VOA news for Tuesday, May 5th, 2020
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This is VOA news. Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton.
The U.S. Senate returned to session on Monday more than five weeks after the coronavirus pandemic ended formal work on Capitol Hill. While the U.S. House of Representatives delayed a return for at least one more week, Senate leadership is examining ways to catch up either remotely or in person on the legislative branch's essential oversight and spending powers.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has already warned House members to keep their schedules open to accommodate longer work weeks to make up for the time out of session.
Traditionally, Congress recesses in August and keeps a light schedule in the fall of election years to allow House members to campaign for re-election in their [homes] home districts. A third of the senators are also up for re-election this year and will need time to campaign.
The National Institutes of Health says it has begun a study to help determine the infection rate of COVID-19 in U.S. children and their families.
The government-funded study will try to assess what percentage of children infected with the coronavirus develop symptoms of COVID-19. The study will also analyze whether rates of the viral infection vary between children with asthma and allergies and those without.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the U.S. Institute [on] of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the study will help determine why children, on average, are less likely to become sick with COVID-19 than adults.
The World Health Organization hailed the billions of dollars raised Monday during a teleconference of world leaders to boost development of a coronavirus vaccine as a strong show of "global solidarity.”
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual briefing that was a "powerful and inspiring demonstration." They raised $8.1 billion.
From Washington, you're listening to VOA news.
The White House is downplaying a U.S. government report projecting a near doubling of COVID-19 daily deaths in the United States by June 1.
White House spokesman Judd Deere took issue Monday with a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that also forecasts about 200,000 new coronavirus cases each day by the end of the month. That's up from 25,000 cases now.
The information is based on government modeling pulled together in chart form by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and published Monday by The New York Times.
In a statement Monday, Deere said it was not a "White House document nor has it been presented to the Coronavirus Task Force or gone through interagency vetting." The spokesman also said, "the health of the American people remains President Trump's top priority, and that will continue as we monitor [the if] the efforts by states to ease restrictions.”
The government report said the number of coronavirus fatalities could reach 3,000 a day in four weeks, up sharply from the current figure of about 1,750, according to The New York Times.
The [U.S.] United States has sought to combat the spread of the coronavirus for about seven weeks, but President Donald Trump has ended his stay-at-home directives that shut down much of the U.S. economy through April.
Iran's Health Ministry spokesperson said in a statement on state TV Monday the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in that country rose by 74 in the past 24 hours to almost 6,300.
He said the total number of diagnosed cases of coronavirus in Iran, one of the countries hardest hit by the outbreak in the Middle East, has reached nearly 98,700.
On Monday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration tightened its oversight of coronavirus antibody tests after the market was flooded with the unproven tests.
Companies selling antibody tests, which determine whether someone has been infected with COVID-19 in the past, must submit data to prove their accuracy, according to the FDA. The agency had previously allowed companies to validate their own data.
Hundreds of South African health workers were given a century-old tuberculosis vaccine on Monday in a trial to see whether the formula can protect against the coronavirus.
Devised at France's legendary Pasteur Institute 100 years ago, the BCG vaccine is one of the world's oldest and most trusted immunizations.
Trials started in Cape Town, where BCG booster shots were administered to 250 health-care workers. Another 250 received placebo shots.
And Italy is among the countries easing social distancing restrictions on Monday, including reopening factories, construction sites, hair dressers and libraries.
Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton. This is VOA news.

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