Scientists have urged eligible people to have COVID booster shots after a major survey in England found evidence of “breakthrough infections” more than three months after full vaccination.Researchers at Imperial College London analysed more than 100,000 swabs from a random sample of the population and found that COVID infection rates were three to four times higher among unvaccinated people than those who had received two shots.But while full vaccination drove infection rates down substantial

Vaccination reduces the risk of dying or being hospitalised with COVID-19 by 90 percent, a French study of 22.6 million people over the age of 50 has found.The research published on Monday also found that vaccines appear to protect against the worst effects of the most prevalent virus strain, the Delta variant.“This means that those who are vaccinated are nine times less at risk of being hospitalised or dying from COVID-19 than those who have not been vaccinated,” the epidemiologist Mahmoud Z

Two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID vaccine are “highly effective” at preventing hospitalisations for at least six months, a large-scale study shows, but protection against infection nearly halves over the same period.Effectiveness against all COVID infections fell from 88 percent within a month of having two doses to 47 percent after six months, according to the research.

As the United States (US) and Europe ramped up their COVID-19 vaccination programs, the Asia-Pacific region, once lauded for its pandemic response, struggled to get them off the ground.

We live in a world where everyone has an opinion, which can be instantly shared with millions of people across the world via social media. This can be a good thing when getting factual information out: We have seen how important it is to share personal stories from those living in areas of conflict so people can have an insider’s view of what it is like on the ground. Most recently, this has shone an important light on the plight of women in Afghanistan.

The world stands at a critical juncture of the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries that lack the first round of vaccine coverage are extraordinarily vulnerable to the highly infectious Delta variant, and are also seedbeds for new variants that could quickly spread worldwide. The Lancet COVID-19 Commission, which I chair, is working urgently with the United Nations (UN) system to strengthen the multilateral response.

After months of lockdown, parts of Southeast Asia are leaving behind their "zero-COVID" policy and charting a path toward living with the virus - despite experts' warnings that it may be too early to do so.COVID-19 swept across the region this summer, fuelled by the highly infectious Delta variant, with cases climbing steeply in July and peaking in most countries by August.Now, governments including Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam are looking to revive their economies - particu

Lao has locked down its capital Vientiane and barred travel between COVID-hit provinces, as cases soared to a record high.The communist country appeared to have escaped the brunt of the pandemic in 2020, and by March this year had reported fewer than 60 cases – though the low number was due in part to limited testing.But a surge since mid-April has seen its caseload steadily increase, and on Saturday the country reported 467 new cases of community infection, its highest ever single-day tally.

While COVID-19's origin story is currently defined by a lack of hard evidence and data, scientists around the world continue their search for answers to how the pandemic began.As the world approaches the two-year mark since this novel coronavirus was first detected, there have been many twists and turns in the investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the pandemic.

Official data in Indonesia shows a Delta-driven second wave of COVID-19 that saw the Southeast Asian nation become the global epicentre of the pandemic in July and August has run its course.But some of the country’s top epidemiologists say poor testing and tracing capacity, inaccurate estimates on the death toll and the deliberate falsification of data, means there is still no clear picture of the pandemic in Indonesia and a third wave could be brewing.At the peak of Indonesia’s second wave i