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.

Researchers develop new algorithm tool to establish risk of COVID-19 infection

Researchers from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), belonging to the VRAIN Institute, have developed DeteCCovid, a computer tool based on an algorithm that, by anonymous contact tracing, will help to detect people who have been close to a user infected with COVID-19.

24 Apr 2020

COVID-19 outbreak is no excuse for lowering standards of clinical research, say medical ethicists

Ethicists from Carnegie Mellon and McGill universities are calling on the global research community to resist treating the urgency of the current COVID-19 outbreak as grounds for making exceptions to rigorous research standards in pursuit of treatments and vaccines.

24 Apr 2020

Sweden may reach ‘herd immunity’ in weeks as the country resists total lockdown

Herd immunity is a form of indirect protection against infectious diseases where a population develops sufficient immunity to a disease that that infection cannot spread within the group. A population can reach herd immunity if a large proportion has been exposed to the virus. Now, Sweden resisted total lockdown measures, unlike its neighboring countries, while experts believe herd immunity will be achieved in Stockholm within weeks.

24 Apr 2020

First COVID-19-related clinical trial to start in Germany

German regulators have approved the first clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine. Developed by BioNTech SE, an immunotherapy company, and Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company, the potential coronavirus vaccine has completed pre-clinical studies in Germany.

24 Apr 2020

Fraunhofer SCAI is opening a new knowledge space with information and analysis tools on COVID-19

With the new website "covid19-knowledgespace.de", Fraunhofer SCAI - together with Fraunhofer IME, Fraunhofer IAIS, the Information Center for Life Sciences ZBMED and other research partners - is opening a new kind of knowledge space with analysis tools and information on COVID-19.

24 Apr 2020

Research looks at best ways to tackle coronavirus crisis

A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology in April 2020 discusses the most attractive approaches among the broad spectrum of experimental and theoretical strategies being worked on to counter the COVID-19 pandemic.

24 Apr 2020

SARS-CoV-2 targets specific cells in the lung, nasal passage, and intestine

Now, the researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have identified specific types of cells that are targets of the SARS-CoV-2 that causes the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of the study published in the journal Cell may help in developing novel therapeutics to combat the deadly viral infection.

23 Apr 2020

Coronavirus may cause sudden stroke in younger patients, doctors warn

Older adults and those with underlying medical conditions are at risk of experiencing severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Younger people appeared to experience only mild illness, but doctors warn that the viral infection may cause sudden strokes.

23 Apr 2020

Minimizing COVID-19 infection through controlled exposure

A new study published in the preprint journal medRxiv in April 2020 explores the possibilities of launching smaller waves of voluntary social exposure in a controlled way, to avoid the occurrence of a single large and probably unmanageable second wave of infection.

23 Apr 2020

Poor quality testing could increase number of COVID-19 infections

A new study published in the preprint open-access journal medRxiv in April 2020 assesses the value of untargeted testing for infection or immunity in COVID-19 vs. high-quality targeted testing in keeping down the number of infections while slowly relaxing lockdown measures.

23 Apr 2020

Researchers create a low-cost ventilatory system for COVID-19 patients

A research team in Leeds, UK, has come up with a way of creating a ventilatory system for COVID-19 patients that can be made rapidly on a 3D printer.

23 Apr 2020

1.7 billion people at higher risk from COVID-19, study says

The COVID-19 pandemic affecting 185 countries and territories the world over has already claimed over 190,000 lives and sickened well over 2.7 million as of April 24, 2020. Research shows that most of these fatalities are in older people or those who have underlying medical conditions.

23 Apr 2020

Is the confidence in hydroxychloroquine for the management of COVID-19 justified?

A new review paper published in the preprint open-access journal medRxiv in April 2020 reports that there is not enough evidence to justify the widespread use of the drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in the treatment or prophylaxis of the current COVID-19 illness.

23 Apr 2020

Swedes confident with government and media response to coronavirus

A number of groups in Sweden, including public service broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT), and Sveriges Radio, are providing their country with the latest coverage of the coronavirus situation. A new survey shows that 80% of Swedes have moderate to high levels of trust in the public reporting and their government officials.

23 Apr 2020

U.S. may have to spend hundreds of billions treating COVID-19

A new study published in the journal Health Affairs in April 2020 quantifies the financial and resource burden which could be placed on the U.S. healthcare system at varying levels of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) community spread.

23 Apr 2020

Low-cost, portable detector takes about 30 minutes to identify pathogens

Most viral test kits rely on labor- and time-intensive laboratory preparation and analysis techniques; for example, tests for the novel coronavirus can take days to detect the virus from nasal swabs.

23 Apr 2020

RAS inhibitors and COVID-19 severity in hypertensive patients

A new study published in the journal JAMA Cardiology in April 2020 reports that patients with hypertension who are taking medications called ACE inhibitors (ACEI) or ARBs are not at higher risk for death or more severe illness with COVID-19. This conclusion supports current guidelines for the treatment of hypertension during this pandemic.

23 Apr 2020

Link between BCG and lower COVID-19 mortality disproved by new analysis

The association between BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin) vaccination and its purported beneficial effect on COVID-19 transmission/mortality rates was challenged in an expert appraisal of Diamond Princess cruise ship data. At the same time, cross-national differences previously reported were shown to be flawed, reports a new medRxiv study.

23 Apr 2020

New model highlights key measures in curbing local COVID-19 outbreaks

A new decision analytical model published in JAMA Network Open by the researchers from China examined a number of vital epidemiological features of imported severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the Chinese city of Wenzhou, emphasizing the need for timely community containment.

23 Apr 2020