New Delhi: Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Thursday said he has reiterated directions for carrying out genome sequencing of positive cases so that cases of JN.1 variant can be confirmed. Talking to PTI Video, he said the government has ramped up COVID testing, with 636 tests conducted on Wednesday. Bharadwaj had on Wednesday confirmed … Read more
Sept. 12, 2022 — New COVID boosters that target the fast-spreading Omicron strains of the virus are rolling out this week, with the CDC recommending these so-called bivalent mRNA shots for Americans 12 and older. Here are answers to frequently asked questions about the shots produced by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, based on information provided by … Read more
July 12, 2022 – The BA.5 Omicron subvariant is dominating now and accounts for 65% – or about two-thirds – of the virus causing COVID-19 in the United States, federal officials said on Tuesday. Although no evidence yet points to BA.5 causing more severe disease, hospitalization numbers are up in the past few months and … Read more
By Steven Reinberg HealthDay ReporterHealthDay Reporter MONDAY, June 27, 2022 (HealthDay News) — A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel will vote on Tuesday whether to recommend that updated COVID-19 booster shots be used this fall to protect against Omicron and its highly contagious subvariants. Because the virus mutates so quickly, the FDA may … Read more
The Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is less likely to cause long COVID than the Delta strain, according to a study published in The Lancet journal. Long COVID is defined as having new or ongoing symptoms four weeks or more after the start of the disease, the researchers said. Symptoms include fatigue, shortness of … Read more
June 8, 2022 — Take that, Omicron. Results of a trial looking at a combination COVID-19 vaccine booster reveals a “robust antibody response” against the Omicron variant, vaccine manufacturer Moderna announced Wednesday. The neutralizing antibody response was eight times greater at 1 month following a 50-mcg dose with the booster containing both the original mRNA-1273 … Read more
For the first time, four patients of B.A. 4 variant and three cases of B.A. 5 variants of the Omicron sub-lineage of coronavirus have been found in Maharashtra, an official of the state health department said on Saturday. All of them had only mild symptoms and were treated at home, he added. These sub-lineages of … Read more
The UK’s coronavirus alert level has been reduced from four to three as COVID-19 cases continue to fall, even as two rare types of the Omicron variant sub-types have been reclassified as variants of concern. The health authorities said on Friday that the current BA.2 driven Omicron wave is “subsiding” but it is expected the … Read more
Omicron may be intrinsically as severe as previous coronavirus variants, according to a US study which contradicts assumptions that the strain was more transmissible but less severe. The yet-to-be-published study, posted as preprint on Research Square on May 2, adjusted for factors such as demographics, vaccination status, and the Charlson comorbidity index that predicts the … Read more
May 2, 2022 With the Omicron subvariant pushing up COVID-19 case numbers, New York City on Monday raised its COVID alert level from low to medium, meaning some public health rules could be reimposed. The risk level was raised because the city is now averaging more than 200 daily new cases per 100,000 people, city … Read more