CNN By Juliana Liu China has approved its first Covid-19 vaccine based on mRNA technology, months after the country lifted strict pandemic measures. The vaccine was developed by CSPC Pharmaceutical Group, a homegrown firm based in the northern Chinese city of Shijiazhuang, it said in a Wednesday statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange. The
Continue ReadingBy Brenda Goodman, CNN There’s a tantalizing new clue in the hunt for the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. A new analysis of genetic material collected from January to March 2020 at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, has uncovered animal DNA in samples already known to be positive for SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that
Continue ReadingBy MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill Paxlovid won another vote of confidence from U.S. health advisers Thursday, clearing the way for its full regulatory approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The medication has been used by millions of Americans since the FDA granted it emergency use authorization in
Continue ReadingBy LISA MASCARO AP Congressional Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has voted unanimously to declassify U.S. intelligence information about the origins of COVID-19. The 419-0 vote Friday was a sweeping show of bipartisan support near the third anniversary of the start of the deadly pandemic. It was final approval of the bill, sending it
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Following the worst respiratory virus surge Oregon has ever seen, the state’s top health official on Thursday painted an optimistic picture for spring, explaining conditions with COVID-19, RSV and influenza are better overall than they have been in months.
Continue ReadingBy Donald Judd and Jack Forrest, CNN The US is planning to relax Covid-19 testing restrictions for travelers from China as soon as Friday, a source familiar told CNN Tuesday, citing a decline in Covid cases, hospitalizations, and deaths and more data surrounding the variants that were circulating in China. In December, federal health officials
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Workers, patients and visitors in health care settings will no longer be required to wear masks starting Monday, April 3, the Oregon Health Authority announced Friday, prompting a revisit to one of the most controversial aspects of the personal and policy issues the pandemic spawned.
Continue ReadingBy Jessie Yeung and Kathleen Magramo, CNN One of the last major international cities requiring face coverings on Tuesday announced it will end its controversial Covid mask mandate nearly three years after it was enacted to prevent the spread of the virus. Hong Kong’s mandate, enforced through fines that could reach more than $1,000, had
Continue ReadingBy Jeremy Herb and Natasha Bertrand, CNN The US Department of Energy has assessed that the Covid-19 pandemic most likely came from a laboratory leak in China, according to a newly updated classified intelligence report. Two sources said that the Department of Energy assessed in the intelligence report that it had “low confidence” the Covid-19
Continue ReadingBy Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN It’s never been easy to operate a restaurant, and in recent years it’s been even harder. In 2020, Covid restrictions ground the nation’s bustling restaurant industry to a halt. Since then, there have been significant signs of a rebound: Dining rooms have reopened and customers have returned to cafes, fine-dining establishments
Continue ReadingBy Jen Christensen, CNN If you’ve got a fever and a cough, you don’t necessarily have to go to the doctor anymore to find out if it’s the flu or Covid-19. On Friday, the US Food and Drug Administration authorized what it says is the first at-home test that can tell users if they have
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Recent declines in community spread of influenza and RSV are expected to continue into spring, state health officials said Thursday. And while they monitor a recent uptick in COVID-19 activity, they also said respiratory virus hospitalizations should keep dropping over the coming weeks.
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By BIANCA VÁZQUEZ TONESS and SHARON LURYE Associated Press She’d be a senior right now, preparing for graduation in a few months, probably leading her school’s modern dance troupe and taking art classes. Instead, Kailani Taylor-Cribb hasn’t taken a single class in what used to be her high school since the height of the coronavirus
Continue ReadingBy Janelle Chavez, CNN Covid-19 shots are included in new schedules of routinely recommended vaccines released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday. The immunization schedules summarize current vaccine recommendations for children, adolescents and adults, but do not set vaccine requirements for schools or workplaces. Key changes to the schedules, published
Continue ReadingBy ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Children in California won’t have to get the coronavirus vaccine to attend schools, state public health officials confirmed Friday, ending one of the last major restrictions of the pandemic in the nation’s most populous state. Gov. Gavin Newsom first announced the policy in 2021, saying it
Continue ReadingBy Tami Luhby, Phil Mattingly and Jeremy Diamond, CNN President Joe Biden intends to end the Covid-19 national and public health emergencies on May 11, the White House said Monday. That means that many Americans could have to start paying for Covid-19 testing and treatment after the declarations cease. The White House, in a statement
Continue ReadingBy Jamie Gumbrecht and Brenda Goodman, CNN The US Food and Drug Administration wants to simplify the Covid-19 vaccine process to look more like what happens with the flu vaccine, according to documents posted online on Monday. That could include streamlining the vaccine composition, immunization schedules and periodic updates of Covid-19 vaccines. The FDA said
Continue ReadingBy Jacqueline Howard and Janelle Chavez, CNN When Covid-19 patients younger than 5 also test positive for another respiratory virus, they tend to become sicker and develop more severe disease, a new study suggests. Among hospitalized children younger than 5, testing positive for both Covid-19 and another respiratory virus at the same time is associated
Continue ReadingBy Deidre McPhillips, CNN Covid-19 has killed more than 1 million people in the United States since the start of the pandemic, and life expectancy has been cut by nearly 2.5 years since 2020. A very early look at data from 2022 suggests that there were significantly fewer Covid-19 deaths in the third year of
Continue ReadingBy Christina Zdanowicz, CNN With children back in school and daycare after the holidays, weary parents fear what illness awaits them next during this brutal respiratory virus season. Since October, RSV, a respiratory virus which often is most severe in young children and older adults, hit early and cases started rising quickly. Cases of influenza
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