1.Britain will do everything it can to avoid ordering a second national COVID-19 lockdown because it believes it will do more harm than good to the country.
2.India is now more than eight million coronavirus cases, with the world's second-worst-hit country bracing for a possible second wave ahead of winter and a series of religious festivals.
3.More than 90% of people who are mildly or moderately ill produce an antibody response strong enough to neutralise the virus, and the response is maintained for many months.
4.France started national lockdown starting today to stem the second wave of the coronavirus epidemic as the virus is circulating at a speed that not even the most pessimistic forecasts had anticipated.
5.Moderna Inc, one of the front-runners in the race to develop a vaccine, was preparing to launch the experimental vaccine and had already received $1.1 billion in deposits for supply.
6.Growing discontent across Europe against renewed coronavirus restrictions.
7.An increase of only one microgram per cubic metre in PM 2.5 is associated with an 8 per cent increase in the COVID-19 death rate.
8.Scientists have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model that they say can distinguish asymptomatic Covid-19 patients from healthy individuals through their cough recordings, and show the results on a smartphone app.
9.Russia hope to start mass vaccinations by the end of the year.
10.The Supreme Court in India sought the Government of India’s reply on a plea alleging that two medicines Remdesivir and Favipiravir, are being used for treatment of Covid-19 without approval.
11.Over 40%people living in Srinagar district,India have developed COVID-19 antibodies.
12.German to begin a 'lockdown light’(schools and business to remain open) from November 2 amid a surge in Covid-19 cases.
13.Countries with poor hygiene and sanitation and low quality of water supply seem to have had lower Case Fatality Rate(CFR) comparing with richer countries.
14.Saliva based rapid antigen test kits for Covid19 being validated by Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR).
15.The past week accounted for three million new cases of Covid-19 globally, the biggest increase since the start of the pandemic, with Europe once again emerging as the hotspot of the contagion.
16.US is also witnessing a surge, powered by Midwest states, registering 5,21,024 infections over the past seven days, compared to nearly 370,000 the previous week.
17.Excess catecholamines (mainly noradrenaline), as seen in patients with Phaeochromocytoma and paraganglioma (PPGL) and critical illness, can augment cytokine production and increase the risk for hypercoagulability in patients with COVID-19.
18.Severe COVID-19 is also associated with a reduction in the number of natural killer cells.
19.Might be possible for patients with COVID-19 and chronic catecholamine elevations to be at higher risk for an attenuated immune response during COVID-19 infection than patients with COVID-19 without chronic catecholamine elevations.
20.The cardiovascular, pulmonary, haematological, endocrine, and immunological changes incurred by catecholamines establish risk factors for morbidity and mortality in patients with COVID-19.
21.Individuals with clinically confirmed prepandemic psychiatric disorders are at elevated risk of COVID-19, particularly COVID-19-related hospitalisations and mortality.
22.In Belgium, all nonessential hospital work has been postponed to deal with an influx of new Covid-19 patients, whose numbers have nearly doubled in the past week, matching levels seen in the first wave of the pandemic in the spring.
23.An ensemble forecast published by the US CDC now projects there will be 243,000 to 256,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by Nov. 21.
24.Study shows the need for identifying genetic biomarkers in Covid19 patients to assess responses to drugs and therapeutics.
25.Case study shows the cranial nerve palsy with diplopia resulting from Covid 19 infection.
26.Oral infection and transmission of SARS CoV-2 infection is more widespread than thought
27.Converting the receptor-binding domain(RBD) into a nanoparticle (similar in size to the virus itself) instead of letting it remain in its natural form as a small protein, it would generate higher levels of neutralizing antibodies and its ability to generate an immune response would increase.
28.Subpopulation of enterocytes (namely, immature enterocytes 2) is the most susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
29.Household transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been flagged as one of the major sources of the spread of COVID-19.The secondary attack rates among household contacts are estimated to be five to ten times higher than among non-household contacts.
30.D614G mutation now the dominant variant in the global COVID-19 pandemic .
31.Inhibitory effect of the drug merofloxacin on frame shifting during SARS-CoV-2 replication has been found. This is an important proof-of-concept that supports the potential for targeting −1 PRF as an effective antiviral therapy in this pandemic as well as against other beta-coronaviruses.
32.Study suggests 5’UTR of SARS-CoV-2 might be of pangolin coronavirus origin.
33.Incubation period of Covid 19 may be upto 34 days having major surveillance, contact tracing and quarantine issues implications.
Thanks for Happy Reading
With regards
Dr Dharmesh Lal
DNB,MD,DHA,MBBS
Kindly share widely to all your contacts having potential to benefit policy makers,clinicians, patients, community and research activities.(already being shared further by more than 5000 primary recipients onwards through their WA groups to approximately 500000 readers in more than 100 countries)
30/10/20
