The mortality rate among European cancer patients who contracted COVID-19 is lower now than it was earlier in the pandemic, according to new research published Nov.24. Researchers in London, England, studied 2,634 patients in six European countries with solid cancer (abnormal cellular growths in “solid” organs such as the breast or prostate) or hematologic cancer (which begins in blood-forming tissue or in the cells of the immune system) and COVID-19. They reviewed the outcomes of those patients between February 2020 and February 2021 to calculate death rates within the first two weeks after diagnosis and three months after diagnosis. In total, 906 patients were diagnosed between February and March 2020, 720 between April and June 2020, 90 between July and September 2020, 696 between October and December 2020, and 222 between January 2021 and February 2021. Researchers found that patients diagnosed in the first outbreak were more likely to experience complications of COVID-19 compared …