Health News Roundup: Exclusive: EU to move away from the emergency phase of COVID pandemic - document; Beijing presses on with mass COVID testing as locked-down Shanghai seethes and more

Having seen the struggles of China's commercial hub to meet the basic needs of its increasingly frustrated 25 million residents, people in Beijing were stocking up on food and supplies. Pfizer, BioNTech seek U.S. authorization of COVID-19 booster shot for younger kids Pfizer Inc and its partner BioNTech SE said on Tuesday that they had submitted an application to the U.S. health regulator for the authorization of a booster dose of their COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 years.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Exclusive: EU to move away from the emergency phase of COVID pandemic - document

The European Commission is set to say the EU has entered a new post-emergency phase of the pandemic in which testing should be targeted and monitoring of COVID-19 cases should be similar to sample-based flu surveillance, according to a draft document seen by Reuters. The shift comes amid a gradual drop in cases and a fall in the number of deaths linked to COVID-19, thanks to the spread of the less virulent Omicron variant and the immunization of over 70% of the EU population, with half of the population having received also a booster shot.

Beijing presses on with mass COVID testing as locked-down Shanghai seethes

The second round of COVID-19 testing in Beijing's largest district began on Wednesday, with this week's campaign to screen most of the Chinese capital's 22 million residents so far detecting less than three dozen new infections a day. Beijing residents have rushed to stock up on food and other supplies as the city races to stop a nascent outbreak and avert a city-wide lockdown like that which has paralyzed Shanghai for the past month, leaving some in the Chinese commercial hub of 25 million venting extreme frustration.

Beijing to test 20 million for COVID in bid to avert Shanghai lockdown misery

Three-quarters of Beijing's 22 million people lined up for COVID-19 tests on Tuesday as authorities in the Chinese capital raced to stamp out a nascent outbreak and avert the debilitating city-wide lockdown that has shrouded Shanghai for a month. Having seen the struggles of China's commercial hub to meet the basic needs of its increasingly frustrated 25 million residents, people in Beijing were stocking up on food and supplies.

Pfizer, BioNTech seek U.S. authorization of COVID-19 booster shot for younger kids

Pfizer Inc and its partner BioNTech SE said on Tuesday that they had submitted an application to the U.S. health regulator for the authorization of a booster dose of their COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 years. The companies earlier this month reported data from a mid-to-late stage study showing the third dose of their shot increased protection against the original coronavirus version and the Omicron variant among children in the age group.

Walgreens, drugmakers blame others for San Francisco's opioid crisis

Pharmacy chain Walgreens Boots Alliance and other defendants on Tuesday said they were not to blame for the opioid crisis in San Francisco, and that they acted responsibly when providing legal medications to patients in pain. "Almost all of those prescriptions were written by good, well-meaning doctors," Walgreens attorney Kate Swift said during opening statements in a trial in San Francisco federal court. "It was appropriate for good pharmacists to fill those prescriptions."

U.S. to widen COVID antiviral pill distribution

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is aiming to expand access to COVID-19 oral antiviral treatments like Pfizer Inc's Paxlovid by doubling the number of locations at which they are available, the White House said on Tuesday. Pharmacies participating in the federal pharmacy program for distributing antiviral treatments will be able to order the free treatments directly from the U.S. government starting this week.

Explainer-Scientists investigate hepatitis outbreak in children in Europe and US

Health authorities around the world are investigating a mysterious increase in severe cases of hepatitis - inflammation of the liver – in young children. Below is a summary of what is known about the outbreak:

More than half of Americans have had COVID infections -U.S. study

Following the record surge in COVID-19 cases during the Omicron-driven wave, some 58% of the U.S. population overall and more than 75% of younger children have been infected with the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, according to a U.S. nationwide blood survey released on Tuesday. The study issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention mark the first time in which more than half of the U.S. population has been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus at least once, and offers a detailed view of the impact of the Omicron surge in the United States.

J&J sues to block sales of 'dangerous' counterfeit HIV drugs

Johnson & Johnson has filed a lawsuit against drug distributors and a pharmacy seeking to stop the sale of counterfeit versions of its HIV drugs, months after a similar case brought by Gilead Sciences Inc. In a complaint filed April 7 and made public on Tuesday, J&J said it had learned of widespread counterfeiting through complaints from patients who received the wrong pills in their prescription bottle, and from the voluntary return of hundreds of bottles of counterfeit drugs from one of the defendants, distributor ProPharma Distribution LLC.

Almost 200 cases of unexplained acute hepatitis were reported in children -ECDC

Around 190 unexplained cases of severe hepatitis have been reported in children around the world, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said on Tuesday. The outbreak was first reported this month in Britain - which has registered 111 cases, mostly in children under 10 - and has since been identified in at least 12 countries worldwide.