Patients infected with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 remain contagious for just as long as patients infected with earlier variants, according to a small study. Additionally, researchers said a drug used to treat a blood vessel condition called angioedema showed promise as a treatment for COVID-19 in lab experiments.
Almost a third of people report at least one ongoing symptom between 6 and 12 months after their coronavirus infection, according to a survey of 152,000 people in Denmark.
Top U.S. health officials on March 2 laid out a national blueprint to manage COVID-19 going forward, vowing to prepare for any new variant outbreaks without shutting down schools and businesses and calling for additional funding from Congress.
Two doses of the Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE COVID-19 vaccine was protective against severe disease in children aged 5 to 11 during the recent Omicron variant surge, but quickly lost most of its ability to prevent infection in the age group, according to a study by New York State researchers.
Patients with severe COVID-19 who develop diabetes while hospitalized may have only a temporary form of the disease and their blood sugar levels may return to normal afterward, according to new findings. Additionally, new data illustrate the jumps in U.S. coronavirus infection rates caused by the Omicron variant and the heavier toll it has taken on minorities in the latest example of racial disparity in the pandemic.
Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company SAB Biotherapeutics announced an update to the design of the ongoing Phase 3 ACTIV-2 trial evaluating the clinical efficacy and safety of SAB-185 for the treatment of participants with mild-moderate COVID infections at higher risk for progression to hospitalization.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration revised the emergency use authorization (EUA) for AstraZeneca’s Evusheld to a higher dose to be effective in the prevention of COVID-19.
The BA.2 subvariant of Omicron, which appears to be even more transmissible than Omicron, is accounting for more than a third of global COVID-19 cases. In other news, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration placed limits on the use of GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology’s COVID-19 antibody therapeutic, sotrovimab.
The Omicron BA.2 sub-variant of COVID-19 appears to be more infectious than the original BA.1 sub-variant, but does not cause more severe disease, the head of Africa’s top public health body said on February 24 citing data from South Africa.
Medicago’s vaccine on February 24 became the world’s first plant-based shot approved against COVID-19 after Health Canada cleared Covifenz for use in adults.
