Michael Le Page, Jessica Hamzelou, Sam Wong, Graham Lawton, Adam Vaughan, Conrad Quilty-Harper, LayalLiverpool, Matt Hambly, Carissa Wong, Alex.
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The recent surge of the milder omicron variant in England and Wales caused a similar number of deaths to flu and pneumonia in the years before the outbreak.
According to an analysis by the Office for National Statistics, Covid-19 caused a similar number of deaths in England and Wales over the past winter as flu and pneumonia did in previous years.
Covid-19 was the underlying cause of 4100 deaths in January 2022, while flu and pneumonia caused an average of 4328 deaths every January from 2016 to 2020.
In the latest winter, the number of deaths with covid-19 as the underlying cause has fallen more in line with those due to flu and pneumonia.
Flu and pneumonia deaths are usually lumped together as they both cause lung damage. In the past two years, flu and pneumonia have caused far fewer deaths than normal, probably because of less social mixing between lock downs.
Social distance reduced flu transmission even though covid-19 was spreading fast.
Covid-19 caused more deaths than flu and pneumonia. In 2020, covid-19 was the leading cause of death in England and Wales, and it will likely be the case in 2021.
Middle-aged people are affected by a higher proportion of covid-19 deaths. In the first two years of the Pandemic there were more deaths from flu and pneumonia in people under the age of 60.
The number of covid deaths was greater in number and affected a broader range of ages, according to a statement from the University of Edinburgh.
It's difficult to tell what this means for the future. Future mortality is difficult to predict because of the absence of physical slayer measures and the likely reduction in vaccine coverage.
There are other coronaviruses news.
An analysis has found that a vaccine against covid-19 can reduce the severity of infections in people with cancer or a previous cancer diagnosis.
The researchers looked at a cancer registry from England and found that people with cancer experience a faster waning of immunity within 3 to 6 months.
A study has found that more than half of people admitted to hospital with covid-19 have probable heart inflammation two months after being discharged.
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The story of a disease.
The latest developments in the covid-19 pandemic are covered in New Scientist Weekly. The biggest science stories to hit the headlines each week include technology and space, health and the environment.
The Jump is a series on the radio about how viruses can cross from animals to humans. The first episode looks at the origins of the disease.
The high covid-19 death rates in ethnic minority patients reveal about health inequality in the UK.
The inside story of the development of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine against covid-19 is the subject of a documentary.
Race Against the Virus: Hunt for a Vaccine is a Channel 4 documentary which tells the story of the coronaviruses epidemic through the eyes of the scientists on the frontline.
The New York Times is ranking potential drug treatments for covid-19 based on their effectiveness and safety.
Humans of COVID-19 is a project that highlights the experiences of key workers in the fight against coronaviruses in the UK through social media.
The death of a transport worker at London's Victoria Station is the subject of a programme called Belly Mujinga: Searching for the Truth.
There is a short documentary series on the coronaviruses that looks at the efforts to fight it and ways to manage its mental health toll.
Stopping the Next Pandemic: How Covid-19 Can Help Us Save humanity is a book written by Debora Mackenzie about how the epidemic happened and why it will happen again if we don't do things differently in the future.
The Rules of Contagion is a book about the new science of contagion and how it shapes our lives and behavior. In his book, Adam Kucharski examines how diseases spread and why they stop.
The first of two Pfizer/BioNTech covid-19 vaccines will be given to a person in December 2020.
The UK vaccine advisory group recommends that people in care homes, frontline health and social care workers, and clinically vulnerable people aged 16 to 64 be offered a booster jab this autumn.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said in a statement that last year's autumn booster vaccination programme provided excellent protection against severe covid-19.
People over the age of 75, care home residents and people with suppressed immune systems can get a spring booster.
The Scottish, English and Welsh governments have confirmed they will follow the advice, according to a report.
There are other coronaviruses news.
According to the Office for National Statistics, Covid-19 was the third leading cause of death in England in April. Covid-19 was the sixth leading cause of death.
Since late April, North Korea has reported 2.24 million cases offever. The officials haven't specified if this is due to covid-19 or not.
The first covid-19 case in the country was reported on May 12. Covid-19 testing is limited and there is no official record of any of the 25 million people in North Korea beingvaccinated.
The World Health Organization has its headquarters in Switzerland.
Richard Juilliart is from Alamy.
The world is not in a better position to fight a new Pandemic than before covid-19 emerged, according to the World Health Organization.
According to a WHO report, the world's Pandemic Preparedness is the same or worse than it was before covid-19.
The report accepted that some progress had been made, like the creation of a global health security fund inside the WHO and increased WHO funding.
Progress on international health regulations is moving too slowly.
Clark said at a press conference that the same tools and system were used in December to respond to a threat.
The report suggests that an independent health threats council led by heads of state, a worldwide Pandemic Treaty and an international agreement to improve Pandemic Preparedness should be taken as soon as possible.
Next week, the World Health Assembly will meet to address issues raised in the report.
There are other coronaviruses news.
People who recover from the omicron variant may not have immunity against other covid-19 variant, according to mouse models and a small human study.
The blood serum from the mice was collected seven days after they were exposed to the different covid-19 variant.
After overcoming omicron, the serum was only protected against the omicron variant. The serum collected after an infection with delta was able to protect against the alpha, alpha and delta variant.
The 10 people who had recovered from omicron were unvaccinated. The researchers found that people who catch omicron develop some level of immunity against all covid-19 variant of concern.
gargling salt water or drinking herbal tea are some of the traditional medicines suggested by North Korea. A state news agency said the treatments are effective in prevention and cure of the disease, but they are not supported by scientific research.
Less than one in 10 children aged 5 to 11 have received their first dose of vaccine.
In England, 24 per cent of 12 to 15-year-olds received a first dose of the vaccine in six weeks after they became eligible.
Children rarely become seriously ill with the disease, but if they test positive, they can be put at risk of long covid.
Russell Viner at University College London told The Guardian that a vaccine for 5 to 11 year olds probably isn't beneficial.
It has a very good safety profile. There is an argument that the balance of risks should be taken by individual parents.
According to the latest statistics from the National Health Service, Knowsley has the lowest vaccine take-up of 3 per cent among 5 to 11 year olds.
There are two covid-19 vaccines available to children from 5 years old. Wales became the first UK nation to offer a covid-19 vaccine to children in the age group of 5 to 11 years old on March 15, 2022.
In Scotland, 17 per cent of 5 to 11 year olds had received their first dose. According to National World, only 2% of children in Northern Ireland have received their first vaccine dose.
Getting vaccine is a personal choice between families and their children, and we have now sent invites to everyone eligible, providing parents with information to allow them to make an informed decision, while they can also talk to their doctor or a local healthcare professional if they have questions.
There are other coronaviruses news.
After being in a state of lock down for more than seven weeks, the city will aim to return to normal life on June 1.
From June 1 to mid- and late June, we will fully implement epidemic prevention and control, normalise management and fully restore normal production and life in the city.
More than one million people in North Korea are suffering from a key symptom, according to the state media. Less than a week ago, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un confirmed the country's first covid-19 cases and deaths.
187,000 people have been isolated and treated for the 1 million cases of the disease. It is not known if these cases have tested positive for the disease. There is no official record of the population beingvaccinated. Kim prioritised keeping covid-19 out of the country.
The flags on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. are lowered to half-mast to mark 1 million deaths in the US.
Jim LOSCALZO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Many more deaths are expected to have occurred than have been recorded as the US has officially passed thetragic milestone.
President Joe Biden said on 12 May that the US had recorded more than 1 million deaths.
One million covid deaths, one million empty chairs around the family dinner table, each irreplaceable losses, said Biden.
In March 2020 Anthony Fauci of the US National Institute of Health said that between 100,000 and 200,000 people could die from covid-19.
The US has a higher official death toll than any other country, but many deaths are not recorded.
A recent World Health Organization report looked at the number of deaths from any cause in 2020 and 2021. There were deaths that were not recorded as covid-19, as well as people who died from other causes because hospitals were full during the Pandemic.
India had the highest number of excess deaths for its population size, while Russia had the highest number of excess deaths for its population size.
The WHO said on 12 May that 2 million deaths have been recorded across the European region.
There are other coronaviruses news.
According to the country's state media, six covid-19 deaths have been reported in North Korea. On May 12th, North Korea imposed a national lockdown after acknowledging its first covid-19 cases.
350,000 people in North Korea have been treated for a disease since April, but there is little capacity for covid-19 testing. It didn't report carrying out any covid-19 vaccinations.
The city wants to have no cases of covid-19 outside of the tightly regulated zones by May. If the outbreak is spreading, there are cases outside the zone. The WHO called China's zero-covid policy unsustainable because of the omicron variant.
An employee of a supermarket in North Korea is sick.
Jon Chol Jin is pictured.
The capital of North Korea reported its first covid-19 outbreak.
The country had never reported a covid-19 case. It is thought that infections would have arisen before North Korea closed its borders.
State media in North Korea has not confirmed the number of cases or where the infections may have originated, but according to the North Korean news outlet KCNA, people with a high temperature recently tested positive for the omicron sublineage BA.2
There is no official record of vaccinations in North Korea.
State authorities, including North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, are aware of the seriousness of the emergency case and hope to quickly cure it.
There are other coronaviruses news.
More than half of people who were hospitalized with covid-19 have at least one symptom two years later, according to a study. The findings provide the longest known follow-up of covid-19 symptoms so far.
The participants who had an average age of 57 were assessed via a six-minute walking test, questionnaires and lung tests at six months, 12 months and two years post-discharge.
More than two thirds of people reported at least one long covid symptom six months after leaving the hospital. fatigue or muscle weakness was the most common symptom.
More than two years is needed to recover fully from covid-19, according to our findings, which were done at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital.
According to the World Health Organization, the number of deaths that occurred in the African region between 2 and 8 March was up 84 per cent. The African region saw a rise in cases.
The number of reported covid-19 cases and deaths has been declining.
Workers in personal protective equipment deliver food during the ongoing covid-19 lockdown in the Jing district of Shanghai in China.
HECTOR RETAMAL is pictured.
Lifting China's zero-covid policy could cause a large wave, but the World Health Organization says the strategy is unsustainable.
According to a modelling study from Fudan University in China, scrapping China's zero-covid policy could lead to 1.5 million deaths and increase intensive care numbers by 15.
China introduced the strategy to cut off transmission to end outbreaks in August of 2021. The officials are evaluating the policy's long-term viability.
Lifting the zero-covid strategy could lead to as many as 5.1 million hospitalisations, 2.7 million intensive care unit admissions and 1.55 million deaths by September, according to a mathematical model by Fudan.
74 per cent of deaths would be made up of people over the age of 60, according to the model.
The WHO doubts whether keeping zero-covid policies in place is sustainable as the highly-transmissible omicron variant continues to drive cases in China.
The zero-covid strategy is not sustainable because of the behavior of the virus now and what we anticipate in the future, according to the WHO.
The approach will not be sustainable and we have discussed it with Chinese experts.
Transiting into another strategy will be very important.
There are other coronaviruses news.
According to a meta-analysis of 23 studies covering more than 117,000 pregnant people, pregnant people who arevaccinated against covid-19 are less likely to have a stillbirth than their unvaccinated counterparts.
The study found no evidence of an increased risk of haemorrhage or a lower birthweight when pregnant with vaccine.
According to the ministry of health in New Zealand, there are more than one million covid-19 cases. The government loosened its zero-covid strategy in March.
More than 20% of New Zealand's population is known to have been affected by the disease.
A Moderna covid-19 booster jab is going to be prepared in London.
A company called SOPA Images LIMITED/Alamy.
A fourth dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine provides increased protection from covid-19, according to a study.
A fourth dose of the covid-19 vaccine could provide a substantial boost in the amount of immune cells in the body, according to a study conducted as part of the University ofSouthampton's Cov-Boost vaccine trial.
There is a fourth vaccine available for people who are 75 and over. A larger group of people in the UK may be offered a second booster jab later this year.
166 participants who had received a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine were either given a full dose of Pfizer/BioNTech or a half dose.
The results show that the fourth jab offered higher levels of protection than a third jab and was particularly effective for people over the age of 70.
Some participants in the study maintained higher levels of immunity after a third dose and only received a small boost from a fourth jab, suggesting there could be a ceiling to the immune response.
The ceiling effect could suggest that a fourth booster shot is less effective in people with a shorter window between their third and fourth vaccine doses.
Saul Faust said in a statement that the results show the benefits of the most vulnerable people receiving current spring boosters.
There are other coronaviruses news.
There was a small but significant increase in loneliness worldwide because of Lock Downs and social distance caused by the Pandemic, according to a meta-analysis of 34 studies.
The dire warnings about aloneliness may be overblown, according to Mareike Ernst, of Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz in Germany. As loneliness is a risk for premature mortality and mental and physical health, it should be closely monitored.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that 51 percent of people who tested positive for covid-19 were following isolation guidelines in England.
The legal requirement to self-isolate after a positive covid-19 test was removed in England. In April, new isolation guidance was issued for those who tested positive, urging them to avoid contact with other people until they felt better. The rest of the UK has similar guidance.
The proportion of people who were positive for covid-19 who followed self-isolation was similar to what we reported.
An aerial view of a burial site for people who died with covid-19 in the Amazon forest in Brazil.
Michael Dantas is a photographer.
According to a WHO report, the covid-19 epidemic caused more than 13 million deaths.
The WHO calculated the number of deaths caused by the Pandemic in the period from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2022.
National death data for each country was combined with statistics from scientific studies in the same country. They used a statistical model to account for deaths that may have been overlooked.
The team estimated the number of deaths that would have been expected had the epidemic not occurred.
The excess includes deaths caused by the swine flu, as well as deaths caused by healthcare systems being overwhelmed.
Over 6 million people have died of covid-19 worldwide, not taking into account the indirect deaths.
The impact of the Pandemic and the need for all countries to invest in more resilient health systems that can sustain essential health services during crises are both shown by the data.
There are other coronaviruses news.
A study suggests that more than one in 10 people could have severe neurological symptoms.
More than 16,000 people were hospitalized with covid-19 in 24 countries between March 2020 and March 2021. Nearly 13 per cent of the participants developed a serious neurological condition, like a stroke, seizure or encephalopathy, an umbrella term for disease that alters the brain's function or structure.
If you fight off the SARS-CoV-2 virus, you may be able to boost your protection against other coronaviruses.
In a small study, scientists at Scripps Research in the US found that people who had recently fought off the coronaviruses reacted more strongly to spikes in their own genes than people who had not.
A stock image of a medic.
The images are from xijian.
The natural cognitive decline that occurs between 50 and 70 years old is what may cause people to lose 10 IQ points.
Covid-19 can cause long term cognitive and mental health issues. Researchers at the University of Cambridge analysed 46 people who were hospitalized due to the problem between March and July 2020.
Six months after their initial illness, the participants underwent cognitive tests. More than 66,000 people from the general population were compared with these results.
Those who were hospitalized with covid-19 scored worse on verbal analogical reasoning tests.
Slower processing speeds were also recorded. The part of the brain responsible for attention, complex problem-solving and working memory is believed to be less efficient after covid-19.
The researchers said that any recovery was gradual and that scores and reaction speeds improved over time.
This cognitive impairment probably has many causes, including inadequate blood supply to the brain, blood vessel blockage, and damage caused by an overactive immune system, they said.
Around 40,000 people have been through intensive care with covid-19 in England alone and many more will have been very sick, but not admitted to hospital, according to Adam Hampshire at Imperial College London.
There is a large number of people who are still having problems with their cognitive function many months later.
There are other coronaviruses news.
The Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Australia may have discovered the biological mechanism behind the rare and severe covid-19 response seen in some children.
Doctors have not been able to figure out why some children develop multisystem inflammatory syndrome in response to covid-19, which can cause symptoms such as abdominal pain and heart disease.
After analyzing the blood of 33 children with the condition, the researchers identified 85 proteins that were specific to the condition, potentially opening the door to new treatments.
According to a study of more than 61,000 people with asthma in the US, Covid-19 may make asthma worse. The participants who tested positive for covid-19 had more asthma-related hospitalisations, emergency inhaler use and steroid treatments in the six months after the infections, compared with the participants who did not test positive.
People with asthma are affected by covid-19. A study published in November 2020 found that people with asthma may be less likely to develop covid-19.
There are previous updates from April to March, February to February, January to January, November to December, September to October, July to September, and June to July.
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