South Africa’s response to the novel coronavirus outbreak was swift and assertive. The country quickly instituted testing, tracing, and quarantining those affected with COVID-19. But the financial and social effects of quarantine hit people, who were already struggling, especially hard. Racial and economic inequalities were amplified in South Africa, as elsewhere, through the new coronavirus […]
Parents who regularly disregard COVID-19 safety measures may unknowingly be influencing their children to do the same with the example they set. As children return to in-person learning at school, following safety guidelines is a requirement they’ll need to embrace in order to participate. Students resisting safety measures in school may result in undue stress […]
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is holding an emergency Cabinet meeting on Friday morning to consider declaring a state of emergency for Madrid and its surrounding region in order to impose stronger anti-virus restrictions on the reluctant regional governors. The meeting comes a day after a Madrid court struck down a national government order that […]
Researchers say a study on veterans who underwent surgery shows that acupuncture used beforehand can reduce the need for opioids afterward. They said the study participants who used traditional acupuncture as well as “battlefield acupuncture” used fewer opioids than those who didn’t receive acupuncture. The researchers said they hope their study will encourage more medical […]
Swine flu and COVID-19 have been repeatedly compared in the past few months, given that they're both pandemics that sparked major panic across the world and in the US. But while these two illnesses have some things in common—symptoms, diagnoses—they're actually quite different on many, many levels. "Swine flu was the last major pandemic we […]
Dozens of people converged on the cobblestone streets of downtown Rio de Janeiro for its traditional Pedra do Sal samba party—the first since the pandemic began—and it seemed Brazil was returning to normal. Among those dancing Monday were Luana Jatobá and two friends, all of whom overcame COVID-19. As a nurse technician caring for coronavirus […]
The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP), the premier global, molecular diagnostic professional society, today released the preliminary results of its August 2020 SARS-CoV-2 Testing Survey for clinical laboratories. The anonymous survey was created and administered to monitor, understand, and collect real-time data on laboratories’ efforts and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic response. Compared to the […]
A new study by University of California researchers shows the promise of high-throughput DNA-sequencing technologies to improve prenatal diagnosis and pregnancy outcomes for women who have experienced an abnormal prenatal ultrasound. In the UCSF-led study, scientists used a technique called exome sequencing to identify genetic diseases as the underlying cause in 37 of 127 cases […]
While billions are being spent on the search for a COVID-19 vaccine and treatment, experts say there may be something you can do to help avoid the virus that costs nothing: open the window. Growing evidence suggests that allowing air to circulate around enclosed spaces can help disperse the air-borne viral droplets that cause infection. […]
COVID-19 is an infectious disease that has been confirmed in almost 40 million people across the world, while more than one million have died from the virus. If you develop any of the key coronavirus symptoms, you should get tested for the infection straight away. The UK has seen a rise in the number of […]
