Reuters Health News Summary

Russia confirmed 113,122 new daily infections, setting a record high for a ninth consecutive day, which the authorities blame on the spread of the Omicron variant. Britain reports 72,727 new COVID cases, 296 deaths Britain reported a further 72,727 cases of COVID-19 on Saturday and 296 more deaths, government statistics showed.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

AstraZeneca China summoned over suspected fraud

Chinese authorities summoned officials of AstraZeneca China regarding an investigation of suspected medical insurance fraud by the company's employees, the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) said on Saturday. The regulator of the state medical insurance fund said authorities ordered the arrest of all suspects, but did not give details of the suspected violations or the size of funds involved.

U.S. orders 100 million additional COVID-19 tests to give out

The United States government has procured more than 100 million additional COVID-19 tests from testmaker iHealth Lab Inc. as part of the White House's plan to distribute 500 million free at-home tests across the country, the Department of Defense said Friday. Starting in January, the U.S. government has been allowing households to order four free at-home COVID-19 tests from the website COVIDTests.gov with shipping expected within seven to 12 days of ordering.

Easier to produce COVID vaccine shows promise in trials; nasal spray vaccine booster works in mice

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 has yet to be certified by peer review. New COVID-19 vaccine could be manufactured like flu shots

U.S. FDA says Empowered Diagnostics recalling COVID-19 tests

Empowered Diagnostics LLC is recalling its COVID-19 tests as they have not been cleared for use in the United States and could potentially lead to false results, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Friday. The regulator has labeled the recall of the CovClear COVID-19 rapid antigen test and the ImmunoPass COVID-19 neutralizing antibody rapid test as Class 1, or the most serious type of recall.

China reports jump in COVID cases among Olympic athletes, officials

Daily COVID-19 infections among athletes and team officials at the Beijing Winter Olympics jumped to 19 on Friday from two a day earlier, as Games organisers warned of more cases in coming days. Including the athletes and officials, 36 Games-related personnel were found to be infected - 29 when they arrived at the Beijing airport and seven already in the "closed loop" bubble that separates event personnel from the public, the organising committee said in a statement on Saturday.

Russia's daily COVID-19 cases exceed 100,000 for first time

Russia's daily coronavirus cases exceeded 100,000 on Saturday for the first time since the pandemic began, the coronavirus task force said. Russia confirmed 113,122 new daily infections, setting a record high for a ninth consecutive day, which the authorities blame on the spread of the Omicron variant.

Britain reports 72,727 new COVID cases, 296 deaths

Britain reported a further 72,727 cases of COVID-19 on Saturday and 296 more deaths, government statistics showed. Cases are down 3.6% over the last seven days compared with the week before, while deaths are down 3.2% over the same seven-day period.

Cuban children with disabilities pet jaguars and snakes for therapy

Baby jaguars and an intricately colored endemic boa known as the 'maja' are among the exotic animals at Cuba's national zoo that parents and teachers say provide unusually effective therapy to children with special needs. Children pet the jaguars and play with their paws, stroke the cool, moist skin of snakes and give milk to a zebu cow as part of a program aimed at helping those with special needs overcome fears, zookeepers said.

Turkey logs record 94,783 COVID-19 cases

Turkey has recorded 94,783 new COVID-19 cases in the space of 24 hours, its highest daily figure of the pandemic, health ministry data showed on Saturday, but Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the worst of the pandemic was over. Daily cases have surged to record levels in recent weeks with the spread of the Omicron variant, but Koca has said the new variant would reduce the impact of the pandemic because the illness it causes is less severe.

Italy reports 137,147 coronavirus cases on Saturday, 377 deaths

Italy reported 137,147 COVID-19 related cases on Saturday, against 143,898 the day before, the health ministry said, while the number of deaths was virtually stable at 377 against 378. Italy has registered 145,914 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth highest in the world. The country has reported 10.82 million cases to date.