Coronavirus Breaking News

The U.S. government today issued a single sentence that announced the termination of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

Posted on Twitter on April 10, 2023, this statement confirmed H.J.Res.7, terminates the national emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 More than 1.13 million people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19 over the last three years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported NPR on April 11, 2023.

The World Health Organization (WHO) published a Weekly Epidemiological Update Edition #137 regarding the COVID-19 pandemic on April 5, 2023.

The WHO disclosed a decrease of 28% in new COVID-19 cases and 30% in related fatalities, respectively, compared to the previous 28 days (February 6 to March 5, 2023).

Despite this overall downward trend, it is essential to note that 74 (31%) countries have reported increases in new cases of 20% or greater during the last 28 days compared to the previous 28-day period.

As of April 2, 2023, over 762 million confirmed cases and over 6.8 million deaths have been reported globally.

Furthermore, the WHO continues Listing numerous COVID-19 vaccines available in various countries.

Australia's Department of Health and Aged Care recently announced the Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca) COVID-19 is no longer available in-country. 

Australia initially confirmed AstraZeneca's vaccine for use as a primary course and booster dose in people aged 18 years and over in February 2021.

And the government provisionally approved for use in Australia as a booster on February 8, 2022.

As of April 4, 2023, Pfizer, Moderna, or Novavax COVID-19 vaccines are the preferred COVID-19 vaccines for people under 60 years.

This assessment was based on the higher risk and observed severity of a rare side effect called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia after receiving AstraZeneca in people under 60 years compared with those aged 60 years or older.

Previously, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation recommended in February 2023 that all adults are eligible for a 2023 booster dose this year, provided they have not had a COVID-19 vaccine dose or been infected with COVID-19 within the previous six months.

Lucira Health, Inc. recently announced the nationwide launch of its Lucira COVID-19 & Flu Home Test in the United States.

The COVID-19 & Flu Home Test is the first and only combination COVID-19 & Flu test granted emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use at home and other non-laboratory sites.

The Lucira COVID-19 & Flu Home Test is a molecular test, not an antigen test, that demonstrated similar performance for COVID-19 and Influenza compared to highly sensitive lab-based PCR tests in clinical trials.

The easy-to-use, all-in-one combination test delivers results in 30 minutes or less from one shallow nasal swab and as of March 28, 2023, can be purchased in the U.S. for $34.99 at www.lucirahealth.com/flu.

Resistance to Paxlovid™ is already evident among viral SARS-CoV-2 variants currently circulating globally, indicating that this stand-alone antiviral, known as a protease inhibitor, could soon become less effective in treating COVID-19 patients.

Published on March 29, 2023, this study's conclusion was presented in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances.

To lower the risk of resistance, the researchers say protease inhibitors must be carefully designed to avoid simple resistance mutations. 

These researchers wrote that these results encourage the monitoring of resistance variants and the development of additional protease inhibitors and other antiviral drugs with different mechanisms of action and resistance profiles for combinatorial therapy.

"Despite Paxlovid's proven success in blunting COVID-19 symptoms, the long-term consequences of its widespread use in speeding up resistance are unknown," commented S. Arad Moghadasi, co-author of the study and a University of Minnesota Medical School graduate student in a press release.

The World Health Organization's (WHO) Weekly epidemiological update on the COVID-19 pandemic indicates further decreases in cases and related fatalities.

As of March 30, 2023, Edition #136 reports nearly 3.6 million new cases, and over 25,000 deaths were reported in the last 28 days, a decrease of 27% and 39%, respectively, compared to the previous period.

Despite this overall downward trend, it is essential to note that several countries, such as India, have recently reported an increase in COVID-19 cases. 

At the country level, the highest numbers of new 28-day cases were reported from the United States of America (678,002 new cases; -38%), the Russian Federation (333,073 new cases; +6%), the Republic of Korea (270,378 new cases; -23%), China (255,961 new cases; -52%), and Japan (242,894 new cases; -68%).

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published Dispatch, Volume 26, Number 12, on November 19, 2020; Susceptibility of Raccoon Dogs for Experimental SARS-CoV-2 Infection, which is inserted below:

Raccoon dogs might have been intermediate hosts for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-1) in 2002–2004. 

Our experimental study demonstrates that raccoon dogs are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, in our research, raccoon dogs had only subtle clinical signs.

Additionally, we found evidence of viral replication and tissue lesions in only the nasal conchae, which can transmit the virus to direct in-contact animals.

Increasing evidence supports the potential of carnivore species, including farmed fur animals, to become infected by SARS-CoV-2.

This transmission could eventually cause zoonotic infections in humans.

Our results indicate that affected farms might be reservoirs for SARS-CoV-2.

Thus, efficient and continuous surveillance should target susceptible animals, including raccoon dogs, especially in China, which is a key player in global fur production.

We also need to initiate large-scale epidemiologic field studies with historical samples that might elucidate the role of farmed animals in the current pandemic.

This article was preprinted. Dr. Freuling is a research scientist at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut.

Previously, the World Organisation for Animal Health reported on March 31, 2020, in Hong Kong that neither of the two dogs which were positive for SARS-CoV-2 showed clinical signs of COVID-19 infection.