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Added on the 14/01/2021 14:22:24 - Copyright : Euronews EN
With hats, gloves and warm clothes, around a hundred people are waiting to get Covid PCR tests in downtown Washington DC, amid Omicron variant surge and days before Christmas gatherings. President Joe Biden was due to address the nation later Tuesday after a White House official said the government will distribute 500 million free Covid tests and mobilize military medical personnel if needed. IMAGES
A long line of people snakes across a park in Washington, DC, at a makeshift Covid-19 test site near the White House, as people prepare for holiday festivities, just a few days away. IMAGES
Head of Vaccine Strategy at the European Medicines Agency (EMA) Marco Cavaleri says it is "safe and effective" to issue booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines as soon as three months after the initial course, down from previous guidance of six months. SOUNDBITE
People visit a Melbourne café after enduring one of the world's most prolonged series of lockdowns. The city's five million people have spent more than 260 days under lockdown since the beginning of the pandemic. But now that 70 percent of eligible people in Melbourne and surrounding Victoria state are fully vaccinated, restrictions that began on August 5 have been lifted. IMAGES
3/4ths of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Wuhan, China still have symptoms months later. These patients actually have at least one lingering symptom six months after getting sick. Around 63% of the patients reported fatigue or muscle weakness. This is the most common long-term symptom, reports Business Insider. Doctors say long-term COVID-19 cases resemble chronic fatigue syndrome. Tens of millions of people have covered from the coronavirus so far worldwide.
It's been widely noted that survivors of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 may suffer neurological damage long after other symptoms survive. It's believed that this brain damage isn't caused by the virus, but rather by the body's immune response to it. Now, UPI reports an international group of researchers has called for studies to explore the potential long-term effects of COVID-19 on the brain. Previous studies have documented brain inflammation, or encephalitis, in patients with severe COVID-19 symptoms. Some patients also suffered strokes. Postmortem MRI scans of patients who have died from COVID-19 have revealed lesions, or damage, in different regions of the brain. Researchers say it's becoming clear that the damage done by COVID-19 may have chronic, long-term consequences that could impact patients' quality of life.