Latest Updates on Covid-19

Bolsonaro's conviction brings justice to those who lost loved ones to Covid

Simone Guimaraes, a retired 52-year-old teacher in Rio de Janeiro, lost at least five relatives to COVID-19: her husband, sister, two brothers-in-law and the godfather of her grandchild. She also lost friends and neighbours. She woke to the news on Saturday that Brazil's Supreme Court ordered the preemptive arrest of former President Jair Bolsonaro, whom she blames for her losses. A judge claimed Bolsonaro was intent on escaping days before he was set to begin a 27-year prison sentence for attempting a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. It's a small beginning of justice starting to be served," she said. Impunity has to end at some point. And in his case, we endured a lot." Social media filled with posts Saturday remembering people lost to COVID-19, which also happened in September when the Supreme Court convicted Bolsonaro, even though the legal case had nothing to do with the former president's pandemic response. Guimaraes followed every

What makes long Covid long: New evidence raises concern and diagnostic hope

Research finds persistent immune and clotting abnormalities, underscoring the scale of India's long Covid burden and its impact on heart and vascular health

Supreme Court questions petitioners on reliance on UK Covid vaccine data

You trust the data put out by the United Kingdom but not the figures given by the Indian government, the Supreme Court on Thursday told the petitioners who claimed that authorities reported "alarmingly low" number of deaths due to adverse effects of Covid vaccine. A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta was hearing arguments on the pleas including the one which alleged that two women lost their lives in 2021 after taking the first dose of Covishield vaccine. It was alleged that after vaccination, both of them suffered from severe adverse effects following immunization. The top court reserved its order in the matter. Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for petitioners in one of the pleas, said the same vaccine was used in the UK and India administered 30 times more jabs as compared to the UK. "The difference is so large that there seems to be a worrying discrepancy between the UK, which is putting its data transparently, and India which is hiding the data of deaths,

Covid in pregnancy linked to higher autism, speech and motor delays: Study

Children born to mothers infected with Covid-19 during pregnancy faced a 29% higher chance of developing autism, speech and motor delays by age three, a major US study finds

Homebound: The film pushes many buttons, and that keeps it from greatness

We don't remember Henry Fonda from the cinematic The Grapes of Wrath, nor Om Puri from Bhisham Sahni's Tamas (both excellent performances) but are awed by the films themselves

mRNA Covid shots could make cancer immunotherapy more effective, says study

Scientists have found that Covid-19 mRNA vaccines could enhance immune responses in cancer patients, potentially transforming how immunotherapy works

Study shows Covid-19 in fathers may affect offspring's brain, cause anxiety

Changes in sperm caused by COVID-19 in a mouse could affect the offspring's brain development and cause anxious behaviours, a study has found, suggesting that the viral disease may have long-lasting effects on future generations, even as the results would need to be verified in humans, researchers said. The team from Australia's Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health found that an offspring mouse conceived after a father has been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and developed COVID-19 symptoms have higher levels of anxiety-like behaviours. "We let male mice recover from SARS-CoV-2 infection for a few weeks before they mated with healthy females. We found that the resulting offspring showed more anxious behaviours compared to offspring from uninfected fathers," Elizabeth Kleeman, research officer and first author of the study published in the journal Nature Communications, said. All offsprings from COVID-19-affected fathers were seen to display increased anxiety-like ..

CDC stops recommending Covid-19 shots for all, leaves decision to patients

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has adopted recommendations by a new group of vaccine advisers, and stopped recommending COVID-19 shots for anyone leaving the choice up to patients. The government health agency on Monday announced it has adopted recommendations made last month by advisers picked by US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Before this year, US health officials following recommendations by infectious disease experts recommended annual COVID-19 boosters for all Americans ages 6 months and older. The idea was to update protection against the coronavirus as it continues to evolve. As the COVID-19 pandemic waned, experts increasingly discussed the possibility of focusing vaccination efforts on people 65 and older who are among those most at risk for death and hospitalization. But Kennedy, who has questioned the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, abruptly announced in May that COVID-19 vaccines were no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant wom

Govt circular on Covid-19 cannot limit insurers' obligations, says Delhi HC

The court ordered full reimbursement for a policyholder after observing that the insurer's reliance on Covid-19 circular was unjustified according to Irdai's clarifications

Man with HIV endured 2-year Covid infection, study reveals new record

A Lancet study documents a 41-year-old's persistent Covid infection lasting more than 750 days, raising concerns about viral evolution in immunocompromised patients

How scientists cracked the 1,500-year-old plague that reshaped an empire

For the first time, scientists have found genetic proof of the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis in a 1,500-year-old mass grave in Jordan, confirming its role in the deadly Justinian pandemic

Covid-19 masks release microplastics and toxins, researchers warn

New research reveals that single-use face masks can release harmful micro particles and chemicals into air and water, with potential effects on human health and ecosystems

Kennedy Jr grilled in Senate on vaccine policies; Trump says he means well

US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, facing pointed bipartisan questioning at a rancorous three-hour Senate committee hearing on Thursday, tried to defend his efforts to pull back Covid-19 vaccine recommendations and explain the turmoil he has created at federal health agencies. Kennedy said the fired CDC director was untrustworthy, stood by his past anti-vaccine rhetoric, and disputed reports of people saying they have had difficulty getting Covid-19 shots. A longtime leader in the anti-vaccine movement, Kennedy has made sweeping changes to agencies tasked with public health policy and scientific research by laying off thousands of workers, firing science advisers and remaking vaccine guidelines. The moves -- some of which contradict assurances he made during his confirmation hearings -- have rattled medical groups and officials in several Democratic-led states, which have responded with their own vaccine advice. Medical groups and several Democrats in Congress have called for

The Wisdom of Plagues: Book traces lessons not learned from pandemics

Covid-19 was the saddest pandemic NYT reporter Donald G McNeil ever covered. Now he shows how outbreaks like AIDS and Ebola foreshadowed the next in patterns, responses, and impact

Could one mRNA therapy stop flu, Covid, and more? Scientists say yes

Inspired by a rare mutation that makes people virus-resistant, researchers have created an experimental mRNA nasal therapy that may offer broad protection against future outbreaks

From Covid-19 to cancer care: What are mRNA vaccines and how do they work?

mRNA vaccines made headlines during Covid-19, now they could redefine cancer treatment. Here's what Nobel Prize-winning technology is and how it works

Respiratory viruses like flu, coronavirus may trigger cancer relapse: Study

A new study reveals that respiratory infections like common flu and coronavirus can awaken dormant breast cancer cells in the lungs, raising concerns for survivors

Qantas fined $59 million for illegally sacking 1,800 staff during Covid

A judge on Monday fined Qantas Airways 90 million Australian dollars (USD 59 million) for illegally firing more than 1,800 ground staff at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The penalty is in addition to the AUD 120 million (USD 78 million) in compensation that Australia's biggest airline had already agreed to pay its former employees. Australian Federal Court Justice Michael Lee said the outsourcing of 1,820 baggage handler and cleaner jobs at Australian airports in late 2020 was the largest and most significant contravention of relevant Australian labour laws in their 120-year history. Qantas agreed in December last year to pay AUD 120 million (USD 78 million) in compensation to former staff after seven High Court judges unanimously rejected the Sydney-based airline's appeal against the judgment that outsourcing their jobs was illegal. The Transport Workers Union, which took the airline to court, had argued the airline should receive the largest fine available AUD 121,212,000 (

New Covid variant on the rise in US: What you need to know about XFG

WHO says the fast-spreading XFG 'Stratus' variant, now rising in US and Europe, poses low public health risk and shows no signs of greater severity than Omicron

WHO updates recommendations on use of antibiotics for Covid-19 patients

The WHO has recommended against the use of antibiotics even in patients with severe Covid when a concurrent bacterial infection is not suspected. The global health body has released updated recommendations for the clinical management of people with Covid which, it said, are based on evidence generated from recent meta-analysis of outcomes of patients treated with antibiotics for Covid. "For patients with non-severe COVID-19 and a low clinical suspicion of a concurrent bacterial infection, we recommend no empirical antibiotics. For patients with severe COVID-19 and a low clinical suspicion of a concurrent bacterial infection, we suggest no empirical antibiotics," the WHO said. The WHO said that as COVID-19 epidemiology and severity have changed, and as emergency measures have subsided, the evidence behind a number of recommendations has changed. In parallel, evolution of health systems and the global environment have meant that the recommendations are implemented in a very different