Heartwarming footage from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in southwest China's Sichuan Province shows the female giant panda cub Ya Song sleeping peacefully in her keeper's arms before settling comfortably onto the keeper's lap.
Filmed at the base's Moonlight Delivery House for Giant Pandas, the endearing clip captures the tender interaction between the young panda and her caretaker, as she first nestles snugly in the keeper's embrace for a nap, then shifts to rest on the keeper's lap, creating a warm and soothing scene.
Ya Song, the charming cub featured in the video, was born on July 31, 2021 at the Chengdu base. Her mother is the giant panda Ya Li.
The Chengdu base is a world-renowned facility for ex-situ conservation, scientific research and breeding, public education, and eco-tourism. It is globally recognized for protecting and breeding endangered Chinese wildlife species such as giant pandas and red pandas.
Giant panda cub naps cozily in caretaker's arms
Ugandan scientists are accelerating vaccine research and development efforts to curb the Bundibugyo strain of the ongoing Ebola outbreak, which is spreading across the country and in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Scientists at the Uganda Virus Research Institute are collaborating with global health organizations and pharmaceutical companies in developing an effective vaccine.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Bundibugyo virus, which currently lacks approved vaccines or specific therapeutics, is one of three ebolavirus species that cause large Ebola outbreaks, alongside the Zaire and Sudan viruses.
Pontiano Kaleebu, director of the Uganda Virus Research Institute, told CGTN (The China Global Television Network) that researchers at the institute are examining whether existing Ebola vaccine options can offer protection for the Bundibugyo virus, and they are also studying whether experimental drugs used to treat other Ebola strains can work against the new strain.
"The health workers got some of these vaccines for Zaire, and if you boost them with another vaccine - let's say the Sudan vaccine [which is] not yet licensed but available - do you broaden the immune response and [make] people protected?" Kaleebu said in a recent interview.
Although uncertainties remain, ongoing clinical trials are designed to provide clearer answers.
Researchers are also exploring options for conducting trials in both Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), including the use of antibodies from Ebola survivors.
According to Kaleebu, similar tests were conducted during the West African Ebola outbreak in 2014-2016, and the results were successful.
"We already have individuals who got infected with Zaire, those who got infected with Bundibugyo, those who got infected with Sudan. If you get their antibodies, can they kill the other one, can someone who has antibodies against Zaire, can those antibodies work against Budibugyo? Those lab studies are also being planned," he said.
The WHO says a promising vaccine trial by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative could be available in as little as seven months.
Following a visit to an Ebola isolation unit at a hospital in Uganda's capital Kampala on Monday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighted the need to accelerate research and development efforts, including work currently underway on monoclonal antibodies and antiviral treatments for Ebola. He noted that investment in vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics remains critical for future outbreak preparedness.
He also reaffirmed WHO's commitment to supporting Uganda's response and emphasized that governments must remain at the center of emergency response efforts.
"There are other support we give - I already told you the emergency medical team, I mean the emergency medical training we started many years ago and many Ugandans were certified, I think I had 148 [of them] - that helps in preparedness and that helps in response," the WHO chief said.
According to the WHO and health authorities in both Uganda and the DRC, most of the 19 confirmed Ebola cases in Uganda are imported from the DRC, where the latest outbreak was declared by its health ministry in mid-May, with the confirmed infections rising to 689 and the death toll reaching 139 as of Friday.
Uganda fast-tracks vaccine development for Bundibugyo Ebola strain
