This live article covers developments regarding the coronavirus and COVID-19. We will update it regularly as the situation unfolds.

  • The coronavirus outbreak began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.
  • Known as SARS-CoV-2, the virus has resulted in more than 47.4 million infections and 1.2 million deaths.
  • SARS-CoV-2 infection causes a respiratory illness called COVID-19.
  • COVID-19 has now been reported on every continent except Antarctica.
  • Keep up to date with the latest research and information about COVID-19 here.

11/04/2020 08:54 GMT — Convalescent T cells could protect the vulnerable
A recent laboratory-based study of cellular cultures suggests that an infusion of immune cells from people who have recovered from COVID-19 could shield those with compromised immune systems from the infection responsible for the disease. The researchers published their findings  in the journal Blood.
Read more about the research here.
11/04/2020 08:51 GMT — COVID-19 can disrupt electrical activity in frontal lobes of brain
A recent review concludes that abnormalities in the front of the brain identified by electroencephalography (EEG) tests are common among COVID-19 patients who have neurological symptoms. The results appear in the journal Seizure: European Journal of Epilepsy.
Read MNT’s coverage of the review here.
11/03/2020 11:07 GMT — COVID-19 and preexisting conditions: Is a holistic approach needed?
A recent perspective article in Frontiers in Public Health argues that people with noncommunicable diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, and chronic heart and lung conditions, are disproportionately affected by the ongoing pandemic.
For instance, people with noncommunicable diseases are more likely to have serious consequences if they develop COVID-19. At the same time, their socioeconomic circumstances and access to healthcare can be adversely affected by public health responses.
Read MNT’s coverage of the paper here.
11/03/2020 10:53 GMT — WIRED Health:Tech 2020: The fight against COVID-19
WIRED Health:Tech is one of the most prominent annual conferences exploring technological advances in medicine. Unsurprisingly this year, one of the main topics was the ongoing fight against COVID-19. In a Special Feature, we outline the main takeaways from the presentations.
Read the feature here. 
11/02/2020 10:28 GMT — Surgeon General predicts vaccine by end of 2020
During a recent lecture, Dr. Jerome Adams, the U.S. Surgeon General, said he has “a high degree of confidence” that a vaccine will be successful because it is “the most scrutinized vaccine of all time.” He believes it will be ready by the end of the year.
During the lecture, which was part of the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine’s Grand Rounds series, he promoted the “three Ws” — wearing masks, washing hands, and watching your distance from others.
“We know what works to keep people safe,” said Dr. Adams. “When you look at New York, they were the worst in the world for COVID-19, and they were able to drive their transmission rates down to less than 1%. They didn’t have a vaccine; they did it with the three Ws.”
Read more here.
11/02/2020 09:50 GMT — England enters second lockdown
On Saturday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that England would enter a second lockdown. The 1-month lockdown will begin on Thursday. This time, schools and universities will remain open, but all nonessential retail, leisure facilities, and entertainment venues will close.
In an interview, senior cabinet minister Michael Gove said, “We can definitively say that unless we take action now, the [health service] is going to be overwhelmed in ways that none of us could countenance.”
Read more here.
10/30/2020 14:11 GMT — Video update: Halloween safety guide
Find MNT‘s full article here.
10/30/2020 10:02 GMT — Online Fauci rumor untrue
Rumors are currently circulating about a paper that Dr. Anthony Fauci co-authored. According to the rumor, the paper explains how most deaths during the 1918 Spanish flu were due to bacterial pneumonia caused by wearing a mask. In fact, the paper does not mention masks. 
Many of the social media posts claim that “The unmasked buried the masked.” In the paper in question, the authors explain how “[t[he majority of deaths in the 1918–1919 influenza pandemic likely resulted directly from secondary bacterial pneumonia caused by common upper respiratory tract bacteria. This, however, is not related to face coverings in any way. 
In fact, the 2008 paper focuses on how to prepare for a pandemic effectively. The authors explain how “pandemic planning needs to go beyond addressing the viral cause alone. […] Prevention, diagnosis, prophylaxis, and treatment of secondary bacterial pneumonia, as well as stockpiling of antibiotics and bacterial vaccines, should also be high priorities for pandemic planning.” 
Medical News Today address more coronavirus myths here, here, and here. 
10/30/2020 09:09 GMT — Vaccine may be ready by early January
According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, a vaccine may be available by early January. Initially, it would be offered to high risk individuals. Based on projections from Pfizer and Moderna, Dr. Fauci expects that we will know “sometime in December whether or not we have a safe and effective vaccine.” 
In July, both companies began late stage trials involving tens of thousands of participants. However, Dr. Fauci also reminds us that even once a vaccine is ready, a return to “normal” will not be possible “until the end of 2021, at least.”
Read more here.
10/29/2020 09:34 GMT — Antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 does not decline quickly
According to the authors of a recent study that appears in the journal Science, most people with mild-to-moderate cases of COVID-19 “experience robust […] antibody responses” that persist for at least 5 months. The results come from an analysis of 30,082 individuals.
Senior author Florian Krammer, Ph.D. explains the importance of the findings:
“While some reports have come out saying antibodies to this virus go away quickly, we have found just the opposite — that more than 90% of people who were mildly or moderately ill produce an antibody response strong enough to neutralize the virus, and the response is maintained for many months.”
Read the full study here.
10/29/2020 09:22 GMT — New restrictions begin in Europe
As COVID-19 case numbers rise, some countries and regions are setting new restrictions and entering fresh lockdowns. On Friday, France will begin a nationwide lockdown. In Germany, bars and restaurants are entering a 4-week shutdown. And in Switzerland, Italy, Bulgaria, and Greece, restrictions have been retightened.
“We are deep in the second wave,” explained European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “I think that this year’s Christmas will be a different Christmas.” On Wednesday, both Italy and Germany registered their highest number of new daily cases to date.
Read more here.
10/28/2020 09:04 GMT — Melbourne, Australia ends 111-day lockdown
Today, Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, ended its 111-day lockdown. Although thousands of businesses will be able to open, masks are still compulsory in public spaces, and work-from-home orders remain in place. Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews announced the relaxation of measures on Monday.
Read more here.
10/28/2020 08:54 GMT — US: Almost half a million cases in past 7 days
Over the last 7 days, the United States has registered almost half a million new cases of COVID-19 and more than 5,600 associated deaths. Experts have noted particularly steep increases in Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Wisconsin.
At a news conference, Andrea Palm from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services said, “We must take significant and collective actions […] This is going to get worse before it gets better.”
During a White House briefing, President Trump told reporters:
“We did the ventilators and now we’re doing all of the equipment, and now we’re doing vaccines, we’re doing therapeutics. We’ve done a great job, and people are starting to see.”
Read more here.
10/27/2020 09:20 GMT — Older males recovering from COVID-19 may have the best plasma to treat the disease
A recent study finds higher numbers of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the plasma of older males who required hospitalization for COVID-19. This plasma may help treat the disease in others. The results appear in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Find more information about the study here.
10/27/2020 09:13 GMT — Study identifies 3 existing drugs that may help treat COVID-19
A team of researchers recently identified three existing drugs that may be effective in treating COVID-19. Their findings appeared in the journal ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science. The drugs of interest are an antimalarial drug called amodiaquine, an antipsychotic called zuclopenthixol, and a blood pressure medication called nebivolol.
Read our full coverage of the research here.
10/26/2020 10:27 GMT — AstraZeneca’s ‘Oxford candidate vaccine’ moves forward
A candidate vaccine, developed by scientists at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and AstraZeneca, recently passed another milestone. In July, the team announced that the experimental  drug produced “robust immune responses” in adults. Today, they report that the candidate vaccine responds similarly in older adults and young people.
The scientists are yet to publish their findings in a peer-reviewed journal, but Prof. John Ball from the University of Nottingham, U.K., who was not involved in the study, is hopeful. He told the Financial Times:
“If what they’ve got is data that show the vaccine generates good immunity, as measured in the lab, in the age group over 55, and that also includes good responses in people who are even older than that, I think that’s a promising sign.”
However, he remains cautious, explaining that, “ultimately, it’s whether the vaccine protects against serious disease that’s crucial and we will only know that from phase 3 trials.”
Read more here.
10/26/2020 09:24 GMT — Convalescent plasma therapy for COVID-19: Where are we now?
In May 2020, Medical News Today spoke with Prof. Arturo Casadevall, from Johns Hopkins, about the potential of using convalescent plasma therapy in the treatment of COVID-19. In a recent feature, we caught up with Prof. Casadevall to discuss the latest findings.
Find the full interview here.
10/23/2020 09:20 GMT — FDA approves remdesivir for hospitalized COVID-19 patients
On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved remdesivir for the treatment of people hospitalized with COVID-19. This makes remdesivir, which is manufactured by Gilead, the first drug approved to treat these patients in the United States.
In April, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published a study involving 1,063 hospitalized patients with advanced COVID-19. The authors concluded that “Hospitalized patients with advanced COVID-19 and lung involvement who received remdesivir recovered faster than similar patients who received placebo.”
In response, the FDA made the antiviral drug available under an FDA emergency use authorization (EUA). More recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) analyzed data from almost 12,000 patients as part of their Solidarity trial. 
Last week, the WHO concluded that remdesivir “had little or no effect on overall mortality, initiation of ventilation, and duration of hospital stay in hospitalized patients.” However, these results have not been peer-reviewed.
In response to the WHO trial, Gilead defended their drug, which they sell under the brand name Veklury. They write: “The emerging data appear inconsistent with more robust evidence from multiple randomized, controlled studies published in peer-reviewed journals validating the clinical benefit of Veklury.” 
Following Veklury’s FDA approval, Gilead’s shares rose by 4.3%. The drug costs $3,120 for a 5-day course of treatment, or $2,340 for government purchasers.
Read more here.
10/23/2020 09:13 GMT — What will COVID-19 vaccine trials tell us? Less than some may think
What will COVID-19 vaccine candidate trials tell us? Not whether they will prevent deaths or serious illness, according to a new article in the BMJ. The feature highlights precisely what these trials do and do not set out to answer.
Read MNT’s full write up of the article here.
10/22/2020 13:07 GMT — Study looks at risk factors for ‘long COVID’
The authors of a recent study concluded that the risk of long COVID increases with age. They also found that those with higher body mass index (BMI) and females had an increased risk. Symptoms of long COVID include fatigue, anosmia, headache, and trouble breathing.
The researchers used data collected within the COVID Symptom Study app. In total, they had information on 4,182 people with a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. The authors also concluded that the risk of developing long COVID increased in individuals who experienced “more than five symptoms during the first week of illness.”
In total, long COVID affected 9.9% of people aged 18–49 and 21.9% of people aged 70 or older. Comparing sexes, their analysis showed that 14.9% of women developed long COVID, compared with 9.5% of men. However, the difference between sexes was not significant in the older age group. 
Among the participants in this dataset, 4.5% of people experienced symptoms for 8 weeks, and 2.3% — for 12 weeks.
It is worth noting that this research does not appear in a journal and has not been through the peer review process. As for other limitations, the authors write, “Our study was limited by being confined to app users who were disproportionately female, and underrepresented those >70years, which could increase or decrease our estimate of the extent of long COVID, respectively.”
Also, the analysis only included data from individuals with a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. Over recent months, not everyone with symptoms of COVID-19 could get access to a test. It is not clear how the results might change if these people were added to the analysis.
Read more about long COVID here.
10/22/2020 09:09 GMT — COVID-19: Experts address 10 recent myths
In a recent feature, Medical News Today invited their resident experts to explore some of the latest and most persistent rumors and myths that surround the ongoing pandemic. They cover topics such as herd immunity, the safety of masks, and the role of 5G.
Read the full feature here.
10/21/2020 08:58 GMT — UK scientists plan to infect participants with SARS-CoV-2
Scientists in the United Kingdom are planning to infect young and healthy volunteers with SARS-CoV-2 deliberately. The U.K. government plans to spend $43.5 million on these human challenge trials. If regulators and the ethics committee approve, they will begin early next year.
London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital will manufacture the virus, while Imperial College London will run the studies. The trials will also involve hVIVO, a company that provides “viral challenge studies and laboratory services;” and the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
Involving up to 90 participants, the scientists plan to work out the minimum amount of virus sufficient to induce COVID-19.
According to Imperial College scientist Chris Chiu, this work will boost our understanding of the virus that causes COVID-19 and accelerate the search for treatments and vaccines.
Speaking about the ethical considerations, a spokesperson from the World Health Organization (WHO) said:
“What is critical is that if people are considering this, an ethics committee must oversee this and the volunteers must have full consent. And they must select the volunteers to minimize their risk.”
Read more about COVID-19 research here.
10/21/2020 08:50 GMT — Northeastern US states discourage travel
Yesterday, the Democratic governors of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut released a joint statement. In it, they ask “all of our residents to avoid unnecessary or nonessential travel between states at this time.”
Although the states are not quarantining those who travel between them, New York State still has quarantine measures in place for 38 states and two United States territories. 
The governors write, “New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut have among the lowest infection rates in the country because we have based our approaches to controlling the spread on science and data, and we will continue to do so.”
Read more here.
10/20/2020 09:26 GMT — Argentina registers more than 1 million cases of COVID-19
The Argentinian Health Ministry announced on Monday night that the country had become the fifth country to surpass 1 million cases of COVID-19. They also stated that, within the previous 24 hours, there had been almost 13,000 new cases.
Read more here.
10/20/2020 09:24 GMT — How does risk vary for Black and Asian patients with COVID-19?
New research suggests that people of Black, mixed, and Asian ethnicity are more at risk of COVID-19, but these risks vary over the course of the disease. The research appears in the journal EClinicalMedicine.
Read more about the research here.
10/19/2020 10:53 GMT — SARS-CoV-2 antibodies may provide immunity for at least 5–7 months
Recent reports of individuals being re-infected by SARS-CoV-2 raise concerns that our immune system may only provide short-term protection. However, a recent study concludes that people could remain immune to the virus for at least 5–7 months and probably much longer.
Co-author Dr. Michael D. Dake explains, “Whether antibodies provide lasting protection against SARS-CoV-2 has been one of the most difficult questions to answer. This research not only gives us the ability to accurately test for antibodies against COVID-19 but also arms us with the knowledge that lasting immunity is a reality.”
Read our full coverage of the study here.
10/19/2020 10:31 GMT — 1 in 3 excess deaths in the US not directly caused by COVID-19
A recent study concludes that 1 in 3 “excess deaths” in the U.S. were not directly due to COVID-19. Healthcare disruption and emotional crises could have led to around one-third of the 225,530 excess deaths in the United States between March 1 and August 1, 2020.
The authors published their findings in JAMA. “Some people who never had the virus may have died because of disruptions caused by the pandemic,” explains first author Dr. Steven H. Woolf. “These include people with acute emergencies, chronic diseases like diabetes that were not properly cared for, or emotional crises that led to overdoses or suicides.”
Read more about the study here.
MNT video update: COVID-19 and vitamin D
10/16/2020 09:25 GMT — Russia approves a second vaccine
Last month, Russia announced the approval of a COVID-19 vaccine called Sputnik V. This week, President Vladimir Putin announced the approval of a second vaccine, called EpiVacCorona. As with the first, scientists have not yet tested this vaccine in phase 3 trials.
The vaccine was developed by scientists at the State Virology and Biotechnology Center, known as Vektor, in Novosibirsk. According to The Moscow Times:
“Early trials on 100 volunteers were said to have been successful.”
In a televised news conference, Putin explained that researchers had given the vaccine to Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova and the head of Russia’s consumer safety watchdog, Anna Popova, as part of ongoing trials. During the briefing, they explained that:
“Early trials on 100 volunteers were said to have been successful.”
As with Sputnik V, experts are likely to view the new vaccine with skepticism. Vaccines must be rigorously investigated before they can be used widely, and it is crucial to test their efficacy and, importantly, safety in a large group of participants.
Sputnik V is a vector vaccine, based on a human adenovirus, while EpiVacCorona is an antigen-based vaccine.
During the briefing, Golikova also announced that a third vaccine would be approved sometime in December.
Read more here.
10/16/2020 09:21 GMT — Researchers hunt for shared vulnerabilities in coronaviruses
A 200-strong group of scientists recently published a study that searched for shared vulnerabilities in three coronaviruses: SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1, and MERS. The research highlights specific cellular pathways and proteins that should be considered targets for therapeutic interventions. The results appear in the journal Science.
In the past 20 years, SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1, and MERS have all caused deadly human respiratory syndromes: COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), respectively.
In their study, the scientists “generated and compared three different coronavirus-human protein-protein interaction maps in an attempt to identify and understand pan-coronavirus molecular mechanisms.”
“The efforts identified at least 20 host genes whose protein products significantly alter how much virus is produced by infected cells,” explains lead researcher Dr. Christopher Basler. “Those proteins represent potential targets for therapeutic intervention. For example, if a cellular protein is required for efficient virus growth, a drug that inhibits the cellular protein should slow the infection.”
Aside from their findings, which will guide scientists in their search for treatments to these and similar diseases, their innovative approach is also a model for future endeavors. As the authors explain:
“We used proteomics, cell biology, virology, genetics, structural biology, biochemistry, and clinical and genomic information in an attempt to provide a holistic view of SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses’ interactions with infected host cells. We propose that such an integrative and collaborative approach could and should be used to study other infectious agents as well as other disease areas.”
Read more here.
10/15/2020 10:06 GMT — COVID-19: What role does vitamin D play?
Studies investigating the role of vitamin D in preventing or treating COVID-19 have drawn conflicting conclusions. But should a lack of evidence stop us from topping up our vitamin D levels as the Northern Hemisphere heads toward winter? In a recent feature, we delve into the details.
Read more here.
10/15/2020 09:48 GMT — Influenza drug shows promise against SARS-CoV-2
A recent study finds that high doses of favipiravir, a drug designed to treat pandemic influenza infections, strongly inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in hamsters. Favipiravir also prevented infection in healthy animals that were exposed to an infected cage mate.
The study, which appeared in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also investigated hydroxychloroquine. The scientists confirmed that hydroxychloroquine is ineffective.
Lead researcher Suzanne Kaptein says, “If further research shows that the results are the same in humans, [favipiravir] could be used right after someone from a high-risk group has come into contact with an infected person.”
Read MNT’s full coverage of the study here.
10/14/2020 09:31 GMT — World Bank promises $12 billion to battle COVID-19 in developing countries
This week, the World Bank committed to providing $12 billion in funding for developing countries to procure vaccines, tests, and treatments. This plan is part of their $160 billion pledge to help these countries fight COVID-19.
The World Bank will also provide technical support to help plan and deploy vaccines once they are available.
Read more here.
10/14/2020 09:25 GMT — Eli Lilly pauses drug trial
On Tuesday, Eli Lilly announced that they were pausing their COVID-19 antibody treatment trials due to safety concerns. In a statement, spokeswoman Molly McCully wrote, “Out of an abundance of caution, the ACTIV-3 independent data safety monitoring board has recommended a pause in enrollment.”
The drug that Eli Lilly are testing is similar to one that doctors used to treat President Donald Trump. The news comes 1 day after a similar announcement by Johnson & Johnson and 1 month after AstraZeneca paused a trial.
It is important to note that manufacturers often pause drug trials to examine safety concerns. As Johnson & Johnson explained in their press release earlier this week, “A study pause, in which recruitment or dosing is paused by the study sponsor, is a standard component of a clinical trial protocol.”
Read more here.
10/13/2020 14:35 — MNT video update: Males dominate COVID-19 decision making
10/13/2020 11:33 GMT — Italy introduces new anti-virus measures
Over the past week,Italy registered around 5,000 COVID-19 casesperday. On Tuesday, officials introduced new anti-virus measures. Bars and restaurants must close by midnight, and customers must consume their drinks at tables after 9 p.m. The new legislation also curbs sports activities.
Read more here. 
10/13/2020 10:35 GMT — Johnson & Johnson pause vaccine trial
In a statement yesterday, Johnson & Johnson announced they had paused their Janssen COVID-19 vaccine trial “due to an unexplained illness in a study participant.” The participant’s illness is now under review with an independent safety board and the company’s clinical and safety physicians. 
The vaccine is part of the United States government’s Operation Warp Speed program.
Johnson & Johnson explain that serious adverse events are “not uncommon in clinical trials,” especially when large numbers of participants are involved. At this stage, the company has not released any further information about the participant’s illness.
Find more live updates here.
10/12/2020 11:18 GMT — SARS-CoV-2 may be able to infect a significant number of mammals
The findings of a recent study suggest that a significant number of mammals could be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. The research, which appears in the journal Scientific Reports, found that a “broad range” of vertebrate animals could, in principle, contract SARS-CoV-2. 
The virus infects a host cell by attaching to ACE2 proteins. Using computer modeling, the researchers identified species with ACE2 proteins that might be susceptible to the infection.
In particular, they found that the binding process of SARS-CoV-2 and the host ACE2 protein in sheep and great apes is likely to be as strong as it is in humans.
Read more about the study here.
10/12/2020 11:04 GMT — COVID-19: Pain-numbing effect of virus may boost its spread
A recent study in animals suggests that SARS-CoV-2 might deactivate a pain signaling pathway. This may help explain why so many cases of COVID-19 do not cause symptoms and why transmission rates are so high. The study appears in the journal Pain.
Corresponding study author Prof. Rajesh Khanna explains the relevance of the findings: “It made a lot of sense to me that perhaps the reason for the unrelenting spread of COVID-19 is that in the early stages, you’re walking around all fine, as if nothing is wrong, because your pain has been suppressed.” 
Read MNT’s full coverage of the research here.
10/08/2020 08:51 GMT — President Trump now symptom-free
On Wednesday, White House physician Sean Conley announced that President Trump has experienced no COVID-19 symptoms in the previous 24 hours and no fever for 4 days. Conley explained that his vital signs show that his condition remains stable.
Find more live COVID-19 updates here.
10/08/2020 08:47 GMT — Nitric oxide shows promise as antiviral treatment
A recent in vitro study finds that nitric oxide may suppress SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The researchers suggest that inhaled nitric oxide may be an effective treatment for the disease. The findings appear in the journal Redox Biology.
“Until we get a vaccine that works, our hope is that inhalation of [nitric oxide] might be an effective form of treatment,” explains senior author Åke Lundkvist. “The dosage and timing of starting treatment probably play an important part in the outcome, and now need to be explored as soon as possible.”
Read our full coverage of the study here.
10/07/2020 13:53 GMT — Face masks do not significantly affect oxygen or carbon dioxide levels
A small study in healthy volunteers and people with COPD found that wearing a surgical mask had negligible effects on the wearer’s oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. The authors hope that this research will help alleviate fears that masks pose a health risk. 
Read more about the study here. 
10/07/2020 10:42 GMT — Pandemic worries may fuel substance use
A recent survey finds that worrying about the COVID-19 pandemic had associations with substance use as a means of coping, while substance users worried more than non-users. 
The study involved 160 people who took part online between April and May 2020.
The researchers conclude that people who started using substances during the pandemic, such as alcohol, stimulants, and cannabis, but not opioids, had the highest worry levels.
Based on their findings, the study authors suggest that doctors could use COVID-19 fear levels as a measurement to help identify people at greatest risk for substance use, and ultimately substance abuse.
Read our full coverage of the research here.
10/06/2020 09:58 GMT — Hopeful research findings 7 months into the COVID-19 pandemic
In a recent Special Feature, MNT leaped into the latest scientific research and asked if there are any reasons for (cautious) optimism. At almost 7 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, how close are we to being able to control the spread and impact of the new coronavirus?
Read the full feature here.
10/06/2020 09:50 GMT — Could a common antioxidant enzyme help treat COVID-19?
A recent study concludes that catalase, a naturally occurring enzyme in plants and animals, can suppress the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus monkeys. The results also indicate that this enzyme could dampen the inflammatory response associated with severe COVID-19. The results appear in the journal Advanced Materials.
Read MNT’s summary of the findings here.
10/05/2020 10:46 GMT — Less than 10% of US adult population developed antibodies by July
According to a large, nationwide study, less than 10% of the adult population in the United States had formed antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 by July 2020. The study used data from 28,503 randomly selected individuals receiving dialysis.
Read MNT’s full coverage of the study here.
10/05/2020 10:15 GMT — US election 2020: Many people concerned about COVID-19 risk
In a recent poll that Healthline Media commissioned in the United States, 68% of respondents reported being somewhat or very concerned that they or their family members may have exposure to SARS-CoV-2 when visiting the polling station on election day.
Read more about the poll’s conclusions here.
10/02/2020 15:00 GMT — Sufficient Vitamin D levels may reduce COVID-19 severity
MNT reports on a new study that suggests people with sufficient vitamin D levels are less likely to develop severe, life threatening complications from COVID-19.
The research, which appears in the journal PLOS One, found a significant association between vitamin D levels above 30 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml) and less severe forms of COVID-19.
However, there are significant limitations to the study, such as the small number of participants and the fact that the researchers did not account for smoking or socioeconomic status — both of which can, in turn, affect vitamin D levels and COVID-19 severity.
Read our full coverage here.
10/02/2020 12:30 GMT — President Trump tests positive for the new coronavirus
United States President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump revealed today that they had both tested positive for the new coronavirus.
The announcement followed quickly after news that Hope Hicks, one of Trump’s close advisers, had also tested positive. 
In a tweet, the president announced that he and the first lady would quarantine immediately. 
In a public statement, Trump’s physician, Dr. Sean P. Conley, said, “The president and first lady are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence.”
“Rest assured — I expect the president to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering, and I will keep you updated on any future developments,” continued Dr. Conley.
Read more about this development here.
10/01/2020 14:59 GMT — Many people did not seek medical care during heart attacks or strokes, study suggests
A new study in the journal Heart looks at deaths due to cardiovascular disease in England and Wales during the first part of the pandemic. 
The results show more than 2,000 additional deaths above expectations — an 8% increase compared to historical averages for the time of year. 
More people were dying at home or in care homes, and fewer in the hospital.
“This is further support for the speculation that many people were staying away from the hospital even though they were very ill with an acute cardiovascular illness,” one study author comments.
Read more here.
10/01/2020 11:51 GMT —Conspiracy theories hamper public health efforts
A recent study finds that belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories rose between March and July in the United States. Conspiracy believers were less likely to report wearing a face covering and less likely to plan to get a COVID-19 vaccine. 
The researchers surveyed 1,050 adults in the U.S. in March and interviewed 840 of these again in July. 
The results show that conspiracy theory beliefs about the origin of the new coronavirus and the handling of the pandemic response increased. 
This was most common among people who belong to disadvantaged groups. 
Read our full coverage of the study here.
09/30/2020 11:01 GMT —Which fabrics used in homemade masks can block droplets?
A recent study tested if fabrics that people typically use to make homemade face coverings could block droplets. The researchers found that all of the fabrics were able to block droplets efficiently, particularly when they tested multiple layers of material. 
The scientists used an inhaler to project water droplets through 11 fabrics, such as clothes, quilted cloths, dishcloths, and bedsheets. The droplets contained 100-nanometer fluorescent particles, which mimic the SARS-CoV-2 viral particles.
After counting how many particles could travel through each fabric, the team concluded that all fabrics could block the particles, but that multiple layers were more efficient. 
While the study does have some limitations, it adds to the body of evidence that points to homemade face reducing the spread of SARS-CoV-2.
Read our full coverage of the study here.
09/30/2020 09:14 GMT — Mask fines in New York
Yesterday, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio threatened fines of up to $1,000 for anyone refusing to wear a mask in public. On the same day, The Walt Disney Company announced lay offs of around 28,000 employees from their Californian theme park, Disneyland.
Similarly, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo warned that restrictions to indoor dining and other activities might soon be necessary.
Read more here.
09/29/2020 16:10 GMT — MNT video update: Safe voting guide
09/29/2020 14:40 GMT — The Lancet release COVID-19 mission statement
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09/29/2020 13:30 GMT — The WHO plan to roll out rapid tests for less wealthy countries
This week, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that they are teaming up with partners to distribute 120 million antigen-based rapid diagnostic tests to lower- and middle-income countries. The initial cost of the program will be $600 million, and it should get underway next month.
Although antigen-based tests are less accurate than polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, they return results quicker and do not rely on sophisticated laboratory equipment.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hopes that the tests will “enable the expansion of testing, particularly in hard-to-reach areas that do not have lab facilities or enough trained health workers to carry out PCR tests.”
Read more here. 
09/29/2020 09:50 GMT — COVID-19 death total surpasses 1 million
This week, the global number of deaths from COVID-19 passed 1 million. As United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres writes in a recent statement, “Our world has reached an agonizing milestone.” He also reminds us we can overcome this challenge if we “learn from the mistakes.”
09/28/2020 11:59 GMT — 1 in 3 parents plan to skip flu shots during pandemic
A recent poll investigated parental attitudes toward flu vaccinations this season. They found that 1 in 3 parents don’t plan on vaccinating their children against the flu this year. The most common reason involved concerns about side effects.
In August 2020, the survey — called the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health — took data from 1,992 parents of children aged 2–18. The parents reported their reasons for not vaccinating their children, most commonly: concerns about side effects (42%) and a belief that the vaccine is not necessary (40%) or effective (32%).
A further 14% of parents who are not planning on having their children vaccinated cited concerns about visiting healthcare settings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In their report, the researchers explain: “Public health experts have emphasized the particular importance of flu vaccination during the COVID pandemic as a tool to limit the stress on healthcare systems. This includes reducing the number of influenza-related hospitalizations and doctor visits and decreasing the need for diagnostic tests to distinguish influenza from COVID.”
They continue, “Children should get flu vaccine to protect themselves and to prevent the spread of influenza to family members and others.”
Read more about the poll here.
09/28/2020 11:16 GMT — Anxiety symptoms increased during the pandemic, Google Trends data show
A recent study, which used data from Google Trends, explored the impact of the pandemic on mental health in the United States. Overall, the authors noted that searches for “worry,” “anxiety,” and “therapeutic techniques to manage worry and anxiety” have increased during the pandemic.
Discussing their use of Google Trends, lead author Dr. Michael Hoerger explains, “Although by no means a ‘window into the soul,’ people’s search terms reflect relatively uncensored desires for information and thus lack many of the biases of traditional self-report surveys.”
The findings appear in the journal Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. Dr. Hoerger paints a somewhat bleak picture of the future, saying:
“Over time, we should begin to see a greater decline in societal mental health. This will likely include more depression, PTSD, community violence, suicide, and complex bereavement. For each person that dies of COVID, approximately nine close family members are affected, and people will carry that grief for a long time.”
Read our full coverage of the study here.
09/25/2020 10:16 GMT — US COVID-19 cases pass 7 million
On Thursday, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States surpassed 7 million. This equates to 1 in 5 of all global cases. The U.S. has also registered more than 200,000 deaths. To date, California has reported the highest number of cases with 800,000.
Read more here.
09/25/2020 09:38 GMT — Flu vaccinations not linked to increased COVID-19 risk
A new study concludes that the flu vaccine does not increase a person’s risk of getting COVID-19. The scientists also demonstrate that the vaccine is not associated with severe illness and death from the disease. The results appear in theJournal of Clinical and Translational Science.
The authors explain that the flu shot will help prevent a “twindemic” when the flu season overlaps the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Lead researcher Dr. Joe Zein writes: “Our findings suggest that we should proceed as usual with our vaccination strategy for global influenza this flu season. […] Getting the annual flu vaccine remains the best safeguard against the influenza virus — both for yourself and the people around you.”
Read our full coverage of the research here.
09/24/2020 09:33 GMT — Most people in the United States could be vaccinated by July 2021
Despite promising candidates, there is still no vaccine for COVID-19. However, according to Robert Redfield — the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — the “entire American public [could be] completely vaccinated” by July. He estimates that 700 million doses will be available by April.
Read more here.
09/24/2020 08:57 GMT — COVID-19: Tackling the root cause of inflammation
Scientists have proposed that an existing drug may help prevent an excessive, life threatening immune reaction to SARS-CoV-2 in susceptible individuals. The drug might work by easing cellular stress that the virus causes. Their proposal appears in the journal Cytokine & Growth Factor Reviews.
“When cells are stressed by infection, they call the cytokines, and the more stressed they are, the more persistent they become, provoking this uncontrolled inflammation,” explains senior study author Iván Durán. “Hence, one possible treatment for COVID-19 is to reduce cellular stress.”
However, the authors are also clear that scientists will need to conduct more research to see if their model works outside of their laboratory. 
Read MNT’s coverage of the paper here.
09/23/2020 09:15 GMT — Wisconsin governor declares a new public health emergency
Yesterday, following a spike in COVID-19 cases, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers extended a face mask mandate into November. Announcing this 2nd public health emergency, Evers explained, “We are seeing an alarming increase in cases across our state, especially on campus.”
Read more here.
09/23/2020 09:13 GMT — Republican governors took longer in making masks a requirement
A recent study shows that Republican governors waited longer than Democratic governors to issue mask-wearing mandates as a preventive measure against COVID-19. According to the data, states with Republican governors delayed issuing mask mandates by an average of 29.9 days compared with states with Democratic governors. 
The study paper is available on the preprint server medRxiv, so it has not yet undergone peer review. Discussing the factors around this disparity, lead author Christopher Adolph explains: 
“President Trump spent crucial months deriding masks and refusing to wear them in public. This deepened a partisan divide that few Republican governors have been willing to cross, even as their states’ cases shot up this summer.”
Read MNT’s full coverage of the research here.
09/22/2020 15:32 GMT — MNT video update: ‘Long COVID’
09/22/2020 10:08 GMT — United Kingdom experiences increased numbers of infections
Recently, the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.K. has surged. Although death rates remain low, officials are concerned. The government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance explains, “If this continues along the path, the number of deaths directly from [COVID-19] could rise on an exponential curve.”
He continues: “We have, in a bad sense, literally turned a corner, although only relatively recently. At this point, the seasons are against us, we are now going into the seasons, late autumn and winter, which benefit respiratory viruses and it is very likely they will benefit [COVID-19] as they do flu.”
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove has told people to work from home “if they can.” Additionally, the government is pausing trials of spectators attending sporting events, and hospitality venues — such as restaurants and bars — must close at 10:00 p.m. from Thursday onward.
Read more about the situation in the U.K. here.
09/22/2020 09:32 GMT — Specialists discuss diagnosis and management of ‘long COVID‘
Following SARS-CoV-2 infection, some people experience weeks or even months of symptoms, which can include extreme fatigue and fever. Experts refer to this lingering condition as long COVID. In a recent BMJwebinar, specialists discussed how best to support these people.
During the webinar, six specialists from the United Kingdom and Germany talked about the best approaches to the diagnosis, management, and prognosis of long COVID.
Read MNT’s full coverage of the webinar here.
09/21/2020 11:15 GMT — COVID-19: How many patients return to the hospital after discharge?
Many people who arrive at the emergency room with mild COVID-19 symptoms are discharged upon initial presentation. A recent study investigates how many of these individuals are later admitted to the hospital. The authors found that doctors admitted almost 5% of these people within 72 hours. 
In all, 66 patients (4.7%) returned to the emergency room and were admitted to the hospital within 72 hours because of worsening symptoms. An additional 56 patients (3.9%) also returned to the emergency room but were again discharged.
The research, which appears in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine, also identifies certain factors associated with an increased risk of readmission. These factors include age, obesity, hypertension, and hypoxia.
Read more about the research here.
09/21/2020 10:47 GMT — US cases of depression have tripled during the COVID-19 pandemic
A recent study, which features in the journal JAMA Network Open, finds that the number of adults in the United States who are experiencing depression has tripled during the pandemic. The number of affected individuals has risen from 8.5% before the pandemic to 27.8%.
Among other findings, the researchers determined that people with less than $5,000 in savings were 50% more likely to experience symptoms of depression than those who had more.
Discussing ways to alleviate this, lead author Catherine Ettman says:
“There may be steps that policymakers can take now to help reduce the impact of COVID-19 stressors on depression, such as eviction moratoria, providing universal health insurance that is not tied to employment, and helping people return to work safely — for those able to do so.”
Read MNT’s full coverage of the study here.
09/18/2020 15:00 GMT — Regional WHO director: September cases spike signals ‘wake-up call’ for EuropeDr. Hans Henri P. Kluge, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Regional Director for Europe, held a press conference yesterday in Copenhagen, Denmark.
In it, he reminded Europeans that, “Last week, the region’s weekly tally exceeded 300,000 cases,” and “More than half of European countries have reported a greater than 10% increase in cases in the past 2 weeks.”
Dr. Kluge said these figures reflect higher testing rates, but they also indicate “alarming rates of transmission.”
The numbers should serve as a “wake-up call for all of us,” he continued. The WHO representative called for solidarity and a concerted, “amplified effort” from all European Member states.
To read or watch his entire message, visit the WHO website here.
09/18/2020 12:00 GMT — COVID-19 is here to stay, new research predictsA new study predicts that the novel coronavirus is here to stay and will have a seasonal pattern, similar to the flu, wherein transmission decreases in summer and increases again in winter. This is largely due to the effect of the climate on viral transmission, the authors say. 
Judging by data on similar “enveloped” viruses, cold weather may lead to the stabilization of SARS-CoV-2. Conversely, UV light in hot summer months may kill the new coronavirus. The study looks at other considerations, too.
“Therefore, the public will need to learn to live with it and continue practicing the best prevention measures, including wearing of masks, physical distancing, hand hygiene, and avoidance of gatherings,” says senior study author Hassan Zaraket, Ph.D.
However, the authors emphasize that their predictions are merely a “best guess,” and that this predicted seasonality is heavily reliant on the development of a vaccine and the achievement of significant herd immunity.
“This remains a novel virus, and despite the fast-growing body of science about it, there are still things that are unknown. Whether our predictions hold true or not remains to be seen in the future. But we think it’s highly likely, given what we know so far, [that] COVID-19 will eventually become seasonal, like other coronaviruses,” says Zaraket.
Read our full coverage here. For a comprehensive overview of the impact of weather on COVID-19, read our feature here.
09/17/2020 10:00 GMT — Trump claims vaccine will be ready next month; experts disagree
Yesterday, President Donald Trump predicted that a safe, effective vaccine would be ready to use in October and rolled out across the United States soon after. His statement is in direct contradiction to comments made by the government’s top health experts. 
If scientists deem one of the experimental vaccines they are currently testing as safe and effective soon, experts believe there will still be some time before it is widely available. 
For instance, Dr. Robert R. Redfield, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), believes that it may be available for frontline staff toward the end of the year or in January 2021.
Dr. Redfield also explained that should scientists develop a successful vaccine, they would probably not deploy it on a wider scale until late spring or summer. 
Read more here.
09/17/2020 08:57 GMT — COVID-19: Antibody fragment could prevent infection
A recent study, which appears in the journal Nature Communications, suggests that an antibody fragment, called a nanobody, can neutralize SARS-CoV-2. According to the authors, it is possible to produce these fragments cheaply and at scale, making it a promising candidate for the widespread prevention of COVID-19.
Senior study author Prof. Gerald McInerney says, “We hope our findings can contribute to the amelioration of the COVID-19 pandemic by encouraging further examination of this nanobody as a therapeutic candidate against this viral infection.”
Read MNT’s full coverage of the research here.
09/16/2020 09:21 GMT — Links between obesity, COVID-19, and bacteria
A recent review, which appears in the journal eLife, examines how the microbiome interacts with COVID-19 in the lungs. The authors believe their findings help explain why people with obesity and diabetes are more likely to develop severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) after infection.
The authors conclude, “The appearance of bacteria, their products, or both in the lungs of [people with obesity and diabetes] promotes interactions between viral and bacterial pathogens, resulting in a more severe lung injury in COVID-19.”
Find the full study here.
09/16/2020 09:14 GMT — India passes 5 million cases
According to officials, India has now registered more than 5 million cases of COVID-19 and 82,066 related deaths. In the past 24 hours alone, the Health Ministry has reported 90,123 cases and 1,290 deaths. Already in September, they have registered more than 1 million cases.
The United States still has the highest total number of COVID-19 cases with 6.6 million, but experts believe India will surpass this figure within the next few weeks.
Read more about the situation in India here. 
9/15/2020 09:58 GMT — Chinese vaccine ready by November?
According to Chinese officials, a COVID-19 vaccine could be ready for the public in November. Scientists are currently testing four candidate vaccines in late-stage clinical trials, and three of these have already been offered to frontline staff.
According to Guizhen Wu, the chief biosafety expert at China’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), phase 3 clinical trials are going well.
Read more here.
09/15/2020 09:06 GMT — US COVID-19 cases down 15% in past week
Comparing the past 7 days with the 7 days before, cases of COVID-19 in the United States have dropped 15%. New cases have now dropped for 8 consecutive weeks. The number of coronavirus-related deaths has also fallen for 4 weeks in a row.
However, the number of cases in some states — including North Dakota, Wisconsin, Delaware, New Hampshire, and New Jersey — has risen for 2 weeks in a row.
Last week, on average, the U.S. tested 650,000 people each day. Of these individuals, 5.4% tested positive. This figure has dropped steadily over the past 6 weeks.
Read more here.
09/14/2020 09:37 GMT — Asthma may not increase the risk of severe COVID-19
A recent review finds that the proportion of all patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who also have asthma is similar to the prevalence of asthma in the wider population. The authors conclude that asthma is not a “significant risk factor for developing severe COVID-19 requiring hospitalization.”
The researchers also found that patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who had asthma were no more likely to be intubated than other patients without asthma.
“The CDC [place] people with asthma at higher risk [of] COVID-related hospitalization,” explains senior author Dr. Fernando Holguin. “However, many international studies show low numbers of [people with asthma] among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. These findings challenge the assumption about asthma as a risk factor.”
Read MNT’s coverage of the study here.
09/11/2020 11:56 GMT — No evidence of ‘cytokine storm’ in COVID-19
Contrary to current theories, a recent study concludes that COVID-19 is not associated with a cytokine storm. The findings could have implications for treatment, suggesting that anti-cytokine therapies may not be beneficial. The new study appears in JAMA Network.
Read our coverage of the study here.
09/11/2020 09:15 GMT — Latin America registers 8 million cases
Globally, Latin America now has the highest number of COVID-19 cases, with more than 8 million infections. Brazil remains the worst-affected country in the region, with 4.2 million infections. However, the daily average number of cases across the region is falling. 
Yesterday, Brazil reported 40,557 new infections, which is a decrease from recent days. Similarly, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico also registered slightly lower average numbers of cases.
Read more about the situation in Latin America here.
09/10/2020 10:34 GMT — Critically ill patients have robust immunity to new coronavirus
A recent study suggests immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in severely ill patients are as strong or stronger than those of patients with milder COVID-19. This adds to the evidence that the immune system itself is to blame for the most life-threatening form of the infection.
The results of the study appear in the journal Cell Reports Medicine. Lead author Prof. Nina Babel explains, “Even though further studies will be necessary to understand the specific mechanism of COVID-19 development, our data suggest that excessive SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell response can cause [immune damage] leading to COVID-19-related lung failure.”
Find more about the study here.
09/10/2020 09:18 GMT — Promising results for Russian vaccine
A new paper, which appears in The Lancet, details the results of two early phase clinical trials of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. According to the authors, the vaccine “has a good safety profile and induced strong humoral and cellular immune responses in participants.”
However, it is worth noting that the researchers had designed the trials to assess the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine, not to evaluate whether it can prevent COVID-19. Senior author Prof. Alexander Gintsburg explains the next steps:
“The phase 3 clinical trial of our vaccine was approved on 26 August, 2020. It is planned to include 40,000 volunteers from different age and risk groups and will be undertaken with constant monitoring of volunteers through an online application.”
Read MNT’s full coverage of the vaccine trial here.
09/09/2020 15:45 GMT — Video update: Living with ‘long COVID’
09/09/2020 08:34 GMT — US: Number of cases and deaths fall for third week in a row 
A total of 17 states, particularly in the Midwest and Northeast of the United States, have registered increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases for 2 weeks in a row. Nationally, however, the numbers of new cases and deaths have fallen each week for 3 weeks.
Read more here.
09/14/2020 10:53 GMT — AstraZeneca resume vaccine clinical trial
Last week, AstraZeneca paused a clinical trial investigating a new vaccine. The move came following an illness in one study participant. Following a review, scientists are now resuming the trial in the United Kingdom. The World Health Organization (WHO) have described this vaccine as a leading candidate.
In a statement, AstraZeneca write, “The independent review process has concluded, and following the recommendations of both the independent safety review committee and the U.K. regulator, the [Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency], the trials will recommence in the U.K.”
Read more about the vaccine trial here.
09/09/2020 08:32 GMT — AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine trials halted
According to AstraZeneca Plc., they halted a large-scale clinical trial of a COVID-19 vaccine because one participant developed an unexplained illness. The World Health Organization (WHO) had described this vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, as a leading candidate.
AstraZeneca has paused trials while an independent committee reviews the safety data. In a statement, the company explain: “This is a routine action, which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of our trials.”
Although the company has not disclosed the nature of the illness, doctors expect the individual to recover. At this stage, it is not clear whether the vaccine was directly responsible for the illness.
Read more here.
09/08/2020 09:28 GMT — Addressing COVID-19 and incarceration
In a recent Medical News Today article, Wizdom Powell, Ph.D., discusses the relationship between COVID-19 and incarceration. Powell is an associate professor of psychiatry and the director of the Health Disparities Institute at UConn Health, part of the University of Connecticut in Farmington.
Find the article here.
09/08/2020 09:16 GMT — Living with long COVID
Medical News Today recently published a Special Feature on “long COVID.” Affected people experience symptoms months after the initial illness is supposed to have worn off. The feature includes first-hand accounts and insights from Prof. Tim Spector, an epidemiologist at King’s College London.
Read the full article here.
09/07/2020 10:25 GMT — Portable smartphone COVID-19 test delivers results in under 40 minutes
Scientists have designed a rapid, portable COVID-19 test that can provide results on a smartphone. Its developers claim that it could broaden access to affordable testing in regions that lack expertise, infrastructure, and specialized equipment for laboratory-based testing.
Read more about the experimental test here.
09/07/2020 09:51 GMT — Antibody-based arthritis drug could treat severe COVID-19
A new study demonstrates that an antibody-based blockade could effectively treat cytokine release syndrome, or CRS, and alleviate severe cases of COVID-19. The findings appear in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Read our coverage of the research here.
09/04/2020 12:00 GMT — Alleged US case of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection raises questions
According to research that has yet to be peer reviewed or published in a journal, a 25-year-old male in the United States may have developed a second SARS-CoV-2 infection after recovering from the first. However, questions remain.
Read our full coverage of the study here.
09/04/2020 11:09 GMT — COVID-19-associated health worker deaths
According to a new Amnesty International report, globally, more than 7,000 health workers have died after contracting COVID-19. Mexico has registered the highest number of health worker fatalities, with a total of 1,320 deaths. The report states that in Mexico, hospital cleaners are particularly at risk.
The analysis also reports high numbers of health worker fatalities in the United States (1,077), United Kingdom (649), Brazil (634), Russia (631), India (573), and South Africa (240).
According to Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s head of economic and social justice, “For over 7,000 people to die while trying to save others is a crisis on a staggering scale. Every health worker has the right to be safe at work, and it is a scandal that so many are paying the ultimate price.”
“Many months into the pandemic, health workers are still dying at horrific rates in countries such as Mexico, Brazil, and the [U.S.]“, he continues, “while the rapid spread of infections in South Africa and India show the need for all states to take action.”
Speaking about the way forward, Cockburn explains, “There must be global cooperation to ensure all health workers are provided with adequate protective equipment so they can continue their vital work without risking their own lives.”
Although the figures in the analysis are stark, the authors of the report remind us that “These figures are likely to be a significant underestimate, due to underreporting by many of the countries included in the analysis.”
Read Amnesty International’s report here.
09/04/2020 10:43 GMT — People with eating disorders negatively affected by lockdown
A recent study concludes that people with a history of eating disorders experienced significant negative effects during the COVID-19 lockdown. The research appears in the Journal of Eating Disorders.
Read our full report on the study here.
09/03/2020 10:03 GMT — COVID-19: Breathing problems are the most common reason for returning to the hospital
According to a new study, it is relatively rare for COVID-19 patients to return to the hospital within 2 weeks of discharge. Individuals with hypertension or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are the most likely to return.
Using electronic health records, the authors of the latest study followed 2,864 discharged patients. Of these, 103 (3.6%) returned for emergency care, and, in total, the hospitals readmitted 56 patients.
People with breathing difficulties were the most likely group to return to the hospital, accounting for half of all return visits. The authors published their results in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
Read MNT’s coverage of the study here.
09/03/2020 09:05 GMT — Winter flu-like illnesses could have been COVID-19
The results of a recent analysis suggest that thousands of people who had flu-like symptoms during the winter of 2019 may actually have had COVID-19. The findings are based on retested throat swabs from people in Wuhan, China, and Seattle, WA.
The results, which appear in the journal EClinicalMedicine, suggest that the early spread of COVID-19 could have been far greater than experts initially thought.
As senior author Prof. Lauren Ancel Meyers explains, “Even before we realized that COVID-19 was spreading, the data imply that there was at least one case of COVID-19 for every two cases of flu.”
Read our coverage of the research here.
09/02/2020 13:45 GMT — US confirms it will not take part in WHO-led coronavirus vaccine initiative
In communication with The Washington Post yesterday, Judd Deere, a spokesperson for the White House, confirmed that the United States will not be joining COVAX, the international initiative for the development of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. This initiative is co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO), and it currently involves 172 countries.
“The [U.S.] will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt [WHO] and China,” Deere told The Washington Post.
This news follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to formally initiate the States’ withdrawal from the WHO in July after he claimed that China heavily influences the United Nations (UN) agency in their decision-making.
Read more here.
09/02/2020 09:59 GMT — Third US vaccine reaches final stages
On Monday, AstraZeneca announced that their experimental vaccine had entered the final stage of testing. The upcoming study will involve up to 30,000 people in the United Kingdom, Brazil, and South Africa. The University of Oxford in the United Kingdom developed the vaccine.
Read more here.
09/02/2020 09:36 GMT — Link found between metabolic syndrome and worse COVID-19 outcomes
A recent study concludes that people with metabolic syndrome are more likely to have worse COVID-19 outcomes — including requiring ventilation and death. The results appear in the journal Diabetes Care. 
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions, which include obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. People with metabolic syndrome have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
After accounting for a range of variables — including age, sex, race, and the hospital location — the researchers found that people with metabolic syndrome were 3.4 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than people without metabolic syndrome.
Read our full coverage of the study here.
09/01/2020 16:06 GMT — The global number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has reached 25.5 million
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09/01/2020 12:00 GMT — Treating COVID-19 may increase antibiotic resistance
A recent study, which appears in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, concludes theincreased use of antibiotics during the COVID-19 pandemic may be placing an added burden on wastewater treatment works. This might lead to raised levels of antibiotics in rivers.
Although antibiotics cannot treat viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, doctors commonly prescribe them to people who are hospitalized with COVID-19 to prevent secondary bacterial infections.
“From our previous research, we know that significant quantities of commonly prescribed drugs pass through treatment works and into our watercourses,” explains lead author Prof. Sean Comber.
Co-author Prof. Mathew Upton adds, “It is clear that mass prescribing of antibiotics will lead to increased levels in the environment, and we know that this can select for resistant bacteria. Studies like this are essential so that we can plan how to guide antibiotic prescription in future pandemics.”
Read more about the study here.
09/01/2020 11:23 GMT — Blood pressure drugs may improve COVID-19 survival
A recent review, which appears in the journal Current Atherosclerosis Reports, concludes that people taking certain drugs for high blood pressure had a lower risk of severe COVID-19 and death than thosewho were not taking these medications.
Doctors commonly prescribe angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) to treat high blood pressure.
Both drugs interact with ACE2 receptors. These receptors are also the entry point in the cell for SARS-CoV-2. Some researchers speculated that taking ACE inhibitors or ARBs might increase the number of ACE2 receptors and, therefore, exacerbate the infection.
“[What we] showed was that there is no evidence that these medications might increase the severity of COVID-19 or risk of death,” explains lead researcher Dr. Vassilios Vassiliou. “On the contrary, we found that there was a significantly lower risk of death and critical outcomes, so they might, in fact, have a protective role — particularly in patients with hypertension.”
Read our full coverage of the study here.
08/28/2020 15:00 GMT — Scientists reveal specific order of COVID-19 symptomsMNT reported on new research that found that individuals with a SARS-CoV-2 infection will likely experience symptoms in the following order:

  1. fever
  2. coughing and muscle pain
  3. nausea, vomiting, or both
  4. diarrhea

The new study — which appears in the journal Frontiers in Public Health — reached the above conclusion after analyzing the rates of symptom incidence of 55,924 confirmed COVID-19 cases in China.
The scientists supplemented their data with another 1,099 cases collected by the National Health Commission of China and compared COVID-19 with influenza and two other diseases caused by coronaviruses: SARS and MERS.
“This order is especially important to know when we have overlapping cycles of illnesses like the flu that coincide with infections of COVID-19,” says the study’s senior author, Prof. Peter Kuhn, from the University of Southern California.
“Doctors can determine what steps to take to care for the patient, and they may prevent the patient’s condition from worsening.”
Read our full coverage here.
08/28/2020 14:00 GMT — 20% of nursing homes in the US lack PPE
A new study that appears ahead of print in the journal Health Affairs, finds that over 20% of US nursing homes lack sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE).
This is despite the fact that nursing home residents make up almost 50% of all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. “Twenty percent is a lot, given where we are in the course of this pandemic. I would have hoped by month six we would be close to 0%,” says lead author Brian E. McGarry, assistant professor of geriatrics/aging and public health sciences at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. 
For their study, McGarry and colleagues used data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) COVID-19 Nursing Home Database, which amassed responses from 15,035 nursing homes. According to the researchers, this is about 98% of the total number of nursing care facilities in the U.S. The nursing homes also reported severe shortages of staff.
Read the full story here.
08/27/2020 14:00 GMT — CDC changes testing guidance, scientists express concern
Previously, the testing guidelines on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website read: “Testing is recommended for all close contacts of persons with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Because of the potential for asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission, it is important that contacts of individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection be quickly identified and tested.”
On August 24, the CDC updated their testing guidelines. According to their website, “Diagnostic testing categories have been edited to focus on testing considerations and actions to be taken by individuals undergoing testing.”
Now, the guidelines read: “If you have been in close contact (within 6 feet) of a person with a COVID-19 infection for at least 15 minutes but do not have symptoms, you do not necessarily need a test unless you are a vulnerable individual or your health care provider or State or local public health officials recommend you take one.”
Scientists and other health experts have expressed concern over these changes. Prof. Leana Wen from George Washington University and former health commissioner in Baltimore, MD, tweeted: “I still can’t make sense of @CDCgov change in guidance.”
“An estimated 40-50% of people with #covid19 are asymptomatic. Those exposed to the virus need to know to protect their family members & the public. One has to wonder: is this change because we don’t have enough tests?”
For more expert reactions, read the full story here.
08/27/2020 13:00 GMT — ‘We now have clear data’ that the immune response is ‘considerably different between the sexes’Since the beginning of the pandemic, scientists have been intrigued by sex differences in COVID-19 — specifically, that female patients tend to have better overall outcomes than their male counterparts.
Scientists have not known whether this is due to immunological differences or environmental factors.
New research helps settle the matter by exploring differences between the sexes’ immunological responses to SARS-CoV-2.
Prof. Akiko Iwasaki, of the Department of Immunobiology at Yale University, in New Haven, CT, and colleagues took nasal, saliva, and blood samples from COVID-19 patients and healthy participants. 
The authors performed analyses of viral loads, plasma cytokines, tests for SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies, and blood cell phenotyping in the COVID-19 patients.
The team followed the evolution of immune markers over time, as the disease progressed. Ultimately, they found key differences between the sexes, including:

  • Male patients had higher levels of specific cytokines. These inflammatory proteins are a natural part of the immune response, but they can lead to the potentially fatal “cytokine storm” phenomenon in severe cases of COVID-19.
  • Female patients had a “significantly more robust T cell activation than male patients.” T cells are white blood cells that play an important role in the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
  • Over time, the team found, poor T-cell activation in male patients led to worsening of COVID-19.

“We now have clear data suggesting that the immune landscape in COVID-19 patients is considerably different between the sexes and that these differences may underlie heightened disease susceptibility in men,” says Prof. Iwasaki.
Read more here.
08/26/2020 09:54 GMT — Hydroxychloroquine: The research continues
This week, scientists have published two new studies that investigate hydroxychloroquine. One study looks at the long-term safety of thedrug when used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. The second study examines itsimpact in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
The rheumatoid arthritis study appears in Lancet Rheumatology. Although the research is not directly related to COVID-19, the findings are relevant. The authors conclude:
“Hydroxychloroquine treatment appears to have no increased risk in the short term among patients with rheumatoid arthritis, but in the long term it appears to be associated with excess cardiovascular mortality.”
The authors of the second study, which appears in the European Journal of Internal Medicine, asked whether hydroxychloroquine reduced in-hospital mortality in patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections. 
Although the study was observational, the authors conclude hydroxychloroquine “was associated with a 30% lower risk of death in COVID-19 hospitalized patients.”
These results, which contradict similar, recent studies, are likely to spark fresh debate.
Read MNT’s article that explains how hydroxychloroquine has ignited a fire between medicine and politics.
08/26/2020 09:40 GMT — US colleges experience spike in cases
As many colleges begin their fall semester, some are struggling with high numbers of students testing positive for SARS-CoV-2. For instance, since August 19, officials from the University of Alabama have registered more than 550 positive tests.
Most of these cases were recorded at the university’s main campus in Tuscaloosa. In response, the mayor of Tuscaloosa has ordered bars to shut for 2 weeks and restricted the activity of other establishments.
At the University of Southern California’s University Park Campus in Los Angeles, 100 students are currently in a 14-day quarantine following exposure to the virus.
Last week, after a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill canceled all in-class teaching.
Read more here.
08/25/2020 14:08 GMT — Scientists report first case of reinfection
A new study paper documents the case of a 33-year-old man in China who appears to have contracted SARS-CoV-2 twice. He was treated for a mild case of COVID-19 in a hospital in March and tested positive again almost 5 months later.
Scientists have determined that the virus of the second infection was genetically different from the virus of the first.
The paper has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. However, the authors, researchers from The University of Hong Kong, say that that their manuscript has been accepted by the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
One of the authors, Dr. Kelvin To, writes, “This case proves that at least some patients do not have lifelong immunity.”
The researchers have only released parts of the paper online. In the text that has been made public, the authors argue that this case demonstrates that herd immunity is an impossibility and that a vaccine will not work.
However, other experts take a different view. For instance, Prof. Paul Hunter, from the University of East Anglia’s Norwich Medical School, in the United Kingdom, explains:
“The implications of this finding should not be overstated. It is quite likely that subsequent infections do not cause as severe an illness as the first episode because of some degree of residual immunity, which may not be sufficient to stop the infection but [may] be enough to reduce the risk of severe illness.”
He also explains that the viral load might not be as high in a second infection. Rather than conclude that immunization will never work, Prof. Hunter writes, “We need more information about this case and other cases of reinfection before we can really understand the implications.”
Prof. Brendan Wren, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, calls for similar restraint: “With over 3 million cases of COVID-19 worldwide, the first reported case of a potential reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 needs to be taken into context. […] This is a very rare example of reinfection, and it should not negate the global drive to develop COVID-19 vaccines.”
Dr. Julian Tang, from the University of Leicester, in the U.K., also believes that we should wait for further details before deciding that a future vaccine will be useless.
For instance, he outlines a theoretical alternative, in which there is “an initial coinfection with two different SARS-CoV-2 viral clades — with one initial predominant clade, then with the other minority clade just persisting longer than the predominant one.” 
In other words, both strains could, potentially, have been present in the man from the start, with one strain simply surviving longer. Although theoretical, this possibility underlines the need for more detail before making wide-ranging conclusions.
It is also worth noting that, in this individual, the second case was asymptomatic. The man had undergone a routine test as he passed through a Hong Kong airport.
Read more here.
08/25/2020 10:36 GMT — Pandemic slows throughout much of the world
On Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) published their weekly epidemiological report. In the update, they explain that, although the pandemic continues, it is slowing in most regions. However, some areas are still experiencing increasing numbers of cases.
As the report explains, “With the exception of the South-East Asia and Eastern Mediterranean regions, a decrease in the weekly case incidence was reported across WHO regions in the last 7 days.”
Last week, the Americas remained the most affected region, accounting for 50% of new cases and 62% of deaths. However, the report explains that this region also experienced the largest decrease compared with the previous week.
Find the WHO’s report here.
08/25/2020 09:45 GMT — COVID-19: Children may have a higher viral load than adults
A recent study of pediatric COVID-19 patients finds that children have a higher viral load than hospitalized adults. The research, which appears in the Journal of Pediatrics, suggests children may contribute to the spread of COVID-19 more than previously thought.
Read MNT’s full coverage of the study here.
08/24/2020 10:32 GMT — Is COVID-19 more dangerous because SARS-CoV-2 reduces specific microRNAs?
The authors of a new study ask whether microRNAs (miRNAs) might help explain why the novel coronavirus is particularly deadly. They conclude that SARS-CoV-2 might reduce miRNA levels in a way that assists viral replication and blocks the host immune response. 
miRNAs are short, noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression. They also help fight viruses by latching onto viral RNA and cutting it. This means that if miRNAs are inhibited, viruses are more likely to replicate.
The authors of the new study found that SARS-CoV-2 may serve as a miRNA sponge, reducing levels of miRNA in the cell and making the virus more hazardous.
Read more about the new study here.
08/24/2020 09:50 GMT — Even mild COVID-19 may produce long lasting immunity
The results of a new study, which appear in the journal Cell, suggest that T cells could provide lasting immunity against future infection. This is even the case for individuals who had a mild or asymptomatic case of COVID-19.
Read more about the research here.
08/21/2020 09:43 GMT — Video update: Dreams during COVID-19
08/21/2020 09:41 GMT — Tool to help manage COVID-19 in patients with diabetes
People with diabetes have an increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19. Recently, a group of researchers developed an algorithm that they hope will reduce the risk of complications in these patients, such as respiratory distress and kidney failure.
In their study, which appears in the journal Diabetes, the authors describe the management strategies used with almost 200 hospitalized COVID-19 patients with high blood sugar levels.
Using these observations, they developed an algorithm to help doctors manage levels of blood sugar in people who have diabetes and COVID-19.
Read MNT’s coverage of the recent study here.
08/21/2020 09:30 GMT — Electric cooker can effectively sanitize N95 masks
N95 respirators are a vital part of healthcare workers’ personal protective equipment. However, people can only use them once, and they are now in short supply. A recent study demonstrates that dry heat from an electric cooker can effectively sanitize these masks without compromising their effectiveness.
The authors published their findings in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters. They found that 50 minutes of dry heat at 212ºF (100ºC) successfully decontaminated N95 respirators.
Co-author of the study Prof. Vishal Verma explains, “The respirators maintained their filtration capacity of more than 95% and kept their fit, still properly seated on the wearer’s face, even after 20 cycles of decontamination in the electric cooker.”
Read our full coverage of the study here.
08/20/2020 10:11 GMT — New York teachers threaten strike
Yesterday, New York City’s United Federation of Teachers (UFT), which represents 133,000 public school teachers, voiced concerns about the city’s return-to-school plan. They promised to strike or bring legal action unless the district implements tighter safety measures and an improved COVID-19 testing plan.
At a briefing, UFT President Michael Mulgrew said, “The minute we feel that the mayor is trying to force people into a situation that is unsafe […] we go to court, we take a job action.”
However, local laws state that public employees are barred from striking. During a school tour in Brooklyn, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, “any union leader who talks about doing something illegal should really think twice about what he’s saying.”
Read more here.
08/20/2020 09:36 GMT — Will the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement change science and society?
Medical News Today recently published an opinion piece by Winston Morgan, Ph.D., from the University of East London in the United Kingdom. In the article, he discusses a recent review into why COVID-19 disproportionately affects people from marginalized racial and ethnic groups. 
He explains how the review’s “overwhelming message was that the cumulative effects of structural racism on BAME [Black, Asian, and minority ethnic] groups was the major contributing factor.” 
Morgan also highlights why large-scale societal changes need more than sentiment to become reality. He writes:
“Major changes require the transfer of privilege from those who have always benefited from it to those who have never had privilege, a step that many, even those who advocate equality, are reluctant to make when faced with real choices.”
Read the full article here.
08/20/2020 09:13 GMT — Dr. Fauci quizzed at Healthline Town Hall meeting
This week, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci spoke about COVID-19 at a Town Hall meetingthat Healthline organized. During the discussion, he spoke about children returning to schools, his hopes for a vaccine, and experimental treatments that scientists are currently exploring.
Talking about reopening schools, Dr. Fauci said, “The general default position to reopen schools should be to try as best as you can to open up schools for the psychological health of the children and the secondary downstream ripple effects of the family that might have to interrupt work to take care of kids.”
However, he also makes it clear that “you have to pay attention to the safety and health and welfare of the children and teachers as well as the parents and relatives. With that as a background, we live in a big country that has different levels of infections.”
Read our coverage of the meeting here.
08/19/2020 07:20 GMT — How a new blood test could help speed up vaccine development and population screening
In a recent interview, Medical News Today spoke with James Hindley, Ph.D., from Indoor Biotechnologies. We discussed a new T cell test that will help scientists as they design new vaccines and study how the immune system responds to the virus.
Read the full interview here.
08/19/2020 07:15 GMT — What can we learn from South Korea’s response?
In comparison with other countries, South Korea responded to the pandemic well, registering fewer deaths than some similarly sized nations. A recent article, published in The American Review of Public Administration, discusses South Korea’s response and the lessons that other countries can learn from it.
Read our full coverage of the study here.
08/182020 15:41 GMT — MNT video update: T cells and COVID-19
08/18/2020 10:45 GMT — According to WHO, people aged 20–49 are driving the pandemic
The World Health Organization (WHO) state people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s are currently driving transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Many of these individuals are asymptomatic and unaware they have contracted the virus. This presents a risk to vulnerable populations.
Takeshi Takai, WHO Western Pacific regional director, explains: “What we are observing is not simply a resurgence. We believe it’s a signal that we have entered a new phase of pandemic in the Asia-Pacific.”
Read more here.
08/18/2020 10:24 GMT — Researchers call out lack of diversity in COVID-19 clinical trials
Marginalized people experience disproportionality higher rates of COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and death. Despite this fact, according to a new perspective article in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), they are significantly underrepresented in COVID-19 clinical trials.
The authors explain that clinical trials, in general, tend to lack diversity, and COVID-19 studies are no different. This fact makes it difficult to know whether interventions designed for COVID-19 will benefit those who are at most risk of the disease.
As an example, the authors explain that “[t]he modest benefit seen in time to clinical improvement with remdesivir may not be generalizable to minority populations, given the differences in disease severity and outcomes.”
Read our full coverage of the article here.
Previous COVID-19 updates available here:
June 17–August 17
April 16–June 16
March 24-April 15
March 7–March 23
Feb 22–March 6