Health News Roundup: Singapore to drop most indoor mask requirements next week; Japan to waive pre-departure COVID tests for vaccinated travellers and more

For the first time in more than two years, people in the Southeast Asian city-state will no longer be required to wear masks indoors except on public transport and in high-risk settings like healthcare facilities. Japan to waive pre-departure COVID tests for vaccinated travellers Japan will waive pre-departure COVID-19 tests for vaccinated travellers to the country, but daily caps on entrants will remain in place, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Wednesday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Singapore to drop most indoor mask requirements next week

Singapore will do away with requirements to wear masks indoors starting Aug. 29, as the country sees its COVID-19 situation stabilise further, the health minister said on Wednesday. For the first time in more than two years, people in the Southeast Asian city-state will no longer be required to wear masks indoors except on public transport and in high-risk settings like healthcare facilities.

Japan to waive pre-departure COVID tests for vaccinated travellers

Japan will waive pre-departure COVID-19 tests for vaccinated travellers to the country, but daily caps on entrants will remain in place, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Wednesday. Japan has maintained some of the strictest pandemic border measures among major economies, requiring travellers to present a negative coronavirus test taken within 72 hours of departure.

Moderna seeks FDA nod for booster shot aimed at Omicron BA.4, BA.5

Moderna Inc on Tuesday sought U.S. authorization for its COVID-19 booster shot tailored against the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron and said if cleared it would be ready to deliver the doses in September. Its application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is based on pre-clinical data for the so-called bivalent dose that contains the dominant BA.4/BA.5 variants along with the original coronavirus strain.

Young adults with disabilities find community on social media

Frustrated by what they felt were misperceptions of people with disabilities, Logan Kelble began posting dance videos on TikTok and bold, colorful fashion and makeup looks on Instagram – often with their feeding tube on full display. Kelble, a 22-year-old living in West Virginia who uses they/them pronouns, said sharing glimpses of their life with a feeding tube and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), a rare disorder that affects connective tissue and causes chronic pain for Kelble, has been a way to show the world that people with illnesses or disabilities are not defined by their conditions.

Ebola vaccinations in east Congo to start on Thursday after new case

An Ebola vaccination campaign will start in the Congolese city of Beni on Thursday after a new case of the virus was confirmed this week, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday. More than 200 vaccine doses have arrived in Beni, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, it said.

German health minister expects renewed coronavirus wave in autumn

German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said on Wednesday he expects a wave of COVID-19 infections this autumn but ruled out further lockdowns or school closures. He made the comments after a cabinet meeting during which the government approved stricter mask rules on trains and planes from October.

Vietnam suspends African swine fever vaccine after pig deaths

Vietnam has temporarily suspended the use of its first home-grown African swine fever vaccine after dozens of pigs inoculated with the shots died this month, state media reported on Wednesday. The pigs were among around 600 pigs at several farms in the central province of Phu Yen having been injected with the NAVET-ASFVAC vaccine developed by Navetco, a company owned by the agriculture ministry, reported Nhan Dan newspaper.

Whole Foods is sued over 'No Antibiotics, Ever' beef claim

Whole Foods Market was sued on Tuesday by three consumers and animal welfare nonprofit, in a lawsuit accusing the Amazon.com Inc unit of falsely marketing beef with the slogan "No Antibiotics, Ever." The proposed class action said recent independent laboratory testing found that Whole Foods' beef contained antibiotics and another pharmaceutical residue, meaning that cattle had been treated with antibiotics or other pharmaceuticals.

Judge in Texas blocks Biden administration emergency abortion guidance

A federal judge in Texas blocked the Biden administration late on Tuesday from enforcing new guidance in the Republican-led state requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortions to women regardless of state bans on the procedure. U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix in Lubbock agreed with Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services guidance was unauthorized and went beyond the text of a related federal law.

Bavarian Nordic vows to boost monkeypox vaccine supply to combat shortfall

Bavarian Nordic - the maker of the only approved monkeypox vaccine - said it was exploring the viability of using technically expired doses to help bridge a growing gap between demand and supply due to the current outbreak. In an interview with Reuters, CEO Paul Chaplin said global demand for the vaccine is "exceeding our ability to deliver."