Following is a summary of current health news briefs.
Two Indian drugmakers to end trials of generic Merck pill for moderate COVID-19
Two Indian drugmakers have requested permission to end late-stage trials of their generic versions of Merck & Co’s promising experimental oral antiviral drug molnupiravir to treat moderate COVID-19, a week after Merck said its own trial had succeeded for mild-to-moderate patients. Merck earlier this year suspended its own development of molnupiravir as a treatment for hospitalized COVID-19 patients since many of them have reached a phase of the disease that is too late for an antiviral drug to provide much help.
Russia’s daily COVID-19 death toll hits record high 968
Russia reported 968 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday, its highest single-day death toll since the start of the pandemic. There were 29,362 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours, the government coronavirus task force said.
U.S. will accept WHO-approved COVID-19 vaccines for international visitors
The United States will accept the use by international visitors of COVID-19 vaccines authorized by U.S. regulators or the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said late on Friday. On Sept. 20, the White House announced the United States in November would lift travel restrictions on air travelers from 33 countries including China, India, Brazil and most of Europe who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. It did not specify then which vaccines would be accepted.
Tokyo daily coronavirus cases fall to one-year low 82
Tokyo’s government said on Saturday that new daily infections of COVID-19 in the Japanese capital declined to 82, the lowest since Oct. 19 last year. Cases have been on the decline since peaking at more than 5,000 a day in August in a wave driven by the highly infectious Delta variant. Tokyo and much of Japan last week exited a state of emergency that had lasted for almost six months.
Delta does not appear to make children sicker; Secondary immune response stronger after infection than after shot
The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that have yet to be certified by peer review. Delta variant does not appear to make children sicker
Australia braces for more COVID-19 infections as country moves towards re-opening
Australia was bracing for more COVID-19 infections and hospitalisations, officials said on Saturday, even as it moves toward gradually easing pandemic restrictions with the vast majority of its people getting vaccinated against the virus. Sydney, in a lockdown for more than 100 days, is to ease some key restrictions for the fully vaccinated from Monday. More than 70% of people across New South Wales state, of which Sydney is the capital, have been fully vaccinated https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/sydney-readies-exit-lockdown-amid-concerns-over-faster-reopening-plans-2021-10-07.
U.S. appeals court reinstates Texas abortion law, two days after it was halted
A U.S. appeals court late on Friday temporarily reinstated Texas’s restrictive abortion law, which bars the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy and outsources enforcement of the ban to ordinary citizens. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, a conservative-leaning intermediate appeals court, granted a request on Friday by the Texas Attorney General’s Office to temporarily suspend a judge’s order blocking the abortion ban.
Anxiety surged during pandemic, particularly among women – study
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a surge in anxiety and major depressive disorders across the world, particularly among women and young people, a study published in the Lancet on Friday found. Young people suffered as school closures kept them away from friends, and many women found themselves bearing the brunt of household work and facing an increased risk of domestic violence, the researchers said.
Moderna aims to deliver 1 billion more vaccine doses to low-income countries in 2022
Moderna Inc said on Friday it aims to deliver one billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to low-income countries in 2022, in addition to the doses it has already committed to the global vaccine-sharing platform COVAX. These vaccines will be part of the 2-3 billion doses the company had forecast to produce next year.
As Brazil passes 600,000 COVID-19 deaths, vaccines offer hope worst is over
Brazil became the second country in the world to pass 600,000 COVID-19 deaths on Friday, a dark milestone for a government that has been sharply criticized for mismanaging the outbreak. President Jair Bolsonaro has drawn the ire of health experts for his failure to implement measures to contain the pandemic. He has railed against lockdowns, aired skepticism about vaccines and regularly refuses to wear a mask in public.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
