Scientists have said a new COVID variant that carries an “extremely high number” of mutations may drive further waves of disease by evading the body’s defences.Only 10 cases in three countries have been confirmed by genomic sequencing, but the variant has sparked serious concern among some researchers because a number of the mutations may help the virus evade immunity.The B.1.1.529 variant has 32 mutations in the spike protein, the part of the virus that most vaccines use to prime the immune

COVID vaccines reduce transmission of the dominant Delta variant by about 40 percent, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday, warning that people were falling into a false sense of security concerning jabs.The WHO's director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said many vaccinated people were wrongly thinking the jab meant they no longer needed to take any other precautions.Fully-immunised people must stick with measures to avoid catching the virus and passing it on, Tedros in

The backers of Sputnik V on Wednesday said the Russian vaccine provides longer immunity against coronavirus than Western jabs using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology.The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which supported the vaccine's development, said the Sputnik vaccine is 80 percent effective against coronavirus between six and eight months after the second dose.The country has recorded more than 9.4 million coronavirus cases, the fifth-highest number in the world, and more than 267

On Tuesday, India reported 7,579 coronavirus cases - the lowest rise in 543 days, despite huge festival gatherings in recent weeks.“Even after [Hindu festival of] Diwali, we are not seeing a surge,” Dr M D Gupte, former director of National Institute of Epidemiology, was quoted as saying in media reports, attributing it mainly to the presence of antibodies in a huge majority of Indians through natural infection.“I think we are much safer now,” Gupte said.According to government surveys, nearl

A COVID vaccine that provokes an immune response through white blood cells has showed promise in trials, according to research Tuesday that provides new hope for people with compromised immune systems.The jab, known as CoVac-1 and developed by a team at Germany's University of Tuebingen, was shown to produce a strong white blood cell – or T-cell – response in all 36 phase one trial participants.T-cells are white blood cells that attack and neutralise whole infected cells.

The United States (US) is shipping another four million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Vietnam, the White House said Tuesday, bringing the total of US doses donated globally to nearly 270 million.A senior administration official told AFP that 4,149,990 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are being sent, bringing the total delivered to Vietnam by the US to 17,589,110 doses.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday condemned the latest flare-up in the disputed South China Sea (SCS) after Chinese coastguard ships fired water cannon at Filipino boats. Duterte made the remarks at an Asian regional summit hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who vowed his country would "never seek hegemony, and certainly not bully the small".China claims almost all of the waterway, through which trillions of dollars in trade passes annually, with competin

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:Jabbed, Cured Or Dead Most Germans will be "vaccinated, cured or dead" in a few months, Health Minister Jens Spahn warns, urging people to get jabbed as the virus surges again.Pfizer Claims Longevity Pfizer and BioNTech say their vaccine remains 100 percent effective in children 12 to 15 years old four months after the second dose.France Backs Boosters Two advisory bodies recommend booster shots fo

Every week, a group of epidemiologists across the northeast of the United States (US) join a Zoom call entirely devoted to discussing the latest hints of new COVID-19 variants being reported around the world.“It’s like the weather report,” says William Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:Triple-Jab Putin Russian leader Vladimir Putin says he has had his third COVID vaccine injection, telling viewers of Rossiya 24 that his Sputnik V jab had been painless.Dutch Arrests Over Riots Dutch police arrest 19 people over riots in The Hague after the country was rocked by a second night of violence over the government's coronavirus measures.Officers in riot gear charged hundreds of demonstrators who set f