Italy's Lombardy region orders new anti-virus measures

The Italian region of Lombardy, the first European epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, has ordered all bars to shut at midnight from Saturday as it battles a second wave of the disease.

South Africa passes 700,000 coronavirus cases

The number of people in South Africa who have tested positive for coronavirus has topped 700,000, official figures showed overnight, another grim milestone for the continent's worst-hit country.

DR Congo's latest Ebola outbreak 'under control'

The latest Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo is now under control, the man leading the fight against the disease said on Saturday.

Creditors back plan to get India's Jet Airways flying again

Creditors on Saturday backed a surprise plan by a consortium to revive Jet Airways 18 months after India's biggest private airline went bankrupt with $1.2 billion in debt.

Pakistan foils attempt to smuggle endangered falcons

Pakistani authorities said Saturday they had foiled an attempt to smuggle dozens of endangered falcons worth more than one million dollars out of the country.

Curfew begins for 20 million French people

Some 20 million French people are preparing to spend their first evening under curfew on Saturday, a measure taken by the government after an alarming surge in new coronavirus cases.

Tanzania says Kilimanjaro blaze contained

An inferno on the slopes of Africa's highest mountain Kilimanjaro was almost under control Saturday, six days after it broke out, authorities said.

UK Space Agency backs medical drone delivery project

A medical drone delivery service founded by trainee doctors that aims to transport coronavirus samples, test kits and protective equipment between hospitals has won the backing of Britain's Space Agency.

Rural Midwest hospitals struggling to handle virus surge

Rural Jerauld County in South Dakota didn't see a single case of the coronavirus for more than two months stretching from June to August. But over the last two weeks, its rate of new cases per person soared to one of the highest in the nation.

New virus restrictions in Europe; Merkel warns of hard days

Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans to come together like they did in the spring to slow the spread of the coronavirus as the country posted another daily record of new cases Saturday.

Slovakia to test whole country for coronavirus

Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic said Saturday the eurozone member will test every resident ages 10 and up for the coronavirus, amid an uptick in infections.

As US battles COVID-19, flu shot misinfo spreads

US health officials are pushing Americans to get vaccinated against the flu to help prevent hospitals already busy battling COVID-19 from being overwhelmed this winter, but false claims are threatening their efforts.

Engineers' report bolsters proposed Mississippi pump project

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Friday published a draft of a new environmental impact statement that supports a proposal for massive pumps to drain floodwaters from parts of the rural Mississippi Delta—a reversal of a previous federal report that said the project would hurt wetlands.

Results from the DEFINE-FLOW study reported

A new observational study of deferred lesions following combined fractional flow reserve (FFR) and coronary flow reserve (CFR) assessments found that untreated vessels with abnormal FFR but intact CFR do not have non-inferior outcomes compared to those with an FFR greater than 0.8 and a CFR greater than or equal to two when treated medically.

Physiology-guided percutaneous coronary intervention optimization strategy may lead to improved outcomes

Results from the randomized controlled TARGET FFR trial show that while a physiology-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) optimization strategy did not achieve a significant increase in the proportion of patients with final FFR ≥0.90, it reduced the proportion of patients with a residual FFR ≤0.80 following PCI.

Results from the FORECAST trial reported

In the FORECAST randomized clinical trial, the use of fractional flow reserve management derived from computed tomography (FFRCT) did not significantly reduce costs but did reduce the use of invasive coronary angiography (ICA).

Study reveals kidney disease or injury is associated with much higher risk of mortality for COVID-19 patients in ICU

New research published in Anaesthesia (a journal of the Association of Anaesthetists) reveals the much higher risk of mortality faced by COVID-19 patients in intensive care who have chronic kidney disease (CKD) or, those who develop new (acute) kidney injury (AKI) as a result of developing COVID-19.

'Classified knots': Researchers create optical framed knots to encode information

In a world first, researchers from the University of Ottawa in collaboration with Israeli scientists have been able to create optical framed knots in the laboratory that could potentially be applied in modern technologies. Their work opens the door to new methods of distributing secret cryptographic keys—used to encrypt and decrypt data, ensure secure communication and protect private information. The group recently published their findings in Nature Communications.