Coronavirus Disease COVID 19 News and Research

Latest Coronavirus Disease COVID 19 News and Research

Even if SARS-CoV-2 Omicron evades antibodies, immunity still exists

Researchers determined antibody-mediated neutralization efficacy against the authentic SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.

12 Dec 2021

A pandemic-scale phylogenetic analysis tool

Researchers develop a phylogenetic package that incorporated several pandemic-specific optimization and parallelization techniques.

12 Dec 2021

A new rapid and inexpensive PCR method to detect SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

A new study reports a method using four PCR tests to distinguish infection with the Omicron variant from that caused by other variants.

12 Dec 2021

New tool to help map immune escape with SARS-CoV-2 mutations

A new study discusses a computational program that can be used to substitute for actual experimental evidence of the biologic impact of new mutations.

12 Dec 2021

Vaccinated, previously-infected people could have some "stronger than basic" defense against Omicron variant

Published today, one of the earliest, peer-reviewed studies looking into the Omicron variant of COVID-19 suggests that people previously infected with COVID, and those vaccinated, will have some, "stronger than basic" defense against this new strain of concern.

12 Dec 2021

First locally acquired infection of Omicron variant confirmed in San Diego

Officials at the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency, working in collaboration with scientists at University of California San Diego and Scripps Research, have announced the second confirmed case — and first locally acquired infection — of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

12 Dec 2021

LSHTM's new modeling estimates the potential impact of omicron in England

New modeling from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine suggests the Omicron variant has the potential to cause a wave of transmission in England that could lead to higher levels of cases and hospitalizations than those seen during January 2021, if additional control measures are not taken.

12 Dec 2021

Infant immune system beats the adult immune system at fighting off new pathogens

As any parent knows, infants are prone to getting respiratory infections.

12 Dec 2021

Nasal vaccine provides broad-based protection against heterologous respiratory viruses in mice

The emergence of COVID-19 variants such as delta and omicron have sent scientists scrambling to determine whether existing vaccinations and boosters are still effective against new strains of SARS-Cov-2.

11 Dec 2021

UCLA research points the way towards a longer-lasting COVID vaccine

Researchers at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA have identified rare, naturally occurring T cells that are capable of targeting a protein found in SARS-CoV-2 and a range of other coronaviruses.

11 Dec 2021

COVID-19 booster program accelerated, 22 million people in the UK have received top-up jabs

More than 22 million people in the UK have now received a COVID-19 top up jab, as the booster programme is accelerated this winter.

10 Dec 2021

Impact of environmental SARS-CoV-2 contamination in residential housing

In a new study, scientists hypothesize that the presence of Corynebacterium and SARS-CoV-2 in surface samples might be associated with skin contamination.

10 Dec 2021

Study finds mutational changes in Omicron variant likely increase transmissibility

A new study presented evidence for a large number of mutational changes in the Omicron variant which will likely increase its transmissibility and significantly decrease the neutralization capacity of monoclonal antibodies, leading to a decline in vaccine efficacy.

10 Dec 2021