By pooling studies from eight cohorts across the United States, a group of researchers accelerated the collection of essential data to answer questions about the immune response needed for long-term protection against SARSCoV2. A description of the cohort, assays used, and event definitions were recently published in the American Society for Microbiology's open-access journal, mSphere.

A new study has shown that two months after the second Pfizer/Moderna vaccination, antibody response decreases 20 percent in adults with prior cases of COVID-19. The study also tested how well current vaccines resist emerging variants.

Results of a new study led by researchers of The Mount Sinai School of Medicine suggest vaccination against COVID-19 remains crucial even in young adults who were previously infected.

Although antibodies induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection are largely protective, they do not completely protect against reinfection in young people, as evidenced through a longitudinal, prospective study of more than 3,000 young, healthy members of the US Marines Corps conducted by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Naval Medical Research Center.

The second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine induces a powerful boost to a part of the immune system that provides broad antiviral protection, according to a study led by investigators at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

The findings published in the journal Nature strongly supports the view that the second shot should not be skipped.

According to a new Dartmouth study, the COVID-19 epidemic increased expectant women's anxiety about childbirth.

The researchers were especially interested in determining which factors predict childbirth fear in the United States and how the pandemic has altered this fear and birth outcomes. The research was published in the journals Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health.

If dropping two studio albums within five months in 2020 wasn’t enough of a surprise, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is now serving her fans a third one. Fearless (Taylor’s Version), released on April 9, is a remake of her 2008 country album Fearless, which follows in the wake of the singer’s contract battle with her former label Big Machines back in 2019. Upon its release, the album sold 205,000 digital copies in China in less than five minutes and instantly topped the charts on Chinese song streaming platforms, including QQ Music and NetEase Music.

Qingfei paidusoup, a widely used traditional Chinese medicine to treat COVID-19 infections, can help reduce the rate of death among hospitalized patients by half, a recent study has shown.

The study examines more than 8,900 COVID-19 cases that received treatment at 15 hospitals in Hubei province－the hardest-hit region during the epidemic－from January to May last year, with nearly 30 percent of them having taken qingfei paiduas part of their therapies.

The 2021 Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference is being held from 18 to 21 April. The Forum was launched 20 years ago amid the opportunities and challenges at the turn of the century, and has become a high-level platform for political and economic dialogue with worldwide influence. With a founding purpose to promote economic integration in Asia and a current mission to pool positive energy for the development of Asia and the world, the BFA contributes wisdom to global development and prosperity. The theme of this year’s annual conference — “A World in Change: Join Hands to Strengthen Global Governance and Advance Belt and Road Cooperation” highlights the will and resolve of all parties to respond to great changes in the world and seek development.

What politician dares to explain the true rationale for Finland’s feckless COVID policy?

“Now is the time to pull up your socks”—this was Prime Minister Sanni Marin’s recent counsel to the nation, as Finland confronts the second, far more deadly, wave of the COVID pandemic. Maybe this phrase loses something in translation, but it hardly conveys a sense of crisis.  

On March 12, 2021, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a briefing to European envoys on the joint scientific research on the origins of the novel coronavirus conducted by China and the WHO. The briefing was chaired by Director-General of the Department of International Organizations and Conferences of the Foreign Ministry Yang Tao. Team leader from the Chinese side of the China-WHO joint expert team Professor Liang Wannian provided relevant information about the study and answered questions. Over 40 European envoys and diplomats from 29 European countries and the European Union attended the briefing.

THL HAS ATTRIBUTED THE RECENT SURGE IN COVID CASES to increased activity among "socially active" young adults, with data showing that the majority of new cases are occurring in people aged 20 to 29. 

HUS has opened a service on the MyCovidData.fi page where a person who is infected with COVID-19 can themselves record any exposed persons and thus speed up the work of the infection tracers.

Dekyi Wangmo is a 35-year-old woman born in Tonpa village of Mainling County, Nyingchi, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Having been yearning for urban life since being a child, she worked in cities for years after she entered adulthood.

However, her hometown became a place that she never wants to leave again when she returned there a couple of years ago.

The year 2020 marked an extremely unusual year in human history.

This year, the world suffered a hard time as people's health was seriously threatened; international exchanges were restricted; the global economy fell into a deep recession; and unilateralism, protectionism and bullying practices were on a rise.

Tourists try on traditional clothes at the Danzhai Wanda Town in Danzhai County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province, April 21, 2021. (Photo by Fan Hui/Xinhua)

Aerial photo taken on April 21, 2021 shows people perform traditional Chinese music and dance at the Danzhai Wanda Town in Danzhai County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Photo by Fan Hui/Xinhua)

China's transportation sector witnessed a rebound during the three-day Tomb Sweeping Day holiday due to effective epidemic prevention and control measures across the country and the growing number of people receiving vaccinations.

Tomb Sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival, fell on Sunday this year. Traditionally, it is the time when Chinese people commemorate the dead. It was also the first national holiday since Spring Festival, when people had been encouraged to stay put due to COVID-19 epidemic control measures.

Recent research at the University of Turku in Finland indicates that COVID-19 vaccines provide a lasting defense against serious illness caused by various coronavirus strains, primarily through T-cell activation. This significant finding emerges amidst the ongoing battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, which, unlike previous influenza pandemics, has spread rapidly worldwide and witnessed the swift emergence and spread of new variants.

An opinion piece in the Korea Times on Thursday raised doubts about the U.S. demonization of China, saying it could be "a colossal strategic blunder."

"Is practically every China claim in the South China Sea wholly invalid? Is it invariably the case that China is always in the wrong?" said Tom Plate, author of the opinion piece and a professor at Loyola Marymount University in California.

The UK has approved antiviral COVID-19 drug Lagevrio (molnupiravir) after it was found to be safe and effective at reducing the risk of hospitalisation and death in people with mild to moderate COVID-19 following a stringent review.

The mutated coronavirus variant, which was originally discovered in the United Kingdom and is found to be more contagious, is rapidly spreading across the United States and may become the dominant strain in many states as soon as by March, a new study suggests.