Covid update: Russia mass vaccination from Oct plan; Delhi 2nd sero survey

Locals, shopkeepers hold 'Jan Jagaran Abhiyan' in Delhi to boycott Chinese products

Locals and market organizations staged a 'Jan Jagaran Abhiyan' and supported indigenous products and protested against Chinese goods. The protestors raised their voice around Delhi's Chhatarpur area and requested shopkeepers to boycott China. 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' has boosted country's shift towards self-reliance following Galwan valley clash.

Odisha CM inaugurates two COVID dedicated hospitals

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on August 01 inaugurated two COVID-19 dedicated hospitals in Ganjam district. The COVID dedicated hospitals have a capacity of 150 beds each. Both the hospitals have oxygen facilities and sufficient number of ventilators. So far, 11182 active cases have been recorded in the state.

110-yr-old Karnataka woman beats COVID-19

Siddamma, a 110-year-old woman was discharged today from COVID Hospital in Chitradurga after recovering from COVID-19. She had tested positive for the disease on July 27.

Polk teacher writes children's book to ease fears over coronavirus

‘C is for Coronavirus,’ which is now available to buy, was her way of communicating the changes her family was going through to her son.

'A war against COVID and stupidity': Houston doctor

Dr. Joseph Varon is frustrated. A surge in COVID-19 patients is straining his Houston, Texas hospital and yet, every day, he sees people on the street who are not wearing masks and not physically distancing. Conway G. Gittens has his story.

Study: You Might Have Some Immunity To COVID-19 Even If You've Never Had It

People who haven't been exposed to the novel coronavirus COVID-19 could have a certain level of built-in immunity to the pathogen. CNN reports a new study suggests that T cells reactive to the virus could possibly help reduce the severity of the illness if the person does get COVID-19. T cells are part of the immune system and help protect the body from infection.

Fauci: States' 'Diversity Of Response' Key To Why US Can't Get COVID-19 Under Control

America's top infectious disease doctor says the 'diversity of response' among US states has kept the nation from controlling the coronavirus pandemic. According to CNN, Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a congressional hearing Friday it's impossible to predict how long the COVID-19 pandemic will last. The US is seeing a resurgence of coronavirus infections after states began reopening their economies.

'Cautiously optimistic US could have Covid vaccine by 2020 end': Anthony Fauci

Top US epidemiologist Dr Anthony Fauci said that he is cautiously optimistic about Covid-19 vaccine. Fauci said the vaccine for Covid-19 may be available by the end of the year. Appearing before a House panel investigating the nation's response to the Covid pandemic, Fauci expressed 'cautious' optimism that a vaccine would be available, particularly by next year. Phase 3 clinical trial of a vaccine discussed by Fauci began on Monday. Federal health authorities under direction from the White House are carrying out a plan to manufacture 300 million doses of a vaccine on a compressed timeline. Fauci is the nation’s top infectious disease official. He informed that a quarter-million people have expressed interest in taking part in studies of experimental vaccines for the coronavirus. Nearly 250,000 people have registered on a government website to take part in vaccine trials, he added. However, not all patients who volunteer to take part in clinical trials are eligible to participate. The trial for vaccine to be conducted at nearly 100 research sites and it is expected to enroll around 30,000 volunteers. US has over 4.6 million cases of Covid-19, the highest in the world. Over 155,000 people have died in America so far due to the infection.

Fauci hopeful for vaccine by end of year into 2021

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States' top infectious disease expert, said on Friday at a congressional hearing that he was 'cautiously optimistic' that there will be a vaccine for coronavirus by 'end of this year and as we go into 2021'.

COVID-19: Assam Health Minister visits Tinsukia Civil Hospital to review arrangements, interacts with doctors

Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on July 19 visited Tinsukia Civil Hospital where COVID patients are being treated. He reviewed arrangements in the hospital and took an update from doctors about patients. He also held a meeting with district administration and health officials to review containment measures. While speaking to ANI, Health Minister said, "Situation is serious but not out of control."

Assam CM Sonowal conducts review meeting amid COVID-19 crisis

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal conducted review meeting of COVID-19 scenario. Assam's Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and other senior officials were also present in the meeting. The meeting took place at Janata Bhawan in Guwahati on June 25. There are over 2,000 active cases of COVID-19 in Assam.

Attempt to cap oil well at Baghjan fails

An attempt to cap Oil India Limited at Baghjan in Assam was made; however, it did not succeed. Blowout Preventer stack was hooked up with Athey Wagon for placing on well head. While capping operation was being attempted, Athey Wagon toppled over at last moment and attempt to cap the well didn't succeed.

NDRF team evacuate villagers, livestock in flood-affected Kokrajhar

1st Battalion of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) evacuated villagers from flood-affected Gaurang Char village in Kokrajhar district. 16 search and rescue teams of NDRF are deployed for flood rescue operation in Assam. Over 100 people have died in the disaster so far.

Covid-19 tests need to be done in ‘hours’ to prevent second wave

Coronavirus testing needs to be done in a “matter of hours” in order to prevent a second wave, an expert has said. Infectious disease specialist Professor David Heymann told a Chatham House briefing on Covid-19 that a second wave, or a resurgence of the virus, is not “inevitable” and could be mitigated with certain requirements. Rapid diagnostics and contact tracing, quarantining of contacts and isolation of sick people – including isolation in health facilities – will interrupt the chain of transmission of the virus, according to Prof Heymann, who helped shut down the Sars outbreak in 2003.

COVID-19 may infect brain cells: study

A new study from Johns Hopkins University suggests the coronavirus may infect the brain and replicate in brain cells.

Researchers analyse genomic determinants of coronavirus pathogenicity

: A recent analysis led by a team of researchers found crucial genomic features that are unique to SARS-CoV -2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and two other deadly coronaviruses, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. Published in PNAS, the research reports that these features correlate with the high fatality rate of these coronaviruses as well as their ability to switch hosts from animals to humans. They identified features that could represent crucial elements of coronavirus virulence and allow for detecting animal coronaviruses that have the potential to make the jump to humans in the future. Using an integrated approach that included machine-learning and comparative genomics, authors Ayal B. Gussow, Noam Auslander, Guilhem Faure, Yuri I. Wolf, Feng Zhang, and Eugene V. Koonin identified three previously undetected likely determinants of pathogenicity and zoonotic transmission. These features include enhancement of the nuclear localization signals (NLS) in the nucleocapsid protein and distinct inserts in the spike glycoprotein that appears to be associated with a high case fatality rate of these coronaviruses as well as the host switch from animals to humans. The identified features could be crucial contributors to coronavirus pathogenicity and possible targets for diagnostics, prognostication, and interventions. The enhancement of the NLS in the three coronaviruses that can cause severe diseases (hereafter high-CFR coronaviruses) ) nucleocapsids implies an important role of the subcellular localization of the nucleocapsid protein in coronavirus pathogenicity. Strikingly, insertions in the spike protein appear to have been acquired independently by the SARS and MERS clades of the high-CFR coronaviruses, in both the domain involved in virus-cell fusion and the domain mediating receptor recognition. The gradual enhancement of the NLS in the nucleocapsids and the different insertions in the spike protein of the high-CFR coronaviruses imply that these changes do not reflect a single event that occurred in the common ancestor, but rather a convergent trend in the evolution of the high-CFR viruses. These insertions, most likely, enhance the pathogenicity of the high-CFR viruses and contribute to their ability to zoonotically transmit to humans. The predictions made through this analysis unveil potential critical features in the mechanism of SARS-CoV (/topic/sars-cov)-2 virulence and its evolutionary history, are amenable to straightforward experimental validation and could serve as predictors of strains pathogenic to humans