WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday that if the weather cools in the northern hemisphere and people increasingly mix indoors, we expect cases to increase. It’s not just the UK – several countries in Europe have seen an increase in covid-19 cases, hospitalisations and deaths.
Another cause for concern is the evolutionary ability of the virus. omicron variants remain responsible for the vast majority of cases worldwide. But WHO is monitoring more than 300 omicron sub-variants, all of which are deemed “of concern”. As Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s covid-19 technical lead, said at the same briefing: “We will continue to see waves of infections … because we will live with this virus.”
technical review COVID-19 has been reported since the beginning of the pandemic. Here are some of the latest works from the archives:
- Covid-19 has hit some people much harder than others. We’re just starting to look at racial disparities in long-term covidas Elaine Shelly reports in this article.
- There is still much debate about chronic covid in children— as I reported earlier this year, wrangling with groups over the impact and even the definition of the disease.
- In China, a new coronavirus popping up on your phone asking for a PCR test could put you in quarantine for days for no reasonreported by my colleague Yang Zeyi.
- Two inhaled covid vaccines As I reported last month, covid-19 approvals were recently obtained in India and China…
- …but looking for a universal covid vaccine Adam Piore reports, based on nanoparticles.
from the web
Has your brain ever gone blank? Brain scans show that our brains can enter a neurological state that keeps us out of our thoughts. (NASA)
Doctors are discovering new, ultra-rare blood group system– and just described bit 44. (wired)
Rapid antigen test for covid-19 paves way for other home testing kits– Covers everything from the flu to kidney disease. (new life)
America lacks Adderall— prescriptions for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy — are biting, and those affected say their lives have been “turned upside down”. (vice)
We are getting myopic. By 2050, myopia will affect half of the world’s population, in part because we spend more time reading indoors. (BBC Future)