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Latest coronavirus news as of 4.30pm on 22 April
The 314,835 new cases reported by India on Thursday is the highest daily rate ever in any country
India reported 314,835 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the highest daily number reported by any country since the pandemic began. According to the
New York Times, the previous record was 300,669, reported by the US on 8 January. The true number of cases could be 20 to 30 times higher than the reported figures, meaning up to 9 million people are being infected in India every day. Last week, Gautam Menon at Ashoka University in India told
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Latest coronavirus news as of 5pm on 21 April
Research shows vaccines are working well at preventing hospital admissions in UK
Further encouraging results have emerged on the effectiveness of the coronavirus vaccines used in the UK. Only 32 people have been admitted to hospital with covid-19 more than three weeks after receiving at least one dose of either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Oxford/AstraZeneca jabs, a study has found. The research, which looked at more than 74,000 hospital admissions between September and early March, found that nearly 2000 of these people had received a covid-19 vaccine. But for the vast majority of these, the vaccine would not have had time to kick in, as the three weeks thought necessary for maximum immunity to develop had not elapsed.
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Latest coronavirus news as of 5pm on 20 April
Sweden adds another layer of restrictions to the AstraZeneca jab in younger people
Sweden has said people under 65 who have had an initial dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine should get a different jab for their second dose, due to the small chance of blood clots. France also has this rule, although there the upper age limit is 55.
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Many other countries have restricted use of this vaccine to people over a certain age, as a rare syndrome of blood clots coupled with low levels of platelets – particles in the blood that stick together to form clots – has mainly been seen in younger people. The syndrome is called vaccine–induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia or VITT. Most other countries, however, say those who have had one dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine should also get the second, due to the unknown effectiveness and safety of mixing vaccine type
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Volunteers will be exposed to the coronavirus to learn which immune components confer protection
Young adults who have recovered from covid-19 will have live coronavirus sprayed into their noses to see whether they can be reinfected as part of a new trial. The study, which is being run by the University of Oxford, is one of two “challenge” trials in the UK. It is designed to reveal, among other things, the elusive “correlates of protection” against SARS-CoV-2– which means the levels of antibodies, T-cells and other immune system components that are required to protect people against infection. This is currently a significant gap in our understanding of the virus, and knowing the correlates of protection could lead to even more rapid vaccine development. That’s because some vaccines are approved based on whether they elicit these measures of protection, bypassing lengthy clinical trials. The other study, using volunteers who have not had cov
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Latest coronavirus news as of 4.30pm on 16 April
An estimated one in 480 people in England had covid-19 in the week up to 10 April
Coronavirus infections in England have fallen to their lowest level since September, according to the latest results of a random swab testing survey by the Office for National Statistics. An estimated one in 480 people in communities in England had covid-19 in the week up to 10 April, down from about one in 340 the previous week. It is the lowest prevalence rate recorded since the week up to 24 September, during which an estimated one in 500 people had covid-19. Equivalent prevalence estimates for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales were one in 500, one in 710 and one in 920 people, respectively, during the week up to 10 April.