UK 'prepared for the wrong pandemic', COVID inquiry told as it opened for first time

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The government was more concerned about an influenza pandemic, rather than one originating from a coronavirus, so it 'had not adequately foreseen and prepared' for what was required for a mass outbreak of a disease that was not flu, the inquiry was told on its first day.

Pete Weatherby KC, speaking on behalf of COVID Bereaved Families for Justice said the closest the UK had to a plan was the Department of Health's 2011 Pandemic Flu plan.

The Operation Yellowhammer document, which was published by the government in 2019, set out a series of"reasonable worst-case assumptions" about what would happen if the UK did not reach a deal with the EU. But Neasa Murnaghan, speaking on behalf of the Department of Health Northern Ireland, said no-deal preparations may have actually been advantageous for her country's planning.

But she did admit managing the pandemic was"particularly difficult for a newly formed executive after three years with no government". The Stormont assembly was suspended from January 2017 until 11 January 2020, after power-sharing collapsed.'My son died alone without dignity'The retired Court of Appeal judge began the first day of evidence of the official inquiry by welcoming the"dignified vigil" held by bereaved relatives outside the hearing.

 

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Systems genetics identifies miRNA-mediated regulation of host response in COVID-19 - Human GenomicsBackground Individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 vary greatly in their disease severity, ranging from asymptomatic infection to severe disease. The regulation of gene expression is an important mechanism in the host immune response and can modulate the outcome of the disease. miRNAs play important roles in post-transcriptional regulation with consequences on downstream molecular and cellular host immune response processes. The nature and magnitude of miRNA perturbations associated with blood phenotypes and intensive care unit (ICU) admission in COVID-19 are poorly understood. Results We combined multi-omics profiling—genotyping, miRNA and RNA expression, measured at the time of hospital admission soon after the onset of COVID-19 symptoms—with phenotypes from electronic health records to understand how miRNA expression contributes to variation in disease severity in a diverse cohort of 259 unvaccinated patients in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. We analyzed 62 clinical variables and expression levels of 632 miRNAs measured at admission and identified 97 miRNAs associated with 8 blood phenotypes significantly associated with later ICU admission. Integrative miRNA-mRNA cross-correlation analysis identified multiple miRNA-mRNA-blood endophenotype associations and revealed the effect of miR-143-3p on neutrophil count mediated by the expression of its target gene BCL2. We report 168 significant cis-miRNA expression quantitative trait loci, 57 of which implicate miRNAs associated with either ICU admission or a blood endophenotype. Conclusions This systems genetics study has given rise to a genomic picture of the architecture of whole blood miRNAs in unvaccinated COVID-19 patients and pinpoints post-transcriptional regulation as a potential mechanism that impacts blood traits underlying COVID-19 severity. The results also highlight the impact of host genetic regulatory control of miRNA expression in early stages of COVID-19 disease.
Source: medical_xpress - 🏆 101. / 51 Read more »