Category: Corona Virus

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A novel gene editing platform OmiCrisp, by Bengaluru-based startup CrisprBits, is monitoring sewage crisamples to track the highly transmissible JN.1 variant of the COVID-19 virus in the city.

OmiCrisp is a testing platform based on CRISPR, a breakthrough gene-editing technology, for rapid diagnosis and surveillance of SARS-CoV2. It is monitoring the Omicron-derived JN.1 variant in sewage samples from 14 localities in Bengaluru every week, the company said.

The CRISPR-based test not only detects the virus but also distinguishes variants of the Omicron lineage from other previously known variants of concern. This technology can specifically discriminate the actual base changes as the virus mutates, instead of relying on the absence of signal due to sequence changes.

In the Journal of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, OmiCrisp was validated in 80 clinical samples and more than 160 wastewater samples with a remarkable 99% accuracy, the company said. Clinical samples were cross-validated against the highly accurate next-generation sequencing platform, while wastewater results were compared using approved qRTPCR tests.

"OmiCrisp validation is one of the first studies to employ CRISPR-based testing in environmental samples," said Vijay Chandru, an author on the study, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder, CrisprBits, in a statement.

Notably, the CRISPR-based test demonstrated tolerance to poor-quality samples derived from sewage, highlighting its utility in discerning even single base changes in matrices of inferior stability.

Founded in 2020 by five distinguished alumni of BITS-Pilani, CrisprBits is a startup incubated by Bengaluru-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP). It aims to bring innovative solutions using the CRISPR technology.

"OmiCrisp is a CRISPR-based one-stop diagnostic and screening tool for Omicron variant and its lineages has shown a remarkable accuracy of up to 99% in both clinical and sewage samples. This has enormous implications for India's pandemic preparedness for COVID and other infectious disease outbreaks," said Taslimarif Saiyed, Director CEO of C-CAMP, in the statement.

CrisprBits is currently focused on launching its point-of-need instrument light platform, PathCrisp, in 2024, for clinical and environmental surveillance.

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The above article has been published from a wire agency with minimal modifications to the headline and text.

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Bengaluru Startup Tracks JN.1 COVID-19 Variant in Sewage Samples With 99% Accuracy | Weather.com - The Weather Channel

Parents and caregivers of young children, you can show your children how much you care and help them stay healthy by keeping medicines in a safe place when you spend time together. Kids (and pets!) can get sick if they swallow medicines, vitamins, or other supplements theyre not supposed to (including gummies).

Learn how to keep medicines somewhere safe at UpAndAway.org at https://upandaway.org.

If you think a child might have swallowed a medicine, vitamin, or other supplement, get help right away even if youre not sure. Call Poison Help at 800-222-1222 or go to https://PoisonHelp.org.

Excerpt from:

Put your medicines up and away and out of sight - Longview News-Journal

When an outbreak occurs, it tends to spread quickly and efficiently. We saw it happen with COVID-19. Thats due in large part to the way viruses grow and shed themselves, spreading among individuals who are in close proximity to one another.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we learned a lot about the importance of social distancing, staying at home when sick and limiting exposure to other people when we think we may have come into contact with an illness.

But even now, COVID-19 remains dangerous for many, especially our most vulnerable populations. And the concept of superspreader events gatherings of people where even just a single infection spurs a large outbreak among attendees is not just a thing of the pandemic past. Its a harsh reality that still requires caution.

Weddings, funerals and even large family parties (like birthdays or holiday dinners) are just a few examples of regular events that can turn into superspreaders if those in attendance arent careful.

The more people there are, the higher the risk becomes for infection especially if someone in attendance has knowingly experienced symptoms and/or been exposed to a virus before the event.

Originally, we were worried about superspreader events when not a lot of people were infected at the start of the pandemic, says infectious disease doctor Donald Dumford, MD.

During those times, superspreader events were leading to a really big ramp-up in the pandemic. At this point, superspreader events can still lead to a lot of infections, but now, the risk for infection at any public event has become more commonplace.

Dr. Dumford discusses superspreader events, why theyre still so prime for infection, and what you can do to protect yourself when you inevitably attend one (lest the FOMO set in).

One of the confounding things about superspreader events is that they dont have exact criteria. Its entirely possible to have a large gathering of people where very few people (or even none) contract a virus, while a family gathering of just a dozen people could spread a virus to everyone.

When you see a large event where theres a greater amount of transmission than would be expected, that qualifies as a superspreader, clarifies Dr. Dumford.

He points tothe new standardwhere an infected person at a gathering can be expected to infect two to three people (an average of 2.5), with an infection rate of about 20% among family members, from an infectious person.

When you see an event where that rate is higher, thats usually what youd consider a superspreader event, he continues. As an example, he notes the now well-knownstudy from Washington Statethat focused on a 61-person choir practice in which a single infected member caused 32 confirmed infections and 20 additional probable cases among the other members.

Normally, Dr. Dumford says, you would expect two or three people, the closest to the infected individual, to get sick from that interaction. Instead, it was at least three times that, possibly five times.

And weve seen superspreader events before with other viruses like the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Beijing in 2003 or the West Africa Ebola outbreak in 20142015. In both situations, there were more resulting infections as the number of close contacts increased.

Further research into the transmission of COVID-19 shows the most severe superspreader-dominant outbreaks are even more severe and faster spread than the most severe non-superspreader-dominated outbreaks.

Although, on average, COVID-19 cases are less severe than at the beginning of the pandemic, they do still cause considerable morbidity and can still lead to death in our more vulnerable populations, so superspreader events via gatherings can still be detrimental especially if you or a loved one are elderly or immunocompromised, explains Dr. Dumford.

If you are in this group, then wearing a mask at public events is a good way to reduce the risk.

It all comes down to how the virus spreads. COVID-19 is predominantly transmitted by close contact droplets, Dr. Dumford reminds us. Its going to be spread by that person youre sitting with at a table who youre talking with for an extended period of time.

Take that choir practice mentioned. Over the course of two-and-a-half hours, the infected, asymptomatic person was continually projecting virus-laden droplets into the air. And given the close quarters and indoor nature of the practice, there was plenty of opportunity for those droplets to circulate and infect dozens of others in the room, not just those in the immediate vicinity. When we speak, cough or sing, we can propel virus-infected droplets around six feet (even more if you sneeze).

But Dr. Dumford points out that superspreader events may occur when much smaller virus-laden droplets are able to float in the air longer, spreadingover a longer distance and becoming easier to inhale. This is why crowded, indoor gatherings are probably the most likely to become superspreader events.

Superspreader events are dependent on several factors, including the environment where the event takes place, how contagious people are and the kind of variant theyve been exposed to.

Superspreaders that come from family events often catch those infected off-guard because they believe their family to be something of a safe bubble. A close group of people theyre around often and people whove disclosed their COVID-19 vaccination status seem unlikely to cause an outbreak on the surface. But as Dr. Dumford notes, many dont quite fully comprehend the fullest, strictest bubble concept.

There are definitely big family gatherings, like a birthday party or a wedding, that can be a good example of a superspreader, he illustrates. They may be your family, but often, you dont all live under the same roof. Theres still a risk because you dont know if any one of the attendees hasnt recently exposed themselves to other people whove had COVID-19, whether theyve been hanging out with friends or traveling abroad.

With that in mind, social gatherings and public outings have higher potential to become superspreader events if they:

Superspreader events can occur at home or in public places, including:

The worst-case scenarios are events where a large number of people are clustered together, talkingor singing or some other sort of increased activity, especially in a poorly ventilated setting, emphasizes Dr. Dumford.

Outdoor gatherings are safer than indoor gatherings. And indoor gatherings with the windows open and an airflow going through are better than not. But you can still get infected even at those events if the right variables are in play.

No matter the setting, theres still an inherent risk. The best solution to any potential infection is to make sure youre up-to-date on your COVID-19 vaccines.

The recent COVID-19 booster vaccines have been tailored to the virus strains that were circulating most this past fall, explains Dr. Dumford. The clear benefit to the vaccine is those who have been vaccinated are less likely to get severe illness from the virus and have a reduced likelihood of transmitting the virus to others. Additionally, recent data also shows that those that are vaccinated are less likely to develop long COVID.

Masks and social distancing will also cut your risk for infections way down, especially in outdoor settings, but theresalwaysa risk in crowds.

We do our best to stay safe, but the more people youre close to, youre in contact with, the higher the risk goes even if youre doing everything possible, says Dr. Dumford.

Of course, if youre hosting the event, as an extra precaution you can always ask your guests to test for COVID-19 or inquire about their vaccination status before they attend. Even as a guest, youre well within your right to inquire about where other attendees stand on the matter. Its now become so commonplace to have these conversations before getting together for any big celebration, its almost expected in many social circles.

Lets say, despite every potential risk, you decide to attend an event. Or maybe you go to a gathering expecting it to be small but it turns out to be quite big. What should you do afterward, especially if you find out someone else at the gathering tested positive for COVID-19?

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), if you think youve been exposed to the virus andyouve been vaccinated for COVID-19, you should wear a mask when youre around other people and test on day five.

If you think youve been exposed to the virus andyoure unvaccinated or arent yet caught up on the most recent vaccine for COVID-19, you should stay home for five days and test on day five.

If youve been vaccinated for COVID-19 and you test positive or develop symptoms, you should stay home for five days (or until your symptoms are gone) and wear a mask for five days after.

If youre not vaccinated or not up-to-date with the latest COVID-19 vaccine and you test positive, its recommended to avoid being around other people until you no longer have symptoms or until youve hit five days and then, wear a mask for another five days.

I would be sure to wear a mask even when youre inside your own home and around family members that you wouldnt normally mask-up for, just to reduce the likelihood of transmission, advises Dr. Dumford. You need to avoid exposingothers, especially those that might have compromised immune systems.

Soothe your aches and pains, stay hydrated and contact a healthcare provider if you experience shortness of breath or chest pain, have trouble eating, have a consistent fever or are concerned about any of the symptoms you experience. There are a number of COVID-19 treatment options available that can help when COVID-19 hits home, despite your best efforts.

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What Are 'Superspreader Events' and What Can You Do To Stay Safe? - Health Essentials

The Library of Congress has launched a new campaign to record and archive millions of COVID-19 pandemic stories.

The worlds largest library has launched a new campaign to record and archive millions of COVID-19 pandemic stories.

The Library of Congress is calling for many different American voices to share their experiences for posterity.

You can read something in a history book, but to hear someones voice tell of their lived experience is immensely powerful, said Nicole Saylor, director of the librarys American Folklife Center, which is leading the project.

Curators and researchers at the library have teamed up with the nonprofit group StoryCorps to gather and archive countless oral narratives.

People who want to capture their story can use several different methods through StoryCorps. The group has a suite of self-directed documentation systems and recording sites around the country, Saylor said.

When the oral narration is complete, storytellers can save their accounts in the Library of Congress archive.

Saylor said every story collected is just as important as the next.

Our goal is to capture the stories of people who survived, to honor those who lost their lives to this disease, and talk with front line health care workers, she said. We want to get a good geographical spread on this, with a lot of different communities and perspectives into the archives.

The library has other similar first-person storytelling projects to preserve history, including topics on Pearl Harbor, 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.

Archivists are in the early stages of collecting pandemic tales, which will take the next three years to complete. Saylor said the goal now is to get as many people as possible to recount their stories.

You can really tell the story about the American experience though one persons story, Saylor told WTOP. The push that were pursing right now is to get people engaged in doing their stories.

If you would like to tell your COVID-19 pandemic story, go to the StoryCorps website.

Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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Library of Congress collecting COVID-19 pandemic stories, calling for many different voices - WTOP

Exactly four years ago today the UK's first coronavirus cases were confirmed.

On 31 January 2020, Public Health England said a University of York student from China had tested positive for COVID-19, along with his mother.

Almost two months later, the UK locked down and it was another two years until the final legal restrictions were removed - with some arguing this happened prematurely.

Now in 2024, the virus is still affecting people in ways scientists are only just beginning to fully understand - and affecting the NHS. So how prevalent is COVID today and what have we learned?

How widespread are COVID infections now?

Unsurprisingly, COVID cases are much lower than they have been at various peaks over the past four years.

But the latest data, which covers up to 10 January, estimates that 2.3% of the population of England and Scotland had COVID in the community - the equivalent of around 1.2 million people.

As people no longer report their test results, the most reliable recent estimates on COVID prevalence come from the winter infection survey, carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the UK Health Security Agency.

It is smaller than the original, regular ONS infection study that was discontinued in March 2023, and it doesn't cover Wales or Northern Ireland.

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Although the winter infection study uses lateral flow not PCR tests, the results are broadly comparable.

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It shows that following the spread of the JN.1 variant, which is a sub-lineage of the BA.2.86 version of Omicron, the virus last peaked before Christmas, with highs of 4.4% between 19 and 23 December - roughly one in 23 people.

Similarly to the height of the pandemic, the peak was felt most strongly in London, with 5.5% of the capital believed to have COVID by 19 December. The lowest peak was in the North East, with 3.2% of the region thought to have had the virus by 12 December.

Will we see more waves of cases?

The recent COVID peaks are only around half what they were in spring 2022, when 7.6% of England were estimated to have the virus and 9% of Scotland.

Stephen Griffin, professor of virology at the University of Leeds, warns that although the peaks look less dramatic, repeated waves mean they add up to a very high number of cases.

"We're still seeing multiple waves of COVID every year because the virus is still evolving at an incredible rate," he says.

The government often cites the initial vaccine rollout as the biggest success of its COVID response.

After they were offered to everybody aged 12 and over, 85% had two doses of a vaccine by mid-2022. But additional booster jabs are now only offered to the over-65s.

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And with new variants constantly emerging and most people's vaccine protection waning, Prof Griffin says the UK is "not suppressing prevalence", which means "we'll continue to see those waves".

How many people have to go to hospital for COVID now?

The pre-Christmas peak in cases didn't result in as large numbers needing hospital treatment compared with the early days of the pandemic.

Professor Oliver Johnson, professor of information theory at the University of Bristol, says while there have been "many infections" recently, "they are much less severe on average since before we had vaccines".

Fewer than 5,000 people with COVID have needed hospital treatment in England every week since early 2023. That number peaked at more than 25,000 in a single week in January 2021.

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What impact has the anti-vax movement had?

Far fewer people are dying with COVID than before vaccines were offered to all over-18s in June 2021.

Despite the pandemic sparking a resurgence in the "anti-vax" movement, Greg Fell, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health, says the overwhelming positive impact of vaccines on COVID mortality has undoubtedly been "good PR" for them.

"Anti-vax sentiment clearly got highlighted during COVID - but I think most people know that those vaccines really work and that in a world without them, it would be Christmas 2021 again."

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Asked whether the recent drop in MMR vaccines and the measles outbreak in the West Midlands are solely the result of anti-vax groups, he admits there has been "some outright anti-vax sentiment" around MMR that has had an impact, particularly on social media.

But he stresses that addressing "missed opportunities" to use community leaders to engage with disenfranchised groups is just as important in reversing the problem.

Prof Griffin says the delayed decision to vaccinate five to 11-year-olds in 2022 was bad for jab rates, alongside the then-health secretary Sajid Javid's description of the programme as "non-urgent". Data shows only around 10% of under-12s had a single dose.

"The dithering and indecision around the benefits for vaccinating children was pretty damaging in the sense that if you look at uptake in younger groups, it's appalling," Prof Griffin adds.

Primary courses of the vaccine are also no longer universally available for all age groups, aside from the clinically vulnerable and people who live with them.

"So children turning five after September 2022 have to wait until they're in their 60s to have a vaccine, unless they become clinically vulnerable," Prof Griffin says.

"The idea that repeated infections are a preferable means of generating population immunity to vaccines, especially in children, is a dangerous nonsense."

Concerns over 'silent organ damage' from COVID

Long COVID is defined by symptoms that persist for three months or more with no other explicable cause. Almost two million people in the UK had the condition at the time of the latest ONS survey in March 2023.

Studies have put the extra cost to UK GP and other primary care services at an estimated 23m a year - with annual losses to the workforce and greater economic cost thought to be as much as 1.5bn.

A Canadian study suggested that for people infected three times or more, long COVID rates were around 38%.

Dr Rae Duncan, a consultant cardiologist and long COVID research clinician at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, warns that studies are beginning to suggest serious complications from COVID that could lie dormant for years.

"COVID is a spectrum and long COVID is only one end of that," Dr Duncan says.

"It's never been just a cold. The more times you're infected, the higher your cardiovascular risk, neurological, and endocrine risk. These can all result in life-altering conditions.

"Some may have underlying silent organ damage, which is asymptomatic, meaning people are not aware of it. It needs more research but it's very concerning."

Read more: How long COVID ruined my life Hundreds of long COVID doctors suing NHS

A UK biobank study found increased risk of cardiovascular death up to a year-and-a-half after getting COVID in unvaccinated people. Others, including data pooled by scientists in Taiwan, show far greater COVID mortality in people with Alzheimer's disease.

One piece of research suggested babies born to COVID-positive, unvaccinated mothers had a 20.3% risk of neurodevelopmental delay by age, compared to 5.9% of babies whose mothers did not catch COVID while pregnant.

Given emerging research the virus may carry cardiovascular risks for children, citing NHS guidance that children can go back to school three days after getting COVID, Dr Duncan adds: "We have published data showing it takes around seven days for 75% of children, and 10 days for 90% of children to become non-infectious.

"So we have largely chosen to ignore the impact of COVID on our kids and I think that's a really bad decision."

How many people are dying with COVID?

Last year excess deaths (how many more deaths occur than are expected) were still higher than the five-year average, but down on 2022 - from more than 30,000 in 2022 to nearly 27,000 in 2023.

COVID-related deaths almost halved from 32,300 in 2022 to 16,600 in 2023. But they still made up almost two-thirds (62%) of excess deaths last year.

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Many argue that NHS backlogs are contributing to excess death numbers, and pressures are evident across all areas of services.

According to the latest data from November, 6.4 million patients were on the waiting list for treatment in England, 42% of whom were still waiting beyond the 18-week target.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine attributed more than 23,000 excess deaths in England in 2022 to long waits in emergency departments - where the latest figures show nearly half (46%) are still waiting far longer than the four-hour target to be seen.

Prof Griffin says: "Excess mortality has got less attributable to COVID, but it's still a problem.

"COVID did have a huge impact on NHS capacity to deal with the backlog, but we haven't had those widespread restrictions for several years now, yet the NHS has been unable to catch up again and the year-long added pressure from COVID hospitalisations remains."

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Prof Griffin says that as the years go by, one would expect COVID-related deaths to creep down, but not enough is being done to prevent COVID fatalities.

He adds: "We try and bring down excess deaths from non-communicable diseases like cancer and obesity, but we don't seem to do it very well for infectious disease, even though that's something we can do a lot more about."

Dr Duncan says that we "urgently need multi-layered public health protections", including seasonal vaccines and ventilation systems for cleaner indoor air to "stop people continuously re-infected with constantly evolving new variants".

She adds that "already licenced medications" could help people with long-term COVID complications but the government needs to fund them.

What has COVID taught us?

Mr Fell says that as a nation we went into the pandemic in a poor state of health, with "deep inequalities" between ethnic and socioeconomic groups.

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"The pandemic reminded us that inequalities in health outcomes are very real and matter enormously," he says.

"There was more infection in some populations because of underlying health differences, but also things like occupational exposure and overcrowded housing in terms of chains of transmission."

In those aged 65 and over, Alzheimer's disease was the most common pre-existing health condition in people who died with COVID. Diabetes was the most common for those under 65.

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Although COVID is still a factor driving excess deaths, Mr Fell highlights the mortality rate for age-old public health concerns like smoking, which according to the NHS, causes around 76,000 deaths a year in the UK.

"We still have all the other pandemics of death and illness day in day, out," he adds. "We need to put as much effort into some of those things as we did in how we responded to COVID."

From improved ventilation in schools and hospitals to investment in more antiviral drugs and vaccines, Prof Griffin adds: "If you think about the trillions of pounds that have been destroyed by COVID globally, surely the investment of however many million is worthwhile for this and future pandemics."

Government guidance states that, based on evidence, the vaccine programme changed in 2023 to target higher-risk groups, and that vaccinating children outside of those groups is not recommended.

It also says that data at the end of 2022 suggested almost all older children and adults had coronavirus antibodies from either vaccines or infection.

Sky News has contacted the Department of Health and NHS England for comment.

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'The virus is still evolving at an incredible rate': How widespread is COVID now - and how many people are dying with it? - Sky News

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COVID and travel: Should I still wear a mask on the plane? - USA TODAY

Danaher took a major dip in its full-year earnings report, with revenues dropping more than 10% in 2023 despite better-than-expected results from the fourth quarter, following what it described as a transformational year for the company and an ongoing period of change that it expects will extend through at least the first half of 2024.

President and CEO Rainer Blair said on the companys earnings call Tuesday that, Now, over the long term, we believe Danaher will be a faster-growing business with higher margins and stronger free cash flow generation.

Last year saw Danaher spin out its environmental, water quality and applied solutions businesses in late Septemberforming the independent company Veraltoto help renew its focus on life sciences and diagnostics, while last December brought the addition of British antibody and proteomics player Abcam through the closure of a $5.7 billion acquisition deal.

At the same time, like all diagnostics developers, the company felt COVID-19 pandemic tailwinds turn into headwinds, according to Blair, as the publics demand for tests continued to wane. Meanwhile, challenges in high-growth international markets such as China also contributed to Danahers declines in its life science and biotechnology divisions.

Full-year sales dropped 10.5%, from 2022s $26.64 billion to 2023s $23.89 billion, the company said. That included a slight decrease among Danahers core businesses coupled with a COVID-related headwind of about 9.5%, Blair said. Net earnings reached $4.2 billion.

For the fourth quarter alone, sales were down 10% to $6.41 billion versus $7.13 billion during the same period the year before. Bioprocessing sales, which includes Danahers Cytiva unit, were down 21% during that time, falling to $1.76 billion from the segments $2.22 billion total a year prior.

The environment in North America and Europe is stable, with customers still working through inventory built up during the pandemic, Blair said. Demand and underlying activity levels in China remain weak as customers are continuing to conserve capital and prioritize programs. For the full year of 2024, we expect core revenue in our bioprocessing business to be down low single digits.

Still, Blair said core quarterly revenues in each of the companys segments were at least better than expected. One clear winner was a respiratory testing gain from Cepheid: On the back of a four-in-one screener for COVID, respiratory syncytial virus and two types of flu, the diagnostics subsidiary's sales reached about $650 million to thoroughly beat previous internal estimates of $350 million.

Based on what we saw the last two years and on our discussions with customers and public health experts, we believe annual respiratory revenue in a typical season will be approximately $1.5 billion, Blair said. This increase from our initial assumption of $1.2 billion per year is driven by modestly higher volumes and a greater mix of our four-in-one tests.

Additionally, Cepheid's respiratory franchise is now six times larger than it was prior to the pandemic, and we expect this to be sustainable, he added.

Among the several life-science-focused companies in Danahers portfolioincluding Sciex, Leica, Aldevron and now Abcam, among othersrevenue slid a total of 1% amid drops in core sales and gains from acquisitions. The fourth quarter of 2023 logged $1.93 billion in sales compared to $1.95 billion the year prior.

In terms of 2024 guidance, the company said it expects core revenue to be down low single digits year over year, with the first quarter declining by high single digits. And, going forward, Danaher said it will no longer separate out and report base business core revenue, as the pandemic has transitioned to an endemic state.

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Danaher's 2023 sales drop 10% during 'transformational year' - FierceBiotech

Tearful Nicola Sturgeon says she at times felt overwhelmed by pandemic video Coronavirus

Former first minister of Scotland admits to inquiry that she failed to properly record key discussions

Wed 31 Jan 2024 14.15 EST

Nicola Sturgeon has admitted failing to properly record key discussions about the Covid crisis after being pressed at the UK Covid inquiry over claims that some decisions were too centralised and secretive.

The former first minister, who led Scotlands response to the pandemic, pushed back tears when she admitted she found the pressure of the crisis incredibly stressful, and at times wished she had not been in charge.

I was the first minister when the pandemic struck, she said, her voice breaking. Theres a large part of me wishes that I hadnt been but I was and I wanted to be the best first minister I could be during that period.

During a day-long evidence session, Sturgeon repeatedly denied challenges from Jamie Dawson KC, the inquirys counsel, about whether she had sought to politicise the pandemic to promote independence.

She was shown an email from July 2020 that appeared to come from the office of her deputy and closest political ally, John Swinney, in which a senior official told Swinney and Sturgeon he was extremely concerned about Spain being subject to far tougher travel rules than other countries.

The official said he feared the Spanish government would believe this was entirely political; they wont forget; there is a real possibility they will never approve EU membership for an independent Scotland.

Sturgeon said she assumed she had read the email but rejected the suggestion she agreed with it. Travel policy with Spain had been decided entirely on finely balanced scientific and economic grounds, she said. The Scottish government told the hearing the email had not come from Swinney or his private office, but from another civil servant.

Why is that even part of the discussions? Dawson asked. It wasnt part of my consideration, Sturgeon replied. I, certainly to the best of my knowledge, didnt have any discussions of that nature.

Under close questioning from Dawson, Sturgeon admitted she had made a number of errors in her handling of policymaking and some of the key decisions taken during the crisis.

Those included:

That she regretted not telling people about Scotlands first outbreak, involving 38 cases linked to a Nike conference in Edinburgh in March 2020, as that had the potential to undermine public confidence.

That she had thought wrongly that her chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, could remain in post after admitting she had breached lockdown rules by visiting her holiday home.

Sturgeon strongly refuted repeated suggestions from Dawson that there had been a deliberate effort on her part to centralise and control key decisions by taking a very firm grip of decision-making. She said any mistakes were unintentional, driven by the intense pace and significance of the events that were unfolding.

I did not operate on any issue at any point of the Covid pandemic in a way that sought to exclude people from decision-making, she said.

I tried to lead from the front. I tried to shoulder my fair share, sometimes deliberately more than my fair share of the burden of decision-making given the severity and the difficulty of the decisions that were being made. I thought that was appropriate for a first minister.

Dawson pressed Sturgeon who quit as first minister last February in part, she said, because of the immense pressures of the Covid crisis on why her regular gold group meetings had not been minuted, and why only a small group of ministers and advisers had taken part.

It emerged on Tuesday that Sturgeon had failed to include Kate Forbes, then her finance secretary, in gold group meetings, which routinely took place before cabinet meetings. Forbes said she had known they existed only in early 2021.

Sturgeon denied Forbes had been deliberately excluded but admitted those meetings were held with key advisers to help shape the policies and decisions she wanted to put to cabinet.

The inquiry heard on Tuesday that Sturgeon and Swinney had decided to shut all Scottish schools in March 2020 without telling the cabinet. Dawson then showed Sturgeon a WhatsApp exchange between her and her chief of staff, Liz Lloyd, which appeared to show them jointly deciding on a policy to ban alcohol consumption in public, before a cabinet meeting.

Sturgeon denied his suggestion that the Scottish cabinet had largely existed simply to ratify her decisions. Cabinet meetings were robust and had real power, she said, insisting the inquiry had all the material it needed to see how and why policy decisions had been taken.

However, she admitted she preferred gold group meetings because she didnt have a great deal of patience for large meetings with a cast of unnecessary thousands. She said: I wanted to get all of the people with the right expertise in the room so that we could take the best decisions we possibly could.

Sturgeons emotions again broke through when she denied seeking to exploit the crisis for political gain. She said her only instinct had been to minimise harm in horrific circumstances.

Again fighting back tears, she stated: For as long as I live, I will carry the impact of these decisions, I will carry regret at the decisions and judgments I got wrong.

But I will always know in my heart and in my soul, that my instincts and my motivation was nothing other than trying to do the best in the face of this pandemic.

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Sturgeon admits errors in handling of incredibly stressful Covid crisis - The Guardian

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A Retrospective Study on the Outcome of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Patients Admitted to a District ... - Cureus

Taipei, Feb. 2 (CNA) A COVID-19 vaccine research from Taiwan-based Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp., which found its locally-produced vaccine was as effective as the Moderna and Pfizer BioNTech vaccines, will be featured in a United States medical publication.

The research paper will be published in the March issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, a monthly peer-reviewed journal from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director General Lo Yi-chun () told CNA on Friday.

Lo said Medigen will be publishing the positive results of its protein subunit COVID-19 vaccine, which has been proven to provide 90 percent protection against moderate to severe infections on individuals who get three jabs.

The protein subunit vaccine is effective against the Omicron subvariant, and could protect those receiving the inoculation from moderate to severe symptoms and even death, according to Lo.

Moreover, Medigen's research documents are the first big data comparison between the strengths of mRNA and protein subunit vaccines, he added.

Taiwan's CDC explained that data for the research were collected domestically in Taiwan through the nation's vaccine rollout programs.

The data used for the comparison was based on more than 60 million vaccine jabs received by over 23 million individuals during the mass Omicron community infections that broke out domestically in 2022.

The CDC said the research concluded that Medigen's protein subunit inoculation provided protection against COVID-19 that is akin to that offered by the vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer BioNTech, which have been proven to be more efficient and long lasting than those from Astrazeneca (AZ).

The research completely maps out the strength of various vaccine combinations between different age groups and the results are available to experts around the world, the CDC said.

Lo told CNA that Medigen's findings have already been made public and presented at the 30th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle last February.

The CDC also advised anyone who received an AZ vaccine as their first two initial inoculation jabs to get additional boosters with next-generation serums.

(By Tseng Yi-ning and James Lo)

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Medigen to publish COVID-19 research on U.S. journal - Focus Taiwan