ABSTRACT
Speed read Lack of antiviral candidates limited the fight against COVID-19 Consortium aims to develop new oral antivirals for coronaviruses, dengue and Zika But critics highlight lack of representation from low-and middle-income countries [NAIROBI] Research into drugs to treat mosquito-borne flaviviruses such as Zika and dengue as well as COVID-19 will benefit from a major funding boost, says a group of international scientists using artificial intelligence to discover new oral antivirals. Monkeypox is a viral disease that the World Health Organization says has emerged in at least 23 countries where the disease is not regularly found since 13 May. Francisca Mutapi, co-director of the Global Health Academy at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, says that any development that supports the production of accessible drugs for infectious diseases is welcome for low- and middle-income countries, which carry the highest global burden of infectious diseases.