South Korea is testing a new QR code tracing system to track visitors at entertainment venues, restaurants and churches as it battles to contain persistent clusters of infection. It comes as Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, called for people to “live with the virus”.



A church-linked Covid-19 cluster of 40 cases in the Seoul metropolitan area has been the third major flare-up in recent weeks, following more than 250 infcections stemming from nightclubs and bars in the ...

The increased use of antibiotics to combat the Covid-19 pandemic will strengthen bacterial resistance and ultimately lead to more deaths during the crisis and beyond, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.



WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday that a “worrying number” of bacterial infections were becoming increasingly resistant to the medicines traditionally used to treat them.



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The following is a brief roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.


In-home COVID-19 antibody test shows high accuracy

Recovering surgery patients at risk from coronavirus

Immune system overreaction may not be cause of bad outcomes

COVID-19 survivors will need rehab therapy, experts say

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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes COVID-19 and is spread person-to-person through close contact. We aimed to investigate the effects of physical distance, face masks, and eye protection on virus transmission in health-care and non-health-care (eg, community) settings.Click here for reference

App measures proximityThe tracking app, called StopCovid, uses bluetooth to trace when a phone is in proximity to others who have the application.Once someone records a positive test for COVID-19, the application sends out an alert to those who have been in contact with that person for more than 15 minutes so they can self-isolate to prevent further spread of the virus.The phone app does not reveal the identity of the person who tests positive for coronavirus.Click here for reference

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App measures proximityThe tracking app, called StopCovid, uses bluetooth to trace when a phone is in proximity to others who have the application.Once someone records a positive test for COVID-19, the application sends out an alert to those who have been in contact with that person for more than 15 minutes so they can self-isolate to prevent further spread of the virus.The phone app does not reveal the identity of the person who tests positive for coronavirus.Click here for reference

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An effective track-and-trace system to prevent a second coronavirus peak will not only save lives, it could reduce the number of working hours lost to illness by as much as 50%, according to a major global study.

The International Labour Organisation said the effective testing and tracing of infections was essential if employers wanted staff to return to work and for them to stay healthy.


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Manila’s 12 million residents to enjoy free movement as daily infections pass 500; Mumbai’s hospital close to collapse; South Korea records dozens more cases. 



The Philippines president has announced plans to ease one of longest and toughest coronavirus lockdowns in the world despite the country seeing its biggest daily spike in cases since the pandemic began.
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Respiratory infections occur through the transmission of virus-containing droplets (>5 to 10 μm) and aerosols (≤5 μm) exhaled from infected individuals during breathing, speaking, coughing, and sneezing. Traditional respiratory disease control measures are designed to reduce transmission by droplets produced in the sneezes and coughs of infected individuals. However, a large proportion of the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) appears to be occurring through airborne transmi...

As many countries emerge from lockdowns, researchers are poised to use genome sequencing to avoid an expected second wave of COVID-19 infections.

Since the first whole-genome sequence of the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was shared online on 11 January, scientists have sequenced and shared some 32,000 viral genomes from around the world. Such a vast amount of data has allowed researchers to trace the origin of COVID-19 outbreaks in their countries and pinpoint when community transmi...

Experts in health policy are contending with the real possibility that the United States will pull away from the World Health Organization (WHO), fracturing a relationship that began in the wake of the Second World War.

They say that the repercussions could range from a resurgence of polio and malaria, to barriers in the flow of information on COVID-19. Scientific partnerships around the world would also be damaged, and the United States could lose influence over global health init...

A drug treatment called remdesivir that appears to shorten recovery time for people with coronavirus is being made available on the NHS. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it was probably the biggest step forward in the treatment of coronavirus since the crisis began. Remdesivir is an anti-viral medicine that has been used against Ebola.

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