The WHO says that "according to current evidence," the virus is transmitted through "respiratory droplets and contact routes." By that, the agency means the virus is found in the kind of big droplets of mucus or saliva created through coughing and sneezing.




These droplets can only travel short distances through the air and either land on people or land on surfaces that people later touch. Stopping this kind of transmission is why public health officials urge people to w...

Federal health officials on Friday approved a coronavirus test that can provide results in less than 15 minutes, using the same technology that powers some rapid flu tests.

Teased by Vice President Mike Pence in a Thursday press briefing, the new diagnostic test could accelerate testing in the United States, allowing for rapid results in doctors' offices. But shortages of critical equipment used to collect patient specimens, like masks and swabs, could blunt its impact.
The US Food ...

Since the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) first began in Wuhan, China, in December, 2019, the viral epidemic has quickly engulfed China. Here we describe a case of a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia with COVID-19.

[...]
In conclusion, clinical and biochemical data of COVID-19 might be partly masked by coexisting chronic lymphocytic leukaemia; better diagnostic strategies (ie, superior CT differential techniques such as radiomics) could be used for di...

An epidemiologist of Hospital Vall d'Hebron (Barcelona, Spain) has created a daily-updated, and well-organized repository of scientific publications about COVID-19. 
Click here for reference

A spate of mysterious second-time infections is calling into question the accuracy of COVID-19 diagnostic tools even as China prepares to lift quarantine measures to allow residents to leave the epicenter of its outbreak next month. It's also raising concerns of a possible second wave of cases.

Click here for reference

The European Commission launches an initiative to collect ideas about deployable Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics solutions as well as information on other initiatives that could help face the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
The initiative aims to create a unique repository that is easily accessible to all citizens, stakeholders and policymakers and become part of the common European response to the outbreak of COVID-19.

How to contribute?
You have developed an AI system or bui...

The coronavirus is not mutating significantly as it circulates through the human population, according to scientists who are closely studying the novel pathogen’s genetic code. That relative stability suggests the virus is less likely to become more or less dangerous as it spreads, and represents encouraging news for researchers hoping to create a long-lasting vaccine.
Scientists now are studying more than 1,000 different samples of the virus, Peter Thielen, a molecular geneticist at the J...

The limited supply of ventilators is one of the chief concerns facing hospitals as they prepare for more COVID-19 cases. In Italy, where hospitals have been overwhelmed with patients in respiratory failure, doctors have had to make difficult life-or-death decisions about who gets a ventilator and who does not.

In the U.S., emergency plans developed by states for a shortage of ventilators include using positive airway pressure machines — like those used to treat sleep apnea — to hel...

Tools Offer Up-to-Date Guidance and Information for People Across the US.
Apple today released a new screening tool and set of resources to help people stay informed and take the proper steps to protect their health during the spread of COVID-19, based on the latest CDC guidance. The new COVID-19 website, and COVID-19 app available on the App Store, were created in partnership with the CDC,1 the White House Coronavirus Task Force and FEMA to make it easy for people across the country to ge...

Clinical and epidemiological features of 36 children with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Zhejiang, China: an observational cohort studyA cohort study of 44 672 Chinese cases reported that 2·1% of patients were younger than 20 years, and 1·2% were asymptomatic. Pneumonia is the leading cause of mortality in children.8 Distinct immunological responses to viral infections can exist in children and result in severe damage to vital organsTo read full text Click thi...

March 26, 2020: The Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC), American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF), American Association of Critical‐Care Nurses (AACN), and American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) issue this consensus statement on the concept of placing multiple patients on a single mechanical ventilator.
The above‐named organizations advise clinicians that sharing mec...

Pneumonia cases, hospitalizations, ICU visits, deaths and even basic symptoms were more frequent in males.

The data arriving from Spain, combined with similar findings from other countries with large outbreaks, such as Italy, China and France, are increasingly suggesting that the top risk group for the novel coronavirus is not simply older adults, but older men. A Washington Post analysis of U.S. deaths so far also found that nearly 60 percent of deaths, in cases where a gender cou...