France has lowered the age of its mask mandate to 6-year-old children, officials announced Saturday. The news comes just days before schools reopen Monday, following the winter holiday break. While the mandate requires children to wear masks in indoor public places, the mandate will also include outside locations in cities …

India’s health ministry reported 22,775 new cases of the coronavirus Saturday, saying the new cases bring the country’s omicron variant count to 1,431. Public health officials, however, have warned that the country’s COVID-19 tallies are likely undercounted. The Sydney Morning Herald reported Saturday that paramedics in the Australian state of …

Pakistan says it has administered 155 million COVID-19 vaccine doses as of Friday, fully vaccinating 70 million people, or 30% of the country’s total population, since launching the inoculation drive in February. The South Asian nation of about 220 million reported its first case in early 2020 and since then …

Record snowfalls in the western United States that closed roads and caused flight delays also brought some good news for drought-hit California on Thursday, with officials saying the state’s snowpack is now well above normal.  After a string of mountain blizzards, snowpack measured at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada …

South Africa has lifted a midnight-to-4 a.m. curfew on people’s movement, effective immediately, saying the country has passed the peak of its fourth COVID-19 wave driven by the omicron variant, a government statement said Thursday.  However, wearing a face mask in public places remains mandatory. Failure to wear a mask …

Health authorities in the United States are sounding the alarm again, saying Americans could experience disruptions in the coming weeks because of the rapid spread of the omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19.  The U.S has reported record numbers of cases two days in a row, Reuters reported, …

NASA successfully launched its much-anticipated next-generation space telescope.  Now come weeks of nervousness for project scientists who can only hope the next steps go as planned.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space.  Produced by: Arash Arabasadi  Camera :  AP/ NASA TV/ PURDUE UNIVERSITY/ YOUTUBE NASA/  “ARMAGEDDON” / TOUCHSTONE PICTURES – JERRY BRUCKHEIMER FILMS/ NASA JOHNS HOPKINS …

The top infectious disease expert in the United States is urging Americans to avoid taking part in mass New Year’s Eve celebrations as the nation continues to set record-breaking levels of daily new coronavirus infections driven by the highly contagious omicron variant. The U.S. posted 489,267 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins …

Tidal waves and coastal erosion have submerged an entire fishing community on Ghana’s eastern coast. Many villagers had already been relocated from past tidal waves and have petitioned the government for a permanent solution. Senanu Tord reports from the village of Fuvemeh in Ghana.  Camera: Senanu Tord    …

The World Health Organization is warning that the rapid circulation of the omicron and delta variants of the coronavirus is leading to a tsunami of cases, severe disease and surging deaths among the unvaccinated. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that while science had led to the development of COVID-19 …

The United States recorded more than 512,000 daily new coronavirus cases Tuesday – the single highest one-day number of cases recorded since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data released by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center The one-day record coincides with a New York Times database showing the seven-day average of cases in …

The growing issue of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans is affecting coastal marine life, transporting many species to areas of the open ocean, surprising researchers.  A group of U.S. and Canadian marine and environmental scientists were amazed to find that some species are thriving on plastic trash floating in …

Beijing on Tuesday accused the United States of irresponsible and unsafe conduct in space over two “close encounters” between the Chinese space station and satellites operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.  Tiangong, China’s new space station, had to maneuver to avoid colliding with one Starlink satellite in July and another in …

Researchers in South Africa have discovered that people who have been infected with the omicron variant of the coronavirus develop enhanced immunity to the older delta variant.  The conclusion is the result of a new study conducted at Durban-based Africa Health Research Institute involving 33 vaccinated and unvaccinated people. The …

The U.S. flu season has arrived on schedule after taking a year off, with flu hospitalizations rising and two child deaths reported.  Last year’s flu season was the lowest on record, probably because COVID-19 measures — such as school closures, distancing, masks and canceled travel — prevented the spread of …

While the COVID-19 crisis dominated headlines for a second year, the climate crisis kept intensifying. VOA’s Steve Baragona has a look back at 2021’s major events in climate change. …

Doctors in Israel began administering a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine Monday as part of a trial study to determine if the extra shot can boost immunity against the virus.  The trial study involving about 150 staffers at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv comes just days after a special …

Australia’s most populous state reported a record number of new COVID-19 cases on Sunday and a sharp jump in hospitalizations while thousands of people were isolating at home after contracting the virus or coming into contact with someone who has. New South Wales reported 6,394 new infections, up from 6,288 …

Three members of the K-pop superstar group BTS have tested positive for the coronavirus after returning from abroad, their management agency said. RM and Jin were diagnosed with COVID-19 on Saturday evening, the Big Hit Music agency said in a statement. It earlier said another member, Suga, tested positive for …

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, built to give the world a glimpse of the universe as it existed when the first galaxies formed, was launched by rocket early Saturday from South America’s northeastern coast, opening a new era of astronomy. The revolutionary $9 billion infrared telescope, hailed by NASA as …

Hundreds of thousands of people in the Philippines, Asia’s largest Roman Catholic nation, marked Christmas on Saturday without homes, adequate food and water, electricity and cellphone connections after a powerful typhoon left at least 375 people dead last week and devastated mostly central island provinces. Elsewhere, New Zealanders are celebrating …

Despite a second year of travel restrictions because of COVID-19, the town of Bethlehem, the site of Jesus’ birth, is reviving its annual Christmas Eve celebration. “Last year, our festival was virtual, but this year it will be face to face with popular participation,” Bethlehem Mayor Anton Salman told the …

US President Joe Biden says defeating the coronavirus pandemic – both at home and around the world – is his top priority. VOA looks at how he handled this unprecedented global and domestic challenge during his first year as president, with this report from White House correspondent Anita Powell. …

While many countries are fighting off their worst coronavirus outbreaks yet, Japan is detecting hardly any COVID-19 infections at all. Observers are trying to figure out why. As recently as late summer, Japan’s coronavirus outlook wasn’t great. An outbreak coinciding with the Tokyo Olympics was killing dozens per day and …

Worried that a new COVID-19 wave could overwhelm understaffed U.S. hospitals, federal officials on Thursday loosened rules that call on health care workers to stay out of work for 10 days if they test positive. Those workers will now be allowed to come back to work after seven days if …