1. How COVID-19 is affecting the globe Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 185 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 4 million. More than 3.29 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data. Confirmed new COVID-19 cases have risen for the first time in [...]

The World Health Organization (WHO) has added another COVID strain to its list of coronavirus variants to keep an eye on: the COVID-19 Lambda variant. This particular variant has now spread to more than two dozen countries, with a heavy concentration in South America. Originally identified in Peru last year, the Lambda variant is responsible for [...]

In a recent study conducted at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA, scientists have identified six vaccine breakthrough cases caused by the delta variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). A vaccine breakthrough case is defined as the detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection in individuals who are fully vaccinated against coronavirus disease [...]

A new Covid-19 strain that is much more dangerous than the Delta variant has been detected in more than 30 countries in the past four weeks, says the Health Ministry. "The Lambda strain was reported to have originated from Peru, the country with the highest mortality rate in the world," it said in a [...]

Weakened lungs and immune systems make people increasingly vulnerable, warn scientists. A rash of cases of a rare “black fungus” infection affecting thousands of critically ill Covid patients in India caused alarm last month. Now scientists are warning that other dangerous or even deadly fungal infections have spawned in critically ill coronavirus patients globally, [...]

Using real-time deformability cytometry, researchers at the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin in Erlangen were able to show for the first time: COVID-19 significantly changes the size and stiffness of red and white blood cells—sometimes over months. These results may help to explain why some affected people continue to complain of symptoms long after [...]

An artificial intelligence algorithm can parse gene expression data to predict patient outcomes by identifying signature genes that reveal the severity of viral infection immune response including COVID-19, according to a recent study published in eBiomedicine. University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers analyzed over 45,000 transcriptomic datasets from viral pandemics among humans, mice, and [...]

Mixing doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines generate a stronger immune response than having two rounds of the AstraZeneca shot, new U.K. research suggests, though the highest antibody response was seen in people being fully vaccinated with Pfizer. The early findings, which haven't yet been peer-reviewed, were released as a paper published online by the Lancet on Monday. The [...]

Why do new variants of Covid-19 keep appearing? Laura Foster explains India has classified a new variant of the coronavirus first identified in Europe as a "variant of concern", but it's too early to tell whether it poses a significant threat. India's health ministry says studies showed that the so-called Delta plus variant - also known [...]

LONDON — Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. has been keeping a close eye on the U.K. From its initial response to Covid-19 (questioned by many), to its much-praised immunization program and world-class research, all have helped inform how the U.S. — which faced its first major Covid outbreak after Britain [...]