The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Wednesday it will deliver COVID-19 tests for free to households across the country.
Beginning Sept. 25, households will again be able to order four free tests through COVIDTests.gov, the health agency said, adding that the tests can detect currently circulating COVID-19 variants and are intended for use through the end of 2023.
HHS also announced an investment of $600 million in 12 domestic COVID-19 test manufacturers.
It comes as schools across America bring back mandated face masks, recalling the darkest days of the pandemic.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of “concerning trends” for COVID-19 ahead of winter as a dangerous new strain runs rampant across the Northern Hemisphere.
The UN health agency estimates that hundreds of thousands of people around the world are currently hospitalized with the virus. However, the true number could be much higher because many countries have stopped reporting Covid data.
“We continue to see concerning trends for COVID-19 ahead of the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an online press conference.
He added: “Deaths are increasing in some parts of the Middle East and Asia, intensive care unit admissions are increasing in Europe and hospitalizations are increasing in several regions.”
America has also seen a surge in cases as a new variant, designated BA.2.86, gains a foothold in the country as winter approaches.
According to a recent bulletin in Yale Medicine, the new variant has more than 30 mutations to its spike protein – located on the outer surface of a coronavirus – which helps it enter and infect human cells.
“Such a high number of mutations is notable,” infectious disease specialist Dr Scott Roberts said.
“When we went from [Omicron variant] XBB.1.5 to [Eris] EG.5, that was maybe one or two mutations.
“But these massive shifts, which we also saw from Delta to Omicron, are worrisome.”
Schools across America are reinstating mask mandates in response to the surge in cases.
Kinterbish Junior High School in Alabama has asked all students, staff and visitors to start wearing face masks in classrooms and hallways “due to the slow rise of Covid cases in the area” in recent weeks.
Alabama’s Talladega City School district which is home to more than 1,700 students has also urged children and staff to wear masks, but stressed they are “encouraged but not required”.
And Maryland elementary school became embroiled in controversy this week after saying students must don tightly fitted N95 masks for 10 days, despite a smattering of cases.
Source: https://www.the-express.com/news/science/111089/who-covid-19-new-coronavirus-winter-symptoms-vaccine
Amid the new Covid variant Eris, at least one in three households in Karnataka, one in five in Delhi-NCR and one in six in Maharashtra have someone with viral fever or Covid-like symptoms, a survey by LocalCircles has found.
The symptoms of Eris are reported as sore throat, runny nose, blocked nose, sneezing, dry cough, headache, wet cough, hoarse voice, muscle aches, fever and altered smell.
The survey received over 19,000 responses from residents of Delhi-NCR, Maharashtra and Karnataka. A total of 63% respondents were men, while 37% were women.
The survey asked residents of Maharashtra, “How many individuals do you have in your household who currently have one or more Covid/ flu/ viral fever symptoms like fever, runny nose, sore throat, cough, headache, joint pain, body ache, respiratory issues, etc.?” A total of 62% of the respondents were men, while 38% were women.
This query received 7,652 responses, with 12% indicating that one individual in their household was unwell with Covid/viral symptoms, while 4% indicated that two-three individuals in their household were unwell. The remaining 84% indicated that “no one, thankfully” was unwell in their household. In sum, 16% of households surveyed in Maharashtra now have one or more individuals with COVID/ viral symptoms.
The survey sought to understand the situation from residents of Delhi-NCR. A total of 66% of the respondents were men, while 34% were women.
Of the 7,888 households in Delhi-NCR who responded to the same query, 14% indicated that 2-3 members in their household were unwell, and 7% indicated one person was unwell. However, 79% of respondents were thankful that as yet “no one” was unwell in their household.
In sum, 21% of households surveyed in Delhi-NCR currently have one or more individuals with viral/Covid-like symptoms.
Amid a spike in cases across the country, the health ministry has shared an updated guideline on Covid-management which says that antibiotics should not be used unless there is ‘clinical suspicion’ of bacterial infection.
The guideline advises physicians should explore possibility of co-infection of Covid with other endemic infections and to avoid using steroids in mild disease incidence.
Though hospitalisations due to Covid are lower compared to the previous waves of the pandemic, the number of infections have surged significantly across the country. According to the latest data shared by the government on Saturday, 2,994 new Covid cases were recorded in the country on Saturday and nine fatalities in the past 24 hours were confirmed – two each from Kerala, Karnataka, Delhi and Punjab and one from Gujarat.
The advisory comes on a day when India recorded 1,590 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, which is the highest single day count in 146 days.
Amid a fresh spike in the coronavirus case count, the Union health ministry, along with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), wrote to the state governments and Union territories on March 25, asking them to ensure “optimum testing” and promote the usage of masks in crowded settings.
The health ministry said testing for COVID-19 has “declined” in some states over the past several weeks, and is below the standard prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which is 140 tests per million population.
“Hence, it is critical to maintain optimum testing for COVID-19, equitably distributed (with suitable modifications to address emergence of new cluster of Covid cases) across the states. This is especially important to identify any ‘emerging hotspots’ and take pre-emptive steps to curb virus transmission,” it said.
