The omicron subvariant known as BA.5 was first detected in South Africa in February 2022 and spread rapidly throughout the world. As of the second week of July 2022, BA.5 constituted nearly 80% of COVID-19 variants in the United States. Soon after researchers in South...
Getting the facts on infectious diseases has become a normal part of life since the pandemic’s beginning in early 2020. Now, a dominant subvariant strain of COVID-19, so-called BA.5, is the most contagious yet. Separately, cases of an entirely different virus,...
With recent UK data suggesting that the BA.4 and BA.5 Covid variants are kicking off a new wave of infections, experts answer the key questions about reinfection and prevention. How common are Covid reinfections? Though rare at the start of the pandemic, reinfections...
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has described as "tyrants" state governors and mayors who have imposed lockdowns to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Addressing supporters at his birthday celebrations in Brasilia, he said his government had done all it could and it...
Experts believe the emergence of new coronavirus variations in Africa have contributed to in an increase in the number of both cases and deaths reported in many countries on the continent. There's also concern that these variants can't easily be tracked because the...
Prisoners have an elevated risk of dying of Covid and should be prioritised for vaccination, along with prison staff, say researchers from University College London (UCL). The risk is driven both by greater exposure to the virus, and by having generally poorer health...
More than 335 million doses of the coronavirus vaccines have been administered, in more than 100 countries worldwide. However, there are vast differences in the pace of progress in different parts of the world. Some countries have secured and delivered doses to a...
Coronavirus cases on the Isle of Man have risen by another 44 with 16 people in hospital, the most the island's health service has treated during the recent surge. Admissions at Noble's Hospital reached a peak of 22 in late April last year during island's first wave...
Like all viruses, the coronavirus that has caused the deadly pandemic keeps changing in small ways as it passes from one person to another. The vast majority of these mutations are inconsequential, and don't alter the way the virus behaves. But some mutations trigger...
Brazil has exceeded 2,000 Covid-related deaths in a single day for the first time, as infection rates soar. The country has the second highest death toll in the world, behind the US, with a total of 268,370 fatalities. Wednesday's total was 2,286. Experts warn the...
Abstract Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected 78 million individuals and is responsible for over 1.7 million deaths to date. Infection is associated with the development of variable levels of antibodies with neutralizing activity,...
This information is regularly updated but may not reflect the latest totals for each country. Total vaccinations refers to the number of doses given, not the number of people vaccinated. It is possible to have more than 100 doses per 100 population as some vaccines...
Information about the characteristics of these variants is rapidly emerging. Scientists are working to learn more about how easily they spread, whether they could cause more severe illness, and whether currently authorized vaccines will protect people against them....