Health News Roundup: Beijing city reports five new local COVID cases on Tuesday as of 3 p.m; Saudi lifts COVID-19 travel restrictions to Turkey, India, Ethiopia, and Vietnam and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Beijing city reports five new local COVID cases on Tuesday as of 3 p.m

Chinese capital Beijing reported five new local COVID-19 cases on Tuesday as of 3 p.m., a local health official said. Out of the five cases, three were already isolated for medical observation before confirmation of their infection, and two were found during community screening, Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director at Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, told a news briefing.

Saudi lifts COVID-19 travel restrictions to Turkey, India, Ethiopia, and Vietnam

Saudi Arabia lifted coronavirus travel restrictions on Monday on its citizens traveling to Turkey, India, Ethiopia, and Vietnam, the state news agency SPA reported. Earlier this month, the kingdom lifted measures imposed to prevent the spread of the virus, including a requirement to wears, face masks indoors.

Lebanon announces first monkeypox case - state news agency

Lebanon announced on Monday its first case of monkeypox, the state news agency NNA reported, quoting the health ministry.

The patient had come from abroad and is currently quarantining at home, NNA quoted a ministry statement as saying.

COVID mistakes can't be repeated this winter, says German hotel industry

German hotels are still limping towards recovery after the pandemic, and lawmakers need to prepare now to be ready for the coming winter, said the head of the DEHOGA hospitality body.

Despite pent-up demand, the industry is facing a possible third year of losses in 2022, with 57% of businesses reporting lower sales last month compared with pre-crisis May 2019, said DEHOGA president Guido Zoellick at a news conference on Tuesday.

Some Omicron sub-variants escaping antibodies from Sinopharm shot -Chinese study

A small Chinese study detailed in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal showed neutralizing antibodies against some Omicron sub-variants were largely undetectable after two doses of a Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, with a booster shot only partly restoring them. The study comes as China, which has approved only locally developed COVID shots including the Sinopharm vaccine, strives to improve vaccination rates, maintaining a "dynamic zero COVID" policy aimed at eradicating all outbreaks while many countries have adopted an approach of learning to live with the virus.

Pfizer to buy 8.1 percent stake in French vaccines company Valneva

U.S. healthcare giant Pfizer has agreed to invest 90.5 million euros ($95.24 million) to buy an 8.1% percent stake in a French vaccines company, as the companies announced developments in their partnership to tackle the Lyme disease. Pfizer will buy the stake in Valneva, which is also working on its COVID-19 vaccine, at a price of 9.49 euros per share, via a reserved capital increase.

AstraZeneca, Ionis eye U.S. approval after positive trial data

An interim analysis of AstraZeneca and partner Ionis Pharmaceuticals' eplontersen showed the experimental drug met the main goals in a late-stage trial in patients with a rare, fatal disease, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said on Tuesday. Based on the results, the companies plan to file an application to market the therapy in the United States later this year in patients with hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloid polyneuropathy (ATTRv-PN).

Explainer-What to know about COVID vaccines for young children

The United States has begun rolling out COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as six months after receiving the go-ahead from the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The following are some details about the two messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines from Moderna Inc and Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE for young children:

Macau hotel locked down after COVID case, 700 people to be quarantined-media

A hotel and casino resort in the world's biggest gambling hub of Macau was locked down by authorities with 700 people inside on Tuesday due to a coronavirus infection outbreak on the property, local broadcaster TDM reported. The lockdown comes as the Chinese special administrative region carries out two-day mass testing of its more than 600,000 population after dozens of locally transmitted coronavirus cases were discovered over the weekend.

U.S. factories pop up to make medical gloves, spurred by pandemic

Rising from a muddy field on the outskirts of the small town of Fayette, Alabama is a bricks-and-mortar symbol of the global COVID pandemic: A new glove factory. When completed in 2024 the complex, owned by Japan’s SHOWA Glove Co will be able to produce about 3 billion medical-grade nitrile gloves a year from its dozen massive new, five-stories-tall, automated assembly lines.

(With inputs from agencies.)