IAN LEE:
00:00:13
Good morning, Cristina. Japan's Health Ministry said foreign materials were found in some of the roughly 560,000 vials of the Moderna vaccine. And this is bad news for Japan as the country continues to deal with record-breaking numbers of new coronavirus infections. Moderna put the batches, which equal more than 1.5 million doses, on hold out of abundance of caution. The company said the issue is likely from its manufacturing site in Spain. An emergency examination of the vials was quickly conducted, but no further details were given. Japan's Health Ministry has published the batch number so folks can check to see if they got a potentially contaminated shot. We are moving on to Australia, where they are also dealing with their worst COVID-19 outbreak. New daily cases topped 1,000 for the first time since the pandemic began. In Sydney, two major hospitals set up emergency outdoor tents to deal with the rise in patients. The city has been the epicenter of this latest wave driven by the Delta variant. The health care system is under pressure, but officials hope it can deal with the current crisis until vaccination rates rise. So far, a little over half of the country has received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine. Next, we have an update in the battle against malaria. A new study suggests a different approach to battling the virus could reduce deaths and illness among children by 70%. UK researchers said by giving kids a vaccine before the worst of the rainy season in addition to preventative drugs produced a very striking result. No concerning side effects were found during this trial. And this is all good news since most of the 400,000 people who die from malaria every year are children. Finally the deep blue sea just got a little greener. A Norwegian company has created the world's first zero-emission autonomous cargo ship. Its maiden voyage is set for later this year. It will journey between two towns in Norway. If all goes to plan, it won't have any crew on board but will be monitored by three offshore data control centers. And this is a big deal, as the shipping industry contributes roughly 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions every year. Christina, let me give you the specs of this ship. So it'll use a 7-megawatt-hour battery, which is about 1,000 times the capacity of an electric car. It can carry 103 containers and move at a top speed of 13 knots or about 15 miles an hour, so not breakneck speed. - Ian Lee, thank you very much.
