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Food banks are feeling strains from inflated prices and increased demand, while President Joe Biden says a food shortage that is “going to be real” looms. Food insecurity numbers have been on the rise since at least late Summer 2021, the Washington Post reported, citing the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey, which compiles and releases data “on how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted people’s lives.” In early August, the survey showed that about eight percent of Americans who responded said they either “sometimes” or “often” did not have enough to eat.

A 90-year-old Belgian woman died after she became infected with two different strains of COVID-19 at the same time, scientists revealed Sunday. Her case was the first documented of a patient infected with two strains, although the “phenomenon is probably underestimated,” one of the lead researchers said, according to Agence France-Presse. The patient, who was not vaccinated, became sick in March with the Alpha and Beta strains of the virus, which were first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa, respectively, according to scientists at the European Congress on Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases.

With the nation already dealing with a strong double mutant variant of the Covid-19 virus, reports now suggest that the southern states of the country could have been affected by a more lethal variant of the virus named N440K. Also known as AP variant referring to the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh where it was first detected, the strain is said to be at least 15 times more virulent than the previous strains. It has a shorter incubation period and the virus is said to spread much more rapidly within the human body. It is also said that a short...

Hospitals in Turkey and Poland are filling up fast. Pakistan is restricting domestic travel to bring a surge in coronavirus infections under control. Even Thailand, which has weathered the coronavirus pandemic far better than many nations, is now struggling to contain a new COVID-19 surge. Even countries where vaccine rollouts are finally getting some momentum, infections, hospitalizations and deaths are surging. And that leaves even bleaker prospects for much of the world, where largescale vaccination programs remain a more distant prospect. The World Health Organization said Friday that it's very concerned as infection rates are rising in all of the...

Those who succumbed to the original fearmongering surrounding Covid-19 are starting to relax a bit. Whether it’s the various “vaccines,” thoughts of herd immunity, a realization that those under the age of 60 have very little to fear, or simply fatigue from a year of living in terror, we’re seeing people who were previously quite concerned starting to ease their tensions now. It’s not everyone; there are still plenty of Covid nannies and fearmongers out there. But many if not most feel better about their prospects in the “pandemic.”You might not notice it as face-mask-shaming is still commonplace. But instead...

The highly contagious UK coronavirus variant is now more prevalent in the US than the original strain that devastated the country last spring, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. “It is the most common lineage — period,” CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a White House press conference. “We need to remain vigilant.”

The highly contagious variant that first emerged in the United Kingdom has now spread to all 50 states — as experts warn that there are not enough vaccines on hand to prevent it from causing another surge in cases. More than 15,000 cases have already been detected across the US of the B117 variant, which is believed to be more transmissible and deadlier than previous versions, CNN reported.

A fourth wave of coronavirus infections is beginning to mount in states across the nation as health experts and officials beg pandemic-exhausted Americans to stay vigilant. The United States has reported an average of 65,000 new cases in the last seven days, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), up about 10,000 cases per day since the most recent nadir two weeks ago.

More than 330 million vaccinations have been administered in the fight against Covid-19, and a new vaccine candidate is now ready to enter the ring. Novavax recently completed its final analyses and will seek FDA and international approval in the coming weeks. The new candidate uses a mechanism to prompt immune responses that is different from vaccines already in circulation, but remains effective against non-variant forms of the virus. Here I discuss the results and implications of the Novavax trials and the vaccine’s performance against surging variants of SARS-CoV-2. The press release details a United Kingdom trial of 15,000 participants....

MANILA, March 14 (The Straits Times/ANN): The Philippines now has all three variants of the coronavirus that have been fuelling record-breaking spikes in infections across the globe, and a Philippine variant that has the same lineage as the infectious Brazilian variant. This comes as the country is seeing another surge in Covid-19 cases to levels not seen since the outbreak here peaked in the middle of last year. The Health Ministry reported on Saturday (March 13) that it had detected the Brazilian variant in a Filipino who recently came back from Brazil. The strain had swept through Manaus city in...

Having COVID-19 may not protect against getting infected again with some of the new variants. People also can get second infections with earlier versions of the coronavirus if they mounted a weak defense the first time, new research suggests. How long immunity lasts from natural infection is one of the big questions in the pandemic. Scientists still think reinfections are fairly rare and usually less serious than initial ones, but recent developments around the world have raised more uncertainty. In South Africa, a vaccine study found new infections with a variant in 2 percent of people who previously had an...

Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX) shares climbed 2,700% last year as investors bet on the biotech company's investigational coronavirus vaccine. But the share price's story doesn't end there. Last week, the stock soared nearly 65% in just one trading session. What prompted such a jump? Novavax said its vaccine candidate was effective against the U.K. and South African strains of the virus in clinical trials. This was welcome news given one of the biggest worries these days -- that currently available vaccines won't hold up against these new strains. The company also reported phase 3 efficacy data concerning the older version of...

Currently, there are six strains of coronavirus. The original one is the L strain, that appeared in Wuhan in December 2019. Its first mutation—the S strain—appeared at the beginning of 2020, while, since mid-January 2020, we have had strains V and G. To date strain G is the most widespread: it mutated into strains GR and GH at the end of February 2020. "Strain G and its related strains GR and GH are by far the most widespread, representing 74% of all gene sequences we analyzed," says Giorgi. "They present four mutations, two of which are able to change the...

AT LEAST 12 different strains of coronavirus were spreading through the UK in March - including one which has only ever been found in Britain, a SAGE report found. Scientists analysed the genomes of the deadly virus in 260 infected patients across the country. They discovered at least 12 strains of coronavirus, one of which has only ever been found in the UK - meaning it mutated on British soil. But the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium admitted the "under-sampling in the UK and elsewhere means the number of independent introductions of Covid-19 is very likely substantially higher". The scientists concluded...

A new study by one of China’s top scientists has found the ability of the new coronavirus to mutate has been vastly underestimated and different strains may account for different impacts of the disease in various parts of the world. Professor Li Lanjuan and her colleagues from Zhejiang University found within a small pool of patients many mutations not previously reported. These mutations included changes so rare that scientists had never considered they might occur. They also confirmed for the first time with laboratory evidence that certain mutations could create strains deadlier than others. “Sars-CoV-2 has acquired mutations capable of...

I seldom post and never post vanities but I'm desperate. In November I fell and twisted my foot under me. The foot swelled but swelling was minimal a week later. A month later I went to the Podiatrist for x-rays because I thought it should be 100% by then. Nothing was broken but he said I had torn all of the ligaments and tendons in my foot and ankle. He told me then that exercise would aid with healing but DO NOT fall on it again and if it hurts stop doing whatever was causing the pain. I have been...

“The number of immigrants added to the labor force every year is of a magnitude not seen in this country for over a century,” Obama noted. “If this huge influx of mostly low-skill workers provides some benefits to the economy as a whole—especially by keeping our workforce young, in contrast to an increasingly geriatric Europe and Japan—it also threatens to depress further the wages of blue-collar Americans and put strains on an already overburdened safety net.”

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks rose on Monday as investors welcomed signs that credit strains were easing and comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke raised hopes for more spending to help the U.S. economy. With stocks at 5-year lows, thawing credit markets inspired investors to scour for bargains among beaten-down shares. Energy, utilities and materials companies led the way higher. Shares of oil field services companies Halliburton Co and Weatherford International Ltd jumped after they posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings. The energy sector also got a boost as the price of oil rose and analysts at Oppenheimer & Co raised...

BRITISH scientists are developing a revolutionary vaccine that works against all types of flu, the UK DAILY MAIL fronts on Friday. It would protect people against flu and a single jab could give lifelong immunity. Currently, new vaccines have to be developed each year. The major breakthrough has been made by the Cambridge biotech firm Acambis. When it announced the news yesterday the value of its shares jumped by 9p. Such a vaccine would be massively lucrative for its manufacturer. Each year, flu kills up to 12,000 people in the UK, many of them elderly. But experts have been warning...

Scientists around the world were scrambling to prevent the possibility of a pandemic after a nearly 50-year-old killer influenza virus was sent to thousands of labs, a decision that one researcher described as "unwise." Nearly 5,000 labs in 18 countries, mostly in the United States, were urged by the World Health Organization to destroy samples of the dangerous virus because of the slight risk it could trigger a global outbreak. The labs received the virus from a U.S. company that supplies kits used for quality control tests.... ...The vials also were sent to labs in Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, Chile, Brazil,...