Reported News That Was Quickly Dropped & Never Heard of Again
A staff member at a testing centre in Halifax, England, takes a covid-nineteen lateral flow test on 4 Jan
OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images
Latest coronavirus news as of 11am four April
The symptom list has been expanded days after officials concluded costless universal testing in England
For most of the pandemic, the NHS in England has only recognised three covid-19 symptoms: fever, a new and continuous cough, or a loss of taste or olfactory property – which many experts considered too limited.
At present, equally four.9 meg people were estimated to be infected in the United kingdom in the week ending 26 March, the NHS has expanded its symptom listing to include:
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- Shortness of breath
- Fatigue or exhaustion
- Body aches
- A headache
- A sore pharynx
- A blocked or runny olfactory organ
- Loss of ambition
- Diarrhoea
- Nausea or vomiting
This listing more closely matches that of the The states Centers for Illness Command and Prevention, which recognised many of these symptoms early in the pandemic.
The NHS' listing stops brusk of some of the World Health Organisation'southward (WHO) symptoms, however, which as well considers skin rashes, red or irritated eyes, or discolouration of the fingers or toes to exist less common signs of infection. Chest pain, defoliation, or a loss of voice communication or mobility can occur in astringent cases, according to WHO.
Writing on Twitter, Tim Spector, lead scientist of the Zoe covid-xix symptom tracker app, said: "NHS official Main symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) take finally inverse later on 2 years of lobbying and Zoe app user input – hurrah!"
Last calendar month, Spector said the United kingdom's narrow symptom list was probably contributing to its infection surge.
"Many people are no longer isolating when they have symptoms, either because they experience they don't take to anymore or because they or their employers even so don't recognise symptoms like runny nose or sore pharynx as covid," he said.
Other coronavirus news
Covid-nineteen vaccines are being rolled out for five- to 11-yr-olds in England. In Feb, the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said two low-dose vaccines, administered 12 weeks apart, would prevent "a very minor number of children from serious illness and hospitalisation" in any future covid-19 wave. Vaccination programmes were already underway for this age grouping in the rest of the UK.
Shanghai'due south recorded covid-nineteen cases are increasing. The locked-down metropolis in Mainland china recently extended its restrictions, despite initial signs that infections may be declining. On April 3, Shanghai reported 8581 new asymptomatic covid-xix cases and 425 symptomatic cases, compared with 7788 new asymptomatic cases and 438 symptomatic cases the day earlier.
Bizarre lockdown dreams may accept reflected our claustrophobia and sense of being out of command. University College London researchers analysed more than 850 dreams submitted online to the Lockdown Dreams project between March 2022 and March 2021. From 23 March to xv June 2020, which corresponds with the Great britain's start lockdown, just over seven in x (71 per cent) of the participants reported having more vivid dreams, compared with pre-pandemic. These included being locked indoors or unable to get to loved ones standing outside.
Essential data about coronavirus
Where did coronavirus come up from? And other covid-xix questions answered
What is covid-19?
Covid-xix vaccines: Everything yous need to know about the leading shots
Long covid: Practice I have it, how long will it last and can we treat it?
What's the fairest mode to share covid-19 vaccines around the world?
Covid-nineteen: The story of a pandemic
What to read, picket and heed to near coronavirus
New Scientist Weekly features updates and assay on the latest developments in the covid-19 pandemic. Our podcast sees expert journalists from the magazine discuss the biggest science stories to hit the headlines each week – from engineering and infinite, to health and the environment.
The Spring is a BBC Radio 4 series exploring how viruses can cross from animals into humans to crusade pandemics. The first episode examines the origins of the covid-19 pandemic.
Why Is Covid Killing People of Color? is a BBC documentary, which investigates what the high covid-19 death rates in ethnic minority patients reveal nearly health inequality in the Great britain.
Panorama: The Race for a Vaccine is a BBC documentary about the inside story of the development of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine against covid-19.
Race Against the Virus: Chase for a Vaccine is a Channel 4 documentary which tells the story of the coronavirus pandemic through the eyes of the scientists on the frontline.
The New York Times is assessing the progress in development of potential drug treatments for covid-19, and ranking them for effectiveness and safety.
Humans of COVID-19 is a projection highlighting the experiences of key workers on the frontline in the fight against coronavirus in the Great britain, through social media.
Abdomen Mujinga: Searching for the Truth is a BBC Panorama investigation of the death of ship worker Belly Mujinga from covid-19, following reports she had been coughed and spat on by a customer at London'south Victoria Station.
Coronavirus, Explained on Netflix is a brusk documentary serial examining the coronavirus pandemic, the efforts to fight it and ways to manage its mental health toll.
Stopping the Adjacent Pandemic: How Covid-19 Can Help Us Save Humanity by Debora Mackenzie is about how the pandemic happened and why information technology will happen once more if nosotros don't exercise things differently in time to come.
The Rules of Contamination is about the new scientific discipline of contagion and the surprising ways information technology shapes our lives and behaviour. The author, Adam Kucharski, is an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United kingdom, and in the volume he examines how diseases spread and why they stop.
Previous updates
An aeriform view of empty roads in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China, on 31 March
Xiang Xinrong/VCG via Getty Images
1 April
People living in the urban center's eastern districts were due to come out of a five-day lockdown today
On 28 March, China'southward largest city introduced a two-stage, 10-day lockdown in a bid to control its omicron outbreak. Initially, the lockdown was planned to bear on eastern Shanghai for v days, followed by an additional five days of restrictions in the city's western districts.
People's republic of china'due south wellness officials announced on 31 March they will instead lift restrictions on the east side in stages. With western Shanghai starting its five-twenty-four hour period restrictions today, these extended measures plunge the urban center's 26-million-strong population into lockdown.
People are instructed non to go out their homes, even to dispose of rubbish or walk their dogs, Reuters reported. Most of the city's public transport has as well been suspended and all non-essential businesses are closed.
Despite the lockdown extension, Shanghai's reported case numbers are falling. On 31 March, the urban center reported 4144 new asymptomatic cases and 358 new symptomatic cases, compared with 5298 asymptomatic cases and 355 symptomatic cases the day before.
Other coronavirus news
Nearly all secondary school students in England take antibodies against the SARS-CoV-ii virus, according to the Office for National Statistics' Covid-19 Schools Infection Survey. More than than 7000 master and secondary students from 150 schools were tested for antibodies in January and Feb. Extrapolating the results out across England, an estimated 96.6 per cent of secondary school students and 62.4 per cent of chief schoolhouse pupils had SARS-Cov-2 antibodies at the first of the year. England is due to gyre out a depression-dose Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for five- to 11-year-olds this month, which will include most primary pupils. The pre-existing antibodies amidst younger children therefore came nigh via a natural infection.
Pregnant people who are vaccinated confronting SARS-CoV-2 virus are almost twice every bit probable to get covid-19 compared with people who are vaccinated but not pregnant, according to an analysis of about 14 million hospital patients in the U.s.a.. Pregnancy is the greatest chance factor for breakthrough covid-19 infections, in a higher place existence an organ transplant recipient or having an immune system deficiency, the study constitute. This may be because certain aspects of the immune system are suppressed during pregnancy.
Covid-19 vaccines provide significantly more protection among people who have previously been infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to two studies published in the periodical Lancet Infectious Diseases. A Brazilian study linked the CoronaVac, Oxford/Astrazeneca, Janssen and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines to increased protection against a moderate-to-astringent reinfection, while a Swedish study found covid-19 vaccination provides at least ix months' of additional protection for people who accept had the virus before. The studies did non look at the level of protection amid people who fought off covid-19 after communicable information technology mail service-vaccination.
A person at a covid-xix test centre in Newcastle-under-Lyme, UK, on 21 Dec
Nathan Stirk/Getty Images
31 March
In the United kingdom, the gamble of existence reinfected with SARS-CoV-2 virus is 10 times higher with omicron than delta
The Office for National Statistics' (ONS) Covid-19 Infection Survey estimates the number of reinfections that occurred in the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland betwixt July 2022 and 20 March 2022.
From 20 December 2022 to xx March 2022, when omicron was the dominant variant, the chance of reinfection was about 10 times greater than when delta dominated, defined as mid-May 2022 to 19 Dec.
Reinfection definitions vary. The ONS defines it equally a positive PCR examination result after a number of negative results, post-obit an initial infection. The specific number of negative results required between infections depends on when the reinfection occurred, as definitions have inverse over time.
Covid-19 immunity, whether naturally acquired or via vaccines, wanes over time, leaving people more vulnerable to reinfection. Omicron has also evolved to better evade immunity.
"Risk of reinfection from omicron is much higher than any other previous variant, with those unvaccinated more than likely to be reinfected than those vaccinated," Sarah Crofts from the ONS said in a argument.
Other coronavirus news
The Earth Health Organization (WHO) expects covid-19 to become less severe over time. A WHO report sets out how countries should react to a worst-case, best-case and intermediate-case scenario for the pandemic. In the best-case scenario, less severe variants will emerge and booster vaccines volition be unnecessary. In the worst-case scenario, a more than harmful variant will evolve and amnesty will wane.
"Based on what nosotros know now, the most likely scenario is that the COVID-19 virus continues to evolve, simply the severity of affliction it causes reduces over fourth dimension as immunity increases due to vaccination and infection," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO's director-full general, said at a press briefing on 30 March.
The emergence of the less severe omicron variant made many people optimistic that SARS-CoV-ii was evolving to be more transmissible, but less dangerous. This does not always occur in a virus' evolution, however.
Vaccinating 5- to 11-year-olds reduces their gamble of being hospitalised with omicron past 68 per cent. In the US, Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines take been bachelor for this historic period group since October 2021, despite young children beingness at very low gamble of astringent covid-xix. A nationwide study of 1185 children has now found two Pfizer/BioNTech doses considerably cut their adventure of existence hospitalised while omicron was circulating. The Great britain recently started offering 5- to 11-yr-olds a vaccine, but the potential heart risks of immunising children are unclear.
Commuters arrive at London's Waterloo station in February, the month all remaining covid-19 restrictions were lifted in England
WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
30 March
Self-isolation rate dropped from 80 per cent to 64 per cent after the legal requirement inverse to guidance
Fewer than 2-thirds of people who test positive for covid-19 in England are choosing to cocky-isolate, co-ordinate to an Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey.
Using the NHS Exam and Trace database, 1369 adults in England who tested positive for covid-xix earlier 24 February, when the legal requirement to self-isolate was dropped, were asked most their behaviour while infected. They were interviewed between 28 February and 8 March, when cocky-isolation was advised but not legally required.
Fewer than two-thirds (64 per cent) said they fully cocky-isolated, compared with 80 per cent in a similar survey last month.
"Now the legal requirement to self-isolate later on testing positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) has been removed in England, our data today reveal more about adherence to these rules," Tim Gibbs from ONS said in a statement.
"Compliance with self-isolation rules was significantly lower than the level reported in February 2022, when self-isolation was a legal requirement."
Other coronavirus news
The omicron BA.2 sublineage is now the ascendant variant in the US, the Centers for Disease Command and Prevention (CDC) appear today. For the week catastrophe 26 March, the variant fabricated upwards an estimated 55 per cent of new cases.
The total number of covid-19 cases in Asia has surpassed 100 one thousand thousand, according to Reuters. The continent is reporting more than than one million new cases around every ii days, driven by a BA.2 surge.
More than 400 million students worldwide are affected by the fractional or total closure of schools, according to Unicef. While countries such as the UK have opened school gates, restrictions still employ in 23 nations, including the Philippines, Republic of honduras and Trinidad.
People walk forth Princess Street in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 15 March
Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
28 March
Estimated infections take already surpassed past records in Wales and Scotland
The number of suspected covid-xix cases in the UK is approaching a tape loftier.
The Office for National Statistics' weekly Covid Infection Survey suggests iv.26 million people across the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland had the SARS-CoV-2 virus final calendar week, just shy of the record 4.three meg infections estimated in the first week of 2022.
In England specifically, covid-19 cases are approaching a new record, with an estimated 3,485,700 people having the SARS-CoV-ii virus in the week ending xix March, equating to effectually i in 16 people.
This tape may have already been cleaved in Wales and Scotland, where an estimated 192,900 and 473,800 people had covid-xix last calendar week, respectively. Northern Ireland may be faring best of the four UK nations, with an estimated 108,700 people having covid-19 in the week ending nineteen March, equating to one in 17 people.
The estimated number of truthful cases is considerably higher than the officially reported incidences. Every bit of 25 March, 599,244 people had tested positive for covid-19 in the past seven days across the U.k.. Deaths within 28 days of a positive examination remain relatively low, however, with 950 recorded fatalities in the past seven days.
"Our latest information show infection levels have connected to increment in England, Wales and Scotland, driven by the rise of the Omicron BA.2 variant," Sarah Crofts from ONS said in a argument.
"Northern Ireland was a few weeks alee of the remainder of the U.k. in this ascension variant where we now run into a welcome decrease. Meanwhile, Scotland has now reached the highest level of any United kingdom country seen in our survey.
"Across England, infections have increased in all regions and age groups, notably the over 50s who are at their highest levels since our survey began."
Other coronavirus news
Fewer than half of the immunocompromised people in England have received a covid-19 booster jab, according to NHS data.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommends people with a weakened allowed organisation have a reduced-dose booster iii months after receiving a third full-dose jab. Simply simply 255,422 of the 561,356 immunocompromised people in England had received a booster as of 24 March.
A Freedom of Information request by Blood Cancer UK reveals that of 6 February, white British people who have a suppressed immune system were the well-nigh probable to have received a booster jab, with 17 per cent being immunised. This is compared with 2 per cent of their counterparts from a Bangladeshi background and 4 per cent from a Black Caribbean background.
Shanghai volition innovate a two-stage, ix-day lockdown in an effort to curb its omicron surge. The city reported more 3000 symptomatic cases yesterday, bookkeeping for nearly 70 per cent of China's total incidences.
The eastern half of the city volition be locked downwardly from today until one April, followed by its western side until five April.
A preventative antibiotic therapy produced by AstraZeneca has received European union approval, a calendar week after it was approved in the U.k.. Evusheld is a combination of ii long-acting antibodies that attach to the SARS-CoV-2 virus' spike protein, preventing it from entering homo cells.
Evusheld is recommended for adults and children over 12 who have a suppressed immune system and may not mount a sufficient allowed response after covid-nineteen vaccination. People in an adult clinical trial who received Evusheld were 77 per cent less probable to develop symptomatic covid-19 if exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, with protection lasting at least six months.
Workers disinfect a shopping heart in Weifang, Shandong province in China, on 24 March
Zhang Chi/VCG via Getty Images
25 March
Shanghai'southward recorded cases jumped by more than 60 per cent in one 24-hour interval
People's republic of china is continuing with its goose egg-covid strategy despite recording a record 4988 symptomatic cases today, with asymptomatic infections being logged separately.
The surge of the more-transmissible omicron variant has prompted different provinces to introduce varying restrictions. These are being met with increasing resistance from local people, particularly after a nurse in Shanghai died of an asthma assail when a hospital was airtight for covid-19 disinfection earlier this calendar week.
Shanghai, a metropolis of nigh 25 million people, reported a record 1609 cases today, an increase of more than 60 per cent in merely 24 hours.
Despite the surge in cases, health officials are persisting with their strategy.
"Only by doing dynamic nothing-COVID tin can we eliminate the hidden dangers of the epidemic, avoid the run on medical resources that may be acquired past large-scale infections and prevent a large number of possible deaths of the elderly or those with underlying diseases," said Wu Zunyou at China's Center for Disease Control.
Other coronavirus news
The vaccine uptake gap between ethnic minority groups and white groups in the UK is at to the lowest degree partly due to the former having lower levels of trust in the medical institution and poor past healthcare experiences, according to a study in the BMJ Open. As of 13 Jan 2021, 42.5 per cent of white people in the UK who were not living in a intendance domicile had been vaccinated, compared with 20.5 per cent of their Blackness counterparts. Low trust and poor past feel may explicate around a quarter of the vaccine uptake gap, with the remaining discrepancy being unknown and a "crusade for business", the researchers write.
Long covid symptoms may differ according to the SARS-CoV-2 variant that acquired the initial infection, according to researchers at the University of Florence, Italy. The team looked at more than than 400 people who were hospitalised with covid-19 betwixt early 2022 and June 2021. At 4 to 12 weeks mail service-discharge, 76 per cent of the participants reported at least ane lingering symptom.
Those who became infected in 2020, when the original SARS-CoV-ii strain was circulating, were more probable to experience a loss of scent, impaired hearing and difficulty swallowing. When the blastoff variant was dominant between January and April 2021, more of the participants went on to experience muscle aches, indisposition, encephalon fog and depression or anxiety.
The dominant omicron BA.2 sublineage that has caused a surge in cases and hospitalisations across Europe could pose a considerable take a chance for the US, where vaccination rates are lower, the Financial Times reported. According to John Hopkins University, 66.nineteen per cent of people are fully vaccinated in the US, compared with 73.83 per cent in the United kingdom. This comes after the Usa' Chief Medical Adviser Anthony Fauci said that while BA.2 will probably cause an uptick in cases, he is not expecting a surge.
Ambulances outside Leeds General Infirmary infirmary in Jan 2022
OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images
24 March
Covid-nineteen caused 5.6 per cent of all deaths in England in February
Covid-19 was the third leading cause of death in England and the 6th biggest driver of fatalities in Wales last month.
Co-ordinate to the Role for National Statistics, covid-19 was the master cause of v.half-dozen per cent of all deaths in England in February. This is compared with the 11.half-dozen per cent of deaths acquired past dementia, the leading commuter of fatalities final month. Ischaemic middle disease, brought on by narrowing of the arteries, was the leading cause of death in Wales, accounting for 10.8 per cent of fatalities.
Across the UK, the number of recorded SARS-CoV-2 cases increased past xvi.9 per cent in the past calendar week, according to government information. This is probably due to the widespread easing of restrictions and the more-transmissible omicron BA.2 sublineage. Deaths within 28 days of a positive test increased past 17.9 per cent, notwithstanding, covid-19 may non have directly caused all these fatalities.
A separate ONS infection survey suggests that 98 to 99 per cent of people across the UK have antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, it is unclear what antibody threshold is required to protect an individual from different covid-19 variants.
"The vast majority of the U.k. population now have antibodies against COVID-nineteen, hopefully protecting most from developing astringent symptoms," said Sarah Crofts from ONS in a statement.
Other coronavirus news
A SARS-CoV-2 variant that is resistant to the widely-used antiviral drug remdesivir has been detected in an immunocompromised person. The person, who was in remission for stage four not-Hodgkin's lymphoma, had covid-nineteen for six months before they required supplemental oxygen. Their viral load and then increased while being treated with the antiviral remdesivir. A team from the Yale School of Public Health found an enzyme that is involved in the replication of SARS-CoV-2 virus had mutated, making it resistant to remdesivir. This mutation is thought to take occurred due to the virus replicating in the person for so long, with their allowed arrangement unable to fight it off.
"The threat of antiviral resistance is a disquisitional business organisation, given the charge per unit that the virus introduces mutations in the genome," said study author Albert Ko in a statement. "A big question is whether this will happen with the other drugs, paxlovid and molnupiravir, nosotros are using to treat our patients."
Moderna plans to seek regulatory approval in the US for its vaccine for children under 6 years old. This comes afterwards trials revealed two doses of the jab were 38 per cent effective at preventing infections in ii to 5 year olds and 44 per cent constructive in children aged between two years and six months. If authorised, the covid-19 vaccine would be the first to exist approved for under five year olds in the US.
Nearly 840,000 of ii.two million AstraZeneca jabs donated to Kenya via the global Covax scheme expired before they could be used, the BBC reported.
People eating outside in Covent Garden, London, U.k.
Matthew Ashmore / Alamy
23 March
Nearly half of UK adults meet friends and family less than they did before the pandemic
On the ii-year anniversary of the Great britain's get-go lockdown, life may still be far from normal for many, a survey suggests.
Bobby Duffy at King'southward College London and his colleagues interviewed 1229 adults between 4 and 7 March and plant that just under a third (31 per cent) said they experience lonelier now than they did before the pandemic, ascent to 39 per cent amid those aged 16 to 34. Near half said they run across their loved ones (46 per cent) or get out the house less (45 per cent).
One third said their mental and physical health has deteriorated, with 36 per cent saying they have gained weight and 32 per cent reporting a decline to their quality of sleep.
"These findings, marker the two-year anniversary of the first national lockdown, are farther evidence of how over that fourth dimension life in the United kingdom has changed for many people, affecting a range of aspects of our concrete and mental health," Gideon Skinner at the data supplier Ipsos, who was involved in the research, said in a statement.
But the pandemic may have also prompted positive changes for some people. Just under a third (30 per cent) of the adults interviewed said they are exercising more than, while 23 per cent of those aged sixteen to 34 said their mental health has improved.
Other coronavirus news
Long covid could cause a generation to be affected past disabilities, immunologist Danny Altmann at Imperial College London has told The Guardian. The Part for National Statistics estimates that in late Jan, 1.five million people in the UK were experiencing lingering symptoms more than four weeks after catching covid-19 – which is two.four per cent of the total population. Altmann warns the lifting of restrictions suggests covid-19's bear on is non beingness taken seriously.
Republic of korea has now reported more than x million covid-nineteen cases since the offset of the pandemic. The spread of the more transmissible omicron variant has caused its daily recorded cases to spike, from 5100 on twenty Jan to 404,665 on xviii March. Covid-related deaths take also doubled in about six weeks, with 321 fatalities recorded on 21 March, fuelling need for funeral homes. South Korea's case numbers and death cost are relatively depression compared with other countries, however, which is probably partly due to 87 per cent of its population beingness double vaccinated.
A small study suggests covid-19 cannot be transmitted via an organ donation from an infected person. Emily Eichenberger at Duke University School of Medicine, N Carolina, and her colleagues looked at four recipients who received a liver, kidney or pancreas from four donors who'd tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 virus while terminally sick. None of the recipients contracted covid-19 via the transplant, according to results presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Lisbon. In February 2021, a dissimilar team reported that SARS-CoV-two virus had been transmitted from a lung donor to a recipient.
A pharmacist checks a client'due south blood sugar levels
Getty Images
22 March
Covid-19 linked to a 46 per cent increased adventure of type 2 diabetes
People who have had covid-xix within the by year may be more at take chances of developing type 2 diabetes for the first time or existence prescribed medication to manage their claret sugar levels.
Ziyad Al-Aly at the VA Saint Louis Health Care System in the US and his colleagues reviewed the medical records of 181,280 individuals who tested positive for covid-nineteen between March 2022 and September 2021, using data from the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The squad compared the number of new diabetes cases amidst these veterans with that of more than 8 one thousand thousand people who had no evidence of a covid-nineteen infection. None of the participants had diabetes at the start of the study.
Covid-xix was linked to a 46 per cent higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes or requiring blood-sugar-lowering medication, even amidst people with a mild or asymptomatic covid-19 infection.
Blazon 2 diabetes occurs when the body cannot make enough insulin or the hormone that is produced does not piece of work properly. SARS-CoV-two virus may inflame insulin-producing cells, decreasing their efficiency, Al-Aly told The Washington Post.
The link betwixt covid-19 and type two diabetes was observed among all the participant groups, regardless of their sexual practice, ethnicity or age, said Al-Aly.
In August 2020, a different squad uncovered a link between covid-xix and blazon 1 diabetes in children, with four NHS trusts in London seeing around double the usual number of new cases during the early on months of the pandemic. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body mistakenly attacks cells in the pancreas, causing no insulin to be produced.
Amongst adults, a squad in Germany also recently linked covid-nineteen to a 28 per cent higher risk of type 2 diabetes.
Other coronavirus news
Pregnancy complications may exist upward to three times more likely among individuals who take tested positive for covid-19. Researchers analysed the medical records of 43,886 pregnant individuals in northern California between March 2022 and March 2021. Some pregnancy complications such as a preterm birth, clots and sepsis were upwards to 3 times more than common among people who had a known covid-19 infection.
"The most important affair people can do to protect themselves and their baby is to become vaccinated," co-author Mara Greenberg at The Permanente Medical Grouping said in a statement.
The number of people with covid-19 in Scottish hospitals has reached a record high, with 2128 cases on xx March, surpassing the previous tiptop of 2053 in January. This comes afterward Scotland recently lifted many of its covid-xix restrictions. Not everyone with SARS-CoV-2 in hospital is necessarily admitted for covid-19.
Chinese officials have locked down 9 1000000 people who live in the northeast metropolis Shenyang amidst the country's current omicron wave. China reported 8024 cases yesterday.
A Pfizer/BioNTech covid-19 vaccine injection
SYSPEO/SIPA/Shutterstock
21 March
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is idea to accept helped an immunocompromised person clear the covid-19 virus
Two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are thought to accept cleared the SARS-CoV-2 virus from a person who showtime tested positive more than vii months earlier. This is the first known fourth dimension a covid-xix vaccine has been used to treat, rather than foreclose, the infection.
Ian Lester has the rare genetic affliction Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, which weakens the immune system. Lester, 37, first tested positive for SARS-CoV-two in December 2020. His immune system was unable to fight off the infection naturally for at least 218 days.
"Given the persistent positive PCR tests and bear on on his health and mental wellness, we decided on a unique therapeutic arroyo," said Stephen Jolles at Cardiff Academy's Schoolhouse of Medicine in a statement.
"We administered two doses of the BioNTech Pfizer vaccine, one calendar month apart, and very quickly saw a strong antibody response, much stronger than had been induced by the prolonged natural infection."
Lester was confirmed to have cleared SARS-CoV-two 72 days after the first vaccine dose and 218 days after his infection was detected.
"To our knowledge, this is the first time mRNA vaccination has been used to clear persistent COVID-19 infection," said Mark Ponsford, at Cardiff University.
Other coronavirus news
England has rolled out a booster jab programme for people aged 75 and over, care habitation residents and people anile 12 and over who have a weakened allowed organization. The Role for National Statistics estimates ane in 20 people in England had covid-19 in the calendar week ending 12 March. It is hoped that the booster plan will protect people amid surging cases of the omicron BA.two sublineage. Similar boosters are already being administered to some groups in Scotland and Wales.
Red china reported two covid-19 related deaths on 19 March, its first official covid-19 fatalities since January 2021. Both people died of underlying medical conditions, with balmy covid-nineteen symptoms, according to Jiao Yahui at China's National Health Commission. The deaths occurred in the province Jilin, where more two-thirds of the country'due south cases have been reported amid its electric current covid-19 moving ridge. On 19 March, Communist china's reported new infections hit a rolling seven-twenty-four hours average of 2333 infections.
A police officer wearing personal protective equipment in Manzhouli, Red china
STR/AFP via Getty Images
16 March
Covid-nineteen is surging in China, with more than 5000 new cases a day
China yesterday reported 5280 new SARS-CoV-2 cases, more than double the previous day's count and its highest daily tally since the get-go of the pandemic. The surge has prompted the introduction of full or partial lockdowns in various cities across the state.
China has been pursuing a strict 'nix covid' strategy, which until recently had largely kept outbreaks under command. The omicron variant, however, is more transmissible than previous variants and is probably driving the current surge.
Cities across the country are at present in total or partial lockdowns. The northward-e province Jilin is the worst afflicted, accounting for more than than 3000 of China's new reported cases on 15 March. Speaking on 14 March, Jilin's governor vowed to "achieve community nothing-Covid in a week".
Prc's rising cases represent with a global increase in SARS-CoV-2 transmission. A World Health Organization report reveals the number of new reported infections between seven and thirteen March increased by eight per cent compared to the previous week. The number of new weekly cases had been declining since the stop of January.
Other coronavirus news
Face covering rules in Scotland will remain in identify until April. On xv March, Scotland reported 38,770 new covid cases, upwards from a daily average of 6,900 three weeks ago. As a result, coverings will keep to exist required on public transport and in shops, although other covid restrictions will exist lifted on 21 March. The BA.2 omicron sublineage, which is fifty-fifty more transmissible than the initial omicron variant, accounts for 80 per cent of Scotland's SARS-CoV-ii cases, co-ordinate to first minister Nicola Sturgeon, who added it is "prudent" to keep mask rules in place. A small study has linked covid-19 with cardiovascular changes among unvaccinated people without any pre-existing medical conditions. Fábio Santos de Lira from São Paulo Country University and his colleagues looked at 38 people, aged twenty to 40, less than six months after they were infected with SARS-CoV-ii. Even mild or moderate infections were linked to cardiovascular changes that resulted in a raised heart rate, which afflicted some of the participants'south ability to climb stairs or walk.
Commuters exit a London Overground train, Liverpool Street, London
AFP via Getty Images
xiv March
Nearly 400,000 people in the UK tested positive for the coronavirus final week
Government statistics show 399,820 people tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the UK between 5 and xi March, an increment of 143,956 (56.3 per cent) on the previous seven days. Between 1 and 7 March, hospitalisations increased by 16.9 per cent from the previous calendar week. Deaths within 28 days of a positive examination are rise more slowly, with a week-on-week increment of 2.8 per cent as of xi March. Easing restrictions, waning immunity and the more transmissible omicron sublineage BA.2 are thought to be driving the surge in cases.
Amidst the rise in infections, ministers have been criticised for scrapping England's React report at the end of March. React randomly tests nearly 150,000 people across the country for SARS-CoV-ii each calendar month to approximate nationwide infection levels. Talking to The Guardian, one scientist chosen the movement "about as far from 'following the science' as you tin can go", while another defendant ministers of "turning off the headlights at the get-go sight of dawn".
Ministers are also being urged to consider offering older people a 4th vaccine dose. In England, people with a suppressed allowed system, living in a intendance habitation or anile 75 or older are set to be offered an additional jab in April. Some scientists are calling for the age requirement to exist set lower. However, a small Israeli study of healthcare workers establish a quaternary dose increased some antibody levels, only this did not interpret into boosted immunity.
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Cathay's covid-nineteen cases have doubled in 24 hours amongst its worst outbreak in two years. Nearly 3400 new cases were reported on 13 March, double the previous day. This has prompted schools to shut in Shanghai, China's biggest city, and regional lockdowns to be introduced in several due north-eastern hotspots. The surge in cases is thought to be driven past omicron and a rise in asymptomatic infections.
Latest on covid-19 from New Scientist
Many countries accept scaled back their coronavirus restrictions, but Iceland is going further with a plan to let infections spread
Laboratory culture system using VeroE6 cells tested negative for covid-19.
Rockett et al, 2022
ten March
The monoclonal antibody sotrovimab has been linked to a drug-resistant mutation in SARS-CoV-ii.
A report in Australia suggests that sotrovimab, a treatment for covid, may cause the coronavirus to learn mutations that enable it to resist the drug.
Sotrovimab neutralises SARS-CoV-2's spike protein, which the virus uses to enter cells. Given through a baste, sotrovimab can be administered to people within v days of their infection to forestall symptoms from becoming severe.
Rebecca Rockett from the University of Sydney and her colleagues reviewed the first 100 people who received sotrovimab at a healthcare facility in New South Wales betwixt August and November 2021, when the delta variant of the virus was ascendant. Eight of the people who were treated persistently tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, and had airway samples collected before and after they received sotrovimab.
In four of these patients, SARS-CoV-2 developed spike mutations between half dozen and xiii days later sotrovimab was administered, with these genetic changes making the drug 'effectively inactive', said Rockett, as reported in The Guardian.
The researchers are calling for increased genomic surveillance around sotrovimab's use. "What nosotros don't desire to meet is resistant virus disseminating in the customs, because that will mean that a lot of other people can't use this drug as well," said Rockett.
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The WHO has warned the pandemic is "far from over". The number of global recorded deaths betwixt 28 February and 6 March declined past 8 per cent compared to the previous calendar week, with recorded infections too falling by 5 per cent. "Although reported cases and deaths are declining globally, and several countries take lifted restrictions, the pandemic is far from over – and it will not exist over anywhere until it'south over everywhere," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO's director-general, said on nine March. "The virus continues to evolve, and we continue to face up major obstacles in distributing vaccines, tests and treatments everywhere they are needed."
A surveillance programme that looks for SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater has been rolled out beyond Northern Ireland, the BBC reported. Wastewater samples from 31 sites are being collected every day and sent to a Queen'southward University Belfast laboratory for testing. Gauging infection levels in specific areas may help to prevent large SARS-CoV-two outbreaks, with the engineering science also looking for new variants.
Students queuing upwardly for covid-19 nucleic acrid tests, Qingdao, Shandong province, Communist china
Wei Zhe/VCG via Getty Images
9 March
Covid deaths and new infections are continuing to decline afterwards the peak of the omicron surge
The number of global recorded covid deaths between 28 February and half dozen March declined past 8 per cent compared to the previous week. In its weekly update, the WHO reported the number of recorded new SARS-CoV-2 infections also decreased by 5 per cent week-on-week.
In the calendar week starting 28 February, more than x million new covid cases and 52,000 deaths were reported across the WHO's six regions.
Case numbers only increased in the Western Pacific Region, rising by 46 per cent. Covid deaths rose in the Western Pacific and Eastern Mediterranean regions, by 29 per cent and ii per cent, respectively, with fatalities falling elsewhere.
The surge in infection caused by the omicron variant appears to take peaked in February. But the WHO has stressed that countries vary in their testing strategies and therefore whatever trends should be interpreted with caution.
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However, in the U.k., reported coronavirus cases have increased by well-nigh two-fifths week-on-week. According to government data,322,917 people reported a positive test between 2 and 8 March, an increase of 90,944 (39.2 per cent) from the previous calendar week. Hospital covid admissions are also rising, with 8763 people admitted between 26 February and iv March, an increase of 11.one per cent from the previous calendar week. Deaths accept slightly declined, withal. Betwixt two and 8 March, 729 people died within 28 days of a positive test, 12 (1.vi per cent) fewer than the previous week.
The number of cancer research studies funded in the U.k. fell by 32 per cent in the first year of the pandemic, according to figures from the National Cancer Research Establish. The money awarded to these projects plunged by 57 per cent, The Guardian reports. The closing of clemency shops and cancelled fundraising events are thought to have contributed to the problem.
Covid-19 booster jab information campaign, Putney, London, United kingdom
Amer Ghazzal/Shutterstock
7 March
Booster jabs substantially increased protection confronting omicron simply efficacy starts to autumn after ii months
The protection given by vaccine booster shots confronting the omicron variant starts to decline after two months, a study has found.
Researchers at the Great britain Health Security Agency looked at covid-nineteen infections in the Uk betwixt 27 November 2022 and 12 January 2022 – the period in which the omicron variant started to spread widely. The data included over one million people who had been infected with either the delta or omicron variant.
The researchers only looked at whether people developed a mild illness and not whether someone was hospitalised or not.
They found that a booster dose substantially increased protection against developing mild disease from the omicron variant. Two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine were merely 8.viii per cent effective against the omicron variant after 25 or more weeks. But a third booster dose of this vaccine increased protection to 67.ii per cent. Notwithstanding, this then dropped to 45.7 per cent after 10 or more than weeks.
A Moderna booster, given to those who had received two initial doses of the Pfizer jab, was 73.ix per cent effective against mild disease from the omicron variant afterward two to four weeks. This then dropped to 64.4 per cent later on five to nine weeks.
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Mainland Red china logged its highest daily number of symptomatic coronavirus infections in two years yesterday. China reported 214 domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms on Sun – it is the nation'due south highest number of cases recorded in a single twenty-four hour period since March 2020.
The global recorded decease cost from covid-19 has passed six 1000000. The toll, compiled by Johns Hopkins University, stood at 6,000,394 as of Mon midday.
This number is likely to exist a gross underestimate of how many people have actually died from the virus globally. This is due to poor reporting and testing mechanisms in many parts of the earth.
Baricitinib
Felipe caparros cruz/Alamy
four March
Immune-suppressing treatment reduces deaths even in people already taking existing covid-19 medicines
Another treatment has been shown to assistance people hospitalised with severe covid-19: an arthritis medicine called baricitinib, which works past dampening the immune response. In the afterwards stages of covid-19, overactivity of the immune system contributes to damage to the lungs and the blood clotting organization, which causes tiny blood clots to course throughout the body.
Baricitinib was already being used in some countries, but a big UK trial has now shown that adding it to the other treatments used against covid-xix further reduces the death rate by xiii per cent. Virtually people in the study were already being given the steroid treatment dexamethasone, the starting time medicine shown to reduce deaths in covid-19, which also suppresses the inflammatory allowed reaction. When this result is combined with other trials, it suggests baricitinib could reduce deaths by one 5th.
Baricitinib works by blocking the actions of an immune arrangement compound called interleukin-6 (IL-6), which is raised in severe covid-19. Information technology comes in tablet form, making it easier to give than some other IL-6-blocking medicine called tocilizumab, given through a baste. Most a third of people in the trial besides received tocilizumab and they yet had the additional reduction in deaths from baricitinib.
"As an oral amanuensis with a short half-life and potentially less expensive, this makes baricitinib a more than attractive amanuensis after steroids in low/center-income state settings," said Athimalaipet Ramanan, at the Academy of Bristol, UK, in a statement.
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Panic buying has begun in Hong Kong amongst fears of an impending lockdown, as cases of covid-19 and deaths due to the virus are soaring. The urban center, which is in the middle of an omicron surge, has relatively low vaccination rates amid its elderly. Two of Hong Kong's largest retail chains have started rationing some food and medicines.
Measuring xiv proteins in the blood can aid predict if people will get severe covid-19, according to a study that used a genetic technique called Mendelian randomisation to link people's genes with their take a chance of affliction. The report found half dozen proteins that cause higher rates of hospitalisation or death and eight that protect against such outcomes. I of the risky proteins determines a person'southward blood group, supporting previous studies that have suggested people with claret group A are more probable to be admitted to infirmary with covid-xix.
A woman waters plants in her house
Samuel de Roman/Getty Images
3 March
Pandemic linked to increment in depression and anxiety worldwide
A World Health Organization (WHO) briefing suggests that depression and anxiety accept risen essentially during the coronavirus pandemic, with women and young people among the worst affected.
Based on a review of existing evidence into covid-xix'due south impact on mental wellness, the briefing largely attributes the ascent to the unprecedented stress of social isolation, as well as grieving loved ones, financial worries and fearfulness of infection.
Most of the countries surveyed (90 per cent) have included mental health support in their covid-nineteen recovery plans, yet, the WHO has stressed at that place are notwithstanding gaps in care.
"The data we have now well-nigh the affect of covid-19 on the world'southward mental wellness is simply the tip of the iceberg," said WHO's Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a statement. "This is a wake-upward telephone call to all countries to pay more attention to mental wellness and practise a amend job of supporting their populations' mental health."
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The WHO has conditionally recommended molnupiravir every bit the first oral antiviral drug for people with non-severe covid who are about at risk of hospitalisation, such as older age groups or people who are immunocompromised. The recommendation is based on half-dozen studies with a total of 4796 participants between them. The review found that, when given within five days of the onset of mild symptoms, administering four molnupiravir tablets twice a day for five days can reduce the risk of hospitalisation by 30 per cent.
Covid restrictions are thought to have resulted in there being 720,000 fewer dengue fever infections in 2022 than would unremarkably be expected. The team behind the work were surprised by their findings, having anticipated that rates of the mosquito-transmitted infection would accept risen when people were forced to spend more time at habitation. The latest results, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, contradict previous research by a different squad, who warned that an additional 2008 dengue cases may have occurred a calendar month in Thailand amid its 2022 restrictions.
The pandemic may be intensifying pre-existing inequalities between the sexes. US researchers reviewed datasets on issues like healthcare access, economical concerns and condom for 193 countries between March 2022 and September 2021. They institute girls were 1.21 times more likely to have dropped out of school than boys, while women were 1.23 times more than likely to report an increase in gender-based violence than their male counterparts.
In vitro fecundation
Mike Kiev/Alamy
ii March
A report of 43 countries suggests the coronavirus pandemic has substantially pushed dorsum fertility treatments, with Scotland facing some of the biggest delays.
A team involving researchers at Monash University, Australia, sent surveys to fertility clinics across Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and South America from October 2022 to September 2021.
Treatment delays were reported in 34 countries, with people waiting an average of 59 days for IVF or an intracytoplasmic sperm injection, when a single sperm is inserted into an egg in a laboratory. Frozen embryo transfers were delayed by an average of lx days. These occur when embryos from a previous IVF cycle are thawed and inserted into the womb.
The study, which is due to be published in Reproductive Medicine, found that the largest filibuster in fertility treatments was 228 days, reported by a dispensary in Scotland. Austria, China, Frg, Hong Kong, Norway and Portugal were the simply countries where the clinics surveyed reported no delays.
On 19 March 2020, the European Society for Human being Reproduction and Embryology advised people to avoid procedures like IVF due to uncertainty around how the coronavirus affected pregnancies. Ii days before, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine announced a "delay (to) any but the about important care cases".
"The need to stop or delay treatment was guided by the doubtfulness of the virus, and the [need] to reduce the burden of non-essential medical treatments in hospitals to allow resources to be allocated to dealing with people with COVID-19", said Elizabeth Cutting, at Monash University, in a statement.
"While at that place was advice regarding virus exposure and transmission, there was a compatible lack of advice regarding the provision of psychological support and how to prioritise patients".
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Compulsory coronavirus vaccines for care habitation staff are beingness scrapped in England from fifteen March. The policy previously required anyone working in a Intendance Quality Committee-registered care habitation to have ii vaccine doses, unless medically exempt. Among fears of a staffing crisis, the government has said public immunity to the coronavirus is at present high due to widespread vaccine uptake and many people recovering from the omicron variant.
Nerve damage may play a role in some cases of long covid. A pocket-sized study of 17 people experiencing long-term symptoms found that 59 per cent had signs of nerve damage, possibly caused past an overactive immune response. "I think what'southward going on here is that the nerves that control things like our breathing, blood vessels and our digestion in some cases are damaged in these long COVID patients," said neurologist Anne Louise Oaklander, reported by Reuters.
Preliminary laboratory studies advise that modified T-cells could assist care for covid in people on immune-suppressing drugs. Researchers in Germany genetically modified the T-cells of people who had recovered from covid-19 to make them resistant to the drug tacrolimus, which is commonly given to people who have had an organ transplant to prevent rejection. The modified cells then attacked the coronavirus while exposed to tacrolimus in a laboratory experiment.
A child receives a dose of Pfizer/BioNTech covid-19 vaccine
Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images
one March
Study suggests that protection from two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech covid-19 vaccine quickly wanes in children betwixt five and 11
Protection confronting infection and hospitalisation from the Pfizer/BioNTech covid-19 vaccine falls relatively rapidly in children anile 5 to 11, according to a preliminary study.
Researchers analysed covid-19 cases and hospitalisations amid 365,502 fully vaccinated children aged between five to eleven, and 852,384 anile between 12 and 17, all of whom lived in New York. They looked at data from 13 Dec 2022 to 30 January 2022, during a surge of covid-19 infections from the omicron variant.
The team found that, for the older children, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine'south protection confronting hospitalisation cruel from 85 per cent in mid-December to 73 per cent past the end of January. Only the drop was steeper for children aged five to 11, with protection against hospitalisation declining from 100 per cent to just 48 per cent.
For protection against infection, effectiveness dropped from 66 per cent to 51 per cent amidst the 12 to 17 age group, and from 68 per cent to 12 per cent in the younger age grouping.
Florian Krammer, at Mount Sinai's Icahn Schoolhouse of Medicine, told the New York Times: "The difference betwixt the ii age groups is striking,"
Those in the younger age group receive a x microgram dose of the vaccine, compared with 12 to 17-year-olds who receive a xxx microgram dose, which could explain some of the discrepancy in the vaccine's effectiveness over time.
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Researchers may take institute a case of deer-to-homo covid-19 transmission in Canada. In a preliminary written report published on 25 February, the team traced at least one example of covid-19 in humans dorsum to a strain of the virus plant in white-tailed deer.
White-tailed deer had previously been establish to be infected with covid-xix in the United states and Canada. For the study, the researchers took samples from hunted deers in Ontario, Canada and institute 17 were infected with a previously unknown strain of covid-19.
They then found that i person, who had been in contact with deer, had tested positive for similar strain.
Hong Kong today reported 32,597 new infections and 117 deaths – the urban center's highest figure since the pandemic began. The city has seen a huge surge in covid-19 cases, with only 739 new cases on 1 February. Hong Kong'due south fatality charge per unit is currently 1 of the highest in the world, which may partly be due to lower vaccination rates in older age groups. To tackle the current surge, the city plans to begin mass testing its 7.4 million residents in mid-March.
See previous updates from February 2022, January 2022, November to December 2021, September to October 2021, July to September 2021, June to July 2021, May 2021, April-March 2021, February 2021, January 2021, Nov/December 2020, and March to November 2020.
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Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2237475-covid-19-news-shanghai-extends-lockdown-despite-cases-falling/
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