Category: Corona Virus

Countries agreed to amend the International Health Regulations, which were adopted in 2005.

The World Health Organization says member countries on Saturday approved a series of new steps to improve global preparedness for and response to pandemics like COVID-19 and mpox.

Countries agreed to amend the International Health Regulations, which were adopted in 2005, such as by defining a pandemic emergency and helping developing countries gain better access to financing and medical products, WHO said.

The agreement came as the U.N. agency wrapped up its six-day World Health Assembly this year, after plans to adopt a more sweeping pandemic treaty at the meetingwas shelved largely over disagreements between developing countries and richer ones about better sharing of technology and the pathogens that trigger outbreaks.

But countries agreed to complete negotiations on the pandemic accord with the year, at the latest, WHO said.

Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University, hailed a big win for health security, and posted on X that the move will simplify negotiations for the pandemic agreement.

WHO said countries have defined a pandemic emergency as a communicable disease that has a wide geographical spread or a high risk of one, and has exceeded or can exceed the ability of national health systems to respond.

It's also defined as an outbreak that has or could cause substantial economic or social disruption and requires quick international action, the agency said.

Yuanqiong Hu, a senior legal and policy adviser at Doctors without Borders, said that the changes adopted Saturday include important provisions addressing equity in access to health products during global health emergencies.

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WHO member countries approve steps to bolster health regulations to better brace for pandemics - WGRZ.com

Remember Covid-19? I had forgotten all about it and let my mind push all memories of 2020-2021 deep into my subconscious. It's a luxury I could afford although I knew there were still some suffering the effects today.

So when my husband called in sick a day before a return trip to the UK, I didnt think much of it. I hoped his colleagues didnt find this too suspect as he loves his work and truly isnt the kind of man to pull a sickie.

Thankfully, he seemed fine on our flight and we managed to go out and celebrate my 40th birthday with friends as planned.

But the next day, I woke up feeling exhausted and gradually shifted all the morning plans I had made to the afternoon, and then on to the evening.

Given at the time that I was five months pregnant and had stayed out later than planned, I put it down to that and told myself to just stay in bed and recover Id be able to catch up with my friends in the coming days so it would be fine.

But as the evening came, I developed the aches, the sweating and shivering to go with the exhaustion and headache.

Still, I didn't realise what was happening to me. And perhaps because I had so much that I wanted to do, I just wasnt willing to accept that I was ill, even though I knew from experience that every illness my husband has caught first, Ive ended up catching later and far worse. His mild symptoms in January became my flu for a week.

I'm hoping our baby will be superhuman from all the antibodies I must have developed and passed on.

It was only when I crawled back to my hometown miserably and with party balloons in tow, that my mum asked if I had tested. Did it even enter my brain that this could possibly be the coronavirus? No.

My best friend had worked in an intensive care unit throughout the pandemic and all the memories of her horrific stories came flooding back, and of how scared we all were. Now, of course I knew this wasnt anything to fear, thanks to the vaccines.

My mum ordered some tests and, because theyre no longer readily available, I continued to notify friends of my lurgy.

Although I was still very foggy, I felt like I was on the mend, so one evening I managed to make it out for my actual birthday for dinner with my parents.

But the next day, mum started coughing. By this time, the tests she ordered had arrived and of course they came out positive. The following day, my dad tested positive too.

Fortunately for us, it was a bank holiday weekend in the UK, which means terrible weather. So we all sat around a lot feeling lethargic and sorry for ourselves.

By the following week, we had all recovered and I raced around catching up with people that Id meant to do in a more gradual relaxed way.

On our return to the UAE, we discovered that a trainer at my husbands gym had been unwell but carried on like normal.

A colleague at my previous employment had a reputation for chasing people with colds out of the building and I thought of her often during the pandemic, remembering her furiously pointing at the door to anyone who sneezed too much.

While Covid-19 cases have drastically reduced, new variants of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid, continue to be discovered.

A group of variants called FLiRT appear to be contributing to a rising wave of Covid infections around Australia and elsewhere.

According to the World Health Organisation's website, more than 129,000 cases of Covid-19 were reported globally in the space of 28 days in May, as well as 1,901 deaths.

Wed managed to make the best of the situation, but our trip home hadnt been what Id been looking forward to for so long.

So, remember that theres nothing heroic about struggling on and spreading your germs around if you're ill. STAY AT HOME!

Updated: May 31, 2024, 6:02 PM

Continued here:

My entire family caught Covid-19 this year, but we lived to tell the tale - The National

That a mild SARS-CoV-2 infection can lead to new health problems three years down the road is a sobering finding, an author of the study says.

Researchers tracking thousands of Covid-19 patients have uncovered some unnerving new data about the long-term effects of the disease.

According to a study released this week in Nature Medicine, patients who had been hospitalized when they contracted the virus still had an elevated risk of death three years later. Even people with mild cases were found to develop new health problems related to their infection far after their initial brush with coronavirus.

I feel Covid-19 continues to teach us and this is an important new lesson that a brief, seemingly innocuous or benign encounter with the virus can still lead to health problems years later, an author of the study, Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, said.

Heres a closer look at this eye-opening research.

Researchers tracked 135,000 patients who had been diagnosed with Covid-19 early in the pandemic and compared their outcomes to another group of 5 million people who werent known to have had the virus. They found that people who had been hospitalized within 30 days of catching coronavirus had a 29 percent higher risk of death three years later. Thats not great, but it is significantly lower than one year after onset (182 percent) and at the two-year mark (57 percent).

Another metric researchers looked at was disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), which measures the years lost to poor health or premature death. Their research suggests that people hospitalized for Covid-19 had 90 DALYs per 1,000 people. Thats worse than the outlook for heart disease and cancer, which both have about 50 DALYs per 1,000 people.

For people who didnt need a hospital stay for their symptoms, the team found 10 DALYs per 1,000 people and had a 5 percent increased risk of suffering from long Covid three years out. Dr. Al-Aly tells Fortune that among this group the primary complications theyre seeing are in the neurological, G.I., and pulmonary systems.

That a mild SARS-CoV-2 infection can lead to new health problems three years down the road is a sobering finding, Dr. Al-Aly, the director of the Clinical Epidemiology Center at the VA St. Louis Health Care System, says.

This is the largest study tracking the effects of Covid-19 over a full three-year period, although the authors acknowledged it does have several limitations. One is that the subjects were drawn from the Department of Veterans Affairs, meaning theyre mostly older, white, and male, the study says. The other is that the research began in 2020 before vaccines or antivirals were developed and because of that the infections are likely more severe; the research also doesnt consider newer variants like omicron or the FLiRT strains.

Experts are still trying to make sense of this condition, although according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 17 million Americans currently suffer from it.

Long Covid has been associated with more than 200 symptoms, from brain fog to extreme fatigue and debilitating issues like heart disease and stroke. For many, long Covid has been life-altering, which is why experts are still desperately seeking funding to develop new treatments and are urging the public to remain vigilant about the virus.

Even three years out, you might have forgotten about Covid-19, but Covid hasnt forgotten about you, Dr. Al-Aly says. People might think theyre out of the woods because they had the virus and did not experience health problems. But three years after infection, the virus could still be wreaking havoc and causing disease or illness in the guts, lungs, or brain.

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Long Covid Causes Hearth Issues Years After Infection, New Study - Katie Couric Media

New research on the long-term effects of Covid-19 reveals a mixed picture - offering both concerning and reassuring insights into the persistent health impacts of the virus years down the line.

The concerning news is that Covid-19 patients who were hospitalized within the first 30 days of infection face a 29% higher risk of death in the third year compared to those who never had the virus, according to the study from Washington University and the VA St. Louis Health Care system.

Read More

Even people with mild Covid-19 cases were found to be experiencing new health problems related to the infection three years later, the research published in Nature Medicine showed.

"Covid-19 continues to teach us that a brief, seemingly innocuous or benign encounter with the virus can still lead to health problems years later," said senior author Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist.

However, the study also brought some reassuring findings. The increased mortality risk diminishes significantly one year after infection among people who were not hospitalized - accounting for most COVID-19 cases.

In the third year post-infection, non-hospitalized patients had only a 5% increased risk of suffering long Covid effects, primarily impacting the gastrointestinal, pulmonary and neurological systems. This translates to 41 more health issues per 1,000 people - a small but noteworthy burden.

For hospitalized Covid-19 patients, the elevated health risk across all organ systems dropped from 182% one year after infection to 34% in the third year, showing an improving trajectory over time.

The researchers measured the healthy life-years lost due to Covid-19. Among non-hospitalized cases, there were 10 lost years per 1,000 people three years post-infection. For hospitalized patients, a staggering 90 years of healthy life were lost per 1,000 people over the same period.

"That a mild infection can lead to new health problems three years down the road is sobering," Al-Aly said, noting the burden is "astronomically higher" for severe cases.

While acknowledging limitations like not accounting for subsequent variants, Al-Aly emphasized the virus's lingering effects. "Even three years out, you might have forgotten about Covid-19, but Covid hasn't forgotten about you," he warned.

The study highlights the need for continued monitoring and support for long Covid patients, even years after their initial infection, to address the persistent and wide-ranging health impacts of the virus.

Published By:

Sibu Kumar Tripathi

Published On:

May 30, 2024

Here is the original post:

Death unlikely, but Covid to remain a threat years after infection - India Today

In Congress next month, Republicans will question former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other officials on how New Yorks leaders responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. The result will likely be a display of grandstanding and exaggeration, as political opportunists use the hearing to push their own agendas.

Yet here in New York, we have yet to conduct our own, truly independent accounting of how the state handled COVID. Democrats should be the party of accountability, honesty, and science yet even D.C. extremists are ahead of us in reviewing New Yorks COVID response.

Instead of allowing this Washington politicized circus to posture as an assessment of the pandemic response, New Yorks leaders should create a truly independent, external commission to provide an unbiased, apolitical assessment of the states COVID response.

As elected officials representing districts in the epicenter of the pandemic, we worked tirelessly to help provide for our communities throughout COVID-19, and to support those who tragically lost family members and loved ones, as well as survivors who are now chronically ill and disabled. Now, four years later, we owe it to those same communities to keep fighting for them to deliver accountability and transparency around what transpired in those weeks and months after COVID-19 hit New York.

Allowing the past to go unexamined has resulted in legitimate questions from the public about what the state is hiding. Are Democrats unwilling to examine actions by members of their own party? Are public hearings and commissions only used when politically expedient and denied when they could turn up uncomfortable truths?

Creating a truly independent commission would underscore a commitment to accountability that transcends politics sending a clear message that we put the wellbeing of New Yorkers above all else.

When any natural disaster or statewide emergency leads to tens of thousands of deaths, we have a responsibility to our constituents to review what happened, identify potential missteps, and learn from these errors. In the case of COVID-19, numerous questions were raised around the states decision to require nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients and the high rate of nursing home deaths that ensued.

Rather than sweep this recent history under the rug, the government has a duty to provide an honest, independent accounting of the events and decisions that led to these deaths. To date, however, the only review ordered by state leaders is a study conducted by a consulting firm without the authority to subpoena witnesses or review documents. This study may contribute to our understanding of the COVID aftermath, but it is far from sufficient on its own.

In our districts, families lost parents, grandparents and loved ones and these families deserve accountability. Beyond immediate accountability, we have a responsibility to ensure this outcome does not happen again. Our state will inevitably face health emergencies in the years to come. Preventing future tragedies requires looking backward and assessing the states response with clear-eyed realism, rather than ignoring the past and hoping for the best.

In Albany, we introduced legislation to establish the COVID-19 Pandemic Response Study Commission a fully independent commission of issue experts with the support, funding and tools they need, including subpoena power to speak with any relevant witnesses and review all materials and documents.

This commission would hold public hearings so New Yorkers themselves could hear directly from experts about what transpired in March 2020. It would produce a thorough study that includes a full accounting of the actions taken during the pandemic, determines what errors were made, and most importantly identify solutions to prevent and mitigate potential harm from future tragedies particularly for communities and businesses that were disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

Only a truly independent commission will ensure the assessment is objective and fact-based; only full subpoena power will ensure the findings are comprehensive and complete.

As elected officials, our constituents empowered us with the authority and responsibility to protect our communities and this includes protection from public health crises. If we allow the recent history of COVID-19 to go unexamined, we have failed to take every step possible to protect New Yorkers from similar tragedies in the future.

New Yorkers deserve more than politicized Washington interviews and a toothless consulting firm review they deserve for Albany to take every step possible to learn from the past so we can fully prepare for the future.

Salazar represents parts of Brooklyn in the state Senate. Gonzalez-Rojas represents parts of Queens in the Assembly.

Read more from the original source:

Learning the truth about COVID in N.Y. - New York Daily News

London

Life expectancy in Europe has returned to the level it reached before the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, while the U.S. is still trying to regain lost ground. Overall, new numbers show life expectancy has increased in most parts of the world, with eastern sub-Saharan Africa showing the biggest gains over the past three decades.

European Union figures released this month show the average life expectancy across the bloc in 2023 was 81.5 years, representing almost a year's gain over 2022, as the coronavirus pandemic was coming to an end.

However, there are marked variations between European countries, noted Jennifer Beam Dowd, a professor of demography and population health and deputy director of the Leverhulme Center for Demographic Science at the University of Oxford.

Within Europe, we're seeing really high life expectancy in countries like Spain and Italy, Sweden, Norway, but some countries are falling behind their peers and that includes the U.K., she said. And then Eastern Europe has made a lot of progress since the post-Soviet mortality crisis of the 1990s, but they're still lagging behind a bit.

In higher income countries, we've seen continued rapid drops in deaths due to cardiovascular disease that has probably made the biggest impact on those numbers over the last 30 years or so. The leaders right now really are some East Asian countries, especially Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan and South Korea, are doing really well, Dowd told VOA.

A recent study published in the Lancet journal showed that globally, life expectancy increased by 6.2 years between 1990 and 2021, with eastern sub-Saharan Africa experiencing the largest increase of some 10.7 years. This is attributed to progress in tackling the major causes of death among children, such as diarrhea.

I think that's really good news and reflects a lot of continued progress all over the world in falls and infectious disease and infant and child mortality, which makes a big difference to life expectancy because you're saving a lot of years of life if you save lives at young ages, said Dowd.

Figures released in March showed average life expectancy in the United States in 2022, the most recent data available, was 77.5 years still more than a year lower than life expectancy before the coronavirus pandemic, which began in 2020. U.S. life expectancy figures for 2023 have not yet been released.

The Lancet study estimated that almost 16 million deaths were caused by COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021, at the height of the pandemic.

The United States and Britain have struggled to regain lost ground compared to other developed countries, said Dowd.

A lot of countries have bounced back close to pre-pandemic life expectancy, but some countries such as the U.S. have not returned yet to the levels they were at in 2019, she said.

Another thing that's having a big impact, we think right now, is the obesity epidemic, which started taking off, especially in the U.S., in the early 1980s. And in fact, we are seeing major slowdowns in improvements from cardiovascular disease that are driving a lot of the stalling life expectancy in high-income countries.

The U.S. was on the leading edge of that epidemic which also means that people reaching old age now in the U.S. have perhaps been suffering from obesity for many decades and that could be contributing to these trends in cardiovascular disease. But there's also differences across these countries in health care regimes that protect health, especially at older ages, and other social safety nets that we think are health-promoting, Dowd added.

The European principality of Monaco, a favorite home for the super-rich, had the worlds highest life expectancy in 2023, at almost 90 years.

Read more:

Life expectancy bouncing back globally after COVID pandemic - Voice of America - VOA News

(CNN) Memorial Day is here, and soon summer will arrive. The threat of some diseases, such as Covid-19 is receding, though there arenew coronavirus variantsto keep an eye on, anda secondhuman case of the bird fluhas just been detected in the United States.

With Memorial Day gatherings getting underway in the US, how worried should people be about the coronavirus and bird flu? Knowing that there are outbreaks of bird flu among poultry and cows, is it safe to keep drinking milk and eating eggs? Are there any special precautions to take while preparing hamburgers? What are other major health issues to consider over the holidays and leading into the summer, such as keeping cool to avoid heatstroke?

To help us through these questions, I spoke with CNN wellness expert Dr. Leana Wen. Wen is an emergency physician and clinical associate professor at George Washington University, and she previously was Baltimores health commissioner.

CNN: Given the spread of avian flu and new coronavirus variants, is there anything we should do?

Dr. Leana Wen:Though there arenew coronavirus variants, the level of coronavirus activity in the United States is quite low. People shouldassess their riskof severe illness if they were to contract Covid-19. Those at high risk, such as those who are elderly or with chronic medical conditions, should be sure that they are up to date with vaccines and have a plan for accessing antiviral treatment. They should test if they experience symptoms, and so should others with whom they have close contact.

Those who want to reduce their risk of contracting the coronavirus and other respiratory viruses further should try to attend outdoor rather than indoor gatherings when possible. When traveling in crowded airports and train stations, they could consider wearing well-fitting N95 or equivalent masks.

Regarding bird flu, theUS Centers for Disease Control and Preventioncontinues to advise that the risk to Americans is low at this time. Thats because there have only beentwo human casesthis year, and both have been in farmworkers with direct exposure to infected cattle. Both individuals had mild symptoms, and there have been no cases of human-to-human transmission during this outbreak.

People who work in the poultry and dairy industry and who otherwise come into regular contact with wild birds, backyard flocks and cows should heed theCDCs guidanceand wear personal protective equipment when working with animals. Health care providers should be on the lookout for farmworkers with possible flulike symptoms. Other people do not need to change their behaviors at this time, and they certainly should not worry about infection with avian flu during Memorial Day or early summer gatherings.

CNN: Does that mean its still safe to keep drinking milk and eating eggs and meat?

Wen:Yes. The US Food and Drug Administrationhasissued guidancethat pasteurized milk is safe to drink.Viral fragments have been in found in the commercial milk supply; however, these were not live viruses that could cause infections. Pasteurization kills viruses, including the influenza virus.

Similarly, testing by the US Department of Agriculture foundno live virusin hamburgers cooked to 145 degrees Fahrenheit. The agency advises thatcooked eggs and poultryare also safe to eat.

This, of course, does not mean that people should consume raw or undercooked meat. These meats harbor a whole variety of pathogens, including bacteria like E. coli and salmonella. In addition, raw milk is not safe to drink. This, too, can harbor bacteria. Moreover, one hypothesis for how avian flu is being transmitted is throughraw milk. People should not consume unpasteurized milk or products made from raw milk.

CNN: How does this translate to gatherings? Is it OK to eat hamburgers and hot dogs, and enjoy barbecues and buffets?

Wen:Yes! Make sure to followgeneral precautionsaround preventing foodborne illnesses. Cook meat to therecommended internal temperatures. Be aware of what containers or utensils come into contact with raw meat and keep clean utensils separate from dirty ones. Refrigerate meat until ready to cook. If you use a cooler, make sure to have an insulated one with lots of ice. And wash your hands often and well.

CNN: Weve talked a lot about infections. Whatare other major health issues to consider over the holidays and leading into the summer, such as keeping cool to prevent heatstroke?

Wen:When the weather gets hot outside, we have to watch out for theeffects of high temperatures on health. Heatstroke occurs when someone has a body temperature above 103 degrees Fahrenheit and can no longer effectively cool themselves. This is a medical emergency and can quickly become fatal.

People should be aware of the symptoms of heat exhaustion, which can progress to heatstroke. They should watch out for those most vulnerable to heat-related illnesses. That includes children and the elderly and other individuals with medical conditions that reduce their ability to regulate their body temperatures.

When high temperatures are forecast, everyone especially the most vulnerable should try to stay inside in air-conditioned spaces or under the shade if they are outdoors. They should keep hydrated and immediately seek shelter in a cool place if they develop symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, muscle aches and tiredness.

CNN: And we cant forget skin protection, right?

Wen:Absolutely.Skin canceris the most common cancer in the United States. One of the key risk factors is exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays. Everyone should take steps to reduce their UV exposure. These include staying in the shade, wearing a hat and usingbroad-spectrum sunscreenwith a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30.

Speaking of prevention, summers are often a period of the year when people have more time on their hands. I advise everyone to take this chance and follow up with their physician on all their health concerns. Now is the time to make sure they are up to date oncancer screeningsand to get chronic medical concerns, like high blood pressure and diabetes, under good control.

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With avian flu and a new coronavirus variant spreading as summer begins, how can we keep healthy and still have fun? - WPSD Local 6

Recruiters are divided on the Nursing Councils recent revisions to the registration process for healthcare workers educated outside New Zealand. Photo: Adobe Stock

Heading into winter, Covid-19 is making headlines thanks to new variants and an increase in case numbers.

Virus levels in wastewater were the highest they've been since December, 2022, according to national surveillance data for the week ending 19 May. And close to 40 people a day were being admitted to hospital with the disease.

Earlier this month, we looked at the rise of a subset of variants referred to as "FLiRT". Descended from JN.1, these new lineages accounted for just over 40 percent of all Covid viruses sequenced from waterwater, according to the latest Environmental Science and Research (ESR) data.

Ahead of Budget 2024, let's recap what we know about Covid restrictions, vaccines, tests, and more.

Government vaccine mandates are long gone. They were scrapped in September, 2022.

The remaining Covid mandates were dropped last year, meaning it is no longer a legal requirement to self-isolate after a positive test.

Free rapid antigen tests (RATs) for at-home testing will be available from participating pharmacies and RAT collection sites until 30 June, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora announced in January. RNZ has heard from people around the country who said they were already struggling to find tests. RNZ called several pharmacies: Some had stock while others had run out.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests are used in some situations by health professionals. Results are generally more accurate than for RATs but take two to five days. There has been no indication those will not continue, because they are an important part of infection control in healthcare settings.

At this point, some are asking: Do the tests still work? Yes, experts have told RNZ. PCR tests and RATs work in different ways and the former are more sensitive. But overall, the new subvariants seem to be detected as well as their predecessors with current diagnostics.

Medical masks were free for everyone until the end of February this year. Special P2/N95 masks remain free for people at higher risk of getting very sick until 30 June, 2024. (You can get them when you pick up RATs).

Covid antiviral medicines, that can help reduce the amount of virus in your body so you don't get as sick, are also freely available to people with a range of risk factors relating to age, ethnicity, vaccination status, and underlying health conditions.

Covid vaccination is available and free for everyone aged 5 and over, while additional doses or boosters are available and free for people over the age of 30. (Some younger people can have additional doses, but eligibility criteria apply).

Hopefully, some answers. Right now, the country's long-term Covid strategy is unclear.

It is unclear whether the supply of free RATs and masks will be extended beyond the mid-year deadline. And whether vaccines will remain free for everyone.

Initially, Covid vaccines and treatments were paid for from a separate fund provided by the government. But from 1 July, 2023, the budget for them was added to the combined pharmaceutical budget; a pot of about $1.5 billion.

Now, Covid vaccines and treatments need to be prioritised against all the other medicines, medical devices, vaccines, and related products funded for New Zealanders.

While the Covid vaccines do not necessarily stop someone becoming infected, they remain good protection against severe illness and death from the disease.

The Public Health Communication Centre Aotearoa has also called for government action in response to the threat of long Covid, when the effects of the virus last longer than 12 weeks.

When asked for insight, a spokesperson from Health Minister Shane Reti's office only said: "The government's investment in health will be part of Budget 2024, announced on Thursday."

Te Whatu Ora still recommends taking a test if you have Covid symptoms. And if you test positive, it is recommended you isolate for five days and update My Health Record so you can easily access help and support if needed.

What if someone in your household tests positive? If you have spent at least eight hours with them in the same home, while the person was infectious, you are recommended to stay at home and do a RAT. Even if you test negative, if symptoms persist, stay at home and test again after 24 and 48 hours. Isolate if necessary.

Again, while these things are recommended, there i s no longer a legal requirement to isolate after a positive test.

However, employers should support employees to stay home in line with health guidance, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said.

Covid remains a notifiable disease. There are no immediate plans to remove it from the schedule - which is updated as needed, the Ministry of Health told RNZ.

The schedule helps with the monitoring of and response to diseases that pose public health risks. Mostly this involves infectious diseases or diseases that, if present in an area, could create a health risk for the wider population.

Note, this does not mean you have to upload your test result. Rather, health practitioners and the people in charge of medical laboratories officially report, or notify, actual and suspected cases of disease.

Go here to read the rest:

Covid cases, rules, and free stuff: What you need to know - RNZ

In 2020, Zhang was appointed leader of Shanghais clinical expert team for Covid-19, becoming a household name and central figure in the countrys fight against the virus.

He has published hundreds of papers in the field of public health and infectious diseases. But now he is embarking on a new initiative to address the intersection between two growing threats: climate change and infectious diseases.

Research examining this relationship will become a growing focus globally, he said.

As the planets climate changes, including the expansion of the tropics, the way pathogens evolve and mutate is also changing.

A study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres in 2020 found that ocean surface warming in subtropical regions was expanding the width of the tropics.

02:27

Mosquito scientist leading fight against the worst dengue outbreak ever in Bangladesh

Mosquito scientist leading fight against the worst dengue outbreak ever in Bangladesh

It has been expanding from near the south the more tropical areas towards the north, and now it has also begun to expand to the Yangtze River Basin. So we can now also detect dengue fever in the Yangtze River Basin, Zhang said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that in future decades climate change will affect the spread of vector-borne diseases like malaria due to changes in global temperature and precipitation patterns.

There is a hypothesis that the Covid-19 pandemic spread to humans from bats, whose habitats are also expanding.

So the work we are doing now is actually for the next pandemic.

But countries will need more data if they are to work together to create global disease management agreements and strategies to respond quickly to another global pathogen.

As director of the Shanghai Sci-Tech Inno Centre, Zhang signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Hong Kong (HKU) to work towards that goal at the annual Pujiang Innovation Forum in Hong Kong in late April.

As part of the project, experts in climate change, public health, infectious disease control and public policy will be brought together for research at HKUs Centre on Contemporary China and the World (CCCW).

Resident and non-resident experts will pursue original research, establish regular monitoring systems and provide public policy discourse platforms, according to the CCCW.

Using this platform, infectious disease experts and microbiologists can work with environmental experts and climate experts to conduct in-depth research on climate change and infectious diseases together, Zhang said.

While Zhang and other experts from the mainland will begin their work alongside experts in Hong Kong, preparing for the next pandemic will need to be a group effort for researchers around the world.

It will require science from different angles and levels to provide as much evidence as possible for policy experts and governments to use when devising disease management strategies.

As part of the work with the CCCW, an information-sharing platform will be created so that we scientists have some systems that we can use to communicate, Zhang said.

The work scientists are doing today will be guided by the research that has been done in the past few years since the coronavirus pandemic.

Beyond preparing to manage the spread of future pathogens, scientists are also concerned with how climate change will affect treatments for infected patients.

Antimicrobial resistance when bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi develop resistance to drugs meant to kill them is another growing challenge.

Zhang said that in 2019, 1.27 million people died directly as a result of antibiotic resistance around the world.

An issue that scientists all over the world agree on is that by 2050, annually, 10 million people will die of drug resistance, Zhang said. That is equal to the number of people who currently die of cancer each year.

In the past, research on drug resistance was separated into clinicians studying how to treat it and pharmacologists trying to make new antibiotics.

But we have now discovered that the emergence of drug resistance is faster than the emergence of antibiotics, Zhang said.

02:50

World Health Organization announces Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency

World Health Organization announces Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency

While research on how climate change and drug resistance may be linked was currently lacking, expanding on this field should be an important part of pandemic preparedness, he said.

One of the strategies that has been proposed is One Health, an initiative that the WHO describes as an integrated global approach mobilising different sectors of society to work together on issues like managing global health threats.

This includes researchers, doctors, government officials, world organisations and global communities.

Although the world officially came out of Covid-19 lockdowns last year, Zhang said that how the virus mutates and evolved is still of great concern.

We will also observe how coronavirus spreads from the natural reservoir to human society, he said. This is due to the expanding habitable areas for its vectors.

It will have important implications for the future.

Read more:

Chinas top Covid expert is already preparing for the next pandemic. Heres why - South China Morning Post

COVID-19 levels have been lower than usual, but a new set of variants could make summer unpredictable when it comes to the novel coronavirus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that KP.2 has overtaken JN.1 and is now the dominant variant circulating in the U.S. As of the most recent update, which is the two weeks ending May 11, KP.2 accounts for 28.2% of the COVID-19 cases circulating.

KP.2 is one of the variants in a group called FLiRT, which Johns Hopkins University explains are named after the technical names for their mutations. FLiRT refers to a whole group of variants, including any that start with KP or JN, which appear to have independently picked up the same set of mutations, called convergent evolution. They are the children and grandchildren of the JN.1 variant that has been dominant recently.

The prevalence of these variants comes at a critical time, when experts are deciding how to formulate the fall COVID vaccine, the university notes. The article adds that the COVID-19 virus mutates often to keep the bodys antibodies from recognizing it, but that makes it harder for the virus to infect cells. Then it mutates again to improve its ability to bind in a cycle that happens over and over. The fact that these different variants are picking up the same mutations tells virologists that this combination of mutations is helping the virus accomplish these goals most efficiently.

Johns Hopkins reports that a recent JN.1 infection should provide pretty strong protection against all the FLiRT variants. Infection from a variant older than JN.1 probably isnt very protective, it added.

Will the virus surge in summer? Guesses are varied. Johns Hopkins deems it certainly possible. According to virologist Andy Pekosz, a professor in molecular biology and immunology at Johns Hopkins, The FLiRT variants would be high on my list of viruses that could cause another wave of infection in the U.S. That said, our definition of a wave has changed. While we still see case rates rise and fall throughout the year, we see much lower numbers of cases of hospitalization or deaths than we saw in the first couple years of the pandemic, he said.

In the good news category, he added that Paxlovid is as effective against FLiRT variants as against previous variants of COVID-19.

The New York Times, though, offers some bad news. Dr. David Ho, a virologist at Columbia University, told the Times that his early lab tests suggest that slight differences in KP.2s spike protein might make it better at evading our immune defenses and slightly more infectious that JN.1.

However, Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, the chief of research and development at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Healthcare System, told the Times that at this time, Im not seeing any major indications of anything ominous.

As virus experts try to predict surges, Today notes that the seasonality of COVID-19 is something scientists are still trying to understand. But one thing is obvious: This virus is now integrating itself into our population and our way of life, as Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious disease at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, put it in the article.

The proportion of cases caused by KP.2 is increasing while the proportion caused by other variants is decreasing, which suggests KP.2 has features that give it an advantage, the experts note, Today reported. The article added that low vaccination rates and immunity that is lagging over time could make the population vulnerable and allow the variant to surge.

COVID-19 infection itself is no longer the terror that it was early on. Now, the threat of long COVID-19 is what looms large. Dr. Grace McComsey, who is the main investigator of the Long COVID RECOVER study at University Hospitals Health System in Cleveland, told WebMD that long COVID is the bigger issue. Per the article, Research released from The Lancet Infectious Diseases recently showed that many of those who end up with long COVID a chronic illness marked by fatigue, brain fog, and heart and lung problems didnt necessarily have a severe bout with the infection.

The Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska Medical Center has four predictions for COVID-19 this summer and beyond:

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Will COVID surge this summer with new variants? Deseret News - Deseret News