Philadelphia will again require masks in indoor public settings such as restaurants, schools and businesses starting next week, the city said on April 11, responding to what appears to be a fresh wave of coronavirus transmissions.
ReutersThe Biden administration faces an April 18 deadline on whether to extend or end a mandate requiring travelers to wear masks on airplanes, trains and in transit hubs.
ReutersTop U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials on April 6 said the agency is aiming to decide by June whether to change the design of COVID-19 vaccines in order to combat future variants, even if it does not have all the necessary information to measure their effectiveness.
ReutersIt will take $15 billion in grants during 2022 and another $10 billion annually after that to establish and maintain an adequate toolkit to respond to COVID-19 and address future pandemic threats, according to four organizations focused on global health and the economy.
ReutersFormer President Barack Obama returned to the White House on April 5 for the first time since leaving office in 2017 to tout the benefits of his signature healthcare law and offer backing to his friend and former governing partner, President Joe Biden.
Negotiators in Congress agreed to an additional $10 billion in COVID-19 funding to address U.S. needs but have dropped international aid from the package, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on April 4.
ReutersItaly on April 1 began to phase out the country’s COVID-19 restrictions, ending a state of emergency public authorities declared more than two years ago that allowed it to bypass bureaucracy and swiftly impose rules via decrees.
The World Health Organization on March 30 released an updated plan for COVID-19, laying out key strategies that, if implemented in 2022, would allow the world to end the emergency phase of the pandemic.
Coronavirus infections in Asia passed 100 million on March 30, according to a Reuters tally, as the region records a resurgence in cases dominated by the BA.2 Omicron sub-variant.
Certain drugs used to treat HIV may have a role in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infections, according to preliminary data that may help explain why people living with the condition have not appeared to be at higher risk for serious COVID-19 despite being generally more vulnerable to infections. Additionally, having COVID-19 and influenza at the same time puts hospitalized adults at much greater risk of critical illness and death compared to having COVID-19 without the flu, researchers reported in The Lancet.