Coronavirus: Future variants-of-concern likely lurk in today’s patients
- 10-Mar-2022
The many coronavirus particles inside an infected person likely include some mutated ones that may turn out to be early examples of important variants, new findings suggest. Closely analyzing virus particles obtained from 10 people with infections attributed to the Alpha variant in Spain in April 2021, researchers identified some mutated particles resembling the Omicron […]
South African scientists will study link between COVID variants and untreated HIV
- 01-Feb-2022
Leading South African scientists are set to investigate Covid-19 and HIV in tandem, amid mounting evidence that the collision of the two pandemics could be generating new coronavirus variants. The team at the Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA), which first alerted the world to the Covid variant Omicron, said it was time […]
New PCR test can identify coronavirus variants
- 27-Jan-2022
A new type of PCR test can quickly tell which variant of the coronavirus is causing infection, helping doctors choose the most effective antibody treatments, researchers said. Most current PCR tests can check broadly for the presence of the virus but cannot identify specific variants. The new test uses special “probes” – fluorescently labeled molecules […]
Explainer: Beyond Delta, scientists are watching new coronavirus variants
- 08-Aug-2021
CHICAGO: The continued spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has spawned a Greek alphabet of variants – a naming system used by the World Health Organization to track concerning new mutations of the virus that causes COVID-19. Some have equipped the virus with better ways of infecting humans or evading vaccine protection. Scientists remain focused on […]
India COVID-19 variant exhibits resistance; antibody drug shows promise
- 31-May-2021
A roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19
COVID-19 spread: UK adds Pakistan, more countries to ‘red list’
- 02-Apr-2021
UK added more countries including Pakistan and Bangladesh to its red list from April 9 in order to curb the spread of COVID-19 variants.
Coronavirus is undergoing “convergent evolution”, has it shown its best cards?
- 31-Mar-2021
Although it will continue to mutate, immunologists and virologists said they suspect this coronavirus has a fixed number of moves in its arsenal
Coronavirus variants can infect mice
- 20-Mar-2021
The implications, such as whether mice could then transmit the virus to humans, will require further study
COVID-19 from UK variant lasting longer
- 24-Feb-2021
The reason the coronavirus variant first identified in the UK is more transmissible than earlier versions of the virus may be that it spends more time inside infected people
China’s Sinovac vaccine works on UK, South African variants
- 18-Feb-2021
The COVID-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech is effective against the UK and South African variants