Following is a summary of current health news briefs.
After two months, a scarred Shanghai’s COVID-19 lockdown ends
Following two months of frustration, despair, and economic loss, Shanghai’s draconian COVID-19 lockdown ended at midnight on Wednesday morning, prompting celebrations tempered with fear that an outbreak could return. Most of Shanghai’s 25 million residents can now freely leave home, return to work, use public transport and drive their cars – a moment that for many in China’s largest and most cosmopolitan city felt like it would never arrive.
Norway reports its first case of monkeypox
Norway has identified its first case of monkeypox, the Institute of Public Health (FHI) said on Tuesday. The infected person had recently traveled abroad, and the case is linked to the ongoing outbreak in Europe, the FHI said.
Factbox-Global baby formula makers send products to restock U.S. shelves
Global companies that make baby formula are bringing products into the United States after the country’s health regulator relaxed its import policy to address a nationwide shortage partly triggered by Abbott Laboratories’ manufacturing plant in Michigan recalling some products in February. Importers include Neocate maker Danone SA, while New Zealand’s dairy giants Fonterra and a2 Milk have submitted applications to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for supplying baby formula to the United States.
Explainer-What to know about COVID vaccines for small children
Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are due to meet in June to decide on whether to recommend authorizing Moderna Inc’s vaccine for children below 6 years old and Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE’s COVID-19 vaccine for children below 5 years old. Here is a look at some of the factors expected to be considered in this decision concerning the last age groups not yet covered by previous U.S. regulatory authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines.
WHO aims to contain monkeypox outbreaks by minimizing human transmission
It is not clear yet whether the spread of monkeypox can be contained completely, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, adding that its goal was to contain the outbreak by stopping human-to-human transmission to the maximum extent possible. “Tools to manage it – including readily available diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics – are not likely to be immediately or widely accessible to countries,” it said in a statement.
Australia in talks with U.S. to supply infant formula
Australia is in talks with the United States to supply infant formula, an Australian government spokesperson said on Wednesday, after the apex U.S. health regulator relaxed its import policy to address a nationwide shortage of baby food. “The Australian government will continue to work with the Biden Administration to confirm regulatory arrangements and facilitate exports of infant formula,” a spokesperson for Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Water, and the Environment said in an emailed statement.
China reports 131 new COVID cases for May 31 vs 174 a day earlier
Mainland China reported 131 new coronavirus cases for May 31, of which 35 were symptomatic and 96 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Wednesday. That compared with 174 new cases a day earlier – 50 symptomatic and 127 asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately.
Shanghai lifts lockdown, but residents wary COVID curbs can return
Shanghai sprung back to life on Wednesday after two months of bitter isolation under a ruthless COVID-19 lockdown, with people driving cars again or cramming into trains and buses to go back to work, hoping to never go through a similar ordeal again. The 25 million residents in China’s largest and most cosmopolitan city endured two months of frustration, mental stress, and economic loss, as the country went against the global consensus that COVID cannot be decisively defeated and imposed a zero-tolerance policy to stamp out outbreaks.
FACTBOX-Worldwide coronavirus cases cross 526.42 million, death toll at 6,701,380
More than 526.42 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 6,701,380 have died, according to a Reuters tally. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.
U.S. doctors reconsider Pfizer’s Paxlovid for lower-risk COVID patients
Use of Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 antiviral Paxlovid spiked this week, but some doctors are reconsidering the pills for lower-risk patients after a U.S. public health agency warned that symptoms can recur after people complete a course of the drug, and that they should then isolate a second time. More quarantine time “is not a crowd-pleaser,” Dr. Sandra Kemmerly, an infectious disease specialist at Ochsner Health in New Orleans, told Reuters. “For those people who really aren’t at risk … I would recommend that they not take it.”
(With inputs from agencies.)
