A small study reported by researchers in Beijing and the United States found that 50% of patients treated for COVID-19 infection still carried the virus for up to eight days after their symptoms had disappeared. The authors, reporting their results in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, say…

Abbott said it will make available this week its ID NOW™ COVID-19 test designed to deliver positive results for detecting nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2 in five minutes, and negative results in 13 minutes, following Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA—results that according to the company make it the fastest available…

Getting sick from COVID-19 is a terrifying thought for millions of Americans and people around the world. However, how the virus spreads though a population is not yet understood.  Researchers at Stanford are studying how this virus can be transmitted, and possible sources of environmental transmission. Much remains unknown about…

While Previous reports of which medications may influence COVID-19 symptoms and outcomes of patients have been reported on a case-by-case basis, a recent study of more than 1,000 COVID-19 positive patients from China suggests that ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers may actually increase the risk of severe COVID-19 complications.…

A U.K.-based division of clinical diagnostics company Novacyt announced Monday that it was granted an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the FDA for its COVID-19 diagnostic test. Developed by the company’s molecular diagnostics division Primerdesign, the test is available for immediate distribution to hospitals and laboratories in the U.S. The…

Leading health and academic organizations in the United Kingdom area combining research talents to create a map of the spread of COVID-19 based on whole-genome sequencing. The COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK), aims to quickly sequence patient samples from confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom and share that information…

Concerns about SARS-CoV-2 infection have reached an all-time high in the United States and around the globe. With increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths—and “social distancing” now a household word—the possibility of being infected is on everyone’s mind. As if that weren’t enough to worry about, the surfacing…

Biodesix said it will partner with Bio-Rad Laboratories to bring a COVID-19 test using Bio-Rad’s Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR) system to the FDA for an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) approval. EUA approval would enable the companies to begin testing in the U.S. “Biodesix is committed to moving as quickly as…

Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute say their genetic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and related viruses has found no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 is the result of bioengineering in a lab. Rather, said Kristian Andersen, Ph.D., an associate professor of immunology and microbiology at Scripps Research and corresponding author of the…

The virus that causes COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019, stays “live” for several hours in aerosols, and for days on surfaces, according to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). These findings suggest that people may acquire the virus through the air and after touching contaminated objects. The…

Seattle has been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, and has just launched the first NIH clinical trial of a vaccine treatment on healthy adult volunteers. The vaccine itself is called mRNA-1273, and it was developed by NIAID scientists and collaborators at the biotechnology company Moderna in Cambridge, Massachusetts.…

Although some key aspects of how COVID-19 spreads are beginning to be determined, unanswered questions regarding transmission dynamics remain. One key question has been whether the virus can be spread by people before they start exhibiting symptoms. A new paper addresses this question and, although the conclusions are based on…

By now, the recommended measures for reducing the likelihood of being infected by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that is the cause of COVID-19, are well known. The list varies, depending on the source. But, the most frequent recommendations are to wash hands, avoid touching the face, social isolation, and cancel travel…

A protein produced by the human immune system can potently inhibit several corona viruses, including the one behind the current COVID-19 outbreak, an international team of investigators reports. Their research reveals that the LY6E protein impairs the coronavirus’ ability to initiate infection, which could lead to treatments for the illness.…

Thermo Fisher Scientific has agreed to acquire QIAGEN for approximately $11.5 billion cash, the companies said today, in a deal designed to bolster the buyer’s molecular diagnostics capabilities with QIAGEN’s new coronavirus test and other infectious disease assays. Just last week, QIAGEN said it had shipped its newly developed QIAstat-Dx®…