coronavirus health : Do You Need Two Doses for Some COVID-19 Vaccines?

 

COVID-19 is the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. While many people with COVID-19 get mild symptoms, others can become seriously ill. Several vaccines have been developed to protect against COVID-19.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has so far authorized three COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use. Two of these are the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. Both of these vaccines require two doses.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has also been authorized for emergency use. However, this vaccine only requires one dose.

Why do some vaccines require two doses? How long do you need to wait between doses? Do you have any immunity after the first dose?

This article will help explain why you need two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, and will provide answers to many other questions, too.

How do these vaccines work?

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines both use mRNA technology. The cells in your body naturally use mRNA all the time to create many different types of proteins that you need to stay healthy.

The mRNA in the two-dose COVID-19 vaccines provide the cells of your body with instructions on how to make the spike protein that’s specific to the new coronavirus. This spike protein is found on the surface of the virus. It uses this spike protein to attach to and enter a host cell in your body.

When you get your COVID-19 vaccine, your immune system processes information on the spike protein and generates an immune response to it. This includes the production of antibodies.

Vaccines hinge on a very important aspect of your immune system, which is the fact that it has memory. After your vaccination, your immune system continues to store information on the spike protein.

If you’re exposed to the new coronavirus, your immune system will then use this stored information to respond and protect you from the virus. This can help prevent you from becoming sick with COVID-19.

The entire immunity process typically takes around 2 weeks after the second dose of vaccine. That’s why you can still contract the new coronavirus and become ill if you’re exposed to it shortly after getting your vaccine.

Why do the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines require two doses?

During early studies, researchers found that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines provoke a relatively weakTrusted Source immune response when given as just one dose. However, there was a stronger immune response when a second dose was added.

Basically, the first dose of the vaccine starts the process of building up protection. The second dose works to greatly reinforce this protection.

Here’s an analogy to help explain this: You and a friend are trying to move a heavy table across a room. Between the two of you, you’re able to get it partway there. Then, another couple of friends jump in to help, and you’re all able to move it the rest of the way.

Vaccines that need more than one dose aren’t that uncommon. Some examples of other vaccines that are part of a multi-dose series include:

• the measle-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine
• vaccines against hepatitis A and hepatitis B
• the shingles vaccine

Are there other COVID-19 vaccines that require two doses?

Several other types of COVID-19 vaccines, including ones still under development, also require two doses. Some examples include:

• Oxford-AstraZeneca: two doses given 8 to 12 weeksTrusted Source apart
• Novavax: two doses given 3 weeksTrusted Source apart
• Sputnik V: two doses given 3 weeksTrusted Source apart
• Coronavac: two doses given 1 monthTrusted Source apart

Do some COVID-19 vaccines only require one dose?

The COVID-19 vaccine that’s been developed by Johnson & Johnson only requires one dose.

After reviewing safety and effectiveness data from large-scale clinical trials, the FDA has granted this vaccine Emergency Use AuthorizationTrusted Source in the United States.

 

How long do you need to wait between vaccines?

For both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccine, there’s a waiting period between the first and second dose. The timeframe between the doses depends on which vaccine you received.

Timeframe between two-dose vaccines

• Pfizer-BioNTech. You receive your second dose 3 weeks (21 days) after your first dose.
• Moderna. You receive your second dose 4 weeks (28 days) after your first dose.

Why do you need this waiting period?

The first dose helps to prime your immune system. It introduces it to the spike protein and allows it to generate a small immune response prior to the second dose. Time is needed to allow this process to develop properly.

It’s also important not to get your second dose too early, as this may impact the effectiveness of the vaccine.

According to guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)Trusted Source, you can receive your second dose up to 4 days earlier than recommended.

What happens if you wait for a longer period of time to get your second vaccine?

The CDCTrusted Source recommends that you receive your second dose as close to the required interval as possible.

You may be wondering what happens if you can’t get your second dose within the specified timeframes. The CDC has guidanceTrusted Source for this as well. In these situations, the second dose can be given up to 6 weeks (42 days) after the first dose.

We currently don’t know if delaying the second dose longer than this time has an impact on immunity.

If possible, try to schedule your appointment for your second dose on the day you get your first dose. If you didn’t schedule your second dose at this time, contact the location where you received your first dose to make an appointment.

What level of immunity do you have after the first vaccine?

Even though the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines require two doses, you do get some immunity after you receive the first dose. Let’s examine this in a little more detail below.

Pfizer-BioNTech

Researchers working on the clinical trials for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine observed a vaccine effectiveness of 52 percent between the time of the first and second doses, which is a 21-day period.

However, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine may be more effective after the first dose than was previously thought. This information comes from a separate analysis from scientists in the United Kingdom.

These scientists wanted to look at vaccine effectiveness 15 days or more after people had received the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. They found that vaccine effectiveness was actually closer to 89 to 91 percent 15 days after the first dose.

Moderna

In a reportTrusted Source submitted to the FDA, researchers discussed vaccine effectiveness in clinical trial participants who’d only gotten one dose of the vaccine.

A vaccine effectiveness of 50.8 percent was found up to 14 days after the first dose. Vaccine effectiveness was 92.1 percent beyond the first 14 days.

What level of immunity do you have after the second vaccine?

Now let’s look at immunity after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine.

Pfizer-BioNTech

Pfizer-BioNTech immunity

Researchers working on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine clinical trial looked at vaccine effectiveness 7 days after the second dose. At this point, vaccine effectiveness was observed to be 95 percent.

And what about longer-term immunity? A separate study, currently in preprint, looked into this. This study followed people for 63 days after they’d received their second dose.

The researchers observed a strong antibody response following the second dose. While the overall levels of antibodies began to decrease slowly as time passed, they still remained high at the 63-day mark.

Moderna

Moderna immunity

Investigators working on the Moderna clinical trial evaluated vaccine effectiveness 14 days after trial participants had gotten their second dose.

Vaccine effectiveness was 94.1 percent at this point.

Researchers also published a separate study of the immune response to the Moderna vaccine 90 days after the second dose. This study was rather small, involving 34 participants.

High levels of antibodies were made following the second dose. Similar to the Pfizer-BioNTech study discussed above, antibody levels started to slowly decrease over time. However, immunity persisted at high levels at the 90-day mark.

Is the second dose necessary?

Because both vaccines appear to have high effectiveness 14 days or more after the first dose, you may be wondering whether the second dose of the vaccine is actually necessary.

It’s true that there have been discussions amongst public health officials and scientists about the possibility of delaying or eliminating the second dose of these vaccines.

The thought process behind this is that either delaying or eliminating the second dose would enable a greater number of people to get some level of protection. It would also aid in stretching vaccine supplies to more people.

However, there are some concerns about doing this. It’s possible that overall immunity or vaccine effectiveness could be impacted. Additionally, lower levels of immunity could drive the emergence of more virus variants that can escape our current vaccines.

Additional research into delaying or eliminating second doses is needed. Currently, the FDA strongly recommendsTrusted Source continuing to follow the dosing schedule that was both tested in clinical trials and authorized for emergency use.

Can you get Pfizer for one dose and Moderna for the other?

The CDCTrusted Source notes that although there’s no preference for one vaccine over another, the two vaccines aren’t interchangeable. Because of this, it’s important to receive your second dose from the same product as your first dose.

This is one of the reasons why COVID-19 vaccine record cards are provided after you receive your first dose. These cards provide valuable information about which vaccine you received and the date on which you received it.

Is there a difference in the side effects between the first and second dose?

The two-dose COVID-19 vaccines have similar side effects, such as:

• injection site reactions, which can include pain, redness, or swelling
• fatigue
• fever
• chills
• headache
• body aches and pains
• nausea
• swollen lymph nodes

Side effects that are felt throughout your body, such as fever, fatigue, and headache, are more common after getting the second dose of the vaccine. This is true for both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.

Remember that the first dose of the vaccine generates a weaker response than the second dose. Because of this, you’re more likely to feel side effects after the second dose.

These side effects are actually a sign that an immune response is taking place in your body. But, it’s also normal not to have any side effects at all. The vaccine will still be boosting your immune response, even without symptoms.

The bottom line

Some COVID-19 vaccines, such as those produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, require two doses. Others, such as the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, only require one dose.

Some vaccines require two doses because the immune response to the first dose is rather weak. The second dose helps to better reinforce this immune response.

When you get your COVID-19 vaccine, be sure to hold onto your vaccine record card afterward. This helps to ensure that you know which vaccine you received and when you’ll need to schedule your second dose.

Coronavirus : Covid-19 changed Nigerians

 

Most Nigerians would agree that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a devastating impact on the country. For those lucky enough to not have been directly affected,

 the overall statistics paint a clear picture: -1.9% GDP growth in 2020, the worst economic performance in 40 years; a third of the labour force unemployed; over 2,000 recorded COVID-19 deaths by the middle of April 2021.

While personal anecdotes and macroeconomic statistics are useful, they do not tell the full story. Thankfully, survey data on Nigerian households 

can give a micro yet representative view of how exactly COVID-19 affected Nigerians’ economic situation and how Nigerians have responded to the pandemic.

Vaccine : Member States regarding thromboembolic events after vaccination with Janssen COVID-19 vaccine

 

The COVID-19 vaccine Ad26.COV2.S, developed by Janssen (Johnson & Johnson), is a human adenovirus based vaccine which is administered as a single dose regimen to prevent COVID-19, with a demonstrated efficacy of 66% overall and 57% in a context with predominance of the 501Y.2 SRAS-CoV-2 variant.

On 27^th February 2021 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the use of Janssen COVID-19 vaccine in individuals 18 years of age and older.

On 11^th March, the vaccine was authorized in the European Union (EU) and, on 12^th March the vaccine was listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) for emergency use in all countries and for COVAX rollout.  Outside of Africa, Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine is currently only used in the USA.

On 9^th April 2021, the European Medicine Agency (EMA) announced its Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) had started a review of a safety signal following reports of thromboembolic events in 4 individuals who received the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine in the USA.

On 13th April 2021, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), out of an abundance of caution, have recommended a pause in the use of Janssen’s COVID-19 vaccine due to reports of an extremely rare disorder involving blood clots in combination with low platelets in individuals who have received the COVID-19 vaccine.

Details of adverse events temporally related to Janssen vaccine in the USA

• The events reported are similar to cases of thrombotic thrombocytopenia temporally associated with administration of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in Europe.
• The cases present with blood clots (cerebral venous sinus thrombosis or CVST) in combination with low platelets (thrombocytopenia).
• These events are extremely rare with 6 cases reported out of more than 6.8 million doses of the Janssen vaccine administered in the USA.
• All six cases – including the report of a death – occurred among women aged between 18 and 48 years. The interval from vaccine receipt to symptom onset ranged from 6 to 13 days.

What do these reports mean?

Reporting of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) is a routine activity for effective monitoring systems to ensure that vaccines are safe and are being safely administered. The US CDC indicated it will convene an emergency meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on 14^th April 2021, to further review these cases. The US FDA is also investigating these cases.

What is the situation of the Janssen vaccine in Africa?

The Africa Regulatory Taskforce a joint effort established by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) coordinated African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization (AMRH) Initiative and the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) African Vaccine Regulatory Forum (AVAREF) has endorsed the Emergency Use Authorization for the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine.

The Janssen COVID-19 vaccine is presently only use in South Africa, of all 55 member states.

The Janssen COVID-19 vaccine was registered by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) on April 6^th and almost 290,000 doses had been administered. 

On 13^th April 2021, the South Africa Minister of Health announced that the country had not registered any reports of blood clots and thrombosis following vaccination with the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine.  As a precautionary measure, the country has decided to pause the rollout of the vaccine to review and assess the situation along with global regulatory authorities.

Recommendations to AU Member States and health authorities

COVID-19 vaccines remain the only tool to prevent severe cases and deaths from COVID-19 infection. As such rapid access to safe and effective vaccines is paramount to the African Union vaccination strategy to achieve control of the pandemic. Africa CDC will continue to monitor reports of adverse events following immunization, for all COVID-19 vaccines, including the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine, and will provide further guidance to Member States.

drive traffic to a site : I bring 10,000 visitors daily to my blog

 

Reaching 10,000 per day is very doable. I have multiple sites that reach well beyond this number.

Fair warning: it takes a lot of time and work.

I would like to share with you some ways you can start drastically growing your traffic so you can eventually get to that point.

Growing your blog traffic

MAKE MONEY ONLINE

isn’t rocket science. If it were that hard, then how do so many blog article websites generate 500,000 - 1,000,000 visitors per day?

It’s true that click through traffic like that doesn’t pop up overnight. It takes consistent effort over a sustained period of time dripping on your target audience.

You might have a lot of “good” reasons why your blog isn’t generating 20,000 visitors each month. And, to be fair, blogging is hard work. But so is every type of business model, whether online or offline.

In this response, I’ll show you how to drive 20,000 visitors to your blog in 90 days

, using strategies and tactics I use right here on my own blog.

In the month of March 2014,  Helping You Succeed Through Online Marketing!

generated 20,543 visitors

. I didn’t use any super-secret technique and I didn’t spend tons of money on social media or search engine ads. What really helped me was a “mindset shift.”

I realized that not all types of blog content will drive traffic to a site. If you truly want to see changes in your blog, you need to create the right kind of content for your target audience. You’ll learn how I create the kind of content that people want to read, share, and link to in this post.

If you consistently implement these techniques for three months without giving up, you’ll generate more qualified visitors to your blog - likely, 20,000 or more.

But, you have to be consistent. I know I mention that on this blog over and over, but that’s because it really is the key to blogging success.

82% of companies

that blog daily acquire customers easily via their media site. Those who neglect blogging, or do it sporadically, will always struggle to get more clients.

Remember that driving thousands of visitors to your blog isn’t the ultimate goal. It’s only a means to achieving the goal that you’ve set for your business.

To have the best year ever, there are certain vital goals that must be achieved. Blogging can help you reach them, if you go about it the right way.

Let’s get started with the 4 tactics that you can implement today:

1. Get published on magazine sites.

I know you’re thinking “I’m just a blogger!” - right?

Why should you bother writing for popular online magazines like WebMD, Inc, Forbes and the like?

Well, there’s a huge demand for good writers. Reaching outside the confines of your own blog post can bring powerful rewards. Guest post avenues are a wise way to grow your audience back to your blog content.

It’s time to pitch your topic ideas to online magazine editors.

You don’t have to be an experienced journalist to write for magazines. You’re already qualified.

I advise you to focus specifically on those entities with a strong online presence. Just look at the change in average daily media consumption

-- you’ll agree with me that the internet is a strong force.

If you’re a business entrepreneur, getting published on Entrepreneur - Start, run and grow your business.

might generate a more targeted audience to your blog, since it’s relevant to business. A general interest newspaper or magazine site wouldn’t be a good fit for you.

Moreover, online readership for most magazines has surpassed the offline readership. Forbes digital audience surpassed 68 million in 2015

, as compared to only 6.3 million print (offline) audience members.

Imagine how many visitors you’ll drive to your blog in 90 days if you get published by Forbes, Entrepreneur, or any other site that’s as popular. Millions of people subscribe to online magazines and many of those people never miss an issue.

Lots of magazines out there have built a loyal target audience. They want to be at the top of their games. You can capitalize on this ready-made audience and direct many of those dedicated readers to your own site, while simultaneously building your own authority in the process.

Take a look at the UK newspapers’ print and web audience

. At a glance, you’ll notice that the web audience has grown exponentially, surpassing that of print.

I enjoy reading online essays and articles on various topics, especially when they’re well-written and relatable. I know I’m not the only one.

That’s exactly what you must do when you write for online magazines. Choose topics that’ll engross your readers, so that your piece will make an impact and stay with them after reading it.

One of the best techniques for engaging online magazine readers is storytelling. You need to tell (sometimes personal) stories that resonate with your audience.

If you don’t consider yourself to be a good storyteller

, that’ll make it harder to create epic content for your readers. But you don’t have to write about yourself. Instead, look for the narrative story lurking inside your topic.

Stories aren’t just for fiction, by the way - they also improve nonfiction articles.

According to Ashley C. Ford

, an essayist and BuzzFeed staff writer,

Writing nonfiction is not about telling your story. It’s about telling worthy and interesting stories about the human circumstance using real life examples.

You can write a magazine article by following the same approach you’d take to writing blog posts. I’m talking about in-depth, high-value blog posts - not the generic ones that no one reads.

When it comes to writing for online magazine publications, a strategic approach is best. Don’t rush into the experience with half-baked ideas. As Joel Barker says,

Speed is only useful if you’re running in the right direction.

Often times, you don’t need to come up with a completely new topic. All you have to do is look for a hook or a creative idea that lets you bridge the gap between your “big idea” (or your main message) and “what people already know.”

That’s why thorough research is needed. You can research your topic on social networking sites (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook), which will also help you find an approach that’s likely to engage readers through various search engine and social media results.

It’s estimated that nearly 9 out of 10 journalists use blogs for online research. And 96% of journalists

cited corporate websites as a source of online research information.

If you’re a content marketer, you know that great content markets itself. When you take the time to understand your audience and create relevant, high-value content for them, the result is more traffic to your blog

.

When you’re writing for online magazine publications, you need to approach it with your content marketing

mindset.

In other words, your ultimate focus is to create useful content that people will read, feel excited about and willingly share with others on social media.

Many freelance writers and journalists are making a living writing for online magazine publications. As an example, Carol Tice

, founder of Writers: Ready To Stop Starving?, earns a 6-figure income writing for online magazines.

free blog traffic : How to get more traffic to my blogspot

 

 

Here are some easy ways to get more traffic on Blogspot

1. Write about topics people are searching for.
2. Make sure you’re matching search intent.
3. Tackle topics with in-depth content.
4. Build an email list.
5. Reach out to people mentioned in your post.
6. Boost important posts with internal links.
7. Build links.
8. Answer questions on Quora.
9. Promote content in relevant communities.
10. Publish guest posts on your site.

Hire a professional IT company because they have a team of experts in SEO and they have strong strategies and they also know that how to attract traffic on blogs.

Fuerte Developers is an IT company that provides a one-stop digital solution for all your business needs. that provides branding, development, and digital marketing for your business. that offer a variety of services ranging from Website development, App development, digital marketing, logo designing, Search Engine optimization, Food cart designing, Banners, Flyers, and many more. For more details,

I can give you a health trick to get traffic on your website.

1: Make unique and lengthy content.

So, the question is how to find unique content? Let me share my experience with you. Find a website with minimum age, Low DA, and high traffic (1000/month) is enough in beginning. Use tools like ubersuggest, 

 SEMrush, or aHref and analyze its top content. The Game Begins… Start writing on the same content, I’m pretty sure the keywords you will find for that content have a max volume with the lowest difficulty.

For Example:

Tekken 8 is a world wild game and people love to play and read updates about this game. But can you imagine this keyword difficulty is very low to rank on Google’s first page? Yes, it is you can check my 

website with this keyword appears on Google 1st page on 4th to 5th position in Google SERP names as THE NEWS ENGINE.

2: Use images and videos in your content

Try to use images and videos in your content this will increase your user attraction and for sure decrease your bounce rate.

3: Bookmark your content:

The last step you have to do with your content is bookmark your content on various bookmarking sites.

These steps will definitely help to increase your blogging site traffic.

 

Here are some tips to help you effectively increase traffic to your blogspot:

1. Create trending topics for your blog
2. Optimise them for search engines
3. Target long-tail keywords
4. Write a catchy headline
5. Add high volume keywords

6. There are a few website builders on the market that gear at least some of their products and features toward digital marketing agencies.

   Here are three of the most common website builders that are used by agencies around the world.

   • Duda is the website builder digital marketing agencies and web pros can call their own
   . The platform provides a rock-solid drag-and-drop website builder with lots of beautiful pre-designed templates and site sections, but still allows you to dig into code if you’re looking to do something really custom. Sites created on the platform are
7.  automatically optimized for SEO best practices and the API is super flexible and well-documented. One particularly nice thing about Duda is the level to which it can be 
8. white labeled. Nearly every part of the platform is brandable, including your customer login page, the website editor, site preview tools, automated email communications, and more. Duda also has specialized team and client management tools that help 
9. streamline the website-building process, such as a commenting tool inside the site builder and assignable roles and permissions for users. Sites built on this platform are automatically issued SSL certificates when published and maintain a 99.99% uptime.
10.  
    • WordPress is a well-known name in the website building industry. Through a lot of development work, you can even create your own white label instance of WordPress. However, the platform is complicated, requires frequent updates and security patches, can easily slow down website load times, and cause a variety of other issues. WordPress is a good tool for agencies that don’t have a lot of customers, but it can have issues at scale.
    • Wix has been in the small business website building industry for quite some time but only recently started offering a partner program for digital marketing agencies. Once an agency is signed up for the program, they are able to white label elements of the website builder, send website previews to clients for timely feedback and issue customer invoices from inside the Wix platform. However, the sites you build on Wix can’t be exported or hosted elsewhere.
    •  
    •  The hallmarks of an agency-centric web design platform

      are:

      1. The ability to white label a site builder and place it under your brand
      2. A library of pre-designed templates for different industry verticals along with the option to create your own sites and templates from scratch
      3. A well-documented API and the flexibility to include the website builder seamlessly into your site-building process/customer buyer journeys/onboarding flows
      4. Automatic optimization for Google’s best practices to ensure the best possible search rankings
      5. Ease of use for both the digital agency and their customers using the website builder
      6. Built-in security features that keep sites from going down or getting hacked

         

         
         

      offers all of the above. Start a 14-day free trial of Duda now to see for yourself.

BOKO HARAM : Names of 12 ISWAP leaders Nigerian military killed in 1 week

 

The Nigerian military has taken out no fewer than 12 Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) leaders in the last week.

On April 6, airstrikes and ground artillery bombardments killed Abu-Rabi, Muhammed Likita and their bodyguards.

They were eliminated at Kusuma, Sigir in Ngala and Arijallamari in Abadam Local Government Areas of Borno State.

On April 10, three other commanders, Ameer Umar, Abu Ubaida and Abu Salim were killed by forces.

They were ambushed around Wulgo, Logomania axis, near Nigeria’s border with Cameroon while attempting to attack locals and rustle cows.

The military conducted other operations in Tudun Wulgo, Zari, Tumbun Alhaji, Kusuma, Sigir in Ngala and Arijallamari, in Abadam, Marte and Ngala Local Government Areas.

Those killed include Mohammad Fulloja, Ameer Mallam Bello, Ba’a kaka Tunkushe, Abu Muktar Al-Ansari, Ameer Abba Kaka, Abu Huzaifa, Ameer Modu Kwayem.

An intelligence source said Goni Mustapha, the Chief Imam of ISWAP, escaped with bullet wounds.

The sustained offensive has forced the insurgents to attack communities and locations occupied by humanitarian agencies in search of food.

The United Nations (UN) said three international aid partners’ facilities were targeted and set on fire in Damasak.

UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, said support to 8,800 internally displaced people and 76,000 locals in the host community have been affected.

Covid-19 : Real Madrid captain Ramos tests positive for Covid-19

 

 

 

The Blancos captain will be forced to spend the next 10 days in quarantine after contracting coronavirus as he also recovers from a calf injury

Real Madrid have confirmed that captain Sergio Ramos has tested positive for Covid-19.

The Blancos defender was not due to be involved in Madrid's Champions League quarter-final second leg against Liverpool on Wednesday night as he continues to recover from a calf injury.

Zinedine Zidane's side were still able to secure an impressive 3-1 victory in his absence and will be aiming to book their place in the last four.

The Liga giants have confirmed the news in an official statement , which reads: "Real Madrid CF announces that our player Sergio Ramos has given a positive result in the last Covid-19 test that has been carried out."

How many other games will Ramos sit out?

Ramos has missed Madrid's last three games through injury, with his last appearance for the club coming in the second leg of their last-16 Champions League meeting with Atalanta on March 16.

The 35-year-old will now have to self-isolate for 10 days in accordance with Covid-19 quarantine protocols, and won't be allowed to return to action until he posts a negative test after that period.

In addition to sitting out the encounter with Liverpool, Ramos will also be unavailable for selection for the Blancos' next two La Liga fixtures away at Getafe and Cadiz.

The World Cup winner could be in line to return when Zidane's side take on Real Betis at home on April 24, but only if he has made a full recovery from coronavirus and his calf problem.

How important has Ramos been to Madrid this season?

Ramos has endured a stop-start season at the Bernabeu in 2020-21 which has limited his overall contribution to Madrid's cause.

The Spain international has been absent for 27 matches across all competitions due to a variety of different injuries and ailments, with Nacho often stepping in at the heart of the defence.

Ramos has made just 20 appearances for Madrid in total this term, scoring four goals while also providing one assist.

The bigger picture

Ramos' latest fitness setback comes at a time when his future at Madrid is being questioned, with his current contract set to expire at the end of June.