A large non-invasive respiratory support clinical trial, RECOVERY-RS, has found that continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) lowers the requirement for invasive mechanical ventilation in hospitalised Covid-19 patients with acute respiratory failure. Led by the University of Warwick and Queen’s University Belfast, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) backed trial compared three common respiratory interventions in this patient population. While CPAP reduced the chances for invasive ventilation need, high flow nasal oxygenation (HFNO) demonstrated no benefit compared with standard oxygen therapy.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to LumiraDx’s SARS-CoV-2 Ab test and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics’ qualitative COVID-19 Total N antibody test. LumiraDx test identifies antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 to aid in detecting people with an adaptive immune response to the virus. Meanwhile, Ortho Clinical test identifies immune response or total antibodies to the virus to provide information on a recent or previous Covid-19 infection in patients.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley are working on a new diagnostic test that can be quicker and easier to use versus quantitative reverse-transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The team integrated two different CRISPR enzymes to develop an assay for identifying minor amounts of viral RNA within one hour. The assay is also expected to facilitate fast and cost-effective tests to diagnose various other infectious diseases.