Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
UK Hits Records, Other Countries Suffer In Extreme Heat
If you want to mark an unnatural, scary, real-world data point for climate change, it is here in Britain, right now, where temperatures are forecast to soar as high as 40 Celsius 鈥 104 Fahrenheit 鈥 on Tuesday, an extreme weather episode, a freak peak-heat, not seen since modern record keeping began a century and a half ago. (Booth, 7/18)
As Western Europe experiences a record-breaking heat wave, Spain and Portugal have reported at least 1,169 heat-related deaths, according to each country's ministry of health. (Theodorou and Grant, 7/19)
On the Marburg virus outbreak 鈥
The Marburg virus is a 鈥済enetically unique zoonotic 鈥 RNA virus of the filovirus family,鈥 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 鈥淭he six species of Ebola virus are the only other known members of the filovirus family.鈥 Fatality rates range from 24 percent to 88 percent, according to the WHO, depending on the virus strain and quality of case management. (Suliman, 7/18)
North Korea's covid battle 鈥
North Korea is on the path to "finally defuse" a crisis stemming from its first acknowledged outbreak of COVID-19, the state news agency said on Monday, while Asian neighbours battle a fresh wave of infections driven by Omicron subvariants. (Choi, 7/18)
