As the drive towards a vaccine against the new coronavirus accelerates, there’s some good news: People with COVID-19 have robust immune responses against the virus, scientists say. The researchers based their conclusions after testing immune T-cell counts in 20 patients who recovered from the infection.

Emergency medical workers at two hospitals in San Francisco will begin wearing smart rings that can detect their body temperature and other metrics in an attempt to detect coronavirus infections early, according to a report from The San Francisco Chronicle. Staff at UCSF Medical Center and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital will begin wearing smart rings made by wearable tech startup Oura, which makes a ring that can monitor a wearer's sleep, heart rate, temperature, and steps.

As leader of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Chikwe Ihekweazu works to protect the nation — and the world — from devastating outbreaks.

Aspirin is associated with a reduction in the risk of developing several cancers of the digestive tract, including some that are almost invariably fatal, such as pancreatic and liver cancers. The largest and most comprehensive analysis to date of the link between aspirin and digestive tract cancers found reductions in the risk of these cancers of between 22% and 38%.

On rounds in a 20-bed intensive care unit (ICU) one recent day, physician Joshua Denson assessed two patients with seizures, many with respiratory failure and others whose kidneys were on a dangerous downhill slide. Days earlier, his rounds had been interrupted as his team tried, and failed, to resuscitate a young woman whose heart had stopped. All shared one thing, says Denson, a pulmonary and critical care physician at the Tulane University School of Medicine. “They are all COVID positive.”

The first new medical ventilator to treat people with severe symptoms of Covid-19 has been approved in the UK. Hundreds of the Penlon Prima ESO2, which is an updated version of an existing model, are expected to be built for hospitals over the next week. But the consortium of major firms that helped to develop it hopes to make about 1,500 a week by the start of May.

This isn't something you're going to see added to the Apple Pencil. It's not something Tim Cook is likely to announce at some future WWDC alongside an ARM Mac. But Apple's widespread, wide-scale work on health now includes research into areas more associated with hospital equipment than iPhones. "Area scanning photomedicine device and method," US Patent No 10,617,564, is a detailed patent application which covers an extremely broad range of medical issues —but chiefly does so with one purpose.

One of the most pressing shortages facing hospitals during the Covid-19 emergency is a lack of ventilators. These machines can keep patients breathing when they no longer can on their own, and they can cost around $30,000 each. Now, a rapidly assembled volunteer team of engineers, physicians, computer scientists, and others, centered at MIT, is working to implement a safe, inexpensive alternative for emergency use, which could be built quickly around the world.

A five-minute, point-of-care coronavirus test could be coming to urgent care clinics next week, and experts say it could be "game-changing." The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued Emergency Use Authorization to Illinois-based medical device maker Abbott Labs on Friday for a coronavirus test that delivers positive results in as little as five minutes and negative results in 13 minutes, the company said.

Hockey equipment manufacturer Bauer is offering to modify its production line to make protective visors for doctors, nurses and first responders. The protective equipment to help deal with the COVID-19 pandemic would be produced at the company's innovation centre in Blainville, Que., as well as its facility in Liverpool, N.Y.

The UK biotech firm Synairgen is to trial its experimental lung drug in Covid-19 patients, joining the global race to find a treatment for coronavirus. The company received the green light from UK regulators to conduct a trial of its lead drug SNG001 at NHS trusts across the country. The inhaled drug has been in development as a treatment for chronic-obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), a severe lung disease, but this has been paused to conduct testing on 100 patients who have been diagnosed with Covid-19.

Thousands of retired healthcare workers have signed up to help fight coronavirus, but Health Secretary Matt Hancock has stressed that many more are needed. In just 48 hours, 4,000 nurses and 500 doctors answered the call to return to work, Mr Hancock said.

A new study suggests respiratory symptoms aren't the only thing doctors and patients should be looking out for.

A UK based laboratory claims it has developed a finger-prick testing kit that can detect Covid-19 infection in just 15 minutes. AlphaBiolabs told the Liverpool Echo that the test can be performed by an individual or company health professional, and will show whether a person has the coronavirus or not.

Only a select number of state and local laboratories have permission from U.S. health officials to use diagnostic tests for COVID-19, a coronavirus-caused disease. If the virus is spreading nationwide, most communities do not have access to the necessary tests.

Unexpected side effects are linked to the little blue pill.

A newly-discovered part of our immune system could be harnessed to treat all cancers, say scientists. The Cardiff University team discovered a method of killing prostate, breast, lung and other cancers in lab tests. The findings, published in Nature Immunology, have not been tested in patients, but the researchers say they have "enormous potential".

The move toward targeted anti-cancer treatments has produced better outcomes with fewer side-effects for many breast cancer patients. But so far, advances in precision medicine haven’t reached people diagnosed with so-called triple-negative breast cancer.

The UK government is taking part in a pioneering international aid project which could see consignments of maggots sent to crisis zones such as Syria as a simple and effective way to clean wounds, it has been announced.

Rory Cellan-Jones enrols in a trial that might eventually help him tackle the disease's symptoms.