Spain’s Health Alerts and Emergencies Centre(Ccaes) has detected the new XE variant of Covid-19 in Spain.
Coinciding with Spain’s decision to end the indoor mask rule, the emergence of XE is worrying, but so far has only been detected in very low numbers – less than two percent of cases.
Austria is suspending its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, its ministers for health and constitutional affairs said on Wednesday, six days before fines for breaches were due to start being imposed.
The measure, the most sweeping in the European Union as it applied to all adults with few exceptions, has been in effect since Feb. 5, but enforcement was only due to begin on March 15.
Fourth doses of the COVID-19 vaccine don’t appear to offer significant protection against catching omicron according to a preliminary study conducted in Israel, the first country to authorize a second booster for its general population. Researchers announced the resultsMonday, around three weeks after fourth shots became widely available across the country.
COVID-19 vaccines have been a game-changer in the current pandemic. Several vaccine candidates have conferred a high degree of protection, with some reducing the number of symptomatic infections by over 95% in clinical trials. But what determines this extent of protection? The answer to this question would help optimize the use of available vaccines and speed up the development of new ones.
A new data analysis tool developed by Yale researchers has revealed the specific immune cell types associated with increased risk of death from COVID-19, they report Feb. 28 in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
For many people, one of the fastest tip-offs that they have COVID-19 is the loss of taste or smell. Now researchers have pinpointed some genetic variants in people that may make it more likely that the coronavirus might rob them of these senses.
Coronavirus loses 90% of its ability to infect us within 20 minutes of becoming airborne – with most of the loss occurring within the first five minutes, the world’s first simulations of how the virus survives in exhaled air suggest.
The findings re-emphasise the importance of short-range Covid transmission, with physical distancing and mask-wearing likely to be the most effective means of preventing infection. Ventilation, though still worthwhile, is likely to have a lesser impact.
About 70,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with COVID-19 each and every day. It’s clear that these new cases are being driven by the more-infectious Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. But why does the Delta variant spread more easily than other viral variants from one person to the next?
A spike protein is a tool that helps a virus to enter the cell.
If you look at an illustration of SARS-CoV-2, you will notice all the protruding structures on its extremities. The main job of these spike proteins is to join to receptors – called ACE2 receptors – on the surface of a cell and force the viral genome inside.
ç