Month: September 2021

The U.S. is “still in pandemic mode” with new COVID-19 infections some 16 times higher than what’s needed to end the public health crisis, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview with Axios published Thursday that “the endgame is to suppress the virus.” But 160,000 new cases of the coronavirus per day is “not even modestly good control,” he declared. “In a country of our size, you can’t be hanging around and having 100,000 infections a day,” Fauci explained. “You’ve got to get well below 10,000 before you start feeling comfortable.” Last month, Fauci said the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant — responsible for a surge in infections, especially among unvaccinated people — could be large...

The Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus appears well positioned to maintain its dominance over new variants such as Lambda and Mu, virologists say. Delta accounts for 99% of new Covid-19 cases in the U.S. and roughly 88% of cases globally, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Nextstrain, an open-source pathogen-tracking service. Virologists expect Delta to outcompete new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including Lambda and Mu, in their hunt for people susceptible to Covid-19.

Kyndal Bolden, 15, holds the hand of her aunt as she receives a COVID-19 vaccination dose on August 14, 2021 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mario Tama | Getty Images LONDON — Looking at the Covid case data in the U.S., U.K. and the rest of Europe, you'd be forgiven for thinking that, despite 18 months of a global health crisis and advanced vaccination rollouts, we're in just as bad a situation as we ever were. Certainly the number of Covid cases being recorded daily in the West remains high, and even resembles earlier peaks at different points, or Covid waves, during the pandemic. The current 7-day moving average of daily new cases stands at 153,246, an increase of 4.9% compared with the previous 7-day moving average (of 146,087). The current 7-day moving averag...

As COVID-19 cases continue to skyrocket across the U.S. and the world, few options are available for treating patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2.  But new research from the University of Georgia offers hope for a viable therapeutic to combat the disease that has claimed more than 4 million lives worldwide.  Published in Nature’s Scientific Reports, the study found that probenecid has broad antiviral properties, making it a prime candidate to combat not only SARS-CoV-2 infection but also other common and deadly respiratory viruses like RSV and flu. Probenecid is an FDA-approved medication that’s primarily used to treat gout, and it’s already widely available in the U.S. The drug has been on the market for over 40 years and has minimal side effects. Ralph Tripp, GRA Emin...

Australia logs biggest daily pandemic caseload NSW cases expected to peak next week Victoria daily cases record year's biggest rise SYDNEY, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Australia's COVID-19 daily cases topped 1,900 for the first time in the pandemic on Friday as an outbreak fuelled by the highly infectious Delta variant continued to gain ground in locked-down Sydney and Melbourne, its largest cities. Australia is in the grip of a third wave of infections with the Delta outbreak forcing officials to ditch their COVID-zero strategy in favour of suppressing the virus. They now aim to begin easing tough restrictions after reaching a higher proportion of the population with double-dose vaccinations. New South Wales (NSW), the epicentre of the country's worst outbreak, reported 1,542 new daily loca...