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...
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...
2020 research: Hepatitis is common in children with Covid-19 MIS-C
“Hepatitis is common in children with MIS-C and is associated with a more severe presentation and persistent elevation of LFTs in many.”… ...More...
Long Covid: 49% of COVID-19 survivors have persistent symptoms
Worldwide, 49% of COVID-19 survivors reported persistent symptoms 4 months after diagnosis, estimates a meta-analysis of 31 studies published late last week in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.… ...More...
China: 16 cases of Omicron BA.2.3 reported in Yantai, Shandong
16 cases of Omicron BA.2.3, were reported on Monday in Yantai, East China’s Shandong Province, the first time the strain has been detected in the Chinese mainland.… ...More...
UK study: Only a quarter of hospitalized Covid patients are fully recovered after one year
A UK study of more than 2,000 patients after hospitalization with COVID-19 shows only around 1 in 4 feel fully recovered after one year.… ...More...
Australia: 12 Deltacron cases in Queensland, 1 in New South Wales
12 cases of the new Deltacron Covid strain have been detected in Queensland just hours after first appearing Australia.… ...More...
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...
Global: SARS-CoV-2 deaths at lowest level since March 2020
The global death rate from SARS-CoV-2 is plummeting. The death toll from the coronavirus on 27th March 2022 was just 2,309 according OWD.… ...More...
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...
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...
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...
Covid-19: Six million deaths recorded in just over two years *1 PREDICTION*
More than six million deaths have been recorded in the Covid-19 pandemic that started just over two years ago.… ...More...
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...