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Scientists Say South African Covid-19 Variant May Escape Antibodies And Cause Reinfection
New study suggests that the new variant of the coronavirus ‘501Y.V2’ has mutations in nine parts of its spike protein, which enables it to infect human cells as it can likely escape “neutralization” by antibodies from recovered COVID-19 patients. According to the yet-to-be peer reviewed study, published in the preprint platform BioRxiv, this new variant of the…
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UK Detects 77 Cases Of South African Covid-19 Strain
Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that experts have discovered 77 cases of the South African Covid-19 variant through the testing of people who had recently travelled. The new variants had been identified because both Brazil and South Africa had ‘decent-sized’ genomic sequencing programmes but other countries were less well covered, he said. “The new variant…
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UK Records 610 Deaths As Death Toll Nears 100,000
610 people have died from coronavirus in the UK, as the country’s official death toll approaches 100,000. The UK government has confirmed 30,004 cases in the last 24 hours which brings infection toll to a total of 3,647,463 along with some 97,939 deaths. However, other counts already have already seen the country’s toll pass 100,000…
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Panama confirms first case of South African Covid-19 variant
Ministry of Health officials in Panama has announced the country has recorded its first positive case of the South African mutant strain of coronavirus known as ‘501Y.V2’. “This is a 40-year-old passenger, born in Zimbabwe, who entered the country on January 5 from South Africa and had previously made a stop over in the Netherlands…
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Over 100 Members of The National Guard Test Positive After Inauguration
Over a hundred members of the National Guard on duty in Washington DC for the inauguration ceremony have tested positive for coronavirus. An official who asked for anonymity told Reuters that although members of the troop who had become infected were less than 1% of the total number working across the Capitol. More than 25,000…
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Lebanon’s Healthcare Facilities Near Collapse As Covid-19 Cases Skyrockets
Lebanon’s main coronavirus facility has said the country’s health system is close to collapse with reports of shortage of beds, drugs, oxygen, ventilators and staff. Dr Firas Abiad of the foremost covid-19 facility in the country has said the government’s decision to relax coronavirus restrictions over a few fateful days at Christmas and New Year…
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Iran Records Over 5,800 Daily Covid Cases
Iran has become the hardest hit country in Middle East by the pandemic in terms of total cases and deaths. Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said 239 people with Covid-19 had died in the past 24 hours, bringing the total since February to 27,658. She added that the number of confirmed cases had risen…
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Covid-19: An Insight On The Cost Of Testing In Nigeria
As COVID-19 vaccination continues to be at the centre of discussion in the world right now, African countries like Nigeria still struggle to make Covid-19 testing affordable and accessible to both rich and poor. While Covid-19 tests are made available for free in some African countries, others like Nigeria require its citizens to pay for…
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UK To Close All Travel Corridors On Monday
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced all travel corridors will be closed from Monday, ending the quarantine exemption for arrivals from selected nations. The announcement comes after it was confirmed that a new variant of COVID-19, which emerged in Brazil, had been discovered in the UK. The new policy would come to effect from…
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Is Africa Failing In The Race For Covid-19 Vaccines?
In the last quarter of 2020, African countries were signing up with the rest of the world to secure at least 220 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines for the continent as the race to find safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines kicked-off. While eight countries in Africa had agreed to self-finance their vaccine doses through the…