Following is a summary of current health news briefs.
China reports 999 new COVID cases for Sept 25 vs 936 a day earlier
China reported 999 new COVID-19 infections on Sept. 25, of which 295 were symptomatic and 704 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Monday. That is compared with 936 new cases a day earlier – 217 symptomatic and 719 asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately.
Prominent Chinese commentator urges COVID experts to ‘speak out’
Prominent Chinese commentator Hu Xijin said on Sunday that as China ponders its COVID-19 policies, epidemic experts need to speak out and China ought to conduct comprehensive research and make any studies transparent to the public. Hu’s unusual call on Chinese social media for candour and transparency earned him 34,000 likes on the popular Twitter-like microblog Weibo, as well as frank responses from netizens in a normally tightly policed internet quick to censor voices deemed a risk to social stability.
Pfizer CEO tests positive for COVID for a second time
Pfizer Inc Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said on Saturday he had tested positive for COVID-19. “I’m feeling well and symptom-free,” Bourla said in a statement.
Here to stay? China’s cityscapes are transformed by thousands of COVID test booths
A thousand days since the World Health Organization (WHO) was told of a “viral pneumonia” in central China, many countries have returned to pre-COVID-19 life. Not so in China itself – in cities big or small, routine PCR testing is the new normal. On Dec. 31, 2019, the WHO’s office in China was informed of cases of pneumonia of an unknown cause in the city of Wuhan, in Hubei province. Since then, the virus that is now known as SARS-CoV-2 has evolved into the less virulent Omicron variant, and most of the world has moved on.
(With inputs from agencies.)
