The Commonwealth Secretariat and the World Health Organization (WHO) signed on Monday a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) committing to strengthening their collaboration on a broad range of public health issues of particular concern to Commonwealth member states and governments, such as the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine equity, advancing universal health coverage, and building resilient health systems.
The World Health Organization has released a report this week saying a new sublineage of the SARS-Cov-2 Omicron variant has already been detected in 57 countries. According to some researchers, the new version is more contagious than the original Omicron.
The World Health Organization has recommended two new drugs for COVID-19, providing yet more options for treating the disease. The extent to which these medicines will save lives depends on how widely available and affordable they will be.
British health authorities Friday reported what seems to be the first fatal case in humans of the H5N1 variant of bird flu, which rarely infects humans, but when it does, it has a mortality rate of about 60%.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued an emergency approval for the Novavax drug against COVID-19, which has thus become the 10th vaccine available in the fight against the rapidly spreading disease.
Press reports which went viral Monday said Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was entertaining the idea of signing an administrative decision whereby only the Federal Government would have the authority to decide on a mandatory vaccination against COVID-19.
Convalescent plasma (a transfusion of blood plasma from someone who has recovered from covid-19) is not recommended for patients with covid-19, says a WHO Guideline Development Group of international experts in The BMJ today.
Last Friday WHO designated variant B.1.1.529 a variant of concern, named Omicron, on the advice of WHO's Technical Advisory Group (TAG-VE). This decision was based on the evidence presented to the TAG-VE that Omicron has several mutations that may have an impact on how it behaves, for example, on how easily it spreads or the severity of illness it causes.
The Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) is an independent group of experts that periodically monitors and evaluates the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and assesses if specific mutations and combinations of mutations alter the behavior of the virus. The TAG-VE was convened on 26 November 2021 to assess the SARS-CoV-2 variant: B.1.1.529.
The German Federal State of Baden-Württemberg has determined unvaccinated residents will be kept under curfew in three of its districts between 9 pm and 5 am unless they have authorization for work reasons or a medical emergency as COVID-19 cases in the country have been reported to be on the rise.