The Massachusetts Department of Public Health on May 17 said it had confirmed a single case of monkeypox virus infection in a man who had recently traveled to Canada.
Top U.S. infectious disease official Dr. Anthony Fauci said on March 22 he would not be surprised to see an increase in COVID-19 cases in the United States, but he does not expect a major surge.
The BA.2 subtype of the Omicron coronavirus variant appears to have a substantial growth advantage over the currently predominant BA.1 type, Britain’s UK Health Security Agency said on Jan. 28.
The world’s first medical trial authorized to deliberately expose participants to the coronavirus is seeking more volunteers as it steps up efforts to help develop better vaccines.
Britain and Israel are overhauling their COVID-19 testing policies as governments seek to reduce the burden on laboratories and struggle with tight supplies of kits amid soaring infection rates fueled by the Omicron variant.
At least one person died in the United Kingdom after contracting the Omicron coronavirus variant, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on December 13, the first publicly confirmed death globally from the swiftly spreading strain.
Britain on November 4 became the first country in the world to approve a potentially game-changing Covid-19 antiviral pill jointly developed by U.S.-based Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, in a boost to the fight against the pandemic.
British health authorities, as well as global experts, are closely watching a subtype of the Delta variant that appears to be rising in the UK.
Valneva SE on Oct. 18 said the company’s experimental Covid-19 vaccine demonstrated efficacy “at least as good, if not better” than AstraZeneca’s shot in a late-stage trial comparing the two, with significantly fewer adverse side effects.
Several Asian nations are quickly ramping up vaccination campaigns from shaky starts to combat growing Covid-19 infections, as supply shipments roll in and people overcome hesitancy in hopes of easing curbs and freeing up travel.
