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Coronavirus Watch

COVID-19 pandemic: Treatment and management options for SA practitioners

South Africa, with 13 imported coronavirus cases, currently fits the World Health Organisation's Transmission Scenario Two. Dr Richard Kaplan, writing for MedicalBrief, outlines decision-making...

'No surprise' that COVID-19 is taking long to affect Africa

It's not under-reporting, nor genetic resistance. The delay in coronavirus infections on the continent have to do with Africa's economic relationship with the world,...

NHS tells GPs to replace face-to-face with remote consultations

Millions of patients in the UK will have face-to-face appointments with their general practitioner (GP) replaced by telephone or video consultations under National Health...

Australian doctors want ministerial apology for 'shaming' GP with COVID-19

Doctors in Australia have demanded an apology from a state health minister who sharply criticised a GP for working while unaware he had coronavirus....

US and Europe may act too slowly in introducing robust anti-COVID-19 measures

The World Health Organisation has praised the "early and robust" control measures that appear to have curbed COVID-19 in China, writes MedicalBrief. But some...

Health Department outlines SA's preparedness for COVID-19

On Wednesday, 26 February Spotlight and Daily Maverick report that they sent a combined list of 22 questions about South Africa’s state of preparedness...

Low southern hemisphere incidence of COVID-19: Is it the sunshine and heat?

There has been much speculation that the low confirmed incidence of COVID-19 infections in Africa and the rest of the southern hemisphere may be...

Cruise ship quarantine resulted in more COVID-19 infections

The cruise ship Diamond Princess was quarantined for over two weeks resulting in more coronavirus infected passengers than if they would have disembarked immediately....

China study shows CT scan outperforms lab to diagnose COVID-19

In the absence of specific therapeutic drugs or vaccines for COVID-19, it is essential to detect the disease at an early stage and immediately...

Novel coronavirus imaging features overlap with SARS and MERS

Although the imaging features of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are variable and nonspecific, the findings reported thus far do show "significant overlap" with...

Drug meant for Ebola may also work against coronaviruses

A group of University of Alberta researchers who have discovered why the drug remdesivir is effective in treating the coronaviruses that cause Middle East...

UKZN launches first-in-Africa COVID-19 'war room'

The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKN) has launched a campus health “war room" to lend a hand in international efforts to fight the deadly coronavirus...

SA one of African countries at greatest risk of importing COVID-19 from China

South Africa, along with Algeria and Egypt, are the African countries at greatest risk of importing coronavirus from China, according to a modelling study...

Africa holds its breath as coronavirus hits Europe and Middle East

Despite only two diagnosed African cases of coronavirus so far, a Lancet study says South Africa, along with Algeria and Egypt, are at greatest risk on the continent, while a Bloomberg report warns that sub-Saharan Africa may...

COVID-19: Why has Africa been spared so far?

Only two countries in Africa have registered cases of COVID-19, despite the increasingly tight links between the two regions. A Deutsche Welle report says...

COVID-19: US National Institutes of Health start first clinical trial

A randomised, controlled clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the investigational antiviral remdesivir in hospitalised adults diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019...

COVID-19: Australian team develops its first vaccine candidate

A University of Queensland team has met a key milestone in their fast-tracked research to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus, COVID-19, says a...

COVID-19 transmission through the ocular surface 'must not be ignored'

Chaolin Huang and colleagues have reported the epidemiology, symptoms, and treatment of patients infected by the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Wuhan, China. But,...

WHO busts the myths surrounding COVID-19

The World Health Organisation has released Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public. This is intended to bust the myths surrounding the epidemic. Are...

Not a single confirmed SA case of COVID-19 — NICD update

Surveillance activities and monitoring of the COVID-19 outbreak is taking place at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National...

China releases biggest study on COVID-19, covering 70,000 cases

Health officials in China have published the first details of more than 70,000 cases of Covid-19, in the biggest study since the outbreak began,...

Japan urgently to trial HIV medications to treat COVID-19

Japan plans to start trials of HIV medications to treat coronavirus patients as an increase in the number of cases poses a growing threat...

Research review finds WHO underestimates transmissibility of COVID-19

"Our review shows that the coronavirus is at least as transmissible as the SARS virus. And that says a great deal about the seriousness...

COVID-19: SA 'would struggle' because of specialist shortage

Despite only one person in Africa so far diagnosed with Covid-19, experts warn of the potential for imminent havoc on an under-prepared, under-resourced continent,...

Chinese research that coronavirus passed from pangolins questioned

Independent scientists have questioned research that suggested that the outbreak of coronavirus disease spreading from China might have passed from bats to humans through...

No immediate coronavirus impact on SA drug manufacturers' production

JSE-listed local pharmaceutical manufacturers Aspen Pharmacare and Adcock Ingram say the coronavirus outbreak in China poses no immediate risk to production, as they have...

Coronavirus: 'Promising new treatments must be explored immediately'

The major effort in coping with the new coronavirus has been around isolation etc (short-term) and finding a vaccine (long-term), but international experts argue...

Corticosteroids could do more harm than good in treating coronavirus

A commentary article concludes that, based on evidence from previous outbreaks of similar types of infection such as SARS, steroids provide little benefit to...

Misinformation making coronavirus fight 'even harder’ — WHO head

World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says that misinformation is "making the work of our heroic workers even harder". "I would also...