(Reuters) - The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.Viral load predicts need for ventilator, death risk When COVID-19 patients are admitted to the hospital because of pneumonia, doctors can estimate their risk of needing mechanical breathing support or dying based on their "viral load" - the amount of virus genetic material obtained by swabbing the back of the nose and throat, a new study suggests. "This risk can be predicted regardless of how sick they are when they are admitted, what other comorbidities they may have, their age or how many days they had symptoms," coauthor Dr. Ioannis Zacharioudakis of NYU School of Medicine told Reuters. His team studied 314 patients, dividing them into three groups according to viral load upon hospital admission. The group with highest viral levels had 59% higher odds of becoming critically ill or dying than the lowest viral load group. The data, published on Friday in Annals of the American Thoracic Society, "will have practical implications in our ability to judge which patients will benefit the most from early escalation of care, treatment with antivirals and/or inclusion in trials of new therapeutics," Zacharioudakis said. (bit.ly/3oJijtQ) Coronavirus damages red blood cell membranes