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Resurgent SARS-CoV-2 infections in England linked to Delta variant

A major factor contributing to the ongoing pandemic of severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been the emergence of new variants. Because the mutations of the original virus make variants more transmissible, there is more potential for the contagion to spread through social mixing due to the easing of lockdown.

24 Jun 2021

Social anxiety can increase distress related to mask-wearing during and after COVID-19

People who struggle with social anxiety might experience increased distress related to mask-wearing during and even after the COVID-19 pandemic.

21 Jun 2021

Could an antiviral mouthwash using silver nanoparticles prevent COVID-19?

In a recent study by researchers in Mexico, Russia and Spain, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were found to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 in healthcare workers. They propose a non-pharmaceutical public health intervention consisting of mouthwash and nose rinse with an AgNPs solution to reduce morbidity among healthcare personnel exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

24 May 2021

New mathematical model predicts disease spread patterns

Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, health officials seized on contact tracing as the most effective way to anticipate the virus's migration from the initial, densely populated hot spots and try to curb its spread.

7 May 2021

Chile and Uruguay are experiencing their worst moment of COVID-19 pandemic

Chile and Uruguay emerged as model cases last year for their handling of the COVID-19 crisis and are among the top five countriesin the world with the most vaccine doses administered per 100 people daily.

15 Apr 2021

Single dose of Pfizer and Oxford vaccines shows 60% efficacy in elderly care home residents

A new study deals with the effect of two widely used vaccines in eliciting humoral immunity against the virus in this group. These are the Oxford/AstraZeneca viral-vectored vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19), and the Pfizer/BioNTech’s messenger RNA-based vaccine (BNT162b2). Both express the viral spike antigen, and both are currently being employed in the UK’s vaccination program.

30 Mar 2021

Negative impact of pandemic reduces people's cognitive capacity

Lockdown and other restrictions imposed to control the COVID-19 pandemic have had unseen negative effects on the cognitive capacity and mental health of the population.

8 Mar 2021

Study: The pandemic has worsened the condition of 70% of people with chronic pain

The pandemic has impacted significantly on people who suffer chronic pain. A study performed by the eHealth Lab, a research group affiliated with the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya's eHealth Center, has shown that 70% of the people with chronic pain have seen their condition worsen in terms of severity, frequency of episodes and interference in their daily activities.

2 Mar 2021

Largescale antibody testing could lower the scale of COVID-19 pandemic

Research from Queen's University Belfast suggests that largescale antibody testing could lower social activity and thus contagion of COVID-19 (Coronavirus).

23 Feb 2021

Psychological variables account for anxiety and depression among pregnant women during COVID-19

Women who gave birth during the COVID-19 pandemic report having felt greater stress in the delivery process, and rate lower the quality of care received.

17 Feb 2021

New AI-assisted method could help counter COVID-19 mutations

USC researchers have developed a new method to counter emergent mutations of the coronavirus and hasten vaccine development to stop the pathogen responsible for killing thousands of people and ruining the economy.

6 Feb 2021

Researchers develop new modeling to map SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics in UK

Using a modified version of the susceptible-infectious-recovered (SIR) model to include effects of prevention measures, researchers show patterns in the increase and decrease of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the UK.

2 Feb 2021

Study identifies early warnings of COVID-19 outbreak on Twitter posts

Even before public announcements of the first cases of COVID-19 in Europe were made, at the end of January 2020, signals that something strange was happening were already circulating on social media.

25 Jan 2021

Study finds increase in drinking among people with anxiety and depression during COVID-19

People with anxiety and depression are more likely to report an increase in drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic than those without mental health issues, according to a new study by researchers at NYU School of Global Public Health published in the journal Preventive Medicine.

19 Jan 2021

COVID-19 taking a disproportionate toll on female healthcare workers

Women in the healthcare workforce seem to be suffering stress and burnout in the current pandemic situation, disproportionately when compared to men, suggests a new preprint research paper published on the medRxiv server.

11 Jan 2021

New agent-based model can be used for making informed choices regarding COVID-19 restrictions

What happens when municipalities in the Copenhagen area experience a COVID-19 flare-up? Would closing the schools have any effect, or would a better choice be directing the parents to work from home? Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities worldwide have several times implemented steps to keep the pandemic in check.

11 Jan 2021

Do-it-yourself contact tracing is a ‘last resort’ in communities besieged by Covid

The contact tracers of Washtenaw County in Michigan have been deluged with work and, to cope, the overburdened health department has a new tactic: It is asking residents who test positive for Covid-19 to do their own contact tracing.

8 Jan 2021

Researchers develop new system for direct detection of SARS-CoV-2 in aerosols

Researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, in collaboration with specialists from the University of Valencia (UV), have come up with a new system based on a high-sensitivity mass biosensor that continuously monitors signals for the direct detection of SARS-CoV-2 in environmental aerosols.

28 Dec 2020

Researchers publish study results on challenges of COVID-19 during confinement

The University of Alicante Public Health Research Group has just published the results of a study on the challenges of COVID-19 in Alicante; its effects on health and citizen resistance during confinement.

24 Dec 2020

Modeling the phases of quarantine reveals two-phase route is always better than one

New research into this question shows that the second wave of an epidemic is very different if a population has a homogenous distribution of contacts, compared to the scenario of subpopulations with diverse number of contacts.

23 Dec 2020