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 Singapore looking into unusual surge after record cases
Singapore's health ministry said it is looking into an "unusual
surge" in infections after the city-state reported 5,324 new cases
of COVID-19, the most since the beginning of the pandemic. Singapore
also recorded 10 new deaths from the disease, taking its toll to
349.
Singapore extended some of its social-distancing curbs last week to
contain the spread of COVID-19 to ease pressure on the health
system. Authorities have reimposed curbs that include limiting
social interactions and dining out to two people.
COVID infections, deaths dropping across the Americas
COVID-19 is slowly retreating across most of North, Central and
South America, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on
Wednesday, reporting that last week the continent's death and
infection figures were the lowest in more than a year. Many of the
larger Caribbean islands are seeing downward trends, including Cuba,
the site of a major months-long COVID-19 outbreak.
However, Paraguay saw a doubling of coronavirus cases in the last
week and Belize had a sharp jump in COVID-related deaths, the
regional branch of the World Health Organization said. Moe than 3
million more vaccine doses will arrive in the region through the
COVAX facility this week, as deliveries pick up in the final months
of the year, PAHO Assistant Director Jarbas Barbosa said.
White House signals flexibility over Dec. 8 vaccine deadline
The Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccination deadline will not
require immediate action on the part of employers against
unvaccinated employees when it comes into force on Dec. 8, the White
House coronavirus response coordinator said on Wednesday.
The White House comments suggest federal contractors employing
millions of U.S. workers have significant flexibility in enforcing
COVID-19 rules and will not be required to immediately lay off
workers, but will have time for education, counselling and other
measures before potentially ending employment.
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 Genes may explain critical
COVID-19 in young, healthy adults
A gene that helps the coronavirus reproduce
itself might contribute to life-threatening
COVID-19 in young, otherwise healthy people, new
findings suggest. Genetic analysis identified
five genes that were significantly "upregulated",
or more active, in COVID-19 patients with
critical illness, of which the most frequent was
a gene called ADAM9.
As reported on Tuesday in Science Translational
Medicine, the researchers saw the same genetic
pattern in a separate group of COVID-19
patients. Later, in lab experiments using human
lung cells infected with the coronavirus, they
found that blocking the activity of the ADAM9
gene made it harder for the virus to make copies
of itself. More research is needed, they say, to
confirm their findings and to determine whether
it would be worthwhile to develop treatments to
block ADAM9.
Coronavirus found to infect fat cells
Obesity is a known risk factor for more severe
COVID-19. One likely reason may be that the
virus can infect fat cells, researchers have
discovered. In lab experiments and in autopsies
of patients who died of COVID-19, they found the
virus infects two types of cells found in fat
tissue: mature fat cells, called adipocytes, and
immune cells called macrophages.
"Infection of fat cells led to a marked
inflammatory response, consistent with the type
of immune response that is seen in severe cases
of COVID-19," said Dr Catherine Blish of
Stanford University School of Medicine, whose
team reported the findings on bioRxiv on Monday
ahead of peer review.
(Compiled by Karishma Singh; Editing by Robert
Birsel)
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