavirus patients are from the northern region…

sputniknews (2020-04-03). Iran's UN Envoy Says 'No One Fooled' by American Lies as Pompeo Accuses Tehran of Killings Abroad. sputniknews.com On Thursday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleged than Iran has been using 'agents of terror' disguised as diplomats in a string of assassinations and bomb plots across Europe. Pompeo made the claims in the wake of a report citing US intelligence alleging that Iranian intelligence had killed a dissident journalist in Turkey in November.

sputniknews (2020-04-03). US-Jailed Russian Pilot Yaroshenko Has Dry Cough, COVID-19 Confirmed Among Cellmates – Wife. sputniknews.com ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (Sputnik) – Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who is imprisoned in a US penitentiary facility with confirmed COVID-19 cases, is suffering from dry cough and a slight fever, his wife Viktoria said on Friday.

sputniknews (2020-04-03). Coronavirus Patient Monitoring System Launches in Moscow. sputniknews.com The day before, the Moscow authorities extended restrictions on public events and ordered the closure of all non-essential shops, restaurants, cafes, and bars until May 1 as part of efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease.

sputniknews (2020-04-03). Miss Russia-2015 Sofia Nikitchuk Rejects Reports She Has COVID-19 Symptoms. sputniknews.com Currently, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Russia stands at 4,149, with 34 deaths, according to the country's Health Ministry.

sputniknews (2020-04-03). Up to One in 15 Londoners May be Infected With COVID-19, Study Claims. sputniknews.com On Thursday, the United Kingdom reported its largest day-on-day increase in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and the resultant death toll, as the total number of positive tests since the start of the outbreak soared past 30,000.

RT (2020-04-02). Solidarity (in)action: EU Commission head apologizes to Italy, pledges ‚Ǩ100bn Covid-19 relief fund… which may not happen. rt.com The EU Commission chief apologized to Italy for the bloc's sloppy coronavirus response, pledging ‚Ǩ100 billion to help the hard-hit nation. But the help might never arrive, as mutualizing debt is opposed by EU fat cats. | "Today Europe is mobilizing alongside Italy. Unfortunately, this has not always been the case," Ursula von der Leyen said in a letter published by Italy's La Repubblica newspaper on Thursday. | It must be recognized that in the early days of the crisis, in the face of the need for a common European response, too many… thought only of their own… problems. | After apologiz…

Staff (2020-04-02). "There Aren't Enough Tests": As Pandemic Intensifies, Global South Prepares for the Worst. democracynow.org After devastating China, Europe and the United States, the coronavirus pandemic is now intensifying across the Global South. The United Nations warns the pandemic is poised to destroy fragile economies in poor nations, decimating food security, education and human rights. We speak with Yanis Ben Amor, assistant professor of global health and microbiological sciences at Columbia University and executive director of the Center for Sustainable Development at the Earth Institute.

M.K. Bhadrakumar (2020-04-02). A Russian firewall for Venezuela against U.S. sanctions. mronline.org The optics of the Russian oil leviathan Rosneft's decision to sell its subsidiary Rosneft Trading SA and sell all its assets in Venezuela after the US Treasury sanctioned its trading arm two weeks ago as part of Washington's regime change project to oust president Nicolás Maduro, may not look good to the uninformed outside observer.

RT (2020-04-02). Red states 'slower to respond' to Covid-19 as they listened to Trump, Axios founder claims…except blue states have been worst hit. rt.com Axios co-founder Jim VanderHei politicized the coronavirus crisis by claiming red states have been "slower" responding because they've been "listening to President Trump," but he ignores why blue states have been hit harder. | Speaking to MSNBC's Morning Joe and name-dropping Georgia and Florida as states that waited longer than others to implement stay-at-home orders, VanderHei said "information inequality" is to blame for states not acting as one in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus. | "It's because they were listening to President Trump up until the last five or six days. They were watching Fo…

news.un (2020-04-02). 'Everyone at risk' as coronavirus cases tick up among migrants and refugees sheltering in Greece. news.un.org With 23 migrants at an open accommodation site in central Greece testing positive for COVID-19, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) sounded the alarm on Thursday over conditions in crowded reception centres on five Greek islands where the virus risks taking hold.