With inputs from Dr Monica Vasudev

Covid cases in India continue to decline

With 169 new Covid cases recorded yesterday, the total number of active cases in the country has declined to 2555, as per latest data from the Health Ministry. The active cases now constitute 0.01% of the total infections. The national recovery rate currently stands at 98.81%. With two deaths occurring in the last 24 hours, the total death toll is 5,31,888. The case fatality rate is 1.18%. The total number of vaccine doses administered till date is over 220.66 crores… (Source: Economic Times, June 9, 2023).

EMA supports WHO call to update Covid vaccines

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have upheld the WHO’s call to update the Covid-19 vaccine to target the currently circulating strains of the SARS-CoV-2 namely the XBB variants. According to these organizations, the monovalent XBB-containing vaccines could be considered a reasonable choice till further data is available… (Source: Reuters, June 6, 2023).

Health-related quality of life in long Covid worse than in advanced cancers

A study from the UK suggests that the health-related quality of life in patients with long Covid experience is worse than those with advanced cancers such as stage 4 lung cancer. They experience fatigue that is comparable to or worse than that seen in patients with cancer-related anaemia or severe kidney disease … (PTI, June 8, 2023).

Rheumatic disease patients not at higher risk of long Covid

Patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases are not at a significantly higher risk of long Covid, suggests a study presented at the 2023 annual meeting of the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR). The symptoms such as fatigue and poor fitness in these patients that resemble that of long Covid could be due to the underlying disease … (Source: Medscape, June 7, 2023).

Safety of Covid vaccines in children younger than 5 years

Analysis of data of more than 2,47,000 Covid mRNA vaccine doses, Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, administered to children aged ≤5 years did not show any major side effects of the vaccine. No cases of myocarditis or pericarditis were reported within 21 days of taking the vaccine. One case each of pulmonary embolism and hemorrhagic stroke were found, but they were correlated to preexisting congenital abnormalities… (Source: Pediatrics, June 6, 2023).