Health News Roundup: Macau steps up COVID testing as infections surge; Romania COVID cases nearly double in a week and more

The treatments will be provided under the new Impact brand, part of Sanofi's global health unit launched last year, which sits outside the commercial business. Macau steps up COVID testing as infections surge Macau kicked off a new round of COVID-19 testing for its more than 600,000 residents on Monday, as officials in the world's biggest gambling hub raced to limit spiralling infections in the city's worst outbreak since the pandemic began.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Romania COVID cases nearly double in a week

The number of new COVID-19 infections in Romania nearly doubled over the last week, with a peak of 10,000 daily cases expected in mid-August, Health Minister Alexandru Rafila said on Monday. Romania is the European Union's second-least vaccinated state, with just over 42% of the population fully inoculated amid distrust of state institutions and poor vaccine education.

Several eastern Chinese areas in mass COVID testing to curb new waves of infections

Parts of eastern China are running fresh rounds of mass COVID-19 testing, as the country faces new waves of infections while recovering from impact of the spring outbreaks that hit Beijing and Shanghai. China continues to demand local authorities detect and contain new infections as soon as possible in its "dynamic COVID zero" strategy, although it has warned against expanding strict curbs unnecessarily as it struggles to revive the economy.

Swine fever outbreak in Germany's top pork state poses lasting threat

The spread of African Swine Fever to Germany's most important pig rearing region has dealt a serious blow to the sector with major markets such as China likely to maintain import bans for years to come, analysts said on Monday. The outbreak on a farm in Emsland, Lower Saxony is the first in the north-west region where much of Germany's pig sector is concentrated.

Sanofi launches global health brand with non-profit treatments

French drugmaker Sanofi will make 30 of its treatments, including insulin, available on a not-for-profit basis in 40 lower-income countries in the first step of its plan to increase access to its medicines worldwide. The treatments will be provided under the new Impact brand, part of Sanofi's global health unit launched last year, which sits outside the commercial business.

Macau steps up COVID testing as infections surge

Macau kicked off a new round of COVID-19 testing for its more than 600,000 residents on Monday, as officials in the world's biggest gambling hub raced to limit spiralling infections in the city's worst outbreak since the pandemic began. All residents face three rounds of tests this week, in addition to rapid antigen tests, as Monday's 68 new infections took the tally in the former Portuguese colony to 852 since the middle of June. About 12,000 people are in quarantine.

German health minister in move to boost use of COVID treatment Paxlovid

Germany's health minister said on Sunday he will push for more prescriptions of Pfizer's oral COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid by family doctors to reduce severe cases of the disease. "A system involving family doctors will be prepared to administer this far too rarely-used COVID life saver more routinely," he wrote https://twitter.com/Karl_Lauterbach/status/1543582226788634624 on Twitter on Sunday, adding that sufficient stockpiles were available.

(With inputs from agencies.)