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COVID-19

WHO notes cautious optimism regarding COVID-19

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Wednesday that there has been a 90% drop in global COVID-19 deaths since February, which he called a “cause for optimism” but still urged “caution” amid the ongoing pandemic. “Just over 9,400 COVID-19 deaths were reported to WHO last week — almost 90% less than in …

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Pfizer set to test new COVID-19 pill on long-covid patients

Plans for the first test of whether Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill known as Paxlovid can alleviate Long Covid were unveiled last week, as organizers said they expect to begin recruiting 1700 volunteers in January 2023. Patient groups and researchers have long sought such a trial to study whether suppressing the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus can reduce Long COVID’s debilitating …

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More than 300 Omicron variants in circulation globally

BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 are among the more than 300 sub-lineages of the Omicron variant circulating globally, 95 percent of which are direct descendants of BA.5, according to the WHO. In early July, BA.5 became the dominant subvariant of the coronavirus circulating in the United States, but in October it started giving way to BQ.1 and …

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WHO reluctant to label new Omicron strains as variants of concern

Despite the fact that they’re driving a spurt in COVID cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) says XBB and BQ.1 are not different enough from each other, or from other Omicron lineages, to warrant labelling them new variants of concern. Variants of concern are those that show increased transmissibility, virulence or change in clinical disease, …

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Shanghai rolls out inhalable COVID-19 vaccine

The Chinese city of Shanghai started administering an inhalable COVID-19 vaccine last Wednesday in what appears to be a world first. www.pbs.org/newshour/world/china-begins-administering-inhalable-covid-19-vaccine-boosters? The vaccine, a mist that is sucked in through the mouth, is being offered for free as a booster dose for previously vaccinated people, according to an announcement on an official city social …

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Wuhan locked down once more due to COVID-19

Wuhan, locked down one of its central districts after Covid cases were found, as China persists with a zero-tolerance approach to the virus almost three years since the pathogen first emerged in the city. The roughly 900,000 residents of Hanyang district were told to stay in their homes from Wednesday, a spokeswoman from the area’s …

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Scientists create a deadlier Omicron variant

Twitter exploded with outrage last week about a study in which scientists engineered the spike protein of Omicron—the fast-spreading but relatively mild variant of SARS-CoV-2 that’s now pervasive—into a deadlier strain of the coronavirus found in Washington state early in the pandemic. www.science.org/content/article/news-glance-climate-justice-ethical-mask-wearers-and-cdc-under-trump The objective was to learn whether the protein alone explains Omicron’s lower …

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CDC votes to add COVID-19 vaccines to child immunisation schedules

Independent advisers of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted 15-0 last Thursday to add most COVID-19 vaccines offered in the US to the childhood, adolescent and adult immunization schedules. www.politico.com/news/2022/10/20/cdc-advisers-recommend-adding-covid-shots-to-routine-schedules-for-kids-adults-00062739? The immunization schedules, which are updated every autumn before going into effect the following year, consolidate all of the CDC’s vaccine …

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Pfizer quadruples price of COVID-19 vaccines

Pfizer’s plan to quadruple US prices for its COVID-19 vaccine next year is beyond Wall Street’s expectations and will spur its revenue for years despite weaker than anticipated demand for the new booster shot so far, analysts said. www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizer-covid-vaccine-price-hike-seen-giving-revenue-boost-years-2022-10-21/? The drugmaker, which developed and sells the vaccine with Germany’s BioNTech (22UAy.DE), said on Thursday evening …

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Study finds long-COVID eases with time

Long COVID eases with time, according to a study that found about 1% of coronavirus patients had persistent symptoms for a year or more. In the first rigorous assessment of the magnitude of long COVID on a global scale, researchers found 6.2% of people who had COVID-19 in the pandemic’s first two years experienced at …

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