Global

WHO: New COVID cases, deaths keep falling nearly everywhere GENEVA (AP) — The number of new coronavirus cases and deaths reported globally continued to fall nearly everywhere in the world in what the World Health Organization described as a “welcome decline” at a media briefing on Wednesday. AP NEWS

... WHO said COVID-19 infections dropped everywhere in the world while deaths decreased everywhere except for Southeast Asia, where they climbed by 15% and in the Western Pacific, where they rose by 3%. 

...

Study explores differences in the efficiency of COVID-19 vaccine boosters In a new study, researchers predicted the efficacy of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine boosters. News-Medical.net

...

The study findings indicated that variant-modified booster vaccines could result in significantly higher neutralization titers against prevalent and ancestral SARS-CoV-2 variants compared to ancestral-based boosters.

Coronavirus Antigen Levels Associated with COVID-19 Severity The levels of SARS-CoV-2 antigen in the blood of hospitalized COVID-19 patients appear to line up with how severe the illness is and other clinical outcomes, according to a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. WebMD

...

US clears updated COVID boosters targeting newest variants WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Wednesday authorized its first update to COVID-19 vaccines, booster doses that target today’s most common omicron strain. Shots could begin within days. The move by the Food and Drug Administration tweaks the recipe of shots made by Pfizer and rival Moderna that already have saved millions of lives. AP NEWS

...