35 generic drug manufacturers will make a more affordable version of Pfizer's anti-COVID pill for the world's poorer nations, in licensing deals announced Thursday by a United Nations (UN)-backed organisation.The global Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) signed agreements with three dozen manufacturers to produce the oral COVID-19 treatment nirmatrelvir for supply in 95 low- and middle-income countries.United States (US) pharmaceutical giant Pfizer signed a licence agreement with the MPP i

Under two percent of babies born to mothers with COVID-19 then test positive for the virus, a comprehensive study found Wednesday, with researchers hailing the "hugely reassuring" news for parents.The analysis published in the BMJ medical journal reviewed nearly 500 previous studies involving almost 29,000 mothers, offering the most sweeping insight yet into the risk of transmitting coronavirus during pregnancy."This is as comprehensive as it can get in terms of giving the evid

The World Health Organization (WHO) is looking at the criteria needed to declare an end to the emergency. Public health experts at the WHO have begun discussing how and when to call an end to the global COVID-19 crisis, exploring what would be an important milestone more than two years after the emergence of the virus.The WHO said it isn’t currently considering such a declaration.

Another new coronavirus variant has been identified, this one containing elements of Delta and OmicronWhat Is Deltacron?As the portmanteau suggests, Deltacron is a COVID variant that contains elements of Delta and Omicron – in other words, it contains genes from both variants, making it what is known as a recombinant virus.“These recombinants arise when more than one variant infects and replicates in the same person, in the same cells,” says Prof Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University

More than 18 million people – three times higher than official records suggest – have probably died because of COVID, say researchers.Their report comes two years to the day from when the World Health Organization (WHO) first declared the pandemic.The COVID-19 excess mortality team at the United States (US) Washington University studied 191 countries and territories for what they call the true global death figure.Some deaths were from the virus, while others were linked to the infection.This

Over six million people have died worldwide from COVID-19 since the pandemic began, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP on Tuesday.A total of 6,003,081 people succumbed to the virus as counted by AFP at 1100 GMT.The milestone comes as the number of infections and deaths continues to plummet in most regions of the world, except in Asia, where Hong Kong is suffering its worst-ever outbreak, and Oceania, where New Zealand has recorded a jump in cases.Average global daily d

Two years after the official start of the pandemic, some countries are now trying to "live with COVID", however scientists warn that potential new variants and unequal vaccination rates threaten any long-awaited return to normality.When United States (US) global health researcher Christopher Murray wrote "COVID-19 will continue but the end of the pandemic is near", in The Lancet medical journal in late January, he summed up the hopes of many national health authorities aro

Children under the age of five are not yet able to be vaccinated against COVID leaving some parents worried their younger children could catch the virus from older siblings who have returned to school.Less than 50 percent of children aged five to 11 have received their first vaccine dose. But it is hoped child vaccination rates will be bolstered by Australia becoming the first country to approve the Moderna vaccine for children aged six and over.

There has long been a debate over how COVID-19-related deaths are recorded. The Johns Hopkins University in the United States (US), which is widely accepted as a reputable source, puts the global death toll at more than 5.8 million people.

With 124 million new COVID-19 cases worldwide since the start of 2022, and with the COVID-19 virus spreading, mutating, and stalking even the fully vaccinated, the world faces a grim truth: everyone will live in fear until no one lives in fear. That is why world leaders must resolve that 2022 will be the year when we finally bring the pandemic under control.