Standing tall in bright red hazmat suits, five North Korean health workers stride towards an ambulance to do battle with a COVID-19 outbreak that – in the presumed absence of vaccines – the country is using antibiotics and home remedies to treat. The isolated state is one of only two countries yet to begin a vaccination campaign and, until last week, had insisted it was COVID-free. Now North Korea is mobilizing forces including the army and a public information campaign to combat what authorities have acknowledged is an “explosive” outbreak.

North Korea’s admission that it is battling an “explosive” COVID-19 outbreak raised concerns that the virus could devastate a country with an under-resourced health system, limited testing capabilities, and no vaccine program.

Walgreens Boots Alliance reached a $683 million settlement with Florida to resolve claims that the pharmacy chain exacerbated an opioid epidemic in the state.

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Pharmacy chain Walgreens Boots Alliance and other defendants on April 26 said they were not to blame for the opioid crisis in San Francisco, and that they acted responsibly when providing legal medications to patients in pain.

San Francisco squared off on April 25 against Walgreens Boots Alliance and three other companies accused of fueling an opioid crisis in the city, the first trial to target manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies over the addictive pain medicines.

Endo International plc announced that the Tennessee Court of Appeals reversed a trial court judge’s order denying a motion for recusal by Endo’s wholly owned subsidiaries Endo Health Solutions Inc. and Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Clay County et al. v. Purdue Pharma, L.P., et al, pending in the Circuit Court for Cumberland County, Tennessee, and remanded the case for transfer to a different judge.

Alabama reached $276 million in settlements with Johnson & Johnson, McKesson Corp. and Endo International Plc, resolving claims that the companies fueled an opioid addiction crisis, the state attorney general said.

India’s tally of daily COVID-19 cases nearly doubled on April 18 from the previous day to more than 2,000 for the first time in a month, government data showed, and the southern state of Kerala reported a big jump in deaths.

West Virginia’s attorney general on April 4 urged a judge to hold Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., and AbbVie Inc.’s Allergen liable for causing a “tsunami” of opioid addiction in the state.

France is facing its worst bird flu crisis in history as a rare rebound in outbreaks of the highly contagious virus reached the country’s largest poultry producing regions with cullings topping more than 12 million birds.