Health News Roundup: COVID-shaming pits neighbor against neighbor in locked-down Shanghai; Shanghai reports three deaths among COVID patients on April 17 and more

The current outbreak has wiped out well over twenty million chickens and turkeys in commercial flocks since February. Omicron-specific Sinopharm, Sinovac COVID vaccine candidates cleared for clinical trial COVID-19 vaccine candidates developed by a Sinopharm subsidiary and Sinovac Biotech to target the Omicron variant were approved for clinical trials in Hong Kong, the companies said on Saturday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

COVID-shaming pits neighbor against neighbor in locked-down Shanghai

The tensions of lockdown have exposed divisions among Shanghai residents, pitting young against old, locals against outsiders, and above all, COVID-negative against COVID-positive people. Shanghai's 25 million people, most of whom live in apartment blocks, have forged new communal bonds during the city's coronavirus outbreak, through barter and group buying and setting up food-sharing stations.

Shanghai reports three deaths among COVID patients on April 17

The Chinese financial hub of Shanghai said three people infected with COVID-19 died on Sunday, the first time during the current outbreak that it reported deaths among coronavirus patients. The city reported 19,831 new daily asymptomatic COVID-19 cases on April 17, down from 21,582 on the previous day. New symptomatic cases stood at 2,417, down from 3,238.

New bird flu cases identified in Pennsylvania and Utah, USDA says

New bird flu cases were detected in a commercial chicken flock in Pennsylvania and a backyard flock in Utah, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Saturday, with the outbreak now has spread to more than 30 states in the country. The department said earlier this month it was looking into vaccines as an option to protect poultry against deadly bird flu as the country faces its worst outbreak since 2015. The current outbreak has wiped out well over twenty million chickens and turkeys in commercial flocks since February.

Omicron-specific Sinopharm, Sinovac COVID vaccine candidates cleared for clinical trial

COVID-19 vaccine candidates developed by a Sinopharm subsidiary and Sinovac Biotech to target the Omicron variant were approved for clinical trials in Hong Kong, the companies said on Saturday. Scientists worldwide are racing to study upgraded injections against Omicron, as data indicated that antibodies elicited by vaccines based on older strains show weaker activity to neutralize the highly transmissible variant.