Pandemic Latest News

infectious diseases

WHO to change name of monkeypox to mpox

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced this week it will start referring to monkeypox disease as “mpox” (pronounced “em-pox”) after the current name drew criticism as evoking racist stereotypes and inviting stigmatization. It is also a misnomer: The virus was first identified in laboratory monkeys but is most likely carried by rodents in the wild. …

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Some Chinese cities ease COVID-19 measures

The giant Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Chongqing announced an easing of COVID curbs last Wednesday, a day after demonstrators in southern Guangzhou clashed with police amid a string of protests against the world’s toughest coronavirus restrictions. www.medscape.com/viewarticle/984819?src=wnl_edit_tpal&uac=398271FG&impID=4939977&faf=1 The demonstrations, which spread over the weekend to Shanghai, Beijing and elsewhere, have become a show of …

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Child immunisation rate drops globally following COVID-19

www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/mumbai-measles-outbreak-due-to-low-vaccination-coverage/article66185257.ece?utm_source=eveningwrap&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter&pnespid=vLBmBnhCa70V2qfKrWy4Q5KKtQK_X8Fxffrm3rVzqgFmOjYiQAAzsWGfKWs82Wh0Ehz6yF5Y One of the biggest fallouts of the pandemic globally has been the low routine immunisation coverage of children. As per WHO data of November 23, 2022, nearly 40 million children globally had missed a measles vaccine dose last year. As a result, there were an estimated nine million measles cases and 1,28,000 deaths in …

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World Bank unveils new funding mechanism for prevention of future pandemics

The World Bank has a new funding mechanism to help low- and middle-income countries beef up their abilities to prevent, prepare for, and respond to future pandemics. www.science.org/content/article/news-glance-science-moonshot-uc-student-strike-and-x-ray-boost? Launched last week at the Group of 20 (G-20) summit, a forum convened by the world’s major developed and emerging economies, the Pandemic Fund already has more …

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Mass protests against China’s COVID lockdowns

Protests simmered in Shanghai early on Sunday, as residents in several Chinese cities, many of them angered by a deadly fire in the country’s far west, pushed back against heavy COVID-19 curbs nearly three years into the pandemic. www.ndtv.com/world-news/china-building-fire-that-killed-10-sparks-questions-on-zero-covid-policy-3556802 A fire on Thursday that killed 10 people in a high-rise building in Urumqi, capital of …

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Pharma companies potentially mandated to disclose prices on emergency treatments

Pharmaceutical companies could be made to disclose prices and deals agreed for any products they make to fight future global health emergencies, under new rules that would govern a World Health Organization (WHO)-backed pandemic accord reviewed by Reuters. A draft version of the WHO accord, which is being negotiated by the UN health agency’s 194 …

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Research in Thailand develops long shelf life COVID-19 vaccine

A team of researchers affiliated with several entities in Thailand, working with two colleagues from the US and two from Canada, has developed an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine that can be safely refrigerated for up to three months before use. The team has named it ChulaCov19. In their paper published in the journal Nature Microbiology, the …

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Beijing locks down district of 3.5 million residents

Beijing told the 3.5m residents of its most populous district to stay at home from Monday, in a bid to contain rising COVID-19 infections. China’s capital reported 516 new infections as of 3pm on Sunday, as well as the death of an 87-year-old man, China’s first known COVID fatality since 26 May. The government recently …

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Large scale respiratory illness study reports interference between diseases

In one of the largest, longest, and most comprehensive studies of respiratory virus infections in humans, Murcia and colleagues used a PCR assay that can identify members of 11 viral families to probe nasal and throat samples from more than 36,000 individuals who sought care from the National Health Service in Glasgow over 9 years. …

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