Kent Covid variant sweeping the world may be more infectious than original strain because it leaves patients sicker for longer, scientists say Data from 65 players and staff from the US National Basketball Association People normally only get a test when they have symptoms but the NBA test daily Analysis suggests Kent strain is up … Read more
The Kent coronavirus variant is up to 70 per cent more infectious and 30 per cent more deadly than the original strain, scientists fear. Concerns about the new strain follows reports that more than 50 countries have cases of the mutant B.1.1.7 strain. Professor Sharon Peacock, head of the Covid-19 Genomics UK (Cog-UK) Consortium, said … Read more
Vaccines? The Chinese got there first… Charles Kenny details a history of mankind’s battles with infectious disease Infectious disease has always been with us and arguably always will be Charles Kenny’s book is a lively survey of our millennia-long struggle to defeat it He looks back at the plagues that have gone before including the Black … Read more
Covid-19 patients are most infectious one day BEFORE symptoms appear, study reveals French researchers used a computer to predict the change in viral load overtime Found most people develop symptoms seven days after coronavirus infection But a person is likely most infectious one day before symptoms emerge Older people take longer to flush the virus out of … Read more
Wearing three layers of face coverings can help protect you against infection with the novel coronavirus. Public health experts say this does not mean wearing three masks at a time. Multiple masks may offer a measure of protection, but you will also be more likely to fiddle with an additional mask, and it makes it … Read more
Danish scientists believe the Kent variant of coronavirus is less infectious than previously thought. Analysis at the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen found the mutant strain, scientifically known as B.1.1.7, is 36 per cent more infectious than previous variants. This number is significantly lower than the 70 per cent figure first cited by Prime Minister Boris … Read more
Labs across the UK are to be upgraded to help tackle infectious diseases, cut greenhouse emissions and more — thanks to a £213 million government investment. The support — part of the British government’s wider ‘Research & Development Roadmap’ — was announced yesterday by Science Minister Amanda Solloway. It will give British scientists access to facilities including … Read more
New strain of coronavirus ravaging London and south east is 54 per cent more infectious than other variant, PHE study finds The new strain is driving surging infections across London, south east and east Analysis has now revealed that the new strain is 54 per cent more infectious In more positive news, the variant isn’t … Read more
Scientists researching the new variant of coronavirus say they have no proof it is more infectious in children. Professor Neil Ferguson, a SAGE adviser and Imperial College epidemiologist, said yesterday there is ‘a hint that it has a higher propensity to infect children’. But members of COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) today said they are ‘not familiar’ … Read more
By David Churchill What has happened to the coronavirus to trigger such concern? A new strain of Covid has developed which is said to spread far faster. A ‘strain’ is a new version of a virus which has genetic mutations. The new strain is a version of Sars-Cov-2, the coronavirus which causes the disease Covid-19. … Read more