Chinese make travel plans as Beijing dismantles zero-COVID rules Chinese people, cut off from the rest of the world for three years by stringent COVID-19 curbs, flocked to travel sites on Tuesday ahead of borders reopening next month, even as rising infections strained the health system and roiled the economy. Joe Cash,Sophie Yu Reuters

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Autopsies Show COVID-19 in the Brain What this means for neurologic COVID symptoms remains elusive Judy George medpagetoday

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But in December, an autopsy report of 44 peopleopens in a new tab or window who died with COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic showed that SARS-CoV-2 virus had spread throughout the body -- including the brain -- and persisted in tissue for months.

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Long COVID: What scientists have learned about the symptoms affecting millions around the world A British historian, an Italian archaeologist and an American preschool teacher each helped bring long COVID into the public's consciousness. CBS News

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China's COVID cases overwhelm hospitals In more than three decades of emergency medicine, Beijing-based doctor Howard Bernstein said, he has never seen anything like this. Martin Quin Pollard Reuters

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Millions of Afghan children inoculated against measles, polio in 1st Statewide drive since 2021 transition Millions of Afghan children have been vaccinated during the first nationwide integrated measles and polio campaign in Afghanistan since the Taliban took power in August 2021, the UN health agency said on Thursday. UN News

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Based on the data from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health Expanded Programme on Immunization, the campaign covered 329 districts in all 34 provinces of the country – with 4,341 vaccination teams comprised of four members on each team.

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In lieu of a COVID Commission, a new report exposes CDC failures Its title gives up the game: “Historically Unprepared.” dtodd The Hill

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'A very hard road ahead' for China as COVID-19 cases spiral BAZHOU, China (AP) — Nearly three years after it was first identified in China, the coronavirus is now spreading through the vast country. Experts predict difficult months ahead for its 1.4 billion people. AP NEWS

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BioNTech starts human trial to test malaria vaccine BioNTech on Friday initiated an early-stage study to evaluate its experimental malaria vaccine in humans, the German drugmaker said. Reuters Reuters

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Shanghai hospital warns of 'tragic battle' as COVID spreads The hospital expects half of the city's 25 million people will get infected by the end of next week, as the virus sweeps through China unchecked. Zoey Zhang,Bernard Orr Reuters

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Uganda gets Ebola vaccine doses for trial on Sudan strain KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda’s government says it has received more than 5,000 doses of Ebola vaccines for a clinical trial to assess their protection against the Sudan strain of the virus that caused an outbreak with over 50 deaths. AP NEWS

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This outbreak, the first in a decade of the less common Sudan strain, is a chance for clinical trials of the three vaccines donated by the U.S.-based Sabin Vaccine Institute, University of Oxford and Merck.

India steps up Covid surveillance after China surge The government has instructed states to ensure genome sequencing of all positive cases in the country. BBC News

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Bivalent Vax Adds Protection Against COVID Hospitalization, CDC Says Effectiveness against COVID-19 hospitalization north of 70% in seniors Ingrid Hein medpagetoday

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Potential China wave is 'wild card' for ending COVID emergency - WHO advisors It may be too early to declare the end of the COVID-19 pandemic emergency phase because of a potentially devastating wave to come in China, several leading scientists and World Health Organization advisors told Reuters. Jennifer Rigby Reuters

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Community-led responses ‘essential for ending pandemics’ – UNAIDS Communities must be empowered and appropriately resourced to lead the fight against HIV/AIDS and other pandemics, UNAIDS, the UN agency dedicated to tackling HIV/AIDS, stressed at an international meeting held in Thailand. UN News

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COVID-19 still Spain's leading cause of deaths this year The number of deaths associated with the COVID-19 pandemic fell by almost a third in Spain in the first half of this year from a year ago, but the illness provoked by the virus remained the leading cause of fatalities, official data showed on Monday. Reuters Reuters

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