Health

As the world awaits a COVID-19 vaccine, the next big advance in battling the pandemic could come from a class of biotech therapies widely used against cancer and other disorders – antibodies designed specifically to attack this new virus. The development of monoclonal antibodies to target the virus has been …

Dr. Deborah Birx warned on Sunday that the coronavirus pandemic has entered “a new phase” in the U.S. and said the virus is “extraordinarily widespread” in rural areas that missed earlier waves. “What we are seeing today is different from March and April,” Birx, the White House coronavirus task force …

Who gets to be first in line for a COVID-19 vaccine? U.S. health authorities hope by late next month to have some draft guidance on how to ration initial doses, but it’s a vexing decision. “Not everybody’s going to like the answer,” Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes …

The coronavirus pandemic is likely to be “lengthy,” the World Health Organisation has warned after its emergency committee met to evaluate the crisis six months after first declaring an international emergency. A “nuanced” approach to tackling Covid-19 is needed to reduce the risk of “response fatigue” as the diseases places …

Russia is preparing to start a mass vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus in October, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Saturday, RIA news agency reported. The minister, who did not give details about the vaccine to be used, said doctors and teachers would be the first to be vaccinated. …

Using hand sanitizer can help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but overusing a product that contains methanol can cause serious health complications. The Food and Drug Administration warns people not to use more than 90 different hand sanitizers because tests revealed they contain methanol. Methanol is not an “acceptable …

Despite his warnings, Gates also noted an apparent reduction in the risk of death from the coronavirus, describing it as “a sign of progress” in the treatment of severe cases. As countries around the world battle the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic, tech mogul and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has made …

U.S. coronavirus deaths rose by almost 25,000 in July and cases doubled in at least 18 states during the month, according to a Reuters tally, dealing a crushing blow to hopes of quickly reopening the economy. The United States has recorded nearly 1.8 million new cases in July out of …

There is no “zero risk” strategy for countries easing international travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, and essential travel for emergencies should remain the priority, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. In a long-awaited update to its guidance on travel, the United Nations global health agency said cross-border trips for …

The World Health Organization’s chief scientist said on Thursday that any country that supports the COVAX financing initiative has a better chance of getting a successful COVID-19 vaccine. Soumya Swaminathan told a news briefing in Geneva that the more countries that joined COVAX, a scheme designed to guarantee fast and …

Britain’s AstraZeneca said on Thursday that good data was coming in so far on its vaccine for COVID-19, already in large-scale human trials and widely seen as the front-runner in the race for a shot against the novel coronavirus. The drugmaker, Britain’s most valuable listed company, also announced second-quarter results …

Twitter Inc said on Tuesday it had reined in access to Donald Trump Jr’s account for 12 hours because a tweet he had posted violated the social media site’s misinformation policy on COVID-19. The eldest son of U.S. President Donald Trump had posted a video on Monday of doctors talking …

A World Health Organization official on Tuesday described the COVID-19 pandemic as “one big wave” and warned against complacency in the northern hemisphere summer since the infection does not share influenza’s tendency to follow seasons. WHO officials have been at pains to avoid describing a resurgence of COVID-19 cases like …

Nurses and other health workers must be top priority for the first COVID-19 vaccines, especially as they are often left without enough protection against the virus in their frontline jobs, the International Council of Nurses said on Monday. An estimated 1.5 million health care workers have been infected, three times …

China recorded 57 local Covid-19 cases on Sunday, the highest number the country has seen since it brought the coronavirus largely under control in March, according to figures released by the National Health Commission on Monday. Among the locally transmitted cases, 41 were found in the far western region of …

Coronavirus cases in Latin America for the first time have surpassed the combined infections in the United States and Canada, a Reuters tally showed on Sunday, amid a surge of infections in Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, and Argentina. The quickly growing number of cases makes Latin America the region most …

Moderna Inc said on Sunday it has received an additional $472 million from the U.S. government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to support the development of its novel coronavirus vaccine. The U.S.-based drugmaker said the additional funding will support its late-stage clinical development including the expanded Phase 3 …

South Africa has announced more than 12,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases as the total in one of the world’s worst affected countries reaches 434,200 with 6,655 deaths. South Africa makes up well over half the confirmed cases on the African continent, where experts say the virus could smoulder in areas …

Almost 40 countries have reported record single-day increases in coronavirus infections over the past week, around double the number that did so the previous week, according to a Reuters tally showing a pick-up in the pandemic in every region of the world. The rate of cases has been increasing not …

Global confirmed COVID-19 cases topped 15 million on Wednesday, reaching 15,000,424 as of 16:35 GMT, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. A total of 617,832 people worldwide have died of the disease, the data showed. The United States has suffered the most …