The latest infection is the third case reported from China in the past 12 months, but an epidemiological investigation and tracing of close contacts of the victim have not found any additional infections, WHO said Tuesday in a news release.
A literature search and analysis of 295 long-COVID studies finds that only 35% used agency-established definitions of the condition, which the authors said complicates comparison of findings, translation into clinical management, and cost-effectiveness assessment.
Once a pathogen of pandemic potential has emerged, an effective response that relies on medical countermeasures (e.g., prophylactic, therapeutic, and diagnostic technologies) must be deployed at scale immediately. Thus, medical countermeasures need to be readily available for use at the first signals that a pathogen of concern has surfaced.
The World Health Organization (WHO) in its weekly pandemic update said yesterday that COVID-19 cases and deaths declined over the last month, but added that levels are rising in 31% of countries, especially in two world regions.
Cases rise in India and the Middle East
Also, the WHO on March 30 added one more variant under monitoring to its list, XBB.1.9.1.
Tedros reported that since the onset of the pandemic, more than one in three health and care workers have suffered from anxiety and depression, and around half have experienced burnout.
In its weekly update on the pandemic, the WHO said it added XBB.1.16 as the sixth variant under monitoring on Mar 22. It also said though global cases and deaths continue to decline, some countries—including India—are reporting recent spikes in cases.
“New variants emerging anywhere threaten us everywhere,” said virus researcher Thomas Friedrich of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Maybe that will help people to understand how connected we are.” ...
