SARS-CoV-2 Financial News

India is monitoring the emergence of a new variant of Covid-19 with the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (Insacog), the network of laboratories set up to monitor genomic variations of the coronavirus, set to meet on Friday to review the situation. So far, Insacog has not found anything «unusual», a member of the network said, adding «there is nothing to panic». A case of JN.1 subvariant of Covid-19 was detected in Kerala, the Union health ministry said on Saturday. The case was detected in an RT-PCR positive test sample from Karakulam in Thiruvananthapuram on December 8, it said.

respiratory diseases and new JN.1 COVID sub-variant, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that the virus is evolving and changing and urged the member states to continue with strong surveillance and sequence sharing. The global body also shared a video of its COVID-19 technical lead, Maria Van Kerkhove, who explained the reason for the recent surges and what precautions can be taken.

COVID-19 sub-strain JN.1). As reported by ANI, George said, “No need of any worry. That is a sub-variant (COVID-19 sub-strain JN.1).

public health situation in China, the health ministry has taken a proactive stance, deciding to review preparedness measures against respiratory illnesses. The ministry has advised all States and Union Territories (UTs) to promptly assess public health and hospital preparedness and implement the 'Operational Guidelines for Revised Surveillance Strategy in the context of COVID-19.' Given the evolving situation, the ministry underscores the importance of closely monitoring trends related to Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) at the district and state levels.

China. «The government is monitoring the situation. The ICMR and the Director General of Health Services are observing the surging cases of pneumonia in China, and necessary steps are being taken,» Mandaviya told reporters when asked about the outbreak which has caused global concern.

China, where covid broke out in November 2019, is in the spotlight again. The World Health Organization (WHO) has asked the country for details on an increase in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children. Its northern parts have had a hospitalization surge, as Chinese health officials disclosed on 13 November.

World Health Organization (WHO) on the mysterious respiratory illness that is spreading in China, even as it has said there is no need to panic, said people with knowledge of the matter. «We will be reviewing once we have the complete information on the illness from the WHO.

Joe Biden Administration has stopped funding for a research program to discover thousands of exotic pathogens from around the world. Notifying the termination of the research program, the US Agency for International Development said that amid objections from lawmakers and many scientists, the program has been closed down within two years of its inception. A USAID spokesperson said that the funding was stopped after the “relative risks and impact” were re-evaluated.

Hindustan Times quoting virologist Dr. Pavithra Venkatagopalan, Pirola variant appears to have undergone as many changes as the Omicron variant did from the Delta variant of the coronavirus. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Principal Secretary PK Mishra chaired a high-level meeting to review the global and national Covid-19 situation, newer variants in circulation and their public health impact on Monday, a press release from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare read.

coronavirus infections have been reported in the US, Europe and Asia, with cases attributed to the EG.5, "Eris" subvariant, a descendant of the Omicron lineage. While India has reported only one case of this variant so far, authorities are concerned and have swung into action. Indian scientists have stepped up genome sequencing.

New Delhi: In view of newer emerging variants of covid-19 across the globe, PK Mishra, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting to review current covid-19 status and its preparedness. States/UTs have been directed to monitor trends of Influenza like Illnesses ILI/ severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) cases, send sufficient samples for testing of Covid-19 testing and whole genome sequencing.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is tracking a new, highly mutated variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 which has been detected in at least four countries, Health Canada says, but no cases have been detected in Canada so far.

Insacog (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium), the pan-India network of laboratories set up to monitor genomic variations of the coronavirus, will hold a review meeting this Friday, amid an upsurge in Covid-19 infection in other countries, people in the know told ET. In India, cases have been reported from Delhi, Karnataka and Maharashtra, but there has been no significant upsurge, one of the people said. «There has not been any clustering or unusual increase in the number of cases,» he added.

Tulsi Bhai by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that he liked the name because tulsi is a medicinal plant and has many benefits, reported PTI. Countries of all income groups should invest in primary health care (PHC), which can provide more than 80 per cent of services and also help detect outbreaks of pandemics at an early stage, Ghebreyesus said. On the EG.5 strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus being recently classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a variant of interest, Ghebreyesus said it is important to continue to remain vigilant.

PHC), which can provide more than 80 per cent of services and also help detect outbreaks of pandemics at an early stage, WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday. On the EG.5 strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus being recently classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a «variant of interest», Ghebreyesus said it is important to «continue to remain vigilant». Ghebreyesus was talking to media persons during his visit to a health and wellness centre (HWC) at Adraj Moti village in Gandhinagar district after his arrival here to attend a global summit on traditional medicine.

Trained scent dogs exhibit a remarkable ability to detect COVID-19 infections with higher accuracy and efficiency compared to conventional RT-PCR tests, according to a review of studies.This innovative approach not only promises quicker results but also holds the potential to substantially reduce diagnostic costs, the researchers said A growing number of studies over the last two years has highlighted the power of dogs in detecting the stealthy virus and its variants, even when they are obscured by other viruses, like those from common colds and flu. «It went from four papers to 29 peer-reviewed studies that include more than 400 scientists from over 30 countries and 31,000 samples,» said Tommy Dickey, Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of California (UC) Santa Barbara, US. Dickey and collaborator Heather Junqueira from BioScent, Inc. noted that the collective research demonstrates that trained scent dogs are «as effective and often more effective» than the antigen tests we're keeping handy at home, as well as the gold-standard reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests deployed in clinics and hospitals. According to the study, published in the Journal of Osteopathic Medicine, not only can dogs detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus faster, they can do so in a non-intrusive manner, without the environmental impact that comes with single-use plastics.

second Covid jab on the same arm as the first one or on the opposite arm could influence the body's immune response generated against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, new research from Germany says. Those who got jabbed on the same side, or ipsilaterally, generated more antibodies against the Covid-causing pathogen than those who got jabbed on the opposite side, or contralaterally, the study from Saarland University and other German institutes found. Further, median levels of infection-fighting CD8 T-cells generated in response to the spike-protein of the pathogen were found to be significantly lower in those contralaterally vaccinated. CD8 T-cells destroy virus-infected cells and render protection against severe disease. Consequently, after contralateral vaccination, fewer individuals (43 per cent) were found to have detectable levels of CD8 T-cells than after ipsilateral vaccination (67 per cent), the study published in the journal eBioMedicine said. Individual doses of two-dose vaccine-regimens are consecutively administered into the deltoid muscle, which is the large triangular muscle covering the shoulder joint. However, «little attention has so far been paid to the immunological effects of choosing the ipsilateral or the contralateral side for the second dose,» the authors wrote in the study.

Eris', the new Covid-19 sub-variant which has sparked concern in the UK, has been detected in India, people in the know told ET. However, no «clustering» and increase in cases has been reported, they said. Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (Insacog), the pan-India network of laboratories set up to monitor genomic variations of the coronavirus, held a review meeting last week amid a surge in Covid-19 infections in the UK due to the new variant, also known as EG.5.1.

COVID, according to a study out today. The study was conducted in health workers. This raises two main questions. One, were these health workers washing their hands at work? Two, what does this study mean for the rest of us nose-pickers?

Omicron winter wave to cause disruption—the Delta variant killed a lot in Aug-Oct 2021. Plus don’t risk Long Covid." Speaking on the effective SARS-CoV-2 virus concentration in the last six months.

fourth shot of the Covid vaccine may be unwarranted. Instead, vaccination against flu might be a better idea, given the high number of cases in many cities, according to them. To be sure, a fourth Covid dose can protect against a recurrence, considering it has been a while since the second dose for most people and only 220 million took the third dose in India. Some studies have shown a fourth dose could help build up resistance as immunity against Covid would have fallen for most people. Health experts, however, don't see the need for a fourth dose, especially since India's Covid cases have come down to 23 cases in the last 24 hours. That's the lowest daily infection count since March 2020. «There is no need for another dose of Covid vaccine right now,» said Anurag Agrawal, former head of the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (Insacog), the laboratory consortium, and chair of the World Health Organisation's Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution.