HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

February 12, 2020 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Wuhan coronavirus has now killed more people worldwide than SARS (CNN)
• Coronavirus 'could infect 60% of global population if unchecked'  (Guardian)
• Baby tests positive for coronavirus just 30 hours after birth (CBS)
• The coronavirus crisis could shut auto plants around the world (CNN)
• Cruise ship coronavirus infections double, exceeding the total for any country but China (Washington Post)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• Ancestry Fights The US Government As Feds Try To Grab DNA Data (Forbes)
• Twitter to label deepfakes and other deceptive media (Reuters)
• Don’t sell my data! We finally have a law for that (Washington Post)
• Solar orbiter: Sun mission blasts off (BBC)
• Amazon wants to question Trump over loss of $10bn 'war cloud' contract (Guardian)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

HEALTH

Wuhan coronavirus has now killed more people worldwide than SARS (CNN)

The global death toll from the Wuhan coronavirus is at least 805, surpassing the number of fatalities from the deadly 2003 SARS outbreak.

Coronavirus 'could infect 60% of global population if unchecked'  (Guardian)

The coronavirus epidemic could spread to about two-thirds of the world’s population if it cannot be controlled, according to Hong Kong’s leading public health epidemiologist. His warning came after the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said recent cases of coronavirus patients who had never visited China could be the “tip of the iceberg”

Baby tests positive for coronavirus just 30 hours after birth (CBS)

The coronavirus has infected at least 24,000 people worldwide, and officials in China now say the youngest person with the illness is a newborn baby who was infected just 30 hours after being born. The state-run news site XinhuaNet says…that according to medical experts, it may be a case of mother-to-child transmission. Reuters reports state broadcaster CCTV is now warning that pregnant women with the coronavirus may be able to pass it along to their unborn children. 

The coronavirus crisis could shut auto plants around the world (CNN)

The human cost of China's coronavirus outbreak is tragic, mounting and already readily apparent. The cost to businesses around the world could also become severe in the coming weeks. Manufacturers around the world have come to depend on parts from China to keep their own supply chains going. Experts fear that factories across the globe could ground to a halt if many of the plants across China remain closed this coming week.

Cruise ship coronavirus infections double, exceeding the total for any country but China (Washington Post)

The number of people with coronavirus on a cruise ship in the port of Yokohama, Japan  nearly doubled to 135 Monday, prompting imperiled crew members to plead for help and setting off debate among experts over whether the more than 3,700 people quarantined aboard should be taken ashore or left on the ship. Eleven Americans were among the 65 people aboard the Diamond Princess who were newly diagnosed with the respiratory infection, giving the ship the largest number of infections outside China.

SCIENCE AND TECH

Ancestry Fights The US Government As Feds Try To Grab DNA Data (Forbes)

Ancestry has revealed it is fighting the U.S. government over an order to hand over DNA data.  This is only the second-known case in which the leading family history company has been served with a warrant demanding genetic information on its users.

Twitter to label deepfakes and other deceptive media (Reuters)

Twitter (TWTR.N) said on Tuesday it would start applying a label to tweets containing synthetic or deceptively edited forms of media, as social media platforms brace for a potential onslaught of misinformation ahead of the 2020 presidential election. The company also said it would remove any deliberately misleading manipulated media likely to cause harm, including content that could result in threats to physical safety, widespread civil unrest, voter suppression or privacy risks.

Don’t sell my data! We finally have a law for that (Washington Post)

How to take advantage of America's first broad data privacy law, the California Consumer Privacy Act — even if you don't live in California.

Solar orbiter: Sun mission blasts off (BBC)

Europe's audacious Solar Orbiter probe has lifted off on its quest to study the Sun from close quarters.

Amazon wants to question Trump over loss of $10bn 'war cloud' contract (Guardian)

Company claims president’s interference harmed its chances of receiving military contract that was eventually awarded to Microsoft.