The rapid spread of a new variant of coronavirus has been blamed for the introduction of strict tier four mixing rules for millions of people, harsher restrictions on mixing at Christmas in England, Scotland and Wales, and other countries placing the UK on a travel ban.


So how has it gone from being non-existent to the most common form of the virus in parts of England in a matter of months?

The government's advisers on new infections now say they have "high" ...

Abstract
IgG antibodies are crucial for protection against invading pathogens. A highly conserved N-linked glycan within the IgG-Fc tail, essential for IgG function, shows variable composition in humans. Afucosylated IgG variants are already used in anti-cancer therapeutic antibodies for their elevated activity through Fc receptors (FcγRIIIa). Here, we report that afucosylated IgG (~6% of total IgG in humans) are specifically formed against enveloped viruses but generally not against other...

There is evidence the new variant could be more transmissible, yet vaccines work very well against it
A new mutated form of the novel coronavirus that appears more transmissible than the original has raised alarm in the U.K. and around the world. It does not appear to cause more severe disease, and the newly available vaccines do seem to protect people against it. Yet on December 19—after an announcement that the variant, dubbed B.1.1.7, had suddenly accumulated 17mutations and was spreadi...

AbstractBackground
COVID-19 counts 46 million people infected and killed more than 1.2 million. Hypoxaemia is one of the main clinical manifestations, especially in severe cases. HIF1α is a master transcription factor involved in the cellular response to oxygen levels. The immunopathogenesis of this severe form of COVID-19 is poorly understood.
Methods
We performed scRNAseq from leukocytes from five critically ill COVID-19 patients and characterized the expression of hypoxia-inducibl...

Abstract
SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies, particularly those preventing viral spike receptor binding domain (RBD) interaction with host angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor, can neutralize the virus. It is, however, unknown which features of the serological response may affect clinical outcomes of COVID-19 patients. We analyzed 983 longitudinal plasma samples from 79 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and 175 SARS-CoV-2-infected outpatients and asymptomatic individuals. Within this c...

AbstractObjective
To describe the design, implementation and utilization of Electronic Health Record (EHR) based digital health surveillance strategies used to manage the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and ensure delivery of high quality clinical care such as case identification, remote monitoring, telemedicine services, and recruitment to clinical trials at Mayo Clinic.
Setting
Mayo Clinic, a large multistate integrated health care system with over 1.5 million annual patien...

AbstractObjectives:In order to develop a novel method based on the quadruplex assay which is a valuable diagnostic tool for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection, differential diagnosis and detection of coinfections. Methods: A one-step quadruplex real-time reverse transcription-PCR (rRT-PCR) assay was developed for simultaneous detection and differenation of SARS-CoV-2 ORF1ab and N genes, influenza A virus (hIAV) and influenza B virus (hIBV).Results: The results showed that the quadruple...

Abstract



The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is having a catastrophic impact on human health1. Widespread community transmission has triggered stringent distancing measures with severe socio-economic consequences. Gaining control of the pandemic will depend on the interruption of transmission chains until vaccine-induced or naturally acquired protective herd immunity arises. However, approved antiviral treatments such as remdesivir and reconvalescent serum cannot b...

Emerging clinical trial data suggest that individual immunomodulatory drugs can dampen the hyperactive immune system in severe COVID-19, but polytherapy is the way forward.
On June 5 the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation registered Biocad’s Ilsira (levilimab) as a treatment for severe COVID-19. Ilsira is one of several monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting interleukin-6 receptor (IL-6R) and a host of other inflammatory cytokines currently in clinical testing against coronavirus...

Abstract
Stringent COVID-19 control measures were imposed in Wuhan between January 23 and April 8, 2020. Estimates of the prevalence of infection following the release of restrictions could inform post-lockdown pandemic management. Here, we describe a city-wide SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid screening programme between May 14 and June 1, 2020 in Wuhan. All city residents aged six years or older were eligible and 9,899,828 (92.9%) participated. No new symptomatic cases and 300 asymptomatic cases (...

The test could prove useful for large-scale screening and epidemiological surveys and cuts down on reliance on blood draws

A new saliva-based test developed by a team at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has been found to accurately detect the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, from small samples of saliva. Such tests, the results of which can be obtained in a matter of hours, are seen as potential alternatives to blood-sampl...

Abstract
Background: Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, urology was one of the specialties with the lowest rates of telemedicine and videoconferencing use. Common barriers to the implementation of telemedicine included a lack of technological literacy, concerns with reimbursement, and resistance to changes in the workplace. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic declared in March 2020, the delivery of urological services globally has quickly shifted to telemedicine to account for the mass clini...