Intelligent methods help medical professionals detect and diagnose COVID-19 more quickly and so expedite treatment for patients suffering from severe cases, as ear, nose, and throat specialist Dr Mehrnaz Ataei and genetic and healthcare ML developer Dr Sara Moein succinctly explain.

Most people now act as if COVID-19 is over, yet the virus remains active and dangerous. The limited ability of current vaccines and drugs to prevent infection or treat long-COVID means much more must be done before the threat posed by this pathogen is truly a thing of the past.

Since easing its zero-COVID policy over the past two months China has weathered a tidal wave of COVID-19 infections, now thankfully ebbing. As immunity from infection and vaccines begins to wane in coming months, the country must now brace for aftershocks. Vaccinations, boosters and furnishing hospitals and clinics with adequate staff, medicine, and ICU beds will arm China to withstand future surges.

mRNA vaccines are not new but are now receiving far more attention as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The success of the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccines and the speed with which they were rolled out was especially notable and holds great promise for other future applications post-pandemic.

Issues of inadequate or missing data collection, and fragmented, incompatible health systems hampered the response to COVID-19 and threaten to do so in future outbreaks. Fortunately, several possible solutions could at least partly remedy this problem.