Covid: New research reveals worrying risk for 30 days after infection
A new study out of the United Kingdom has highlighted the deadly risk facing Covid patients in the month after becoming infected, and helps shine a light on rare blood clotting complications related to the Covid vaccine, researchers say.
Scientists sought to quantify the risk of deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and bleeding events after people become infected with Covid-19, publishing their results overnight in the British Medical Journal.
Most alarmingly, the data analysed in the study suggested a 33-fold increase in the risk of a potentially fatal blood clot on the lung in the 30 days after becoming infected with the novel coronavirus.
Researchers also found a fivefold increase in the risk of deep vein thrombosis.
"The rate ratios were highest in patients with critical Covid-19 and highest during the first pandemic wave ... compared with the second and third waves," the study said.
There has been a doubling in the incidence of, and deaths from, blood clots in the past two years in Britain, compared to the two years prior to the pandemic, according to The Guardian.
And the latest study goes some way to explaining that. And also puts into context the very small increased risk of blood clots associated with Covid-19 vaccination, researchers said.
It comes as Covid cases and hospitalisations surge to new highs in the UK with the Omicron subvariant BA.2 was now dominant.
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A study by the Imperial College of London published on Wednesday showed a peak in infections in March surpassed the highs of the BA.1 Omicron wave in January, reinforcing findings by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) that cases have hit an all-time high.
The study found that while cases had levelled off among under-55s by the end of March, they were continuing to rise among those aged 55 and older.
All Covid restrictions have been lifted in England by prime minister Boris Johnson.
I cry for England 🏴—#BA2 hospitalizations have now exceeded old #Omicron’s peak—which were **merely 3 months ago**. So much for stupid mass infection natural herd strategy.
This is @borisjohnson & @sajidjavid’s horrible British 🇬🇧 exceptionalism.
HT @Antonio_Caramia #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/yP7v0rOmyM— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) April 5, 2022
Australia to review its pandemic response
A panel of philanthropists will fund a review into Australia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The six-month long independent inquiry will be overseen by Western Sydney University chancellor and former top public servant Peter Shergold.
It is being described as non-political and will be funded by three separate philanthropic groups, the Minderoo Foundation, the Paul Ramsay Foundation and the John and Myriam Wylie Foundation.
The review intends to look at the big picture of Australia's pandemic response and will report to the federal government in September.
The federal government has continually spruiked Australia's economic position as being better than elsewhere in the world following the pandemic.
But in his final speech to parliament last week, Liberal elder Kevin Andrews called for a "thorough, transparent review of our response nationally to the pandemic".
"The COVID pandemic has exposed many weaknesses in our system of government and highlighted fault lines that we have long ignored," he said last week.
with AAP
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