Scientists have, for the first time, successfully freed embryos of a piece of faulty DNA that causes deadly heart disease to run in families. It potentially opens the door to preventing 10,000 disorders that are passed down the generations. The US and South Korean team allowed the embryos to develop for five days before stopping the experiment.The study hints at the future of medicine, but also provokes deep questions about what is morally right.Science is going through a golden age in editing DNA thanks to a new technology called Crispr, named breakthrough of the year .Its applications in...…Scientists have, for the first time, successfully freed embryos of a piece of faulty DNA that causes deadly heart disease to run in families. It potentially opens the door to preventing 10,000 disorders that are passed down the generations. The US and South Korean team allowed the embryos to develop for five days before stopping the experiment.The study hints at the future of medicine, but also provokes deep questions about what is morally right.Science is going through a golden age in editing DNA thanks to a new technology called Crispr, named breakthrough of the year .Its applications in...WW…

A malaria drug that has been tested as a treatment for coronavirus does not save lives, one of the world's largest trials shows.Hydroxychloroquine received global attention after being promoted by Donald Trump, and then controversy after studies on it were retracted.The drug has now been pulled from , which is run by the University of Oxford.The findings have been passed on to the World Health Organization.Back at the start of the pandemic, laboratory studies had suggested the malaria drug could affect the virus. Small-scale studies in China and France then hinted it might help...…A malaria drug that has been tested as a treatment for coronavirus does not save lives, one of the world's largest trials shows.Hydroxychloroquine received global attention after being promoted by Donald Trump, and then controversy after studies on it were retracted.The drug has now been pulled from , which is run by the University of Oxford.The findings have been passed on to the World Health Organization.Back at the start of the pandemic, laboratory studies had suggested the malaria drug could affect the virus. Small-scale studies in China and France then hinted it might help...WW…

South Asian people are the most likely to die from coronavirus after being admitted to hospital in Great Britain, major analysis shows. It is the only ethnic group to have a raised risk of death in hospital and is partly due to high levels of diabetes. The study is hugely significant as it assessed data from four-in-10 of all hospital patients with Covid-19.The researchers said policies such as protecting people at work and who gets a vaccine may now need to change.Twenty-seven institutions across the UK, including universities and public health bodies, as well as 260 hospitals, were...…South Asian people are the most likely to die from coronavirus after being admitted to hospital in Great Britain, major analysis shows. It is the only ethnic group to have a raised risk of death in hospital and is partly due to high levels of diabetes. The study is hugely significant as it assessed data from four-in-10 of all hospital patients with Covid-19.The researchers said policies such as protecting people at work and who gets a vaccine may now need to change.Twenty-seven institutions across the UK, including universities and public health bodies, as well as 260 hospitals, were...WW…

The key evidence on the safety and impact of reopening schools has been published by the government's scientific advisory group, Sage.Sources involved said the risk of coronavirus to pupils going back to the classroom was "very, very small, but it is not zero".They also said teachers were not at above average risk compared with other occupations. However, there is much uncertainty throughout the advice. There have been loud calls from within the teaching profession to see the advice, which led to England aiming to get Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 back in school from the start of June....…The key evidence on the safety and impact of reopening schools has been published by the government's scientific advisory group, Sage.Sources involved said the risk of coronavirus to pupils going back to the classroom was "very, very small, but it is not zero".They also said teachers were not at above average risk compared with other occupations. However, there is much uncertainty throughout the advice. There have been loud calls from within the teaching profession to see the advice, which led to England aiming to get Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 back in school from the start of June....WW…

Children and adolescents are half as likely to catch the coronavirus, the largest review of the evidence shows.The findings, by UCL and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, will feed into the debate about how schools are reopened.Children also appear less likely to spread the virus, but the team said there was still uncertainty on this.The UK government is expected to publish its scientific advice on schools later.However, only England has announced that some primary children (Reception, Year 1 and Year 6) could return to the classroom, sparking concerns about safety. It is...…Children and adolescents are half as likely to catch the coronavirus, the largest review of the evidence shows.The findings, by UCL and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, will feed into the debate about how schools are reopened.Children also appear less likely to spread the virus, but the team said there was still uncertainty on this.The UK government is expected to publish its scientific advice on schools later.However, only England has announced that some primary children (Reception, Year 1 and Year 6) could return to the classroom, sparking concerns about safety. It is...WW…

Lockdown is starting to ease. Across the UK we can meet more people, while in England some children are back in school and car showrooms and open-air markets have reopened.But some scientists, even those advising government, have been in mutinous mood - saying ministers are acting too soon. And the lifting of restrictions has been described as a "dangerous moment" even by England's deputy chief medical officer.Things are far better than when lockdown came in.There were an estimated 100,000 new infections every day in England on 23 March, the day when Boris Johnson announced strict curbs on...…Lockdown is starting to ease. Across the UK we can meet more people, while in England some children are back in school and car showrooms and open-air markets have reopened.But some scientists, even those advising government, have been in mutinous mood - saying ministers are acting too soon. And the lifting of restrictions has been described as a "dangerous moment" even by England's deputy chief medical officer.Things are far better than when lockdown came in.There were an estimated 100,000 new infections every day in England on 23 March, the day when Boris Johnson announced strict curbs on...WW…

There have been warnings coronavirus may be starting to spread again in the north-west and the south-west of England.Some scientists say the R number is creeping up across the country and may have surpassed one - the point at which the epidemic takes off again - in these regions.Tameside Council has "strongly" advised schools not to reopen on Monday.The government insists the number is not above one anywhere in the country. So, what is going on? How worried should we be? And what does it mean for lifting lockdown?It is the number of people each infected person, on average, passes the virus...…There have been warnings coronavirus may be starting to spread again in the north-west and the south-west of England.Some scientists say the R number is creeping up across the country and may have surpassed one - the point at which the epidemic takes off again - in these regions.Tameside Council has "strongly" advised schools not to reopen on Monday.The government insists the number is not above one anywhere in the country. So, what is going on? How worried should we be? And what does it mean for lifting lockdown?It is the number of people each infected person, on average, passes the virus...WW…

Coronavirus was brought into the UK on at least 1,300 separate occasions, a major analysis of the genetics of the virus shows., by the Covid-19 Genomics UK consortium (Cog-UK), completely quashes the idea that a single "patient zero" started the whole UK outbreak.The analysis also finds China, where the pandemic started, had a negligible impact on cases in the UK.Instead those initial cases came mostly from European countries. The researchers analysed the genetic code of viral samples taken from more than 20,000 people infected with coronavirus in the UK.Then, like a gigantic version of a...…Coronavirus was brought into the UK on at least 1,300 separate occasions, a major analysis of the genetics of the virus shows., by the Covid-19 Genomics UK consortium (Cog-UK), completely quashes the idea that a single "patient zero" started the whole UK outbreak.The analysis also finds China, where the pandemic started, had a negligible impact on cases in the UK.Instead those initial cases came mostly from European countries. The researchers analysed the genetic code of viral samples taken from more than 20,000 people infected with coronavirus in the UK.Then, like a gigantic version of a...WW…

Covid vaccination campaigns are under way in the UK and across the world. A range of vaccines are being used to reduce people's chances of getting sick, needing hospital treatment or dying. It is more than a year since the virus first emerged, yet many people are still vulnerable. The restrictions on our lives help keep the virus in check as they reduce opportunities for the virus to spread. Vaccines teach our bodies to fight the infection and are "the" exit strategy from the pandemic.The three vaccine frontrunners are those developed by , and .Pfizer and Moderna both developed RNA vaccines...…Covid vaccination campaigns are under way in the UK and across the world. A range of vaccines are being used to reduce people's chances of getting sick, needing hospital treatment or dying. It is more than a year since the virus first emerged, yet many people are still vulnerable. The restrictions on our lives help keep the virus in check as they reduce opportunities for the virus to spread. Vaccines teach our bodies to fight the infection and are "the" exit strategy from the pandemic.The three vaccine frontrunners are those developed by , and .Pfizer and Moderna both developed RNA vaccines...WW…

Sending all children back to school - and freeing parents to go back to work - could trigger a second wave of coronavirus, warn researchers.UCL and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine team said testing and tracing contacts of those with the virus might help prevent this.But the current test and trace system would need to be more effective. is the first to assess the extent of contact tracing that will be needed to prevent a second wave.It used computer models to see how the virus might spread as pupils returned to the classroom and their parents were freed from childcare and...…Sending all children back to school - and freeing parents to go back to work - could trigger a second wave of coronavirus, warn researchers.UCL and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine team said testing and tracing contacts of those with the virus might help prevent this.But the current test and trace system would need to be more effective. is the first to assess the extent of contact tracing that will be needed to prevent a second wave.It used computer models to see how the virus might spread as pupils returned to the classroom and their parents were freed from childcare and...WW…