Coronavirus News and Research

RSS

There could be 7 million unplanned pregnancies because of COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic has rippled across the globe, infecting nearly 18 million individuals worldwide to date. Though the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) affects people from all walks of life, women and girls may experience devastating effects of the outbreak.

2 Aug 2020

School children unlikely to play a significant role in COVID-19 spread, says Finnish study

A study conducted by researchers in Finland suggests that children who are exposed to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in schools are unlikely to transmit the virus further and play any significant role in the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

2 Aug 2020

Pre-COVID-19 coronavirus antibodies fail to neutralize SARS-CoV-2

Researchers in Austria have shown that antibodies with potent neutralizing activity against a well-established seasonal coronavirus had no neutralizing activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

2 Aug 2020

New bivalent vaccine delivers robust cell-mediated and humoral immunity against SARS-CoV-2

In a groundbreaking bioRxiv study, US researchers demonstrate the capability of next-generation bivalent human adenovirus serotype 5 (hAd5) vaccine for inducing both cellular and humoral immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – using both an S protein sequence optimized for cell surface expression and a conserved nucleocapsid antigen designed to be transported to the endosomal subcellular compartment.

2 Aug 2020

Synthetic riboregulators detect SARS-CoV-2 genome parts in 40 minutes

By exploiting the tools of synthetic biology, the researchers from Turkey have successfully developed a de novo riboregulator system for rapidly detecting the presence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genomic material. Their paper is currently available on medRxiv preprint server.

2 Aug 2020

Children carry 100 times more SARS-CoV-2 virus as adults, study says

As the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues to wreak havoc across the globe, it has been thought that children mostly seemed to be spared by severe illness. In the majority of cases, children infected with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) only develop a mild illness, with some tagged as asymptomatic.

31 Jul 2020

Research suggests New York City may have reached coronavirus herd immunity threshold

A new study by researchers at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Brookhaven National Laboratory and published on the preprint server medRxiv in July 2020 discusses the effect of a factor called persistent contact heterogeneity on the final epidemic size of COVID-19.

31 Jul 2020

Air travel helped spread novel coronavirus in Brazil

Domestic and international air travel helped spread the novel coronavirus in Brazil, a study has found, as tourism bodies push for global travel to resume amid infection resurgences in some countries.

31 Jul 2020

NIH invests $248.7 million in new COVID-19 testing technologies to meet U.S. demand

The National Institutes of Health is investing $248.7 million in new technologies to address challenges associated with COVID-19 testing (which detects SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus).

31 Jul 2020

Brain Navi develops new nasal swab robot to prevent cross infections

Inspired by the pandemic, Brain Navi developed a new robot to perform nasal swab tests autonomously to prevent cross infections so we can save the medical system and reestablish economies.

31 Jul 2020

COVID-19 rapid antibody test receives CE mark and mass production begins

The COVID-19 rapid antibody test, developed by Abingdon Health, the medical device manufacturer leading the UK-Rapid Test Consortium, has received its CE mark. This means it is approved for professional use in the UK and EU.

31 Jul 2020

Leading expert is sounding the alarm on newly-identified symptom of coronavirus

A VascularNurse Consultant and senior lecturer at the University of Huddersfield is sounding the alarm on a newly-identified symptom of the coronavirus, dubbed COVID-toes, after witnessing a sharp increase in the amount of patients being referred to vascular clinics, with similar symptoms to arterial disease but, who then test positive for COVID-19.

31 Jul 2020

Don’t count on lower premiums despite pandemic-driven boon for insurers

When COVID-19 smacked the United States in March and April, health plans feared medical costs could skyrocket, jacking up premiums drastically in 2021, when millions of the newly unemployed might still be out of work.

31 Jul 2020

Avoiding care during the pandemic could mean life or death

These days, Los Angeles acting teacher Deryn Warren balances her pain with her fear. She's a bladder cancer patient who broke her wrist in November. She still needs physical therapy for her wrist, and she's months late for a cancer follow-up.

31 Jul 2020

Managing cancer patients during COVID-19 pandemic

An ESMO interdisciplinary expert consensus paper on how to manage cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic has been published today in Annals of Oncology.

31 Jul 2020

War of sugars - estrogen provides protection in COVID-19

Now a new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv in July 2020 reports that sex hormones could affect the function of the fusion protein that is dependent upon the human ACE2 receptor, thus preventing the entry of the virus into the host cell.

31 Jul 2020

Researchers report a liquid biopsy for COVID-19

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in July 2020 reports the potential of cell-free DNA as a marker of the severity of disease in COVID-19. This could help triage patients as well as provide a prognostic marker.

30 Jul 2020

Researcher uses in silico analysis of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to fast-track passive immunity

With millions of COVID-19 cases reported across the globe, people are turning to antibody tests to find out whether they have been exposed to the coronavirus that causes the disease. But what are antibodies? Why are they important? If we have them, are we immune to COVID-19? And if not, why not?

30 Jul 2020

CZI, CZ Biohub, and The State Of California join forces to track COVID-19 transmission

Today, the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, in partnership with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, announced that it will provide free whole genome sequencing and analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to all California Departments of Public Health and California local health jurisdictions through a newly-launched effort called the California COVID Tracker.

30 Jul 2020

From swab to sequencing - scalable method for identifying SARS-CoV-2

A research group headed by Stanford University scientists has developed a scalable, high throughput method to generate high fidelity whole genome and HLA sequencing, viral genomes, and representation of human transcriptome from single nasopharyngeal swabs of coronavirus disease (COVID19) patients. Their results are published on the medRxiv preprint server.

30 Jul 2020