United Kingdom

Covid cases rise in Europe as omicron subvariant spreads. Will the U.S. be next? Nearly half of European countries have recorded increases in new Covid cases over the last week. The U.S. could follow suit, but cases are still declining for now. NBC News

Nearly half of all European countries have recorded increases in new Covid-19 cases in the past week, according to an NBC News analysis of data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

Covid-19 may cause greater loss of gray matter and tissue damage in the brain than naturally occurs in people who have not been infected with the virus, a large new study found.

The study, published Monday in the journal Nature, is believed to be the first involving people who underwent brain scans both before they contracted Covid and months after.

Neurological experts who were not involved in the research said it was valuable and unique, but they cautioned that the implications of the changes were unclear and did not necessarily suggest that people might have lasting damage or that the changes might profoundly affect thinking, memory or other functions.