Health News Roundup: Colombia's Court rules against legalizing abortion; airports increase coronavirus screenings and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Coronavirus spreading fast outside China, airports to increase screenings

The new coronavirus appears to now be spreading much more rapidly outside China than within, and airports in hard-hit countries were ramping up screening of travelers. World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said almost eight times as many cases had been reported outside China as inside in the previous 24 hours, adding that the risk of coronavirus spreading was now very high at a global level.

Pfizer identified some antiviral compounds with potential as coronavirus treatments

Drugmaker Pfizer Inc said on Monday that it identified certain antiviral compounds it had in development that have the potential to inhibit coronaviruses and is engaging with a third party to screen the compounds. The company said it hopes to have the results from that screening by the end of March and if any of the compounds are successful, it would hope start testing them by the end of the year.

Colombia's Constitutional Court rules against legalizing abortion in first 16 weeks of pregnancy

Colombia's Constitutional Court ruled on Monday against legalizing abortions in up to the first 16 weeks of pregnancy and said the procedure would continue to be allowed in just three specific cases. The decision dashed the hopes of those who had looked to see abortion legalized in Colombia. The Andean country is part of a region that has some of the world's strictest reproductive rights laws.

Deadly Seattle-area coronavirus outbreak spurs shift in public health response

Seattle-area health officials confronting the nation's first community coronavirus outbreak are planning new containment measures, ranging from possible school closings to temporary quarantine housing for mildly ill homeless patients. The shift in strategy, with an emphasis on enlisting the public at large to take a more active role in curtailing the spread of the virus, came as health authorities announced on Monday that 18 Washington state residents had tested positive, including six who died.

Australia to use biosecurity law to restrict movements of coronavirus patients

Australia will use a little-known biosecurity law to restrict the movements of people suspected of having coronavirus, its attorney-general said on Tuesday. Australia on Monday confirmed the first community transmission of coronavirus after a doctor contracted the virus. It is not known how the man in his 50s was infected.

U.S. Supreme Court takes up Democratic bid to defend Obamacare

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a politically explosive case on whether Obamacare is lawful, taking up a bid by 20 Democratic-led states including California and New York to preserve the landmark healthcare law. The impetus for the Supreme Court case was a 2018 ruling by a federal judge in Texas that Obamacare as currently structured in light of a key Republican-backed change made by Congress violates the U.S. Constitution and is invalid in its entirety. The ruling came in a legal challenge to the law by Texas and 17 other conservative states backed by Republican President Donald Trump's administration.

'Unprecedented' mental health issues seen in Hong Kong amid virus fears

As Hong Kong tries to contain the coronavirus outbreak, medical experts say many in the Asian financial hub are reeling from increased anxiety and an unprecedented level of mental health issues. The SARS-CoV-2 epidemic came after months of tumultuous anti-government protests that had already led to a sharp increase in depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), they said.

Coronavirus deaths rise to six in Seattle area as U.S. pushes for more testing

Six people in the Seattle area have died of illness caused by the new coronavirus, health officials said on Monday, as authorities across the United States scrambled to prepare for more infections with an emphasis on increasing testing capacity. Dr. Jeff Duchin, health officer for the Seattle and King County Public Health agency, announced the rise in fatalities from the previous two in Washington state.

Trump administration says drug makers will work together to combat coronavirus

The Trump administration said on Monday it had secured commitments from top pharmaceutical companies to work together to develop a vaccine and treatments to fight the coronavirus. At a meeting with industry executives at the White House, President Donald Trump exhorted the companies to collaborate to speed the process of getting a vaccine and therapeutics to victims of the virus.

Broken Health - The medical crisis that's aggravating Iraq's unrest

On the walls of Basra children's cancer hospital hang photos of some of the youngsters who've been treated there. Most are smiling. Some of the portraits have a black stripe in the upper left corner. Those are pictures of children who passed away. Hesham Abdullah says he quit his office job to care for his son Mostafa, 14, and sold his house and all the family's valuables to pay for treatment. With no medical insurance, he estimates he has spent at least $120,000 on black market medicines and trips to overseas clinics. His family of five had to move in with his brother.