Health News Roundup: U.S. drops COVID testing for incoming international air travelers; N.Korea reports 40,060 more people with fever symptoms amid COVID outbreak -KCNA and more

Mental Health and Addictions Minister Carolyn Bennett said the measure had become stale for the 13% of Canadians who smoke regularly. U.S. drops COVID testing for incoming international air travelers The United States late Friday rescinded a 17-month-old requirement that people arriving in the country by air test negative for COVID-19, a move that follows intense lobbying by airlines and the travel industry.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Canada, in a world first, proposes health warnings on individual cigarettes

Canada is proposing that written health warnings be printed on individual cigarettes, the first country in the world to do so, a federal minister said on Friday. In 2001, Canada broke new ground globally by requiring picture warnings on cigarette packages. Mental Health and Addictions Minister Carolyn Bennett said the measure had become stale for the 13% of Canadians who smoke regularly.

U.S. drops COVID testing for incoming international air travelers

The United States late Friday rescinded a 17-month-old requirement that people arriving in the country by air test negative for COVID-19, a move that follows intense lobbying by airlines and the travel industry. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky issued a four-page order https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/pdf/rescission-global-testing-order-p.pdf.pdf lifting the mandate, effective at 12:01 a.m. ET (0400 GMT) Sunday, saying it is "not currently necessary."

U.S. FDA staff says Moderna COVID vaccine effective and safe for children

U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff reviewers on Friday said Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine appears safe and effective for use in children aged 6 months to 17 years old as a committee of scientists will meet next week to vote on whether to recommend the regulator authorize the vaccine in children. The FDA's reviewers said in briefing documents published on Friday evening that the vaccine had generated a similar immune response in the children than that observed in adults in previous trials.

N.Korea reports 40,060 more people with fever symptoms amid COVID outbreak -KCNA

North Korea on Sunday reported 40,060 new people showing fever symptoms and one death amid the isolated nation's first confirmed COVID-19 outbreak, state media KCNA said.

Mass COVID testing announced for Beijing's Chaoyang district amid 'ferocious' outbreak

Beijing's most populous district Chaoyang announced three rounds of mass testing to quell a "ferocious" COVID-19 outbreak that emerged at a bar in a nightlife and shopping area last week, shortly after the city relaxed curbs imposed during an outbreak in April. City health officials said that so far there have been 166 confirmed cases linked to the outbreak that began at the Heaven Supermarket bar in the Sanlitun area on Thursday, 145 of them bar patrons.

(With inputs from agencies.)