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Coronavirus Watch
Characterisation of in-hospital complications associated with COVID-19 — UK multicentre study
A multicentre UK study characterised the extent and effect of COVID-19 complications using the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infections Consortium WHO Clinical...
COVID-19 patients with neurological symptoms have 6x higher hospital mortality
Patients with clinically diagnosed neurological symptoms associated with COVID-19 are six times more likely to die in the hospital than those without the neurological...
Convalescent plasma may improve survival with severe COVID-19 — US/Brazil trial
A randomised double-blind controlled trial of convalescent plasma for adults hospitalised with severe COVID-19 found that mortality at 28 days in the treatment arm...
COVID19: Asthma attacks drop 40% among Black and Hispanic individuals
In a report of data collected as part of a trial in Black and Hispanic/Latinx patients with asthma that began before COVID-19 hit the...
Successful treatment of VITT — University of Vienna case study
Doctors at the Medical University of Vienna and Vienna General Hospital have successfully treated an acute instance of the rare syndrome, vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia...
FDA: ‘Unprecedented' rebuke for claim of leronlimab benefits in COVID-19
In an unprecedented public rebuke, the US Food and Drug Administration accused drugmaker CytoDyn of trying to cherry-pick data from two failed studies of...
Meta-analysis: Diabetes but not overweight nor smoking linked to worse COVID-19 outcomes
A large meta-analysis of patients with COVID-19 and diabetes "provides the best current evidence" to identify the risk for severe COVID-19 or death from...
10 scientific reasons supporting airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2
A WHO-funded systematic review that concluded that firm conclusions could not be drawn about the airborne transmission of COVID-19 is “concerning“, according to correspondence...
Boarding aircraft from back increases CCOVID-19 risk by 50% — Royal Society of Open Science
Boarding passengers seated at the back of the aircraft first – a COVID-era change by Delta Air Lines Inc and others to cut the...
Up to 40% of domestic animals infected following owners' COVID-19 diagnosis — Small study
31% of pet dogs and 40% of pet cats tested positive to COVID-19 after their owners' own diagnoses, though under half displayed symptoms, say...
Brazilian variant likely more transmissible and able to evade immunity — Manaus study
Even though more and more vaccines against the coronavirus are being administered all over the world, many countries are still battling with outbreaks and...
Delaying second vaccine dose may be an effective pandemic strategy — Canada study
Two of the COVID-19 vaccines currently approved in the US require two doses, administered three to four weeks apart, however, there are few data...
Developing neutralising nanobodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants including SA variant — Alpaca preprint
Study details
Development of highly potent neutralising nanobodies against multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants including the variant of concern B.1.351
Agnieszka M Sziemel, Shi-Hsia Hwa, Alex Sigal, Grace...
COVID vaccines not linked to shingles or other painful skin disorders — Social media fact check
Posts are showing up all over social media tying COVID-19 vaccinations to shingles and other painful skin disorders. Kaiser Health News reports that the...
Repurposed hep C drugs plus remdesivir highly effective at inhibiting SARS-Cov-2 — In vitro study
A combination of remdesivir, a drug currently approved in the US for treating COVID-19 patients, and repurposed drugs for hepatitis C virus (HCV) was...
MIT modelling study challenges indoor social distancing guidelines
The risk of being exposed to COVID-19 indoors can be as great at 60 feet as it is at 6 feet in a room...
More evidence that diabetes/overweight tied to severe COVID-19 — Hospital meta-analysis
Overweight and obese people are more likely to suffer severe symptoms of COVID-19 and require supplementary oxygen and invasive mechanical ventilation than healthy-weight peers,...
Increased risk of death and serious illness among COVID-19 survivors
As the COVID-19 pandemic has progressed, it has become clear that many survivors – even those who had mild cases – continue to manage...
Supplements reduce COVID risk in women but not men — Large observational study
Research has found that small but significant decreases in the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection among females – but not males – who took multivitamins,...
UK variant 45% more infectious than wild-type strain of SARS-CoV-2
The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant, also called the UK variant, was identified in London as well as in Southeast and East of England in December...
'UK moves from pandemic to endemic situation’ — 2 Oxford studies
Britain is no longer in a pandemic, experts have said, as new data showed the vaccination programme is reducing symptomatic COVID infections by up...
Thrombosis and thrombocytopenia after ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccination
Nina H Schultz, Ingvild H Sørvoll, Annika E Michelsen, Ludvig A Munthe, Fridtjof Lund-Johansen, Maria T Ahlen, Markus Wiedmann, Anne-Hege Aamodt, Thor H Skattør,...
Overweight or obese patients risk more severe COVID-19 — 11-country analysis
Patients who are overweight or obese have more severe COVID-19 and are highly likely to require invasive respiratory support, according to a new international...
Study on keeping middle seats in planes vacant raises the ire of airlines
Keeping the middle seats vacant during a flight could reduce passengersʼ exposure to airborne coronavirus by 23%- 57%, researchers reported in a study that...
COVID-19 recoverees may need only a single vaccine dose — Small US study
People who have recovered from COVID-19 had a robust antibody response after the first mRNA vaccine dose, but little immune benefit after the second...
SARS-CoV-2: No brain infection but can inflict significant damage — 40 autopsies
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, likely does not directly infect the brain but can still inflict significant neurological damage, according to a new...
Regular physical activity a strong protection against severe COVID-19
A Kaiser Permanente study of nearly 50,000 people with COVID-19 suggested that regular physical activity provided strong protection from hospitalisation, intensive care unit admission,...
High COVID-19 mortality rate in children and adolescents — Brazil's syndemic
More than a year into the pandemic, deaths in Brazil are now at their peak. But, says a BBC News report, despite the overwhelming...
Dogs can sniff out coronavirus with 96% accuracy — US proof of concept study
Many long for a return to a post-pandemic "normal," which, for some, may entail concerts, travel, and large gatherings. But how to keep safe...
SARS-CoV-2: Eye protection might be the missing key – Lancet commentary
Good eye protection has probably been under-appreciated in preventing COVID-19 infections, according to a commentary published in the UK.
“Ocular surface droplet deposition is greatly...
Inexpensive corticosteroid shortens recovery in non-hospitalised patients — PRINCIPLE trial
Inhaled budesonide, a common corticosteroid, is the first widely available, inexpensive drug found to shorten recovery times in COVID-19 patients aged over 50 who...
Anti-parasitic drug may protect against lung cell fusion induced by SARS-CoV-2
A drug that is commonly used to treat tapeworm infections might help to prevent the formation of atypical fused cells in the lungs of...
Sunlight associated with lower COVID-19 deaths — Edinburgh University
Sunnier areas are associated with fewer deaths from COVID-19, an observational study suggests. Increased exposure to the sun's rays – specifically UVA – could...
One-in-10 have long-term effects 8 months after mild COVID-19 — Swedish study
Eight months after mild COVID-19, one in ten people still has at least one moderate to severe symptom that is perceived as having a...
Reduction in infectious SAR-CoV-2 with molnupiravir — Small US study
A single pill of the investigational drug molnupiravir taken twice a day for 5 days eliminated SARS-CoV-2 from the nasopharynx of 49 participants in...
Blood types not linked to COVID-19 incidence and severity — Large US analysis
There was no association with blood type and either susceptibility to COVID-19 infection or disease severity in a large US cohort study.
Among 11,000 patients,...
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine may be less effective against SA variant — Israeli study
The coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa can "break through" Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine to some extent, a study in Israel has found. The South African...
Africa's second wave was more severe than the first — Africa CDC
The first case of COVID-19 in Africa was reported in Egypt on 14 February, 2020, just 14 days after World Health Organisation had declared...
9 potential COVID-19 drugs — including 3 with FDA-approval for other diseases
A team led by scientists in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has identified nine potential new COVID-19 treatments, including...
Increased organ damage after COVID-19 discharge from hospital — UK cohort study
People discharged from hospital after COVID-19 appear to have increased rates of organ damage ("multiorgan dysfunction") compared with similar individuals in the general population,...