The B.1.1.529 variant was first reported to WHO from South Africa on 24th November 2021. The first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on 9th November 20211. Another source2 indicates that this variant was first detected in samples collected on...
WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) was convened on 26th November 2021 to assess the variant B.1.1.529. Based on the available evidences, the group of experts has advised WHO that this variant should be designated as a Variant...
Europe is reeling with an unusually high number of COVID 19 cases for the past few weeks and this can be attributed to the highly transmissible delta variant along with relaxation in COVID norms with respect to wearing of...
COVID-19 situation across Europe and central Asia is very serious. According to WHO, Europe could face over 2 million COVID-19 deaths by March 2022. Wearing masks, physical distancing and vaccination are key preventive actions that could help avoid reaching this...
Resistance to COVID-19 infection has been observed in health care workers and has been attributed to the presence of memory T cells that target the RNA polymerase in the RTC (replication transcription complex), thereby preventing infection. This makes RNA...
Molnupiravir, the world’s first oral drug (approved by MHRA, UK) against COVID-19 along with upcoming drugs such as Paxlovid and sustained vaccination drive has raised hopes that the COVID-19 pandemic may end soon bringing life back to normalcy. Molnupiravir (Lagevrio) is a broad-spectrum...
Fluvoxamine is an inexpensive anti-depressant commonly used in mental healthcare. Evidence from the recently concluded clinical trial suggest that it can be repurposed to treat patients with COVID-19. It is found to reduce risk of severe COVID-19 symptoms, reduces need...
Coronaviruses are RNA viruses belonging to coronaviridae family. These viruses display remarkably high rates of errors during replication due to lack of proofreading nuclease activity of their polymerases. In other organisms, the replication errors are corrected but the coronaviruses lack this ability. As...
The Lambda variant (lineage C.37) of SARS-CoV-2 was identified in Southern Brazil. This was found to have high prevalence in some south America. In view of high rates of transmissibility across south America, this variant was declared to be a variant...
There has been a rapid increase in the delta variant of SARS CoV-2 in France in June 2021 based on the analysis of 5061 positive samples1. The next few weeks are very crucial with respect to the emergence of the third...
A bill H.R.2316 - Fire Fauci Act1 has been introduced into the US Senate to reduce Dr. Anthony Fauci salary along with audit for his correspondence and financial statements linked to COVID-19 outbreak. During the initial days of COVID-19 outbreak, in March...
A recent study suggests increased risk of formation of coronavirus hotspots caused due to deforestation and livestock revolution leading to zoonotic transmission of coronavirus from bats to humans. The study seems to sow enough subliminal seeds in the minds...
Herd immunity for COVID-19 is said to be achieved when 67% of the population is immune to the virus through infection and/or vaccination, whilst the pathogen remains well-characterized (unmutated) throughout transmission in the population that is well-characterized. In the...
2-Deoxy-D-Glucose(2-DG), a glucose analog that inhibits glycolysis, has recently received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) in India for the treatment of moderate to severe COVID-19 patients. The molecule has been extensively researched and used in clinical trials for its ant-cancer properties....
The researchers at the Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center have successfully completely Phase I trials for the use of CD24 protein delivered in exosomes to treat COVID-19.
Scientists at the Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center have devised a bio-therapeutic agent based on exosomes (membrane bound vesicles) carrying CD24 protein....
There is no clarity on the natural origin of SARS CoV-2 as no intermediate host has been found yet that transmits it from bats to humans. On the other hand, there are circumstantial evidences to suggest a laboratory origin...
The B.1.617 variant that has caused the recent COVID-19 crisis in India has been implicated in increased transmission of the disease among the population and poses a significant challenge with respect to disease severity and effectiveness of currently available...
Molnupiravir, a nucleoside analog of cytidine, a drug that has shown excellent oral bioavailability and promising results in Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials, could prove to be a magic bullet acting as an anti-viral agent against SARS-CoV2 in humans. Major...
The causative analysis of the current crisis in India caused by COVID-19 can be attributed to various factors like sedentary lifestyle of the population, complacency setting in due to the perception of pandemic being over, predisposition of Indian population...
With the advent of COVID-19, there seems to be a negative selection pressure working against those who may be genetically or otherwise (due to their lifestyle, co-morbidities etc.) predisposed to develop severe symptoms, ultimately leading to death. Majority of...
A recent study suggests that single dose of Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 provide protection against the new variants among individuals with prior infection.
The massive immunisation programme against the pandemic COVID-19 is currently underway. Simultaneously, there are reports of emergence of new variants...
There are overwhelming evidences to confirm that the dominant route of transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is airborne. This realisation has significant implications for fine-tuning of strategies to manage the pandemic, particularly in terms of importance...
Findings from recently concluded phase 2 clinical trials in Canada and the UK suggest nitric oxide (NO) could be very helpful in preventing and treating COVID-19.
Nitric oxide NO, (not to be confused with nitrous oxide N2O used as anaesthetic in clinical...
MHRA, UK regulator has issued an advisory against the use of AstraZeneca vaccine as it has been shown to induce the formation of blood clots along with thrombocytopenia in rare cases (4 events in a million). However, in people...
All approved COVID-19 vaccines so far are administered in the form of injections. What if the vaccines could be conveniently delivered as spray in the nose? If you do not like shots, here may be the good news! Intranasal administration of...
