A protein called CD47 that helps damaged cells avoid destruction by the immune system may be contributing to severe cases of Covid-19, researchers suggested in a report. In other news, Gilead Sciences Inc.’s intravenous antiviral drug remdesivir helped keep high-risk Covid-19 patients out of the hospital in a randomized trial.
A study out of Oxford University’s Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science found that the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in the largest drop in life expectancy in western Europe since World War II.
The Covid-19 pandemic reduced life expectancy in 2020 by the largest amount since World War Two, according to a study published on Sept. 27 by Oxford University, with the life expectancy of American men dropping by more than two years.
Life expectancy in the United States fell by a year and a half in 2020 to 77.3 years – the lowest level since 2003 – primarily due to the deaths caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, a U.S. health agency said on July 21.