Thirty-seven percent of surveyed countries are still experiencing disruptions in vaccinating children against deadly diseases like measles compared to 2020 levels, according to a press release from the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
The disruptions stem from the COVID-19 pandemic, the groups say.
They also say 60 lifesaving campaigns are currently “postponed in 50 countries, putting around 228 million people — mostly children — at risk for measles, yellow fever and polio.”  
As the world marks World Immunization Week 2021, which takes place in the last week of April, the groups are calling for countries to increase investments in vaccines.
The groups say investment could save 50 million lives by 2030.
“If we’re to avoid multiple outbreaks of life-threatening diseases like measles, yellow fever and diphtheria, we must ensure routine vaccination services are protected in every country in the world,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
Measles outbreaks have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan and Yemen, according to the groups. They added that further outbreaks were likely as children are not vaccinated.
“As COVID-19 vaccines are at the forefront of everyone’s minds, it is more critical than ever that children maintain access to other lifesaving vaccines to prevent devastating outbreaks of preventable diseases that have started to spread alongside the pandemic,” said David Morley, president and CEO of UNICEF Canada. “We must sustain this energy on vaccine rollout to also help children catch up on their measles, polio and other vaccines. Lost ground means lost lives.”
UNICEF said it delivered 2.01 billion vaccines in 2020 compared to 2.29 billion in 2019.
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Senegal banned single-use plastics a year ago, but the regulation has been poorly enforced and plastic waste still litters the coastline and threatens health. For Earth Day (April 22) this year, a group of Senegalese surfers, scuba divers, and activists took matters into their own hands and to set an example for others to follow.  From bottles and bags to food wrappers and fishing nets, plastic waste is piling up on Senegal’s beaches, harming the environment that people and animals depend on.  A bird stands atop a mound of rubbish overlooking a polluted canal in Dakar, Senegal, Apr. 23, 2021.Toxic chemicals from plastic leach into the water and can build up in fish, which are a vital part of the Senegalese diet.  Senegal’s Ministry of Public Health notes links between plastic pollution and infertility, heart disease, cancer, and other health problems.  “All of these products that are used by the industry can be dangerous,” said Public Health director Dr. Marie Khémesse Ngom Ndiaye.  “In terms of pollution, they can attack all of our organs, but equally those of animals.  But especially, as you’ve seen in all these documentaries and studies, it impacts marine life.” The Senegalese government passed a law in 2015 banning single-use plastics, but little changed.  The law was rescinded to make way for new legislation that specifically targeted plastic cups, straws, plates, bags and bottles. It went into effect in 2020, but it’s still rarely enforced.  “There is not necessarily enough information,” said Aisha Conte, president of Zero Waste Senegal. “The population, the users, are not well enough informed about the existence of this law and its different statutes.” Franck Chabert, owner of the Barracuda Dive Club, pulls rubbish from the sea floor during an underwater cleanup for Earth Day in Dakar, Apr. 23, 2021.To mark the anniversary of last year’s ban, and this year’s Earth Day, Dakar’s Barracuda Scuba Diving Club and activists held a coastal cleanup.   Clean Senegal’s Khadim Diouf wore a plastic costume while sorting the waste to underscore the need to make an impact.  Volunteers sort rubbish found under water and along the beach during an underwater cleanup for Earth Day in Dakar, Apr. 23, 2021.“I think we can do it — us, the citizens of the world,” he said.  “I don’t just mean the citizens of Senegal, but the citizens of the world.  Everyone must protect their environment.  That’s what we must do.” Until then, Diouf and other activists said they will continue to campaign for a cleaner Senegal.   
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Senegal banned single-use plastics a year ago, but the regulation has been poorly enforced and plastic waste still litters the coastline and threatens health. For Earth Day (April 22) this year, a group of Senegalese surfers, scuba divers, and activists took matters into their own hands and to set an example for others to follow.  Annika Hammerschlag reports from Dakar. Camera: Annika Hammerschlag    
 
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A top European Union official said Sunday that Americans who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 should be able to travel to Europe by summer, easing existing travel restrictions.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told The New York Times that the union’s 27 members would accept, unconditionally, all those who are vaccinated with vaccines that are approved by the European Medicines Agency. The agency has approved the three vaccines used in the United States.”The Americans, as far as I can see, use European Medicines Agency-approved vaccines,” von der Leyen said. “This will enable free movement and travel to the European Union.”She did not say when travel could resume. The EU largely shut down nonessential travel more than a year ago.European Union countries agreed this month to launch COVID-19 travel passes that would permit people who have been vaccinated against the disease, recovered from an infection or have tested negative to travel more easily.
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As the world marks World Malaria Day (April 25), several African countries continue to battle the impact of a preventable disease claiming thousands of lives. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, malaria has claimed an estimated 380,000 lives in 2018 according to the World Health Organization (WHO). But there are some signs of hope in Somalia.This year’s theme was reaching the “Zero Malaria” target as the WHO celebrated the achievement of those countries that are on the verge of eliminating the disease.While Somalia is still not malaria-free, the country’s authorities say there has been some progress in the past three years in decreasing the number of deaths from the disease. That is welcome news for the Horn of Africa nation struggling to curb other challenges, including drought and lack of security.  Dr. Ali Abdulrahman, manager of Somalia’s national malaria control department,  pointed out that deaths from malaria have declined, from 31 in 2018, 22 in 2019 to five last year.”There was a lot of interventions we have done including distribution of long-lasting insecticide nets to the target population, especially IDPs (internally displaced persons) and other vulnerable and indoor residual spraying were done in the riverine areas and also case management was going on in all health facilities in the country that was interventions done to reduce cases,” Abdulrahman said.Somalia has a weak health care system and is poorly resourced, according to the WHO. Due to decades of insecurity and conflict, the country’s institutions struggle to provide access to malaria prevention and treatment to those at risk of contracting the disease, including pregnant women and children.  Falestine Mohamed Abukar, a mother of three who lives in an internally displaced persons camp in Mogadishu, said she paid $40 last year to get medicine from a local pharmacy where she was referred when she tested positive for malaria and typhoid.She said she was very weak in bed and when she visited the nearest health center but the health care providers said they did not have the medicine. They then referred her to get it from private pharmacies and pay out of pocket.Dr. Jamal Amran from the country’s World Health Organization office says WHO is working with Somali authorities to improve access to malaria medication.   “This year will start to do rapid assessment needs of IDPs  and other neglected groups like nomads to see how and what the factors are preventing them to utilize health services properly. And based on all findings, we will, along with other partners, develop [a] specific strategy for health services for these minorities, and of course, with the involvement with civil society groups and the community and also workers especially now with COVID-19,” Amran said.Hailed as a possible breakthrough, a new malaria vaccine has shown to be 77% effective in early trials to combat the disease. And once approved for use, countries like Somalia could benefit in continuing their fight against malaria and meet the malaria-free goal. 
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In March, one of the world’s biggest container ships became stuck in Egypt’s Suez Canal, creating a commercial logjam and spikes in the cost of oil. At a training facility in France, mariners are learning how to avoid a similar predicament.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.
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This year’s commemoration of World Malaria Day celebrates the progress being made in eliminating the disease. The World Health Organization is calling for action to build on these achievements and continue the work to create a malaria-free world.Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and multiple other crises, 24 countries are reported to have stopped malaria transmission for three or more years by the end of 2020. To date, 38 countries and territories have been certified malaria-free by the World Health Organization, including most recently El Salvador, Algeria and Sri Lanka.WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said malaria elimination is a viable goal for all countries, no matter how far they may be from the ultimate target.“WHO has identified a set of 25 countries … with a potential to reach zero malaria within the next five years. Working together, building on each other’s success and supported with sustained funding, we can dare to dream of a malaria-free world.”Malaria is a preventable, treatable disease. Yet, every year it kills more than 400,000 people, most of them young children in sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, more than 200 million people become newly infected with this deadly parasitic disease every year.Over the last 20 years, WHO reports more than 7.5 million deaths and 1.5 billion cases have been averted, most in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite this remarkable progress, director of WHO’s Global Malaria Program, Pedro Alonso, says most cases and deaths continue to take place in Africa.“While Africa is the source of many of the big success stories in terms of impact, it is also the place that carries the brunt of the disease and where we are finding it hard to make further progress. Nigeria and DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), because they are also very large populations, account for nearly 50% of all the global burden of disease.WHO says political commitment is crucial to ending malaria. The U.N. health agency says most countries that have reached zero malaria have strong primary health care systems that ensure access to malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment.WHO estimates up to $4.5 billion a year will be required to stamp out malaria. 
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COVID-19 has “shaken” India, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his monthly radio address Sunday.349,691 new COVID cases had been recorded in the previous 24-hour period, yet another daily record, the country’s health ministry said Sunday.The new infection figures are likely undercounted, public health officials have warned. A recent account in The New York Times said, “however staggering” the reports are from the ministry of a string of days with more than 300,000 new infections, the numbers “represent just a fraction of the real reach of the virus’s spread.”The U.S. is under pressure from the international community to release some of its warehoused COVID vaccines to India and other countries that need the shots.In addition to hundreds of thousands of new daily COVID cases, India is also experiencing an oxygen shortage, literally leaving COVID patients gasping for air.The Biden administration’s top medical adviser on the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said Friday the U.S. is attempting to help India contain its coronavirus surge by providing technical support and assistance.Phnom Penh closed its markets Saturday. The Cambodian capital went into lockdown April 15, but markets remained open. High infection rates at the markets, however, prompted the local government to issue shutdown orders Friday for the markets. The snap move went into effect Saturday, catching many residents off guard, causing them to plead with the government for food. The market lockdown is in effect until May 7.According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, Cambodia has one of the world’s lowest COVID infection rates with 9,359 cases.The governor of the U.S. state of New York announced Saturday the state would immediately resume vaccinating residents with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, despite evidence that it is linked to rare cases of blood clots.New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo made the announcement in a statement one day after a U.S. health panel recommended ending a pause on the use of the vaccine.“World-renowned public health experts from the federal government and our own independent state task force have reviewed the data and reaffirmed that the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine can resume,” Cuomo said. “The state of New York will resume administration of this vaccine at all of our state-run sites effective immediately.”Advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should be resumed in the U.S. after regulators had paused it last week to review reports of rare but severe blood clots in a handful of Americans who had received the shot.The panel voted 10-4 for resumption of the vaccine, arguing that benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks.The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Sunday there were more than 146 million global COVID-19 infections. The U.S. remains at the top of the list as the country with the most infections, with more than 32 million. India is second on the list with almost 17 million cases, followed by Brazil with 14.3 million.
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Thailand on Sunday set a record for the daily number of COVID-19 deaths for the second consecutive day, as authorities step up the response to a rapid third wave of infections after about a year of relative success slowing the spread of coronavirus.Thailand will slow down issuing travel documents for foreign nationals from India due to the outbreak of a new coronavirus B.1.617 variant, said Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman for the government’s COVID-19 taskforce.“For foreigners from India entering Thailand, right now we will slow this down,” said Taweesin, adding that 131 Thai nationals in India already registered to travel in May will still be allowed into the country.Thailand reported 2,438 new coronavirus cases and 11 new deaths, bringing the total number of infections to 55,460 and fatalities to 140 since the pandemic started last year.Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on his Facebook page on Saturday said provincial governors can close public venues and impose curfews if necessary to stop the virus spreading.Authorities in the capital city of Bangkok have ordered the closure of venues including parks, gyms, cinemas and day care centers from April 26 through May 9.Shopping malls remain open, but the Thai Retailers Association has restricted store opening hours in Bangkok as well as in 17 more of the country’s 73 provinces.Thailand kept its number of infection cases far lower than many other countries throughout last year, but a new outbreak, spurred partly by the highly transmissible B.1.1.7 variant, has resulted in over 24,000 cases and 46 deaths in just 25 days.The rising figures have prompted concern over the number of hospital beds, particularly as government policy is to admit anyone testing positive for the novel coronavirus, even those without symptoms.Health officials have insisted there are still over 20,000 available beds nationwide.To free beds quicker, the prime minister has said health authorities are considering reducing the quarantine period for asymptomatic cases to 10 days from 14, with the remaining four days to be spent in self-isolation at home.
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Victor Guevara knows people his age have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in many countries. His own relatives in Houston have been inoculated.But the 72-year-old Honduran lawyer, like so many others in his country, is still waiting. And increasingly, he is wondering why the United States is not doing more to help, particularly as the American vaccine supply begins to outpace demand and doses that have been approved for use elsewhere in the world, but not in the U.S., sit idle.“We live in a state of defenselessness on every level,” Guevara said of the situation in his Central American homeland.Honduras has obtained a paltry 59,000 vaccine doses for its 10 million people. Similar gaps in vaccine access are found across Africa, where just 36 million doses have been acquired for the continent’s 1.3 billion people, as well as in parts of Asia.In the United States, more than one-fourth of the population — nearly 90 million people — has been fully vaccinated and supplies are so robust that some states are turning down planned shipments from the federal government.This stark access gap is prompting increased calls across the world for the U.S. to start shipping vaccine supplies to poorer countries. That is creating an early test for President Joe Biden, who has pledged to restore American leadership on the world stage and prove to wary nations that the U.S. is a reliable partner after years of retrenchment during the Trump administration.J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president and director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, said that as the U.S. moves from vaccine scarcity to abundance, it has an opportunity to “shape the outcomes dramatically in this next phase because of the assets we have.”Biden, who took office in January as the virus was raging in the U.S., has responded cautiously to calls for help from abroad.He has focused the bulk of his administration’s vaccinations efforts at home. He kept in place an agreement struck by the Trump administration requiring drugmakers that got U.S. aid in developing or expanding vaccine manufacturing to sell their first doses produced in the country to the U.S. government. The U.S. has also used the Defense Production Act to secure vital supplies for the production of vaccine, a move that has blocked the export of some supplies outside the country.White House aides have argued that Biden’s cautious approach to promises around vaccine supply and delivery was validated in the wake of manufacturing issues with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and the subsequent safety “pause” to investigate a handful of reported blood clots. In addition, officials say they need to maintain reserves in the U.S. to vaccinate teenagers and younger children once safety studies for those age groups are completed and if booster shots should be required later.The White House is aware that the rest of the world is watching. Last month, the U.S. shared 4 million vaccine doses with neighboring Canada and Mexico, and this past week, Biden said those countries would be targets for additional supplies. He also said countries in Central America could receive U.S. vaccination help, though officials have not detailed any specific plans.The lack of U.S. vaccine assistance around the world has created an opportunity for China and Russia, which have promised millions of doses of domestically produced shots to other countries, though there have been production delays that have hampered the delivery of some supplies. China’s foreign minister Wang Yi said this month that China opposes “vaccine nationalism” and that vaccines should become a global public good.Norma Gonzalez, 68, waits for results after she was tested for the COVID-19 virus, in a Red Cross laboratory in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, April 23, 2021.Professor Willem Hanekom, director of the Africa Health Research Institute and a vaccinologist, said wealthy countries have a stake in the success of vaccination efforts in other corners of the world.“Beyond the moral obligation, the problem is that if there is not going to be control of the epidemic globally, this may ultimately backfire for these rich countries, if in areas where vaccines are not available variants emerge against which the vaccines might not work,” Hanekom said.The U.S. has also faced criticism that it is not only hoarding its own stockpiles, but also blocking other countries from accessing vaccines, including through its use of the law that gives Washington broad authority to direct private companies to meet the needs of the national defense.Adar Poonawalla, chief executive of the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest maker of vaccines and a critical supplier of the U.N.-backed COVAX facility, asked Biden on Twitter on April 16 to lift the U.S. embargo on exporting raw materials needed to make the jabs.India is battling the world’s fastest pace of spreading infections. Its government has blocked vaccine exports for several months to better meet needs at home, exacerbating the difficulty of poor countries to access vaccine.The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ 2020 annual report also raised eyebrows for a section titled “Combatting malign influences in the Americas,” which said the U.S. had convinced Brazil to not buy the Russian shot.The U.S. Embassy denied exerting any pressure regarding vaccines approved by Brazil’s health regulator, which has not yet signed off on Sputnik V. Since March 13, Brazil has been trying to negotiate supply of U.S. surplus vaccines for itself, according to the foreign ministry.There are also concerns that the U.S. might link vaccine sharing to other diplomatic efforts. Washington’s loan of 2.7 million doses of AstraZeneca’s shots to Mexico last month came on the same day Mexico announced it was restricting crossings at its southern border, an effort that could help decrease the number of migrants seeking entry into the United States.A retired doctor from the public health system stands in a line as he waits to be inoculated with the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, as part of a vaccination campaign in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, April 23, 2021.Those sort of parallel tracks of diplomacy will be closely watched as the Biden administration decides with whom to share its surplus vaccine, particularly in Central America, home to many countries where migrant families and unaccompanied children are trying to make their way to the U.S.“What we would hope to avoid is any perception that increased access to lifesaving vaccines in Central America is in exchange for increased tightening of border security,” said Maureen Meyer, vice president for programs at the Washington Office on Latin America.As the wait for vaccines continues in Honduras, desperation is growing.Last week, a private business group announced it would try to buy 1.5 million vaccine doses to help government efforts, though it was unclear how it might obtain them. In March, authorities in Mexico seized 5,700 doses of purported Russian vaccines found in false bottoms of ice chests aboard a private plane bound for Honduras. The company owner who chartered the plane said he was trying to obtain vaccines for his employees and their families. The vaccine’s Russian distributor said the vaccines were fake.Lilian Tilbeth Hernández Banegas, 46, was infected with COVID-19 in late November and spent 13 days in a Tegucigalpa hospital. The first days she struggled to breathe and thought she would die.The experience has made the mother of three more anxious about the virus and more diligent about avoiding it. The pandemic rocked her family’s finances. Her husband sells used cars but has not made a sale in more than four months.“I want to vaccinate myself, my family to be vaccinated, because my husband and my children go out to work, but it’s frustrating that the vaccines don’t arrive,” Hernández said.There is plenty of blame to go around, said Marco Tulio Medina, coordinator of the COVID-19 committee at the National Autonomous University of Honduras, noting his own government’s lackadaisical approach and the ferocity of the vaccine marketplace. But the wealthy can do more.“There’s a lack of humanism on the part of the rich countries,” he said. “They’re acting in an egotistical way, thinking of themselves and not of the world.”
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The number of COVID-19 jabs administered globally surpassed the 1 billion mark on Saturday, offering hope after months of pandemic misery, even as the number of coronavirus cases worldwide hit another daily record, mainly because of an explosion of the virus in India.At least 1,002,938,540 doses have been administered in 207 countries and territories, according to an AFP tally.Nevertheless, the number of new infections topped 893,000 worldwide on Friday, a one-day record.And India accounted for more than a third of those, with authorities there announcing 346,786 more new cases on Saturday, a record for a single country since the start of the pandemic.The pandemic has now killed more than 3 million people worldwide since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019.And India, with its population of 1.3 billion, has become the new hot spot, with the current surge blamed on a new virus variant and recent “super spreader” public events. The country reported 2,624 new deaths in the past 24 hours.Ambulances carrying COVID-19 patients line up waiting for their turn to be attended to at a dedicated COVID-19 government hospital in Ahmedabad, India, April 22, 2021. Indian authorities scrambled Saturday to get oxygen tanks to hospitals.Transporting oxygenOverwhelmed by the devastating new surge, the Indian government scrambled to organize special trains to get oxygen supplies to worst-hit cities.One “oxygen express” carrying 30,000 liters of oxygen arrived in northern Lucknow at dawn on Saturday, where armed guards were waiting to escort trucks to hospitals.The Indian air force also was being used to transport oxygen tankers and other supplies around the country and to bring oxygen equipment from Singapore.Thailand was also grappling with a spiraling caseload.Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha said Saturday that more than 1,400 COVID-19 patients were waiting to be admitted to hospitals.”If the outbreak becomes more severe, [the government] may consider reducing hospital quarantine for asymptomatic people from 14 days to 10 days,” he said in a move intended to free up hospital beds.FILE – A shipment of COVID-19 vaccines distributed by the COVAX global initiative arrives in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Feb. 25, 2021.With the pandemic still showing no sign of slowing, governments around the world are placing their hopes in vaccines.And worldwide, the number of vaccine doses administered has doubled in less than a month.Nevertheless, while the majority of poor countries have also started to vaccinate — mainly thanks to the COVAX program — inoculation is still largely a privilege of high-income countries. Home to 16 percent of the world’s population, they have administered 47 percent of vaccine doses.By contrast, low-income countries account for just 0.2 percent of shots so far.In the U.S., regulators have approved the restart of a rollout of Johnson & Johnson vaccines halted over blood-clotting concerns.Belgium: J&J jabs for all adultsIn Europe, Belgium said Saturday that it would authorize the J&J shot for all adults, having already received 36,000 doses and expecting a total of 1.4 million between April and June.The European Union as a whole said it would have enough vaccines to immunize 70 percent of its adult population by the end of July.A 91-year-old British grandmother, Margaret Keenan, who on December 8 became the first person in the Western world to get an approved coronavirus vaccine, urged people to get inoculated.”It really is the best thing I’ve ever done,” she said. “I’m telling everyone to go and get it … I hope everyone comes forward.”But despite the optimism, the threat of the virus remains ever-present, with Germany implementing tougher new lockdown rules, including night curfews and school closures, after the government passed a disputed new law designed to slow infections.The controversial new rules — passed this week amid huge protests in Berlin — will apply in all regions with incidence rates of more than 100 new infections per 100,000 people over the last seven days.Demonstrators take part in an anti-lockdown “Unite for Freedom” protest, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London, April 24, 2021.And in Britain, ongoing restrictions continued to fuel a great deal of anger.Huge crowds protested in London on Saturday against Britain’s remaining coronavirus restrictions, the mandatory use of masks and the possible introduction of so-called vaccine passports.Britain began to gradually lift COVID-19 restrictions last month after months of curbs and a successful mass vaccination campaign. Pubs were allowed to serve customers outdoors this month and nonessential shops reopened.The demonstrators marched along several major arteries, including the main shopping district Oxford Street, with videos and photos showing thousands in attendance.Hundreds then rallied in Hyde Park late in the afternoon following the march, an AFP reporter said.Organizers used various websites and online platform pages to encourage turnout, despite curbs that limit outdoor gatherings to 30 people.
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Ever wonder what it would feel like to unplug from a hyperconnected world and hide away in a dark cave for 40 days? Fifteen people in France did just that, emerging Saturday from a scientific experiment to say that time seemed to pass more slowly in their cavernous underground abode in southwestern France, where they were deprived of clocks and light.With big smiles on their pale faces, the 15 left their voluntary isolation in the Lombrives cave to a round of applause and basked in the light while wearing special glasses to protect their eyes after so long in the dark. “It was like pressing pause,” said 33-year-old Marina Lançon, one of the seven female members in the experiment, adding she didn’t feel there was a rush to do anything.Although she wished she could have stayed in the cave a few days longer, she said she was happy to feel the wind blowing on her face again and hear the birds sing in the trees of the French Pyrénées. And she doesn’t plan to open her smartphone for a few more days, hoping to avoid a “too brutal” return to real life.For 40 days and 40 nights, the group lived in and explored the cave as part of the Deep Time project. There was no sunlight inside, the temperature was 10 degrees Celsius (50 F) and the relative humidity stood at 100%. The cave dwellers had no contact with the outside world, no updates on the pandemic nor any communications with friends or family.Scientists at the Human Adaption Institute leading the $1.5 million “Deep Time” project say the experiment will help them better understand how people adapt to drastic changes in living conditions and environments.As expected, those in the cave lost their sense of time.”And here we are! We just left after 40 days … For us it was a real surprise,” said project director Christian Clot, adding for most participants, “in our heads, we had walked into the cave 30 days ago.” 
At least one team member estimated the time underground at 23 days.Johan Francois, 37, a math teacher and sailing instructor, ran 10-kilometer circles in the cave to stay fit. He sometimes had “visceral urges” to leave.With no daily obligations and no children around, the challenge was “to profit from the present moment without ever thinking about what will happen in one hour, in two hours,” he said.In partnership with labs in France and Switzerland, scientists monitored the 15 member’s sleep patterns, social interactions and behavioral reactions via sensors. One sensor was a tiny thermometer inside a capsule that participants swallowed like a pill. It measured body temperatures and transmitted data to a computer until it was expelled naturally. The team members followed their biological clocks to know when to wake up, go to sleep and eat. They counted their days not in hours but in sleep cycles.On Friday, scientists monitoring the participants entered the cave to let the research subjects know they would be coming out soon. “It’s really interesting to observe how this group synchronizes themselves,” Clot said earlier in a recording from inside the cave. Working together on projects and organizing tasks without being able to set a time to meet was especially challenging, he said. Although the participants looked visibly tired Saturday, two-thirds expressed a desire to remain underground a bit longer in order to finish group projects started during the expedition, Benoit Mauvieux, a chronobiologist involved in the research, told The AP.”Our future as humans on this planet will evolve,” Clot said after emerging. “We must learn to better understand how our brains are capable of finding new solutions, whatever the situation.”
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China will discuss building a defense system against near-Earth asteroids, a senior space agency official said Saturday, as the country steps up its longer-term space ambitions.Zhang Kejian, head of the China National Space Administration, did not provide further detail in his opening remarks at a ceremony for China’s Space Day in the eastern city of Nanjing.China has made space exploration a top priority in recent years, aiming to establish a program operating thousands of space flights a year and carrying tens of thousands of tons of cargo and passengers by 2045.The European Space Agency last year signed a deal worth 129 million euros ($156 million) to build a spacecraft for a joint project with NASA examining how to deflect an asteroid heading for Earth.China is pushing forward a mission where one space probe will land on a near-Earth asteroid to collect samples, fly back toward Earth to release a capsule containing the samples, and then orbit another comet, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Ye Peijian, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.The mission could take about a decade to complete, Ye said. China and Russia signed a memorandum of understanding last month to set up an international lunar research station.
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