Category: Australasia

Australasian Coronavirus News

Preprint: Enhanced Fusogenicity of BA.4, BA.5 and BA.2.12.1

“We found that the new Omicron subvariants BA.4/5 and BA.2.12.1 were more resistant to neutralization by mRNA-vaccinated and boosted health care worker sera and Omicron-BA.1-wave patient sera than were the BA.1 and BA.2 variants.”… ...More...

Coronaheadsup.com Asia, Australia, BA.2, BA.2.12.1, BA.4, BA.5, Coronavirus, Europe, Evolution, Genome, Infection, Moderna, Pfizer/Biontech, Testing, Transmission, USA, Vaccine

WHO: 14.9 million excess deaths associated with COVID-19

New estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that the full death toll associated directly or indirectly with the COVID-19 pandemic (described as “excess mortality”) between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021 was approximately 14.9 million (range 13.3 million to 16.6 million).  … ...More...

Coronaheadsup.com Africa, America, Asia, Australasia, Coronavirus, Deaths, Europe, Health, Infection, Transmission

BMJ: If we are no longer following the science, what are we following?

British ministers have now abandoned any pretence that they are “following the science” on Covid-19.

In their minutes from 10 February 2022, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) warned against removing access to free testing as it would make it harder for people to take precautionary measures and increase anxiety among those who are clinically vulnerable.… ...More...

Coronaheadsup.com Africa, America, Asia, Australasia, Coronavirus, Deaths, England, Europe, Evolution, Gorillas, Health, Hospitalization, Infection, Long Covid, Mental Heath, Monkeys, Propaganda, Science, Transmission

Preprint: Beta-amyloid deposits found in brains of young Covid patients

This report describes a relatively young (< 60 y/o) COVID patient without known clinical evidence of dementia who at autopsy had large numbers of thioflavin-negative, immunoreactive β-amyloid deposits in her neocortex.… ...More...

Coronaheadsup.com Africa, America, Asia, Australasia, Coronavirus, Deaths, Elderly, Europe, Hospitalization, Infection, Long Covid, Mental Heath, Side Effects, Symptoms

Animal vaccines made with self-spreading viruses

Self-spreading virus vaccines for animals are being researched in Europe and the US.

“In Spain scientists are currently vaccinating pigs with self-spreading viruses (that have not been modified in a laboratory) against African swine fever as part of contained experiments.… ...More...

Coronaheadsup.com Africa, America, Animals, Asia, Australasia, Coronavirus, Europe, Health, Infection, Recombination, Superspreader events, Transmission, Vaccine

Lancet: 18 million dead from the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic

Although reported COVID-19 deaths between Jan 1, 2020, and Dec 31, 2021, totalled 5·94 million worldwide, we estimate that 18·2 million people died worldwide because of the COVID-19 pandemic (as measured by excess mortality) over that period.… ...More...

Coronaheadsup.com Africa, Alpha, America, Asia, Australasia, Beta, Coronavirus, Deaths, Delta, Elderly, Epsilon, Europe, Gamma, Hospitalization, Infection, Iota, Lambda, MU, Omicron

Is the global Sars-CoV-2 decline already petering out? *4 UPDATES & 1 PREDICTION*

Is the Omicron decline already petering out? There’s not much to go on yet, a few stutters in the world cases chart, some countries starting to see new surges, but it all looks vaguely familiar.… ...More...

Coronaheadsup.com Africa, America, Asia, Australasia, Coronavirus, Deaths, Europe, Hong Kong, Hospitalization, Infection, Omicron, Transmission, USA, Vaccine Breakthrough, Vaccine Waning