ReutersCOVID-19 cases and deaths are declining in the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on April 20, with infections last week having dropped 2.3 percent and deaths falling 15.2 percent from the prior week. The broad trend comes even as cases have scaled up in North America with an 11.2 percent increase last week, the organization 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.
ReutersThe World Health Organization said on April 11 it is tracking a few dozen cases of two new sub-variants of the highly transmissible Omicron strain of the coronavirus to assess whether they are more infectious or dangerous.
The U.S. health regulator said on April 5 GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology’s antibody therapy was no longer authorized as a COVID-19 treatment, with data suggesting it was unlikely to be effective against the dominant Omicron sub-variant in the country.
The U.S. national public health agency said on April 4 the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron was estimated to account for nearly three of every four coronavirus variants in the country.
The U.S. national public health agency said on March 29 that the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron was estimated to account for more than half the coronavirus variants in the country.
China’s financial hub of Shanghai launched a two-stage lockdown of its 26 million residents on March 28, closing bridges and tunnels and restricting highway traffic in a scramble to contain surging COVID-19 cases.
Shanghai’s bespoke approach to tackling coronavirus outbreaks is coming under strain as new cases rise in the Chinese metropolis, with authorities reluctant to impose a comprehensive lockdown as other cities have done.
About half a million refugees from Ukraine who have fled to Poland need support for mental health disorders, and 30,000 have severe mental health problems, the representative for the World Health Organization in Poland said on March 22.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla raked in $24.3 million in total compensation in 2021. In other news, tinnitus (ringing or buzzing in one or both ears) might be a side effect of COVID-19 vaccines.
