CORONAVIRUS NEWS

A clinical trial of the UK’s vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) has shown promising results.

A major programme of community coronavirus testing that is tracking levels of infection in England has published its first report.

A second wave of COVID-19, on top of these challenges, would put the NHS under considerable pressure, so it’s sensible to look at potential worst case scenarios, as this report does, so that we can plan and put mitigating measures in place.

Wearing a facemask or face covering is becoming the new normal, but one of the minor problems of the COVID-19 pandemic is fogged-up eyewear. This happens when warm breath escapes from the top of the mask and lands on the cooler surface of the lens.

Working for the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, intelligent automation firm Rainbird has developed a COVID-19 risk assessment tool to help potentially vulnerable front-line workers limit their exposure to undue levels of risk from the virus.

The charity, Cancer Research UK, has reported that around a quarter of GPs surveyed said that urgent referrals for suspected cancer have been inappropriately turned down by hospitals 'more often than before the pandemic'.

Up-to-date local data on the number of COVID-19 infections should be promoted to the public across England in an easy to interpret way similar to weather forecasts or pollen counts, the British Medical Association has asserted.

People who are suffering long-term effects of Coronavirus will have access to an on-demand recovery service, the Government has announced.

The majority of children currently considered extremely clinical vulnerable to COVID-19 will be able to be removed from the shielded patient list, the Government has confirmed in the latest shielding guidance.

A Miele washer disinfector proved a key product to aid the UK Ventilator Challenge in the fight against COVID-19.

​The UK-Rapid Test Consortium (UK-RTC), a group of UK scientists and expert medical manufacturers led by Abingdon Health, has reached “design freeze” for its Covid-19 antibody test.

Bio-Rad Laboratories is accelerating production of its Platelia SARS-CoV-2 Total Ab test, a blood-based immunoassay kit to help determine if an individual has developed antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus associated with COVID-19 disease.

Staff and residents in care homes for over 65s and those with dementia will receive regular coronavirus tests from next week as part of a new social care testing strategy.

A study of 153 patients treated in UK hospitals during the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic describes a range of neurological and psychiatric complications that may be linked to the disease.

Children with COVID-19 generally experience a mild disease and fatalities are very rare, according to a study of 582 patients from across Europe.

A type of virus that preys on bacteria could be harnessed to combat bacterial infections in patients whose immune systems have been weakened by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

New data on private healthcare in the UK shows how the Covid-19 pandemic has led to an estimated 84% drop in privately funded care.

Beckman Coulter has shipped more than 16,000 SARS-CoV-2 IgG immunoassay analysers worldwide and has ramped its manufacturing to deliver more than 30 million tests a month.

A new voluntary COVID-19 study to assess and monitor the prevalence of COVID-19 among pre-school, primary and secondary school pupils and teachers has been launched by the government.

UKAS is currently assessing over 30 laboratories who have requested an extension to their scope of accreditation to include COVID-19 testing.