Health News Roundup: In U-turn, U.S. backs WHO budget overhaul, but LatAm is opposed - sources; Analysis-China's COVID governance under pressure as Omicron spreads and more

The overhaul of funding is seen as critical to retooling the 74-year-old U.N. body to face future health challenges and is a top priority for director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as he seeks a second term. Analysis-China's COVID governance under pressure as Omicron spreads China's public health governance is expected to come under acute pressure in coming weeks as the biggest wave of COVID-19 cases since the 2020 Wuhan outbreak stretches medical resources, tests the country's ability to contain infections and strains the economy.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

In U-turn, U.S. backs WHO budget overhaul, but LatAm is opposed - sources

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. The overhaul of funding is seen as critical to retooling the 74-year-old U.N. body to face future health challenges and is a top priority for director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as he seeks a second term.

Analysis-China's COVID governance under pressure as Omicron spreads

China's public health governance is expected to come under acute pressure in the coming weeks as the biggest wave of COVID-19 cases since the 2020 Wuhan outbreak stretches medical resources, tests the country's ability to contain infections, and strains the economy. In the past 10 weeks, China has reported more new local symptomatic cases - more than 14,000 - than in all of 2021 amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, fuelling fears of hard lockdowns of cities and economic instability.

Sinovac COVID vaccine 38% effective in young kids - Chilean study

China-based Sinovac Biotech Ltd's COVID-19 vaccine was 38.2% effective in preventing infections during the Omicron wave in children aged three to five years, a study in Chile showed. The study, published https://bit.ly/3thGaFv on Tuesday, has not yet been peer-reviewed.

Japan says it will remove more COVID curbs as infections ebb

Japan said on Wednesday it is lifting COVID-19 restrictions imposed on Tokyo and 17 other prefectures as a wave of infections caused by the Omicron variant ebbs. An Omicron wave led to record infection rates in the capital and throughout Japan in February, the nation's deadliest https://www.datawrapper.de/_/yydPj wave of the pandemic so far. Tokyo logged 10,221 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, down 13.6% from a week earlier.

WTO chief welcomes COVID shot patent waiver plan, drugmakers balk

The World Trade Organization praised a provisional deal to waive patent rights for COVID-19 vaccines after more than a year of deadlock, although drugmakers said the move risked undermining the industry's ability to respond to future health crises. The United States, the European Union, India, and South Africa agreed on Tuesday on key elements for a waiver.

Biogen says Aduhelm effective in reducing Alzheimer's indicators in long-term trial

Biogen Inc said on Wednesday patients in a long-term trial of its Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm experienced significant reductions in two key disease indicators, after nearly two and a half years of treatment.

Nurse cares for surrogate children in Kyiv as war stops her seeing her own

Ukrainian nurse Oksana Martynenko and her colleagues have 21 babies to look after at a makeshift clinic in a residential basement on the outskirts of Kyiv - all of them surrogates whose parents cannot come to collect them because of the war. All the while she has her own family to worry about. Her children are in the region around Sumy, a city some 200 miles (320 km) east of the capital which has been bombarded by Russian forces.

Merck pauses Russia investments, to supply essential medicines

Drugmaker Merck and Co said on Wednesday it would not make further investments in Russia, but continue to supply life-saving medicines and vaccines to the country. Merck joins a growing list of drugmakers, including Pfizer Inc, Eli Lilly, Novartis and Abbvie Inc, which are pausing investments or scaling back their business in Russia after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Germany to secure COVID-19 vaccine production through 2029

Germany plans to spend up to 2.861 billion euros ($3.14 billion) to ensure that COVID-19 vaccine makers have enough production capacity available to supply the country with shots in future outbreaks through 2029, the economy ministry said. Germany's cabinet approved plans on Wednesday to sign contracts with BioNTech, CureVac/GSK, Wacker/CordenPharma, Celonic and IDT, the ministry said in a statement.

China's Jilin province in 'last ditch' COVID battle-party official

China's Jilin province was "in a last-ditch battle" against COVID-19, according to a senior Communist Party official, as the northeastern region bordering North Korea and Russia accounted for three-quarters of China's total new cases on Wednesday. Authorities have called for blanket testing in Jilin, with provincial Communist Party secretary Jing Junhai urging health departments to ensure "not a single person is missed", the official Jilin Daily newspaper reported.