The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said on March 18 that countries should provide free COVID-19 testing for refugees from Ukraine to avoid outbreaks as more than three million people flee their war-stricken homeland.
Hong Kong reported more than 20,000 new coronavirus cases on March 18 as health experts called for a clear way out of a “zero COVID” policy that has left the city isolated.
A World Health Organization spokesperson said on March 18 that the end of the COVID-19 pandemic was a long way off, citing a rise in cases in the WHO’s latest weekly data.
U.S. President Joe Biden on March 17 named public health expert Dr. Ashish Jha to replace White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients, who will leave his post in April, as the administration prepares for new COVID-19 variants and infection surges that could hit the country.
Thirty five generic drugmakers around the world will make cheap versions of Pfizer Inc.’s highly effective COVID-19 oral antiviral Paxlovid to supply the treatment in 95 poorer countries, the U.N.-backed Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) said on March 17.
The World Health Organization (WHO) delayed its ongoing assessment of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine for emergency use because of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, an official from the health agency said on March 16.
Negotiations on boosting the World Health Organization’s budget to help it prepare for future pandemics made mixed progress last week, with Washington withdrawing criticism but other donors voicing opposition, sources involved in the talks told Reuters.
COVID-19 infections and deaths are declining in most of the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on March 16, with the exception of the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean Islands where cases increased by 56.6 percent in the past week.
More and more pharmaceutical companies are joining in the effort to put economic pressure on Russia by suspending some or all operations within that country following the invasion of Ukraine.
Pfizer Inc. and the company’s German partner BioNTech SE on March 15 filed an application with U.S. regulators seeking emergency use authorization for a second booster shot of their COVID-19 vaccine for people aged 65 and older.
