Health

The Iraqi Ministry of Health and environment urged citizens today to receive their COVID-19 jabs as soon as possible, following reports about the appearance of a new strain of the virus. The ministry stressed in a statement the need for all government and private institutions to abide by the instructions …

Two linked cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant have been detected in Britain connected to travel to southern Africa, health minister Sajid Javid said on Saturday. Omicron dubbed a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization on Friday, is potentially more contagious than previous variants of the disease, …

Global authorities reacted with alarm on Friday to a new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa, with the EU and Britain among those tightening border controls as researchers sought to find out if the mutation was vaccine-resistant. Hours after Britain banned flights from South Africa and neighbouring countries and asked …

Scientists are sounding the alarm, as what could be the most highly-evolved strain of the coronavirus has been discovered in patients in different parts of the world. Its resistance to vaccines adds to the concerns. The latest known variant of Covid-19 has significant changes in its spikes, which could make …

South African scientists have detected a new COVID-19 variant in small numbers and are working to understand its potential implications, they said on Thursday. The variant – called B.1.1.529 – has a “very unusual constellation” of mutations, which are concerning because they could help it evade the body’s immune response …

Coronavirus infections broke records in parts of Europe on Wednesday, with the continent once again the epicentre of a pandemic that has prompted new curbs on movement and made health experts think again about booster vaccination shots. Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary all reported new highs in daily infections …

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday there could be a further 700,000 deaths from COVID-19 in Europe by March, taking the total to above 2.2 million, as the world body urged people to get vaccinated. Total cumulative deaths from respiratory disease in the 53 countries of the WHO’s …

The Food and Drug Administration opened booster shots for the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to all adults today, the companies announced, expanding eligibility outside of the initial, vulnerable groups they were cleared for earlier this fall. Although the COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States are still …

Pfizer Inc said on Thursday it had signed a $5.29 billion deal with the US government to deliver 10 million courses of its experimental COVID-19 antiviral drug, as the country rushes to secure promising oral treatments for the disease. The deal is rough twice the size of the contract the …

A new approach that could potentially treat Alzheimer’s disease and vaccinate against it has been developed by scientists at the University of Leicester. The study developed by the team, which suggests both an antibody-based treatment and a protein-based vaccine, has reduced the symptoms of Alzheimer’s in mouse models of the …

Britain’s GSK and partner Vir said on Friday their antibody-based COVID-19 drug has shown in a trial to work as well when given as a shot in the arm when administered via the standard infusion, potentially offering more convenience. GSK said it would now speak to global regulators, including the …

British researchers said on Wednesday they had identified proteins in the coronavirus that are recognised by T-cells of people who are exposed to the virus but resist infection, possibly providing a new target for vaccine developers. Immunity against COVID-19 is a complex picture, and while there is evidence of waning …

There could be a shortage of one to two billion syringes needed to administer COVID-19 vaccinations in 2022 which could also impact routine immunizations and undermine needle safety, the World Health Organization warned on Tuesday. National health authorities should plan their needs well in advance to avoid the “hoarding, panic …

Worldwide cases due to COVID-19 were approaching 250 million on Sunday as the surge from the Delta variant eases and more normal trade and tourism resume, although some countries in eastern Europe are experiencing record outbreaks. Over the last three months, the daily average number of cases has fallen by …

The Taliban-run Afghan public health ministry announced on Sunday the start of a four-day nationwide polio vaccination campaign aimed at inoculating children under age 5. For the past three years before taking control of Afghanistan, the Taliban had barred UN-organized vaccination teams from doing door-to-door campaigns in parts of the …

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that it has granted approval for Indian drugmaker Bharat Biotech’s home-grown COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use listing, paving the way for it to be accepted as a valid vaccine in many poor countries. The WHO tweet that its technical advisory group had …

The COVID-19 global death toll has just passed another grim milestone: more than 5 million people have now died from the disease. However, most experts agree that number is hugely underestimated and the real figures could be two to four times that. Vaccines have hugely slowed the death rate but …

The Iraqi Ministry of Health authorized the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 to include children 12 through 18 years of age. An official document issued by the Ministry on Monday said that the authorization was based on the recommendations of advisory committee experts …

A new study from the CDC finds that people with “natural” immunity through infection were more than five times more likely to become infected with COVID-19 compared to people who were fully vaccinated. The study reviewed more than 7,000 people across nine states, measuring infections and hospitalization rates three to …

Finance and health ministers from the world’s 20 biggest economies (G20) said on Friday they would take steps to ensure 70% of the world’s population is vaccinated against COVID-19 by mid-2022 and created a task force to fight future pandemics. They could not reach an agreement on a separate financing …