Coronavirus (COVID-19) Collection
Emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern Omicron (B.1.1.529) - highlights Africa's research capabilities, but exposes major knowledge gaps, inequities of vaccine distribution, inadequacies in global COVID-19 response and control efforts
Nearly two years since the start of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, which has caused over 5 million deaths, the world continues to be on high COVID-19 alert. The World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with national authorities, public health institutions and scientists have been closely monitoring and assessing the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 since January 2020 (WHO 2021a; WHO 2021b). The emergence of specific SARS-CoV-2 variants were characterised as Variant of Interest (VOI) and Variant of Concern (VOC), to prioritise global monitoring and research, and to inform the ongoing global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO and its international sequencing networks continuously monitor SARS-CoV-2 mutations and inform countries about any changes that may be needed to respond to the variant, and prevent its spread where feasible.The role of supporting services in driving SARS-CoV-2 transmission within healthcare settings: A multicenter seroprevalence study
The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 (causing COVID-19) in December 2019 rapidly evolved into a pandemic, with cumulative numbers of more than 83 million confirmed cases and 1.8 million deaths globally according to WHO (2021a). During the lengthy course of this pandemic, The Lancet (2020) reported that workers within healthcare facilities had been working at maximum capacity for many hours and over many shifts, and in some settings with limited protection. Being a frontline healthcare worker was found to be one of the risk factors for acquiring COVID-19, as shown in many serological studies, such as that by Galanis et al.Answer to Paredes et al. commenting on “COVID-19 vaccines under the International Health Regulations — We must use the WHO International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis”
We thank Dr Paredes et al. for their comment to our editorial (Petersen et al., 2021) on the potential use of International Health Regulations (IHR) and immunizations against SARS-CoV-2.Effects of COVID-19 on mortality: A 5-year population-based study in Oman
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), first emerged in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and spread rapidly across the world. In Oman, the first imported case was diagnosed on 24 February 2020 (Wahaibi et al., 2020). Until mid-August 2020, there was ongoing community transmission, with a total of 79,701 confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection and 488 deaths in Oman. The estimated number of infected individuals based on a national sero-survey for the same time period was 507,256, which indicates a case fatality rate (fraction of deaths among infected cases) of 0.1% (Oman News Agency, 2020).
