Health News Roundup: 'Blood, sweat, no beers': Sydney set to ease COVID-19 curbs; U.S. will accept WHO-approved COVID-19 vaccines for international visitors and more

New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, reported 477 new coronavirus cases and six deaths on Sunday, in an outbreak that has kept 5 million people in state capital Sydney in a lockdown for 100 days. U.S. will accept WHO-approved COVID-19 vaccines for international visitors The United States will accept the use by international visitors of COVID-19 vaccines authorized by U.S. regulators or the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said late on Friday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

'Blood, sweat, no beers': Sydney set to ease COVID-19 curbs

Sydney was set to reopen after months in lockdown, officials said on Sunday, with businesses readying themselves to welcome fully vaccinated residents from Monday. New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, reported 477 new coronavirus cases and six deaths on Sunday, in an outbreak that has kept 5 million people in state capital Sydney in a lockdown for 100 days.

U.S. will accept WHO-approved COVID-19 vaccines for international visitors

The United States will accept the use by international visitors of COVID-19 vaccines authorized by U.S. regulators or the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said late on Friday. On Sept. 20, the White House announced the United States in November would lift travel restrictions on air travelers from 33 countries including China, India, Brazil and most of Europe who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. It did not specify then which vaccines would be accepted.

Italy reports 46 coronavirus deaths, 2,748 new cases

Italy's health ministry on Saturday reported 46 coronavirus-related deaths in the past 24 hours, up from 30 during the prior period, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 2,748 from 3,023. Italy has registered 131,274 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth-highest in the world. The country has reported 4.7 million cases to date.

Singapore reports highest single-day rise in COVID-19 cases

Singapore's health ministry reported 3,703 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, the highest since the beginning of the pandemic, while it recorded 11 new deaths from the disease. A recent spike in infections after the relaxation of some restrictions has prompted Singapore to pause further reopening. It also tightened curbs from last week that limited social gatherings to two people and made work from home a default.

Tokyo daily coronavirus cases fall to one-year low 82

Tokyo's government said on Saturday that new daily infections of COVID-19 in the Japanese capital declined to 82, the lowest since Oct. 19 last year. Cases have been on the decline since peaking at more than 5,000 a day in August in a wave driven by the highly infectious Delta variant. Tokyo and much of Japan last week exited a state of emergency that had lasted for almost six months.

Italian police arrest far-right party officials after anti-vax riot

Italian police said on Sunday they had arrested 12 people, including top officials of the extreme right-wing party Forza Nuova, following clashes in Rome against a government drive to make the COVID-19 "Green Pass" mandatory for all workers. Thousands of people took to the streets of the Italian capital on Saturday, with many chanting "freedom, freedom" as some attempted to break past police in riot gear deployed to guard access to Prime Minister Mario Draghi's office.

U.S. appeals court reinstates Texas abortion law, two days after it was halted

A U.S. appeals court late on Friday temporarily reinstated Texas's restrictive abortion law, which bars the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy and outsources enforcement of the ban to ordinary citizens. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, a conservative-leaning intermediate appeals court, granted a request on Friday by the Texas Attorney General's Office to temporarily suspend a judge’s order blocking the abortion ban.

Anxiety surged during pandemic, particularly among women - study

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a surge in anxiety and major depressive disorders across the world, particularly among women and young people, a study published in the Lancet on Friday found. Young people suffered as school closures kept them away from friends, and many women found themselves bearing the brunt of household work and facing an increased risk of domestic violence, the researchers said.

U.S. administers nearly 402 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, CDC says

The United States has administered 401,819,240 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Saturday morning and distributed 487,277,035 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Those figures are up from the 400,669,422 vaccine doses the CDC said had been administered by Friday out of 485,713,525 doses delivered.

UK records 133 COVID-19 deaths, 34,950 new cases

Britain on Saturday recorded 133 deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test, a slight increase on a day earlier when 127 people died, government data showed. The figures also showed 34,950 new COVID cases, lower than a day earlier when 36,060 were recorded.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)