Pandemic News and Research

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A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. During a pandemic, transmission can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patient to workers in health care settings, but also among co-workers in general work settings. A pandemic would cause high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

Experts urge pregnant women to get COVID-19 vaccine following new UK safety data

The country's top doctors and medical experts are urging pregnant women to get their COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible, as new data published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) today [November Thursday 25] provides further evidence that the vaccines are safe for this group.

25 Nov 2021

Government introduces precautionary travel restrictions on arrivals from South Africa

The government is taking decisive precautionary action against a new COVID-19 variant by introducing travel restrictions on arrivals from South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia from midday tomorrow (Friday 26 November).

25 Nov 2021

Mental health of older adults significantly impacted by COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental health of older people living in the community, with those who are lonely faring far worse, according to new research from McMaster University.

25 Nov 2021

Household mixing increased during the third COVID-19 lockdown, study reports

Household mixing significantly decreased in the first lockdown in England and remained relatively low in the second lockdown, but increased during the third lockdown, reports a study published in Scientific Reports.

25 Nov 2021

A review of natural immunity, vaccines, and variants in SARS-CoV-2 reinfection

In a literature review article published in the Journal of Community Hospital Internal Medicine Perspectives, authors from the US performed a thorough investigation of previous studies and case reports of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection. This review discusses the role of natural immunity, vaccines, and SARS-CoV-2 variants in reinfection.

25 Nov 2021

Triple combination symptoms anosmia-fatigue-cough more specific to COVID-19 than single symptoms

In a research paper published in the journal PLOS ONE, the authors developed COVID–Online, a symptom checking application in Germany.

25 Nov 2021

Researchers reveal possible role for anti-idiotype antibodies in long-term effects of COVID-19

With around 256 million cases and more than 5 million deaths worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged scientists and those in the medical field.

25 Nov 2021

Key to controlling COVID-19 is early intervention

A study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science demonstrates the critical role of timely intervention in New Zealand's success story. The researchers used a stochastic branching process model to simulate the trajectory of COVID-19 transmission and control during New Zealand's 2020 outbreak. They calculated the number of reported cases and deaths and the probability of elimination within a defined time frame.

25 Nov 2021

Study analyzes factors that contribute to employee stress in the critical care environment

Hospital can be very challenging and stressful places in which to work. They are equipped to treat seriously ill patients who need constant monitoring, such as patients with severe COVID-19,those who require organ support or who are recovering from a major operation.

25 Nov 2021

Using metal nanoparticles to fight SARS-CoV-2

A recent review article looks at the potential of nanotechnology in fighting severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2), with several possibilities of strategies in therapeutics, vaccines, and prevention.

25 Nov 2021

Adoption of a robust approach to minimize disease transmission between humans and wild animals

The threat of disease transmission from conservationists moving wild animals between habitats or back into the wild needs to be urgently assessed to minimize risk.

25 Nov 2021

What may the future hold in terms of SARS-CoV-2 variants?

Researchers fit data on SARS-CoV-2 variants by exploiting a function that depends on the global number of infected cases since the start of the pandemic.

25 Nov 2021

COVID-19 vaccine boosters to prevent breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infections in healthy adults

Researchers measured anti-RBD IgG and virus neutralization before and after vaccination with boosters.

25 Nov 2021

UK's leading health charities team up to encourage vulnerable people to get COVID-19 vaccines

Some of the UK's leading health charities including the British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK and Cancer Research UK are joining forces with the government and the NHS to encourage vulnerable people to get their COVID-19 vaccines.

25 Nov 2021

SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant mutation sites

A new review article dissected the sites of mutation in the RBD of the Delta variant and other variants of concern and variants of alert and interest.

25 Nov 2021

Maternal-fetal interface yields intriguing clues to how it battles SARS-CoV-2

Scientists have hypothesized that the number of immune cells and the amount of cytokines produced in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women change in accordance with the timing of maternal infection in pregnancy. This study is available on the bioRxiv* preprint server.

24 Nov 2021

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

Experts urge pregnant women to get COVID-19 vaccine following new UK safety data

Government introduces precautionary travel restrictions on arrivals from South Africa

Mental health of older adults significantly impacted by COVID-19 pandemic

Household mixing increased during the third COVID-19 lockdown, study reports

A review of natural immunity, vaccines, and variants in SARS-CoV-2 reinfection

Triple combination symptoms anosmia-fatigue-cough more specific to COVID-19 than single symptoms

Researchers reveal possible role for anti-idiotype antibodies in long-term effects of COVID-19

Key to controlling COVID-19 is early intervention

Study analyzes factors that contribute to employee stress in the critical care environment

Using metal nanoparticles to fight SARS-CoV-2

Adoption of a robust approach to minimize disease transmission between humans and wild animals

What may the future hold in terms of SARS-CoV-2 variants?

COVID-19 vaccine boosters to prevent breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infections in healthy adults

UK's leading health charities team up to encourage vulnerable people to get COVID-19 vaccines

SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant mutation sites

Maternal-fetal interface yields intriguing clues to how it battles SARS-CoV-2

Innovative algorithm predicts COVID-related intensive care unit resource use

Acute SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy associated with placental ACE2 shedding

Impeding SARS‑CoV‑2 evolution by targeting low-probability stochastic events

Use of standard shopping trolleys can help shoppers to save money

Best practices - optimize qPCR processes for pathogen detection eBook

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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