Until a few years ago, major economies were struggling to achieve even mild inflation, with policymakers in the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), and the eurozone struggling to meet their targets of two percent annual price growth. But with the arrival and persistence of COVID-19, the world changed dramatically.

An unknown, severe strain of hepatitis has been identified in nearly 170 children across 11 countries in recent weeks, with at least one child dying of the mysterious disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).Here's what we know so far.Where Has It Been Detected? The first five cases were flagged in Scotland on 31 March by "astute clinicians, realising they were seeing something unusual", said Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging infections at

United Kingdom (UK) doctors believe they have documented the longest COVID infection on record – a patient they treated who had detectable levels of the virus for more than 16 months, or 505 days, in total.The unnamed individual had other underlying medical conditions and died in hospital in 2021.Persistent infections such as this are still rare, say the London medics.Most people naturally clear the virus, but the patient in question had a severely weakened immune system.Chronic infections li

Pregnant women have been an "afterthought" during the coronavirus pandemic and some of their deaths were "preventable", a leading scientist has said. Data shows there have been at least 40 maternal deaths from COVID in the United Kingdom (UK).Almost all were unvaccinated and more than half happened after pregnant women were advised to take-up the vaccine.The regulator says vaccines during pregnancy are "safe".Professor Marian Knight, who investigates eve

Whatever your standpoint on whether the pandemic is over, or what “living with the virus” should mean, it is clear some manifestation of COVID-19 will be with us for some time to come.

People who have the Omicron COVID variant tend to have symptoms for a shorter period, a lower risk of being admitted to hospital and a different set of symptoms from those who have Delta, research has suggested.As the highly transmissible Omicron variant shot to dominance towards the end of last year, it emerged that, while it is better at dodging the body’s immune responses than Delta, it also produces less severe disease.Now a large study has not only backed up the findings, but confirmed r

The United States (US) military announced Tuesday a new test of a hypersonic missile, as Pentagon officials seek to match or get ahead of China's and Russia's advances in the cutting-edge strategic weapons technology.The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) said it had recently completed a free flight test of an aircraft-launched hypersonic missile that maintained a speed of more than Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound (at least 3,800 miles per hour, or 6,100 kilo

Two United Kingdom (UK) Supreme Court judges resigned from Hong Kong's top court on Wednesday, as the government in London said it was "impossible" for them to keep serving in the former colony famed for its hybrid legal system.British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said that senior UK judges continuing to occupy roles there risked "legitimising oppression", following the imposition of China's controversial national security law in 2020.The stance taken by Britain –

Exactly two years ago Prof Sir Andrew Pollard was starting to panic. “We were just waking up to the reality of COVID-19 and that we would need vaccines for our very survival,” the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group said. He joined forces with a colleague, Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert, and together they launched one of the greatest medical missions in modern history.

Catching COVID may cause changes to the brain, a study suggests.Scientists have found significant differences in MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans before and after infection.Even after a mild infection, the overall size of the brain had shrunk slightly, with less grey matter in the parts related to smell and memory.The researchers do not know whether the changes are permanent but stressed the brain could heal.The new study is published in the journal Nature.Lead author Prof Gwenaelle Dou