COVID-19

A female doctor putting a bandage on a male patient.

New variants, new vaccines. Here’s what you should know about COVID-19 going into fall.

Dr. Horacio Bach, a clinical assistant professor with UBC’s division of infectious diseases, answers key questions about the new COVID-19 variants and vaccines.

Sep 14, 2023

UBC experts on approval of updated COVID-19 vaccine

Health Canada has approved Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine for people six months and older this fall season. UBC experts are available to comment.

Sep 12, 2023

Co-first author Dr. Jimena Pérez-Vargas working in the Jean lab. Photo credit: Paul Joseph

B.C. sea sponge has COVID-blocking powers

UBC researchers have identified three compounds that prevent COVID-19 infection in human cells, derived from natural sources including a B.C. sea sponge.

Jan 9, 2023

Cells treated with the compound (right) showed reduced infection from the Omicron variant compared to untreated cells (left). Photo credit: Dr. Selvarani Vimalanathan, Molecular Biomedicine

From COVID-19 to the common cold: UBC scientists identify broadly effective, infection-halting compound

Researchers at UBC’s Life Sciences Institute have identified a compound that shows early promise at halting infections from a range of coronaviruses, including all variants of SARS-CoV-2 and the common cold.

Dec 14, 2022

"This is about the need to escape from confinement; to be outside, walking about and talking to others." — Sandra

Photo exhibit shows pandemic through the cameras of older adults

Vancouver can be a lonely city, even more so for older people. And that was before the COVID-19 pandemic forced residents to stay home.

Sep 27, 2022

While the overall number of new HIV diagnoses in B.C. continues a decades-long decline, epidemic monitoring during lockdown enabled rapid detection of a sharp increase in transmission within some clusters associated with PWID.

COVID-19 lockdown may have accelerated HIV transmission in some at-risk populations

A new study led by researchers at UBC and the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) is shedding light on how COVID-19 pandemic restrictions impacted another long-standing public health threat — HIV.

Sep 23, 2022

UBC experts on new Omicron-specific vaccine

Health Canada has approved a vaccine by Moderna that specifically targets the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. UBC experts are available to comment.

Sep 1, 2022

Children are entering a fourth school year in a pandemic — expert advice for parents

As children head back for a fourth school year with COVID-19, many parents are hoping their kids will be able to enjoy a mostly normal school experience. But with new variants circulating and respiratory virus season on the horizon, many also have concerns and questions about what the new school year will look like.

Aug 22, 2022

Cryo-electron microscopy reveals how the VH Ab6 antibody fragment (red) attaches to the vulnerable site on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (grey) to block the virus from binding with the human ACE2 cell receptor (blue). Credit: Dr. Sriram Subramaniam, UBC

UBC researchers discover ‘weak spot’ across major COVID-19 variants

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have discovered a key vulnerability across all major variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including the recently emerged BA.1 and BA.2 Omicron subvariants.

Aug 18, 2022

COVID-19 vaccine and young children — expert answers for skeptical parents

A recent study by UBC researchers reveals some surprising attitudes about child vaccination from parents who remain unvaccinated.

Aug 16, 2022

The findings shed new light on the effectiveness of Canada’s border measures, revealing that the number of COVID-19 cases entering Canada declined by 10-fold four weeks after restrictions barring the entry of most foreign nationals were implemented in March 2020.

Travel restrictions significantly reduced COVID-19 cases entering Canada — but insufficient to prevent new outbreaks

Canada’s restrictions on international travel drastically reduced the number of COVID-19 cases entering the country during the first waves of the pandemic but were insufficient to prevent new outbreaks, according to a new study led by University of British Columbia researchers.

Aug 2, 2022

A province-by-province look at excess deaths in Canada during the pandemic

Dr. Kimberlyn McGrail, a professor in UBC’s school of population of public health, examined all “excess deaths” across Canadian provinces during the first 19 months of the pandemic, and how many of those were attributed specifically to COVID-19.

May 30, 2022

As of Oct. 31, 2021, there had been a total of 8,786 recorded cases of COVID-19 in pregnancy in Canada.

Catching COVID-19 during pregnancy increases risk of hospitalization, premature birth: national study

As Canada faces a sixth wave of COVID-19 infections, researchers at the UBC faculty of medicine are urging people who are pregnant to remain vigilant based on data from Canada’s first national, peer-reviewed study on COVID-19 in pregnancy.

May 2, 2022

Dr. Pieter Cullis named 2022 Canada Gairdner Award laureate

UBC professor Dr. Pieter Cullis has been named a 2022 Canada Gairdner International Award laureate for his pioneering work developing the lipid nanoparticle delivery technology that enables mRNA therapeutics such as the highly effective COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.

Apr 5, 2022

Senior author Dr. François Jean and co-author Dr. Guang Gao at UBC LSI imaging facility where they routinely capture high-resolution microscopy images of human cells infected with SARS-CoV-2. Credit: Paul Joseph

New nasal spray treats Delta variant infection in mice, indicating broad spectrum results

Researchers have shown a new compound delivered in a nasal spray is highly effective in preventing and treating COVID-19 caused by the Delta variant in mice.

Mar 28, 2022

Self-sanitizing copper has been applied to high-contact surfaces in nine UBC buildings. Photo: Teck

Microbe-slaying copper applied to UBC buildings

More than 400 sanitizing copper patches have been added to high-contact areas at UBC as part of a collaboration between Teck Resources and UBC to study the antimicrobial properties of copper.

Mar 28, 2022

Managing mental health as pandemic restrictions ease

UBC psychiatry professor Dr. Steven Taylor (he/him), author of The Psychology of Pandemics: Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak of Infectious Disease, offers advice on how people can manage the complex feelings that come with this next phase of the pandemic.

Mar 10, 2022

Credit: christopher catbagan on Unsplash

British Columbians worried pandemic will never end, and climate change is only adding to the fear

If you’re feeling like the pandemic is never-ending, you’re not alone. Sixty-four per cent of British Columbians are worried the COVID-19 pandemic will be around for years to come, with concerns about climate change adding fuel to the fire.

Mar 1, 2022

Material coated in polymer in small scale tests with a green lamp. Credit: Taylor Wright

Futuristic coating for hospital fabrics and activewear kills COVID and E. coli

UBC researchers have developed an inexpensive, non-toxic coating for almost any fabric that decreases the infectivity of the virus that causes COVID-19 by up to 90 per cent.

Feb 10, 2022

Your Google symptom searches could improve COVID modelling

Adding Google searches for symptoms and other information to COVID forecast models increased their accuracy, recent UBC research has found.

Feb 9, 2022