Health News Roundup: COVID deepens the other opioid crisis; China dismiss Harvard study suggesting COVID spread and more

WHO Americas director concerned about pandemic surging in new Latin America regionsThe World Health Organization's regional director for the Americas Carissa Etienne said on Tuesday that data has raised concerns that novel coronavirus cases are surging in new places in Latin America as some areas show "exponential" rises.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Special Report: COVID deepens the other opioid crisis - a shortage of hospital painkillers

As opioid pills and patches fueled a two-decade epidemic of overdoses in the United States, hospitals faced chronic shortages of the same painkillers in injectable form - narcotics vital to patients on breathing machines. For years, hospitals chased supplies, sometimes resorting to inferior substitutes. The shortfall grew so dire in 2018 that a drugmaker sent letters advising hospitals they could use batches of opioid syringes potentially containing hazardous contaminants - so long as they filtered each dose.

China, scientists dismiss Harvard study suggesting COVID-19 was spreading in Wuhan in August

Beijing dismissed as "ridiculous" a Harvard Medical School study of hospital traffic and search engine data that suggested the new coronavirus may already have been spreading in China last August, and scientists said it offered no convincing evidence of when the outbreak began. The research, which has not been peer-reviewed by other scientists, used satellite imagery of hospital parking lots in Wuhan - where the disease was first identified in late 2019 - and data for symptom-related queries on search engines for things such as "cough" and "diarrhoea".

Billions in COVID relief go to biggest hospital chains as smaller rivals await aid

Spared the worst of COVID-19, the largest for-profit hospital chains in the United States are pursuing a speedy recovery backed by billions of dollars in federal aid, while other hospitals say they have been harder hit and left wanting. HCA Healthcare Inc, the biggest chain, has received $5.3 billion in loans and grants thus far from the federal government to offset lost business and higher expenses from the coronavirus pandemic. Tenet Healthcare Corp, the second-largest chain by revenue and beds, has disclosed more than $2 billion in similar loans and grants.

D.C. National Guard responding to protests test positive for coronavirus

Some Washington D.C. National Guard troops have tested positive for the coronavirus after being deployed to the city to respond to protests over the death of an African-American man in police custody, the military said on Tuesday. About 1,300 D.C. National Guard troops were sent to the capital to back law enforcement during demonstrations that erupted over the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died in Minneapolis police custody after being pinned beneath a white officer's knee for nearly nine minutes.

Coronavirus patients most infectious when they first feel unwell: WHO

Studies show people with the coronavirus are most infectious just at the point when they first begin to feel unwell, World Health Organization (WHO) experts said on Tuesday. This feature has made it so hard to control spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 disease, but it can be done through rigorous testing and social distancing, they said.

WHO Americas director concerned about pandemic surging in new Latin America regions

The World Health Organization's regional director for the Americas Carissa Etienne said on Tuesday that data has raised concerns that novel coronavirus cases are surging in new places in Latin America as some areas show "exponential" rises. Etienne, who heads the WHO's regional branch the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), cited a rising number of cases in countries, including Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Venezuela, Haiti, and Suriname.

U.S. CDC reports 1,956,421 coronavirus cases, 110,925 deaths

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday reported 1,956,421 cases of new coronavirus, an increase of 17,598 cases from its previous count, and said the number of deaths rose by 550 to 110,925. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by the new coronavirus, as of 4 pm ET on June 8, versus its previous report released on Monday. (https://bit.ly/2Uw9aYi)

Brazil restores detailed COVID-19 data to national website

Brazil restored on Tuesday detailed COVID-19 data to the official national website, following a scandal about the removal of cumulative totals and a ruling by a Supreme Court justice that the full set of information be reinstated. The detailed information, with cumulative totals and breakdowns by state, was restored to the website https://covid.saude.gov.br, Reuters confirmed on Tuesday afternoon.

Six EU leaders urge greater collaboration to tackle future pandemics

The leaders of six European Union nations have called for building up EU stocks of critical medicines and equipment and other measures to boost the bloc's long-term resilience to public health crises. The 27-nation EU and Britain have reported some 1.4 million cases of the new coronavirus, or about a fifth of the global total. At the height of the crisis, many EU states resorted to protectionist measures, raising trade barriers to hinder the export of medical equipment to their neighbors.

U.S. government offers $25 billion in COVID-19 relief to some hospitals

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Tuesday it would distribute about $25 billion to hospitals that have not previously received relief funds as they grapple with a rise in COVID-19 cases. The agency said it would provide about $15 billion of the total to hospitals serving patients covered by federal Medicaid program for low-income individuals and children's health insurance program, and $10 billion to safety net hospitals that treat patients regardless of their insurance status.