The novel coronavirus is twice as infectious within households than similar diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), with a substantial number of additional infections spreading before a COVID-19 sufferer shows any symptoms, according to modelling released Thursday.Researchers based in China and the United States (US) said their findings could have profound impacts on reducing the number of new infections as the pandemic progresses. Using data on 350 COVID-19 patien

Global infections from the novel coronavirus passed five million on Thursday as the pandemic played out unevenly across the planet, with China eager to declare a victory, Europe tentatively emerging from its shell and deaths still rising in hotspots in Latin America. The grim milestone comes after known cases of COVID-19 doubled in just one month, according to data collected from official sources, with the death toll now topping 328,000 worldwide.

Other than preying on humans, the deadly COVID-19 virus has severely affected livelihoods, local businesses and the economy in general. Major industries such as tourism and aviation have been hit hard by the pandemic.

Every week, it seems, the list of coronavirus symptoms - ranging from disagreeable to deadly, from "COVID toes" to toxic shock - grows longer.What began as a familiar flu-like cluster of chills, headaches and fever has rapidly expanded over the last three months into a catalogue of syndromes affecting most of the body's main organs.The new coronavirus can also push the immune system into overdrive, unleashing an indiscriminate assault on pathogens and their human hosts alike.&q

The world greeted 2020 with sadness and fear as the deadly COVID-19 pandemic which emerged late last year continues to kill people worldwide. While nations across the globe are trying to contain the deadly new virus which has already killed 16,000 people, another disease that appeared a long time ago is continuing to infect people daily.

Of all the challenges that humans have faced over millennia, disease has always been a particularly brutal and resourceful enemy.The impact of disease has shaped history. Amerindians were ravaged by illnesses that the Spanish conquistadors brought to Mexico and South America; the “stout Cortez” of John Keats’s poem was accompanied by killer diseases like smallpox, measles, influenza, and typhus.

The world welcomed 2020 with paranoia and caution as the novel coronavirus that originated from Wuhan, China – spread around the globe. As of 7 February 2020, over 600 deaths have been recorded and more than 30,000 people have been infected. The public are encouraged to wear masks at all times and flights to and from China have been cancelled in some countries. Wuhan and other cities in China have been quarantined and are now under lockdown to halt the spread of the deadly virus.

Malaysia has reported its first polio case in 27 years, health authorities said Sunday, announcing a three-month-old baby had been diagnosed on Borneo island.The Malaysian health ministry's director-general, Noor Hisham Abdullah, said the baby from Tuaran in eastern Sabah state had been admitted into intensive care after experiencing fever and muscle weakness."The patient is currently undergoing treatment in an isolation ward and is in a stable condition but needs respiratory suppor

From infrastructure damage caused by extreme weather events to drought-induced food insecurity, there are many climate risks for which the world should urgently be preparing. But one of the areas where climate change poses arguably the most significant risk is barely being discussed: human health.When natural disasters strike, the death toll from floods, famines, or building collapses is often just the beginning; the sickness and disease that follow sometimes do far more damage.