Keeping up with all of the most recent news surrounding the novel coronavirus can be difficult, so we have done it for you in our latest round-up.
Statistics
At the time of writing, there have been:
- 175,209,828 cases
- 3,778,085 deaths
- 158,732,706 recoveries
Research
- A recent analysis has identified global hotspots where new coronaviruses may likely arise. (Rulli et al, 2021)
- Scientists have discovered a mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 exploits changes in metal ion concentrations to evade immune surveillance. (Viswanathan et al, 2021)
- New preclinical research has found that a nasal therapy based on new IgM antibodies is more effective than commonly used IgG antibodies at neutralising the virus. (Ku et al, 2021)
- An extensive study has identified over a dozen existing drugs that could be repurposed for COVID-19. (Bakowski et al, 2021)
- Researchers have found that a high concentration of ACE2 in the blood may increase the risk of serious COVID-19 infection. (Kragstrup et al, 2021)
- New research has found a novel interaction between the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and the galectin-3-binding protein (LGALS3BP), a potential new therapeutic anti-viral target. (Gutmann et al, 2021)
- Researchers have shown that COVID-19 exacerbates the damaging impact of senescent cells in the body. Additionally, they found that senolytic drugs reduced inflammation, illness and mortality from infection in older mice. (Camell et al, 2021)
- A meta-transcriptomic study of bat samples has identified four novel SARS-CoV-2 related and three SARS-CoV related viruses. (Zhou et al, 2021)
Other news
- A group of experts has proposed the ‘five Cs’ to tackle vaccine hesitancy. These include confidence, complacency, convenience, communication and context. (Razai et al, 2021)
- A recent Nature article has examined the arguments that the novel coronavirus escaped from a lab in China. (Maxmen and Mallapaty, 2021)
- New findings show that a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is able to generate a robust immune response against all viral variants. (Alter et al, 2021)
Image credit: By starline – freepik
