Month: January 2021

State health officials reported 313 additional cases of COVID-19 in Maine on Monday as well as six additional deaths among individuals with the disease. To date, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention has tracked 29,611 total confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19 since the coronavirus since appeared in Maine in March. The 313 cases reported on Monday is lower than the seven-day average of 522 cases, although the state health lab frequently receives fewer test for processing or results from other labs during weekends. With the six additional deaths reported Monday, Maine’s death toll amid the COVID-19 pandemic stands at 438. A woman walks through Monument Square in Portland on Friday.  Derek Davis/Staff Photographer  Buy this Photo Meanwhile, thousands of addi...

Moderna, the biotech company behind one of the two mRNA-based vaccines currently being rolled out globally to stem the tide of COVID-19, has announced that it will purse development programs around three new vaccine candidates in 2021. These include potential vaccines for HIV, seasonal flu and the Nipah virus. Moderna’s development and clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine is among the fastest in history, and thus far its results have been very promising, buoying hopes for the efficacy of other preventative treatments being generated using this technology which is new to human clinical use. An mRNA vaccine differs from typical, historical vaccines because it involves providing a person with just a set of instructions on how to build specific proteins that will trigger a body’s n...

LONDON (Reuters) - An international trial testing convalescent blood plasma on COVID-19 patients with moderate and severe illness has halted enrolment of severely ill COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care after it found no benefit, trial investigators said on Monday. FILE PHOTO: Blood collection specialist Kathryn Severson holds a bag of convalescent plasma from a recovered coronavirus patient at the Central Seattle Donor Center of Bloodworks Northwest during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global outbreak, in Seattle, Washington, U.S. September 2, 2020. REUTERS/Lindsey WassonThe decision by the REMAP-CAP trial leaders came after an initial analysis of more than 900 severely ill trial participants in intensive care showed that treatment with the product - an antibody-rich plasm...

Shares of Moderna Inc. MRNA, +2.64% were up 1.3% in premarket trading on Monday after the company said it plans to launch new development programs using its mRNA technology that will focus on developing vaccines for seasonal flu, HIV, and the Nipah virus. This follows the success of its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, which is one of two vaccines to be authorized so far in the U.S. CEO Moderna also said it plans to expand its respiratory syncytial virus to include older adults, and it plans to test different vaccine combinations that fight the flu, COVID-19, RSV, and human metapneumovirus. "The uniquely challenging year of 2020 for all of society proved to be an extraordinary proof-of-concept period for Moderna," CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a news release. ...

The study of more than 1,700 patients treated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the original epicenter of the pandemic, shows 76% suffered at least one symptom months after they were discharged from hospital. The findings indicate that even people who recover from Covid-19 could suffer long-lasting health impacts from their bout with the coronavirus, which has infected more than 90 million people worldwide. The study, the largest of its kind yet carried out, published Friday in the medical journal The Lancet. It found that fatigue and sleep difficulties were the most common post Covid-19 symptoms, occurring in 63% and 26% of the patients, respectively, six months after the onset of their initial diagnosis. The disease could also have long-lasting psychological complications, with anxiety o...

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported 313 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and six new deaths.A total of 438 Mainers with COVID-19 have died since the beginning of the pandemic. Aroostook and York counties each reported two new deaths. Another death was reported in Waldo County. The county in which the sixth person who died was listed as unknown.The 313 new cases bring the total since the beginning of the outbreak to 29,611.Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah is scheduled to provide an update at 2 p.m.MAINE CORONAVIRUS DATA: Deaths: 438 Total cases: 29,611 Confirmed cases: 24,679 Probable cases: 4,932 Cumulative positivity rate: 2.76% 14-day positivity rate: 5.9% Currently hospitalized: 190 Patients in intens...