The White House on Tuesday said eligible Americans should get the updated COVID-19 boosters by Halloween to have maximum protection against the coronavirus by Thanksgiving and the holidays, as it warned of a “challenging” virus season ahead.

Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 coordinator, said the U.S. has the tools, both from vaccines and treatments, to largely eliminate serious illness and death from the virus, but he stressed that’s only the case if people do their part.

“We are not helpless against these challenges,” he said. “What happens this winter is up to us.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says only about 11.5 million Americans so far have received the updated shots, which are meant to provide a boost of protection against both the original strain of COVID-19 and the BA.5 variant that is dominant around the world. Jha said studies suggest that if more Americans get the updated vaccines, “we could save hundreds of lives each day this winter.”

More than 330 people die on average each day of COVID-19, according to CDC data, with the U.S. death toll standing at over 1.05 million.

Jha acknowledged the slower pace of vaccinations, saying, “We expected September to be a month where it would just start picking up.” He added that the White House expects more Americans to get the updated boosters this month, around the time when they get their annual flu shots. He also emphasized that they should look to get them soon to be protected when they gather with family and friends.

“I think people should get vaccinated before Halloween,” he said.

Jha criticized Congress, which has refused the White House’s $22 billion budget request for virus response, saying that has kept the U.S. from building a stockpile of tests to use in the event of a new winter surge.

“You can’t fight a deadly virus without resources,” he said, “and congressional inaction is really costly.”
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A spacecraft that plowed into a small, harmless asteroid millions of miles away succeeded in shifting its orbit, NASA said Tuesday in announcing the results of its save-the-world test.

The space agency attempted the first test of its kind two weeks ago to see if in the future a killer rock could be nudged out of Earth’s way.

The Dart spacecraft carved a crater into the asteroid Dimorphos on Sept. 26, hurling debris out into space and creating a cometlike trail of dust and rubble stretching several thousand kilometers. It took days of telescope observations to determine how much the impact altered the path of the 160-meter asteroid around its companion, a much bigger space rock.

Before the impact, the moonlet took 11 hours and 55 minutes to circle its parent asteroid. Scientists had hoped to shave off 10 minutes but NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the impact altered the asteroid’s orbit by about 32 minutes.

“This mission shows that NASA is trying to be ready for whatever the universe throws at us,” Nelson said during a briefing at NASA headquarters in Washington.

Neither asteroid posed a threat to Earth — and still don’t as they continue their journey around the sun. That’s why scientists picked the pair for the world’s first attempt to alter the position of a celestial body.

Launched last year, the vending machine-size Dart — short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test — was destroyed when it slammed into the asteroid 11 million kilometers away at 22,500 kph.

The test cost $325 million.
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Energy infrastructure will become more vulnerable to extreme weather such as heatwaves and hurricanes, the World Meteorological Organization warned on Tuesday, with a senior official saying that climate change poses as big a threat to global energy security as the war in Ukraine.

This year was illustrative of what the WMO says are the challenges ahead, with hot weather and drought hampering power production in parts of Europe and China. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation,” has led to deep cuts to European energy supplies, with possible power rationing and blackouts ahead.

“I think that if we don’t do anything, if we don’t make our energy system more resilient to climate change, there will be as big a disruption in the energy system as the war,” Roberta Boscolo, WMO climate and energy lead told Reuters as the U.N. agency launched a major report on energy.

To meet the challenges, she said “huge” investment was needed to prepare for and adapt to that scenario, such as retrofitting dams to match new rainfall patterns and shoring up plants against storm surge. A WMO document showed that more than a third of all nuclear plants are found at sea level and said some will be threatened as they rise.

Overall, the WMO said in its report that countries are behind in their renewable power pledges, saying they have so far committed to building less than half of the capacity needed by 2030 to reach the Paris accord goals.

However, the WMO secretary-general said that he expects the Ukraine war to accelerate the transition to renewables, despite greater short-term reliance on fossil fuels such as coal.

.”..It’s speeding up this green transition,” Petteri Taalas said at an earlier press conference. “From a climate perspective, the war in Ukraine may be seen as a blessing.”

Taalas said countries should also consider making “certain compromises” to meet global emissions targets such as embracing nuclear power despite misgivings about waste.
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Malawi’s health ministry says it will soon roll out Africa’s first malaria vaccine for children under age five.

The RTS,S vaccine, which was tested in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, took more than 30 years to develop. While the vaccine has a relatively low level of effectiveness, it has raised hopes of saving some of the more than 400,000 people who die annually from the mosquito-borne disease, most of them African children.

The vaccine roll out, scheduled for next month, follows the completion of the pilot phase. Since 2019, the World Health Organization has vaccinated 360,000 children per year in Malawi, Ghana and Kenya, one-third of them in Malawi.  

Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, Malawi’s minister of health, said children are especially at risk of malaria during the rainy season, in the months of November and December. 

Chiponda said the decision on the vaccine was reached following discussions between Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera and representatives of PATH, a global health nonprofit organization, when Chakwera attended this year’s U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York. 

The WHO endorsed the vaccine years ago, saying it was a breakthrough in the fight against malaria. 

The vaccine, sold by GlaxoSmithKline as Mosquirix, is about 30% effective and requires four doses.

However, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, backers of the vaccine, have raised concern whether the vaccine is worth the cost.

In July, The Associated Press quoted Philip Welkhoff, director of malaria programs for the Gates Foundation, as saying the foundation will no longer offer direct financial support for the shot, although it will fund an alliance backing the vaccine. 

He said the malaria vaccine has a much lower efficacy than the foundation would like and that the shot is relatively expensive and logistically challenging to deliver. 

However, Maziko Matemba, health activist and community health ambassador in Malawi, is not discouraged.

“Now that finally the malaria vaccines will be launched in Malawi is welcome news, and we hope that the under-five [age group] will be protected because according to statistics, Malaria is so endemic in the under-five [age group] and we are adding a package in the prevention of malaria,” Matemba said. 

Matemba said the 30% efficacy is nothing to worry about, as not all vaccines are 100% effective. 

“When we had [the] COVID vaccine it was not 100%. It was at 70% or so. So it’s the same case with this,” Matemba said. 

Statistics show that malaria is the number one deadly disease in Malawi. The disease accounts for 36% of all hospital outpatients and 15% of hospital admissions. 

Despite its relatively low effectiveness rate, some scientists say the vaccine will have a major impact against malaria in Africa, which records 200 million cases and 400,000 deaths per year. 
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As awareness grows around the world about the problem of food waste, one culprit in particular is drawing scrutiny: “best before” labels.

Manufacturers have used the labels for decades to estimate peak freshness. Unlike “use by” labels, which are found on perishable foods like meat and dairy, “best before” labels have nothing to do with safety and may encourage consumers to throw away food that’s perfectly fine to eat.

“They read these dates and then they assume that it’s bad, they can’t eat it and they toss it, when these dates don’t actually mean that they’re not edible or they’re not still nutritious or tasty,” said Patty Apple, a manager at Food Shift, an Alameda, California, nonprofit that collects and uses expired or imperfect foods.

To tackle the problem, major U.K. chains like Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer recently removed “best before” labels from prepackaged fruit and vegetables. The European Union is expected to announce a revamp to its labeling laws by the end of this year; it’s considering abolishing “best before” labels altogether.

In the U.S., there’s no similar push to scrap “best before” labels. But there is growing momentum to standardize the language on date labels to help educate buyers about food waste, including a push from big grocers and food companies and bipartisan legislation in Congress.

“I do think that the level of support for this has grown tremendously,” said Dana Gunders, executive director of ReFED, a New York-based nonprofit that studies food waste.

The United Nations estimates that 17% of global food production is wasted each year; most of that comes from households. In the U.S., as much as 35% of food available goes uneaten, ReFED says. That adds up to a lot of wasted energy — including the water, land and labor that goes into the food production — and higher greenhouse gas emissions when unwanted food goes into landfills.

There are many reasons food gets wasted, from large portion sizes to customers’ rejection of imperfect produce. But ReFED estimates that 7% of U.S. food waste — or 4 million tons annually — is due to consumer confusion over “best before” labels.

Date labels were widely adopted by manufacturers in the 1970s to answer consumers’ concerns about product freshness. There are no federal rules governing them, and manufacturers are allowed to determine when they believe their products will taste best. Only infant formula is required to have a “use by” date in the U.S.

Since 2019, the Food and Drug Administration — which regulates around 80% of U.S. food — has recommended that manufacturers use the labels “best if used by” for freshness and “use by” for perishable goods, based on surveys showing that consumers understand those phrases.

But the effort is voluntary, and the language on labels continues to vary widely, from “sell by” to “enjoy by” to “freshest before.” A survey released in June by researchers at the University of Maryland found at least 50 different date labels used on U.S. grocery shelves and widespread confusion among customers.

“Most people believe that if it says ‘sell by,’ ‘best by’ or ‘expiration,’ you can’t eat any of them. That’s not actually accurate,” said Richard Lipsit, who owns a Grocery Outlet store in Pleasanton, California, that specializes in discounted food.

Lipsit said milk can be safely consumed up to a week after its “use by” date. Gunders said canned goods and many other packaged foods can be safely eaten for years after their “best before” date. The FDA suggests consumers look for changes in color, consistency or texture to determine if foods are all right to eat.

“Our bodies are very well equipped to recognize the signs of decay, when food is past its edible point,” Gunders said. “We’ve lost trust in those senses and we’ve replaced it with trust in these dates.”

Some U.K. grocery chains are actively encouraging customers to use their senses. Morrisons removed “use by” dates from most store-brand milk in January and replaced them with a “best before” label. Co-op, another grocery chain, did the same to its store-brand yogurts.

It’s a change some shoppers support. Ellie Spanswick, a social media marketer in Falmouth, England, buys produce, eggs and other groceries at farm stands and local shops when she can. The food has no labels, she said, but it’s easy to see that it’s fresh.

“The last thing we need to be doing is wasting more food and money because it has a label on it telling us it’s past being good for eating,” Spanswick said.

But not everyone agrees. Ana Wetrov of London, who runs a home renovation business with her husband, worries that without labels, staff might not know which items should be removed from shelves. She recently bought a pineapple and only realized after she cut into it that it was rotting in the middle.

“We have had dates on those packages for the last 20 years or so. Why fix it when it’s not broken?” Wetrov said.

Some U.S. chains — including Walmart — have shifted their store brands to standardized “best if used by” and “use by” labels. The Consumer Brands Association — which represents big food companies like General Mills and Dole — also encourages members to use those labels.

“Uniformity makes it much more simple for our companies to manufacture products and keep the prices lower,” said Katie Denis, the association’s vice president of communications.

In the absence of federal policy, states have stepped in with their own laws, frustrating food companies and grocers. Florida and Nevada, for example, require “sell by” dates on shellfish and dairy, and Arizona requires “best by” or “use by” dates on eggs, according to Emily Broad Lieb, director of the Food Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School.

The confusion has led some companies, like Unilever, to support legislation currently in Congress that would standardize U.S. date labels and ensure that food could be donated to rescue organizations even after its quality date. At least 20 states currently prohibit the sale or donation of food after the date listed on the label because of liability fears, Lieb said.

Clearer labeling and donation rules could help nonprofits like Food Shift, which trains chefs using rescued food. It even makes dog treats from overripe bananas, recovered chicken fat and spent grain from a brewer, Apple said.

“We definitely need to be focusing more on doing these small actions like addressing expiration date labels, because even though it’s such a tiny part of this whole food waste issue, it can be very impactful,” Apple said.
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Monday is World Mental Health Day. To mark the day, the World Health Organization has launched a campaign to “raise awareness and spur action” in regions where there are high rates of death by suicide.

The world health body said that the pandemic has created “a global crisis for mental health,” in a statement Monday, adding that it is “fueling short- and long-term stresses and undermining the mental health of millions.” 

“Estimates put the rise in both anxiety and depressive disorders at more than 25% during the first year of the pandemic,” the U.N. agency said. “At the same time, mental health services have been severely disrupted and the treatment gap for mental health conditions has widened.”

The treatment of mental health issues is particularly acute in Africa where there is only one psychiatrist for every 500,000 people — 100 times less than WHO’s recommendation.

The WHO suicide prevention campaign in Africa aims to address the issue. In Africa, 11 people per 100,000 kill themselves, in comparison to the world average of 9 per 100,000. The continent has six of the 10 countries with the highest suicide rates.

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said “Significant investment must be made to tackle Africa’s growing burden of chronic diseases and non-infectious conditions such as mental disorders that can contribute to suicide.”

The mental healthcare initiatives that WHO is supporting in Africa include training primary healthcare workers in Zimbabwe to boost quality and access to mental health services.

“Mental health is integral to wholesome health and well-being yet far too many people in our region who need help for mental health conditions do not receive it. It’s time for radical change,” Dr. Moeti said.
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Older people with limited mobility and those with chronic health conditions requiring the use of electrically powered medical devices were especially vulnerable when Hurricane Ian slammed into Southwest Florida, and experts warn such risks to society’s oldest are growing as disasters increase with the impact of climate change.

Almost all of the dozens of people killed by Ian in hardest hit Lee County were 50 or older, with many in their 70s, 80s and even 90s. That’s highlighted the rising dangers for those least likely to be able to flee such disasters and those most likely to be impacted by the aftermath.

Climate change makes hurricanes wetter and more powerful, but it also increases the frequency of heat waves like ones that scorched the Pacific Northwest the last two summers, killing scores of mostly aged people. It’s also intensified drought-fueled wildfires like the inferno that incinerated the California town of Paradise in 2018, killing 85 people, again mostly older.

“It’s not terribly surprising that physically frail, socially isolated people are the most likely to die in these events. But it is politically significant,” said New York University sociology professor Eric Klinenberg. “If we know people are at risk, why aren’t we doing more to help them?”

Klinenberg, who wrote the book “Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago” about extreme heat that killed more than 700 mostly older and Black people in July 1995, called Ian a mere preview.

“We saw this happen in Chicago, in (Hurricane) Katrina, in (Superstorm) Sandy, and we are going to see more and more as the globe becomes increasingly hotter,” he said.

Florida in particular will feel the increased impact of climate-fueled disasters, sitting in the path of many Atlantic storms and with a large share of retirees drawn by warm weather, a vast coastline and relatively cheap housing. About 29% of Lee County’s population are 65 and older.

One of the more dramatic stories of Ian demonstrates the risks. Johnny Lauder’s 86-year-old mother Karen Lauder, who uses a wheelchair, initially refused to evacuate. But as the water inside her home began to rise nearly above her head, she was unable to flee and her son had to come rescue her in an ordeal he documented.

The extreme dangers some face when they lose power was especially clear in Lee County, where an 89-year-old man died after the electricity he needed for his oxygen went out and then his backup generator failed.

Florida has attempted to address some of these issues by setting up shelters where people with health conditions that require electricity for oxygen, dialysis and devices like ventilators can preregister to stay.

AARP Florida Director Jeff Johnson praised the special shelters, saying the state’s county emergency management agencies had modernized and improved evacuation operations the past two decades.

“There is room for improvement, but it would be wrong to say they aren’t doing anything,” he said.

Home-based networks that deliver care and services to older people, as well as neighborhood associations and faith communities can also help by checking on socially isolated older people, Johnson said.

Several hurricane survivors sat in wheelchairs Thursday outside one special shelter set up at an elementary school in Fort Myers.

Merrill Bauchert, 60, was staying there because Ian destroyed his home and he needs electricity for the CPAP machine he uses for severe sleep apnea.

Bauchert said dozens of residents from a senior living facility were staying there, many of them with mobility problems or dependent on electrical medical devices to stay alive.

Large oxygen tanks were used at first for people with breathing problems, he said, but those were later replaced with mechanical oxygen generators for individual use. Conditions have improved with restored water service, but the early days were tough, Bauchert said.

With many people too frail to go outside and no sewer service inside, using the restroom involved putting a plastic bag in a toilet and sitting down, sometimes with help.

“You were actually doing your business in a trash bag. Take the trash bag, tie it in a knot, throw it in the trash can and put another bag in for the next person,” he said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has recognized the disproportionate effect Ian had on the state’s older residents, and the need for local groups to help their recovery.

“It hit in areas that have a lot of elderly residents, and I’ve met a lot of the folks,” DeSantis said at a news conference Thursday. “So you’re somebody who’s maybe 85 years old. You may not be able to do the same home repair that you used to be able to do when you were younger.”

While the death toll of over 100 and property damage from Ian was catastrophic, Hurricane Katrina caused far more deaths and destruction in August 2005.

Researchers have concluded that nearly half of those killed by Katrina in Louisiana were 75 or older. A 2006 Senate Committee report noted a failure by all levels of government to effectively evacuate thousands of older, sick and disabled people from New Orleans as neighbors with cars fled the city.

Older people are also at risk from heat in the days and weeks after major storms.

After Hurricane Ida slammed Louisiana in 2021, of nine New Orleans residents killed by heat and 10 for whom heat was a contributing cause of death, only four — two in each group — were under the age of 60, according to information provided by the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office.

The aftereffects of Hurricane Irma in 2017 took an especially large toll. The direct impacts of the storm killed more than 90 people in the U.S., but researchers at the University of South Florida and Brown University found 433 additional residents at Florida nursing homes died within 90 days of the storm, compared to the same period in 2015, when there were no hurricanes.

The study was prompted by the heat-related deaths of 12 residents at a Broward County nursing home that occurred when the storm knocked out air conditioning and staff didn’t move them to another facility. An administrator and three nurses were later charged.

Klinenberg, the sociologist who wrote about the Chicago heat deaths, said the fault lies in how society cares for its elders not only during disasters, but daily.

“We live in an aging society and in a way we are victims of our own success,” he said. “Europe has the same problem. Also, Japan and Korea. People are living decades longer because of medical science, but we don’t know how to care for them.”
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The city of Philadelphia issued an apology Thursday for the unethical medical experiments performed on mostly Black inmates at its Holmesburg Prison from the 1950s through the 1970s.

The move comes after community activists and families of some of those inmates raised the need for a formal apology. It also follows a string of apologies from various U.S. cities over historically racist policies or wrongdoing in the wake of the nationwide racial reckoning after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. 

The city allowed University of Pennsylvania researcher Dr. Albert Kligman to conduct the dermatological, biochemical and pharmaceutical experiments that intentionally exposed about 300 inmates to viruses, fungus, asbestos and chemical agents including dioxin — a component of Agent Orange. The vast majority of Kligman’s experiments were performed on Black men, many of whom were awaiting trial and trying to save money for bail, and many of whom were illiterate, the city said.

Kligman, who would go on to pioneer the acne and wrinkle treatment Retin-A, died in 2010. Many of the former inmates would have lifelong scars and health issues from the experiments. A group of the inmates filed a lawsuit against the university and Kligman in 2000 that was ultimately thrown out because of a statute of limitations. 

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said in the apology that the experiments exploited a vulnerable population, and the impact of that medical racism has extended for generations.

“Without excuse, we formally and officially extend a sincere apology to those who were subjected to this inhumane and horrific abuse. We are also sorry it took far too long to hear these words,” Kenney wrote. 

Last year, the University of Pennsylvania issued a formal apology and took Kligman’s name off some honorifics like an annual lecture series and professorship. The university also directed research funds to fellows focused on dermatological issues in people of color.
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China’s annual Golden Week festivities wind down Friday under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic with sharply reduced travel, frequent COVID testing and tight security in the capital ahead of this month’s 20th Communist Party Congress.

As in the past two years, authorities have sought to discourage the popular practice of traveling to one’s hometown or village during the period surrounding the country’s national day in early October. At least 24 provinces and cities issued announcements urging people to “spend the holidays locally,” including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The advice has been followed by many Chinese, who prefer to stay close to home in order to avoid frequent COVID tests, ID checks and mandatory quarantines. Citizens were warned before the holiday to especially avoid 1,619 areas marked as “medium- or high-risk areas.”

“If you leave Beijing, even if just to the nearby Tianjin or Hebei Province, your health app on the phone could send you a message when you return, reminding you there were positive cases in the places you’ve been,” said Allen, a 51-year-old information technology worker who lives in Beijing. “Then you’d have to be quarantined at home. Traveling means trouble.”

Only 9.7 million people took to the nation’s railroads Oct. 1, the first day of the holiday, according to Shanghai’s Dragon TV. That compares to as many a 15 million rail passengers on the first day of pre-pandemic Golden Weeks. The Ministry of Transport had predicted that road traffic this week would drop by about 30% compared to the same period in 2021.

Many universities shortened the seven-day holiday season to three to five days, citing the risk of COVID.

The nation’s zero-COVID policy led to even more restrictions in a few locations. The government in northwestern Xinjiang stopped all passenger traffic out of the region on Tuesday. And in Xishuangbanna, a popular tourist destination in southern Yunnan province, residents and tourists were banned from leaving the city after a few positive cases were found.

Security measures further dampened the festive mood in Beijing, where 2,296 delegates will soon begin arriving for the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, which starts Oct. 16.

Authorities are determined to avoid any disruption of the event, where President Xi Jinping is expected to be re-elected to a historic third term as general secretary of the party. Police patrols have increased, and IDs are being checked more frequently.

Anti-COVID measures have been stepped up at airports at the request of the Beijing municipal government. Travelers from areas with confirmed COVID cases within the past seven days have not been allowed to enter the capital at all.

Visitors already in Beijing have been advised not to attend social events or enter crowded public places within seven days after arrival. They are also required to be tested twice within three days of their arrival.

Allen, the information technology worker, told VOA Mandarin the atmosphere in Beijing’s neighborhoods always becomes tense ahead of major political events like the Communist Party Congress.

At such times, “community volunteers” with red armbands patrol residential neighborhoods looking for “suspicious people,” he said, and plainclothes public security officers are evident in large numbers in politically significant locations such as Tiananmen Square and the Great Hall of the People.

Ms. Huang, a 42-year-old Beijing resident who works in the cultural innovation industry, said many people have grown numb to the incessant COVID testing they must undergo.

“In Beijing we have to do a test almost every 72 hours. Sometimes I forget when I’m busy with work, but when I take a subway or bus, or go shopping, my health app reminds me it’s time to do it again. It is quite inconvenient,” she said in an interview.

“People are becoming used to it, but it doesn’t mean people support it. There’s just nothing they can do about it,” she said.

Wu Se-Chih, deputy secretary-general of Strategy and Public Institute in Taiwan, said in an interview he believes the Chinese authorities have found the anti-COVID measures provide them with convenient methods of social control that will outlive the pandemic.

“The so-called stability maintaining measure will only become more frequent before the 20th Party Congress,” he said. “I even think after the congress, especially in early next year before the National People’s Congress in March, we won’t see any of these measures loosened at all.” 
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Australian scientists are trying to grow plants on the moon by 2025 in a new mission unveiled Friday that they said could help pave the way for a future colony.

Plant biologist Brett Williams, from the Queensland University of Technology, said seeds would be carried by the Beresheet 2 spacecraft, a private Israeli moon mission.

They would be watered inside the sealed chamber after landing and monitored for signs of germination and growth. 

Plants will be chosen based on how well they cope in extreme conditions and how quickly they germinate, he said. 

One likely choice is an Australian “resurrection grass” that can survive without water in a dormant state. 

“The project is an early step towards growing plants for food, medicine and oxygen production, which are all crucial to establishing human life on the moon,” the researchers said in a statement. 

Caitlin Byrt, an associate professor from the Australian National University in Canberra, said the research was also relevant to food security fears driven by climate change.  

“If you can create a system for growing plants on the moon, then you can create a system for growing food in some of the most challenging environments on Earth,” Byrt said in a statement.  

The Lunaria One organization is running the project, which involves scientists from Australia and Israel. 

 
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Lebanon reported its first case of cholera since 1993, Health Minister Firas Abiad said Thursday.

The case, recorded Wednesday, was from the rural northern province of Akkar, Abiad said, adding the infected person was a Syrian national who was receiving treatment.

Akkar province borders Syria, where a cholera outbreak has infected more than 10,000 people and killed at least 39, according to the Syrian Ministry of Health. The country declared an outbreak on September 10.

Richard Brennan, regional emergency director of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, said, “Cross-border spread is a concern. We’re taking significant precautions.”

He said the WHO has been talking to officials in countries bordering Syria, including Lebanon, to bring in the supplies necessary to respond to possible cholera cases.

Cholera is caused by consuming water or food contaminated with cholera bacteria, often transmitted through poor sanitation methods, according to the World Health Organization. Symptoms can include severe watery diarrhea, vomiting and muscle cramps, the WHO said. It added that while cholera can kill within hours if untreated, most of those affected have no or mild symptoms.

Lebanon has suffered a series of hardships, starting nearly four years ago with an economic and financial crisis, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic and a horrific explosion at the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020.

The resulting economic collapse has plunged three-quarters of Lebanon’s population into poverty.

Lebanon’s “low-grade infrastructure” includes “a dysfunctional electricity sector, water supply shortages, and inadequate solid waste and wastewater management,” the World Bank reported in October 2021.

Abiad said the health care sector “would struggle to cope with a large-scale [cholera] outbreak” despite humanitarian aid.

The WHO’s Brennan said, “Protecting the most vulnerable will be absolutely vital.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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