Government

US CDC says existing antibodies can work against new COVID variant Early research data has shown that antibodies produced by prior infection or existing vaccines against the coronavirus were sufficient to protect against the new BA.2.86 variant, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday. Reuters Reuters

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England confirms 34 COVID cases linked to highly mutated variant - UKSHA UK Health Security Agency (UKSHA) said on Friday that 34 COVID-19 cases linked to the highly mutated variant BA.2.86 had been identified in England. Reuters Reuters

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The agency said 28 of the confirmed cases were identified from a single outbreak at a care home in Norfolk.

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Three lessons from Covid that could help global leaders prevent the next pandemic "If we wanted to, this could be the last pandemic. It's a political choice,” said Joanne Liu, a professor at McGill University’s School of Population and Global Health. Theresa Gaffney STAT

Everyone has things that, looking back, they would have done differently in the early days of 2020, had they known how the Covid-19 pandemic would tear across the globe. But those regrets may be particularly poignant for global leaders whose actions (or lack thereof) had direct impacts on how Covid-19 spread.

CDC says there are no plans to bring back mask mandates, even as Covid cases rise The CDC could sign off on the new Covid boosters as soon as Sept. 12. Will that be soon enough to ward off a winter surge? NBC News

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Our goal is to release and recommend the vaccine so that it can coincide as much as possible with the peak of the season," Dr. Nirav Shah, CDC's principal deputy director, said in an interview.

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