Category: Health
WHO: 800 million Covid infections in Africa
Up to 65% of Africans have been infected by SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19, a World Health Organization (WHO) analysis finds. More...
UK ONS: 2.7% of the British population reporting Long Covid symptoms
An estimated 1.7 million people living in private households in the UK (2.7% of the population) were experiencing self-reported long COVID as of 5 March 2022
The estimates presented in this analysis relate to self-reported long COVID, as experienced by study participants who responded to a representative survey, rather than clinically diagnosed ongoing symptomatic COVID-19 or post-COVID-19 syndrome in the full population. More...
France: XD Deltacron recombinant update
France has issued its latest epidemiological update which gives more details on the growth and characteristics of the XD Deltacron recombinant. More...
UK: XE growth rate now 12.6% higher than BA.2
“Earlier published growth rates for XE were not significantly different from BA.2, but using the most recent data up to 30 March 2022, XE has a growth rate 12.6% above that of BA.2. More...
China: 24,000 Covid cases reported in new pandemic high
China has reported 24,101 new Covid cases on 8th April 2022, with Shanghai accounting for more than 21,000 of those cases. More...
Preprint: L452R mutation increases Omicron variant fusogenicity and infectivity
Here, we developed an L452R mutated Omicron variant (Omicron-L452R) and found that the Omicron-L452R variant rescued fusogenicity and strengthened the high infectivity by enhancing the cleavage of the spike protein. More...
Research: 90% of SARS-CoV-2 viral transmission is cell-to-cell
“The results indicated that around 90 percent of viral transmission was cell-to-cell, possibly via fusion between neighboring infected and uninfected cells. More...
EMA: “Too early to consider using a fourth dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines”
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and EMA’s COVID-19 task force (ETF) have concluded that it is too early to consider using a fourth dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer’s Comirnaty and Moderna’s Spikevax) in the general population. More...
USA: Biden White House Memorandum on Long Covid
MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
SUBJECT: Addressing the Long-Term Effects of COVID-19
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. More...
Preprint: 100% symptomatic infection with XD recombinant
“This recombinant (XD) exhibits immune escape properties similar to Omicron, while its behavior in mice expressing the human ACE2 receptor is more similar to Delta.” More...