India has recorded more than 160 cases of the new Covid variant as per the data by the INSACOG, a forum set up under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The INSACOG's data showed 145 Covid cases recorded in the country in December had the presence of JN.1, while 17 such cases were detected in November.
Besides, 743 fresh infections were also reported, the highest single-day rise in 225 days. Additionally, seven deaths were also reported on Saturday as per the data by the Union Health Ministry.
Seven new fatalities -- three from Kerala, two from Karnataka, and one each from Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu -- were reported in a span of 24 hours, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am.
The number of daily cases was in double digits till December 5 but it began to rise again amid cold weather conditions and after the emergence of a new Covid-19 variant.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified JN.1 as a separate "variant of interest" given its rapidly increasing spread. However the UN body said that it poses a "low" health risk.
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The Centre has asked the states and Union territories to maintain a constant vigil amid an uptick in the number of Covid cases and the detection of the JN.1 sub-variant in the country.
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A new study by researchers at the University of Oxford found that the duration of an encounter with a person sick with COVID-19 was as important as the distance kept from them.
How likely is it to get COVID-19 after being exposed to someone infected? Its been a question on many peoples minds during the pandemic, and one that a group of researchers in the UK has finally found an answer to.
Researchers from the Nuffield Department for Medicine at the University of Oxford analysed data from 7 million people in England and Wales who, during the health emergency, were notified by the countrys NHS COVID-19 app that they had been in contact with someone who was infected. The goal was to find out how many of those alerted actually contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The NHS COVID-19 app, which was closed down in April 2023, allowed people who had downloaded it to let others know that they had been infected. At the same time, the app would send users an alert if they had come in the proximity of someone who was infected, (based on non-mandatory reporting to the app). People would then have to either self-isolate or get tested.
The job of Luca Ferretti, the lead researcher of the University of Oxford study that was published in the journal Nature this month, and his colleagues was to understand if the app had worked correctly. Did it notify people when there was a reasonable risk? The short answer is yes. But the researchers found out much more than that.
The app was sending back to our servers anonymous information about which people were getting notified of the risk, which people were getting tested, who was getting a positive result, and information about the specific contact: the duration, the proximity, Ferretti tells Euronews Next.
We looked at what the app computed as a risk to the individual, in terms of distance and duration, and the two things came up to be really closely correlated, he says.
The researchers took advantage of this treasure trove of information to study the relation between distance and duration of an encounter with an infected person to see how this would influence the risk of someone being infected. And it turns out that duration is as important as distance, if not more.
Everybody was focussed on the distance. There was this 1-metre or 2-metre distance rule in shops, at stations. But distance should have never been the focus of it because as we know now, the truth is more nuanced than that, Ferretti says.
Once youre a short distance from someone, it's the duration that matters. If youre exposed for 10 seconds, you must be very unlucky for the particles from the mouth of the infected person to get to your mouth or your nose. But if you stay there one hour, of course you will try your luck 60 times with respect to one minute.
The researchers found that longer exposures at greater distances had a similar risk to shorter exposures at closer distances.
Theres no golden rule about how much time you can spend with an infected person before getting COVID-19 yourself, as this can change according to what the infected person is doing. For example, if they were coughing a lot, the other person would have more chances of getting infected.
But the longer someone spent with another person who was sick, the more likely they were to get sick themselves, even if they kept a 2-metre distance at all times.
Actually, what we see is that a lot of people who were getting sick were people who we assumed were households because they were staying together more than 8 hours, Ferretti says. And those were something like 6 per cent of the contacts and 40 per cent of transmissions.
For Ferretti, the lesson we can draw from this study is that duration is going to be important to fight the next pandemic or epidemic.
Of course, distance is still important, he says, but once we have that established, we need to talk about duration.
Ferretti says that the duration of contact with an infected person is something that honestly has not been counted that much in the pandemic response, and should have been taken into account. In the age of Big Data, the researcher says, we should be able to use the newest technology to develop an epidemiological tool that would help us fight the spread of a new pathogen.
But the researcher is concerned that not enough is being done to channel the knowledge acquired during the pandemic towards fighting the next one.
Im not going to condemn any or anyone who wants to forget about COVID, he says. Im more concerned with the fact that policymakers are deciding to forget it at the institutional level because that brings us to the point where all the knowledge and skills we have acquired are fading.
Our end-of-year retrospective on COVID-19 activity in Minnesota reveals a fourth year where thousands of Minnesotans ended up hospitalized and hundreds died due to the disease. As tragic as those numbers are, it is worth noting that both hospitalizations and deaths are down by more than 55 percent from the year prior.
Since the pandemic really did not start in Minnesota until March 2020, it is perhaps worth noting that the monthly average number of COVID-19 hospital admissions is just under 1,000 so far this year, down 60 percent from the states peak monthly average of 2,464 in 2021. The monthly average number of deaths so far this year is 116, down even more dramatically by 80 percent from the peak monthly average of 592 in 2020 (March-December).
Unfortunately, the number of both hospitalizations and deaths in Minnesota are trending up at the years end, with department of health data showing 800 COVID-19 hospital admissions during the first half of December and 169 COVID-19 deaths in November (complete data is not yet available for December).
The recent uptick in COVID-19 hospitalizations both in intensive care units and regular non-ICU beds are far below the peaks we have seen in previous years of the pandemic. But the recent number of COVID-related ICU admissions are the highest the state has seen all year. (Note that the most recent data point shown on the graph below may be subject to upward revision as the health department firms up its recent data.)
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Even with the downtick in the preliminary data for the most recent week, the health department's data show that the number of COVID-related admissions to Minnesota's intensive care units have just recently reached the year's high point.
David H. Montgomery
Wastewater data analysis, which can detect increases in COVID-19 circulation before either hospitalizations or deaths, shows a decrease in COVID-19 levels after increasing steadily since early November. As of the week ending Dec. 20, the University of Minnesotas Wastewater Surveillance Study shows COVID-19 levels in the states wastewater are down 12 percent from the week prior. The one caveat is that the most recent data points in the study have sometimes been revised upward in later updates.
Even with this recent downturn, COVID-19 levels in wastewater are still up statewide by more than 50 percent since late November, including increases of more than 100 percent in the studys Central region and nearly 300 percent in the South West. Fortunately, COVID-19 levels are down in the most recent measurements in both of these regions after recent high readings were notched on Dec. 13.
The latest data from the states health department show that both Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and influenza hospitalization rates remain up. Preliminary data for the week of Dec. 10 suggests that RSV may have leveled off, but that number may be revised upward as the health department receives more data over the next week.
Young children are most susceptible to RSV. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, the latest weekly hospitalization rate for newborn children through age four is right around 20 per 100,000. This is far below last years peak of 37 per 100,000, but rates are not falling just yet this year.
Older adults are the group most susceptible to influenza. The latest weekly flu hospitalization rate for Minnesotans aged 65 and older is 11 per 100,000, far below last years peak rate for that group of 41 per 100,000. Flu activity has yet to taper off this season and may continue to grow over the next few weeks.
Coronavirus By IANS 7 hours ago TWC India
In view of the rising COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 active cases across the country, Gurugram administration has directed all hospitals to be on alert.
A total of 12 such cases have been reported so far in Gurugram, while two people have recovered from the infection.
Deputy Commissioner Gurugram Nishant Kumar Yadav has directed all hospitals in Gurugram to establish separate isolation wards exclusively for patients with COVID-19 symptoms.
"Adequate ventilators, monitoring equipment, and skilled medical staff should be allocated to dedicated ICU ward, according to the orders.
A distinct area within the Out Patient Department of every hospital is to be designated for individuals presenting with symptoms indicative of COVID-19.
Hospitals are expressly prohibited from denying admission or treatment to any individual displaying symptoms of COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1, the orders said.
**
The above article has been published from a wire agency with minimal modifications to the headline and text.
The Weather Companys primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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COVID-19 is on the rise throughout the nation and Queens is one of the areas most impacted by the surge.
New York City as a whole has seen an increase in cases over the past month, with Queens being the borough that is leading the way.
The number of confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases in Queens has been steadily rising since the middle of November, according to NYC.gov, which is tracking the cases. Cases have increased from 215 on Nov. 21 to 636 on Dec. 21. This rise in cases has occurred even with less residents going for in-person testing.
The number of cases in Queens has outpaced the other boroughs. On Dec. 21, there were 545 in Brooklyn, 401 in the Bronx, 399 in Manhattan and 166 in Staten Island.
Queens is yet again the epicenter, as it was in 2020 when the pandemic hit the U.S. However, this time there have not been nearly as many fatalities. Queens this month has averaged one death per day from COVID-19.
The CDC attributes the recent surge in cases in Queens and the country in large part to a new COVID-19 variant, known as JN.1. According to the CDC, this variant was first discovered in September. While there has not been any evidence to suggest this variant is a greater health risk than others, the CDC believes it to be either more transmissible or better at evading peoples immune systems.
With winter marking flu season, more people are getting sick this time of year in any case.
Despite rising COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations have recently been declining in Queens. After reaching a peak of 31 hospitalizations on Dec. 18, the number has dropped to the point that there was only one from Dec. 22-25.
The CDC encourages the public to get vaccinated for the flu and COVID-19. While these vaccinations may not prevent the spread of COVID-19, health experts say it will certainly help lessen its severity.
COVID-19 infections are on the rise again in Massachusetts, on top of flu and RSV cases.
And nearly four years after the world was seemingly brought to a halt by the coronavirus, changing guidelines and new strains can make it confusing to know how best to avoid infection and what to do if your rapid test shows two lines. We asked two of the state's top public health officials to answer those common questions.
Wastewater continues to be one of the most reliable indicators of COVID-19 levels in the community. And as of late December 2023, it's not looking great.
"The concentration of COVID-19 in our local wastewater samples here in Boston is very high, and it's continuing to increase," said Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, Boston's commissioner of public health and executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission. "Over the course of the last two weeks, we've noted about a 23% increase in our Boston samples."
Another key metric that public health officials focus on is hospitalization rates.
"Our hospitals are packed to the gills right now," said Dr. Larry Madoff, medical director of the Bureau of Infectious Disease and Lab Sciences for the state Department of Public Health. "Our hospitals are at or above capacity and there's waiting times in emergency departments."
This week, 16.7% of emergency room visits in the state were due to respiratory virus infections.
"That's high," Madoff said. "That's as high as we've seen it this season."
One of the most important things you can do to protect yourself is to make sure you're up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations.
It's probably also good idea to put on a mask.
"I know that most people obviously are not wearing masks," Ojikutu said. "However, masking is an important strategy that reduces the spread of respiratory viruses and can do so effectively if you mask appropriately when you are in crowded spaces."
Probably, yes!
Statewide, just 18.1% of Massachusetts residents have received the latest COVID-19 booster.
"If you haven't been vaccinated since late August of 2023, then you haven't gotten the updated vaccine," Madoff said.
In Boston, free vaccine clinics are available at the Bruce C. Bolling Building in Roxbury and at City Hall. More information is online here. Other vaccine locations can be found here.
One big reason to get a shot: The updated vaccine is protective against newer variants of the virus, Madoff explained.
"The one that's increasing the fastest is one that's called JN.1," he said. "Now, all of these variants are closely related to omicron that's been with us. And that's good news because the updated vaccine continues to protect against these variants."
JN.1 currently accounts for 44% of all COVID-19 cases in the United States. There remains limited data about this variant because it's so new, but the World Health Organization says it may be more capable than prior variants of evading previous immunity. Importantly, WHO does not have reason to believe this variant has a higher risk of causing severe disease.
Other common circulating variants are HV.1 and EG.5 also omicron relatives though each is progressively accounting for fewer cases as JN.1 spreads.
Rapid antigen tests are available at most pharmacies, but are no longer covered by most insurance plans.
All households in the United States are eligible for another four free at-home tests from the federal government. The online form to order those free tests is here.
Those first five days are essential to stopping the spread of the virus to others around you.
"And that means staying at home, if at all possible, and wearing a mask around household members," Ojikutu said.
Many people will continue to test positive after those initial five days. Even so, after then, if you have no symptoms or your symptoms are improving, CDC guidelines suggest you can end isolation.
Until day 11, you should continue to wear a mask when around others indoors and in public.
"[However], if someone tests negative on two separate at home tests taken approximately 48 hours apart, you can certainly remove the mask before day ten," Ojikutu said.
If you are at least 50 years old or have an underlying health issue, you can be prescribed the antiviral treatment Paxlovid.
"Paxlovid is a very effective treatment," Ojikutu said. "It has almost a 90% reduction in risk of hospitalization and death in unvaccinated people in a clinical trial that was performed by the NIH."
COVID-positive patients can speak to their doctor about whether they should get a Paxlovid prescription, or get a free telehealth consultation from the state Department of Public Health.
Some patients might be frustrated that they don't qualify for a prescription for the antiviral treatment. Madoff says there's a reason it's not prescribed to everyone.
"The purpose of Paxlovid and the other antiviral treatments is not to make the illness go away, but it's to keep you out of the hospital and keep you from dying of the illness," he said. "And that's what it's been shown to do. And that benefit is really only to those who are at high risk of developing those complications."
(The Hill) As COVID-19 and other respiratory infections rise across the country, some major health systems are bringing back mask requirements to stop the spread of infections.
This week, Mass General Brigham, the largest health system in Massachusetts, said it will require masking for health care staff who interact directly with patients in clinical care locations starting Jan. 2.
Patients and visitors will be strongly encouraged to wear a facility-issued mask.Masks will not be required for staff in hallways and common areas.
The health system in a statement said its policy is based on the percentage of patients presenting to emergency departments or outpatient clinics with symptoms of respiratory illness.
Once this figure exceeded 2.85 percent for two consecutive weeks, the masking requirement took effect. It will end once the level falls below 2.85 percent for a week.
Most hospitals eased or eliminated their masking requirements last spring, after the federal government ended the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Another major Boston hospital, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, began requiring masks for patients and staff on Dec. 18. The hospital said the policy would be in place for the foreseeable future.
The hospital said there is no single data point leaders use to gauge when the requirement will end.
We check a number of different data points, including rates of influenza-like illness, staff absenteeism, and emergency room visits and hospitalizations caused by respiratory viruses. We will lift the mask requirement when these data points remain consistently lower, the hospital said on its website.
Meanwhile, in D.C., the regions largest rehabilitation hospital is requiring masks for all staff and patients who are admitted, but not for visitors or outpatient areas.
In a message to staff, Medstar National Rehabilitation Hospital said the move was meant to protect staff because theres been an increase in positive COVID tests on admission. As a result, theres been an increase in exposure from patients to staff members.
And in Wisconsin, UW Health recently returned to requiring masks in medical clinics, outpatient care and waiting rooms.
The new requirements come as the JN.1 variant has become the most common strain of the virus spreading across the United States.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the variant accounted for 44 percent of COVID-19 infections nationwide by mid-December, up from about 7 percent in late November.
Key Takeaways
The last trading day of 2023 was a loser for U.S. equities, with the S&P 500 dropping 0.3%. However, the down day didn't dampen the outcome for the year as the index skyrocketed 24% in 2023.
As the last day of 2023 trading ends, we look at the companies in the S&P 500 that gained and lost the most in the year. Investopedia used stock-price data as of Friday's market close to determine the top gainers and losers for the year in the benchmark index.
This was a big year for tech stocks, especially all things related to artificial intelligence (AI). Demand for AI products soared, as the new technology became the "next big thing" for Wall Street in 2023. That trend fueled some of the highest-gaining stocks in the S&P 500 this year.
No company benefited more from the AI boom than Nvidia Corp. (NVDA).
The stock surged more than 254%, far above the next highest gainer and the largest percentage growth in the S&P 500 for the year. The chipmaker's market capitalization crossed the $1 trillion mark, making it the fifth most valuable U.S. corporation.
The only noticeable bump in Nvidia's road came as President Joe Biden's administration slapped new regulations on exports to China in October, a move that Nvidia said would affect its business. This week, the company released a chip that would comply with the export regulations.
Facebook's parent, Meta Platforms Inc. (META), faced challenges in 2023, but that didn't stop its stock from almost tripling in price this year.
As with Nvidia, the company got a boost from AI, but the main driver of the excitement over the social media giant came in February when Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg declared 2023 to be Meta's "year of efficiency" after its shares got punished in 2022. The cost-cutting moves that followed helped send Meta shares soaring.
The end of the lockdowns and other restrictions related to COVID-19 was a boon for the travel industry, especially cruise lines, which essentially shut down for months during the pandemic.
The shares of Royal Caribbean Group (RCL), along with rivals Carnival Corp. (CCL) and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NCLH), have gained from pent-up demand from travelers who were stuck at home because of the outbreak. Royal Caribbean stock rose more than 165%, while competitors Carnival Corp. rose more than 132% and Norwegian ended the year up roughly 69%.
One might not think that technology would drive growth of a building supplies provider, but that was the case for Builders FirstSource Inc. (BLDR).
During the year, the company increased its digital investments and was also helped by acquisitions and product mix. In addition, its shares' price increased after the announcement this month from S&P Dow Jones Indices that it would be added to the S&P 500 on Dec. 18.
Shares of BLDR rose more than 155% in 2023.
Like the cruise lines, Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER) was also a winning recipient of reopenings that followed the ending of COVID-19 restrictions. Along with Builders FirstSource, the ride-hailing service also gained from being included in the S&P 500 in mid-December. The stock was up roughly 142% for the year.
While the overall market advanced, inflation, high interest rates, and falling demand for COVID-19 treatments were among the reasons some stocks tumbled the most in 2023.
FMC Corp. (FMC) stock took a more than 49% hit this year, wiping out much of the gains of the past few years. The agricultural chemical manufacturer's stock did take an uptick in November after it unveiled a strategic plan. The company rolled out new products and said it would do astrategic review of non-core assets.
Enphase Energy Inc.'s (ENPH) troubles were typical of many in the "green" energy sector.
The solar power equipment maker was hurt by high interest rates and soaring home prices, which made adding solar panels to homes more expensive. In addition, a change in the law in California, by far the biggest state for solar panels, was a blow to the industry. The state reduced the payments homeowners receive from utilities for feeding power to the grid, making having the panels less attractive.
Enphase lost about 47% in the year.
A change in consumer behavior driven by high inflation had a significant impact on Dollar General Corp. (DG).
The discount retailer was down roughly 45% this year, as the company said shoppers were spending more money on food and other low-margin items, and not on products that bring in more cash.
Dollar General also said it was going to bring back checkout employees because its reliance on self-checkout led to increased theft.
The wind-down of the pandemic wasn't necessarily good news for the makers of COVID-19 vaccines and medicines.
Shares of the two biggest providers, Moderna Inc. (MRNA) and Pfizer Inc. (PFE), both struggled as fewer people needed vaccines and many opted out of getting additional boosters. This led their stock prices down roughly 44% in 2023.
The companies tried to make the shift away from COVID-19 and pushed to produce other drugs.
Due to continued stream of imported cases of JN.1 and the mass movement of people before and after the Lunar New Year, the JN.1 variant is likely to become a prevailing variant in the country, and that will cause an increase in Covid-19 cases, Li Zhengmao, from the National Administration of Disease Prevention and Control, said on Friday.
Li added that China was bracing for an uptick in multiple respiratory diseases during the winter.
[The rise in JN.1 cases] will increase the risks of severe cases and deaths among elderly and vulnerable people with underlying diseases. It will also create pressure on the health system in rural areas as they are less able to treat the infected, he added.
Li said the bureau would closely monitor the spread of the variant, and step up vaccination of at-risk groups with shots developed from the XBB strain.
02:50
World Health Organization announces Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency
World Health Organization announces Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency
According to the World Health Organization and scientific studies by the medical community, vaccines developed to counter the XBB variant in the Omicron family are still effective against JN.1.
Li said China would also pay special attention to weak links in the rural health system and allocate more resources to enable effective diagnosis to ensure hospitals were not inundated with less severe cases.
Chinas health system was strained earlier this year with a spike in hospitalisations for various respiratory diseases, especially among children.
Health authorities and scientists said the spike was caused by a lack of immunity against other common respiratory diseases following three years of mask requirements. Many other countries also saw an increase in respiratory diseases after Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.
Respiratory diseases often increase in winter as most people stay indoors. In China, that trend is exacerbated by mass travel around the Lunar New Year as was the case with the rapid spread of sudden acute respiratory syndrome in 2003 and the Omicron variant in 2022.
06:38
Sars 2003: The first coronavirus to spark a Hong Kong public health crisis
Sars 2003: The first coronavirus to spark a Hong Kong public health crisis
JN.1 evolved from the BA2.86 Omicron subvariant and by mid-December was responsible for about 44 per cent of Covid cases in the United States, according to the US CDC.
The WHO identified it as JN.1 as a variant of interest on December 19, saying it was on the rise in various countries, but the threat of an additional global public health risk was low.
The number of new cases of Covid-19 rose by more than half in the 28-day period to 17 December 2023, with more than 850,000 new cases reported, the WHO said.
But the number of new deaths fell by 8 per cent as compared to the previous 28-day period, with more than 3,000 new fatalities reported.
Photo of a US Bank branch in Walnut Creek, California, on Monday, April 10, 2023. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
People unemployed during the pandemic will get a cash infusion in their accounts to start the new year.
U.S. Bank has to pay nearly $21 million after it prevented people from accessing unemployment benefits. Approximately $5.7 million of that amount is for consumers affected by this, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a release.
The Minneapolis-based financial institution not only had to pay the penalty to consumers, mandated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but they were also fined $15 million by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for the CFPBs victims relief fund.
During the pandemic in 2020, U.S. Bank had contracts with at least 19 states and the District of Columbia to deliver unemployment benefits.
RELATED: Bank of America to pay $100M to customers over fees, opening accounts without consent
According to the CFPB release, millions of newly unemployed workers relied on the unemployment benefits delivered through U.S. Banks ReliaCard prepaid card.
But tens of thousands of those consumers found their accounts frozen for weeks or longer. People had to verify their identities to unfreeze their accounts, but the bank didnt have an adequate system for them to do so.
"At a time when unemployment was close to 15%, many out-of-work Americans throughout the country had little choice but to rely on U.S. Bank for their unemployment benefits. U.S. Bank blocked access to accounts and demanded burdensome paperwork in order for consumers to regain access to their frozen benefits," CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement in the release. "U.S. Bank must comply with the law, and the CFPB and OCC are making the bank pay for its conduct."
RELATED: Billions of dollars in COVID-19 relief aid stolen or wasted, investigation reveals
Other beneficiaries learned that U.S. Bank didnt provide them with provisional account credits after they reported unauthorized transfers from their accounts, the CFPB noted.
U.S. Bank is the fifth-largest commercial bank in the country, with 2,000 branches in 26 states.
This story was reported from Washington, D.C.
