Health News Roundup: Child hepatitis cases rise in UK amid worldwide outbreak; AstraZeneca says its COVID shot has market potential despite lower demand and more

With Friday's announcement, Abogen joins Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna in trialing candidates modified specifically against Omicron, a highly transmissible variant with increased resistance to antibodies elicited by existing shots. South Africa says it may be entering fifth COVID wave South Africa may be entering a fifth COVID wave earlier than expected after a sustained rise in infections over the past 14 days that seems to be driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants, health officials and scientists said on Friday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

U.S. challenges Alabama law on transgender youth

The U.S. Justice Department said it filed a complaint on Friday challenging a law in Alabama that criminalizes some gender-affirming treatments for transgender youth. Earlier this month, Alabama's Republican governor signed into law the bill, which makes it a felony punishable with up to 10 years of imprisonment for providing voluntary medical treatments, including hormone therapy, puberty blockers and surgery to help align physical characteristics to the gender identity of a minor.

Purdue urges skeptical appeals court to revive Sackler opioid lawsuit shield

Judges on a U.S. appeals court appeared hesitant on Friday to revive a legal shield that would protect the Sackler family that owns Purdue Pharma from lawsuits related to the prescription opioid OxyContin, a key to ending the company's bankruptcy. During oral arguments, a three-judge panel on the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals probed the limits of a bankruptcy judge to protect non-bankrupt parties like the wealthy Sacklers, in the absence of clear legal authority.

Shanghai reports zero cases outside quarantined areas for April 29

China's Shanghai reported zero COVID-19 cases outside its quarantined areas for April 29, the first time since the recent outbreak in the eastern financial hub, according to local health authorities. The city recorded 8,932 new local asymptomatic coronavirus cases on April 29, versus 9,545 a day earlier, the local government said in a statement on Saturday.

Child hepatitis cases rise in UK amid worldwide outbreak

The UK Health Security Agency has identified 34 confirmed hepatitis cases in children since Monday, bringing the total number to 145 amid a series of unexplained cases among children around the world. The agency said 10 children had received liver transplants but none had died.

U.S. likely to find out about next COVID booster by summer -Fauci

Scientists and health officials by this summer should have a better sense of what type of COVID-19 booster will be needed to deal with the next phase of the pandemic and when it should be administered, top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Friday. The National Institutes of Health, where Fauci serves as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is conducting clinical studies to determine if the next COVID booster should be specific to a particular variant of the coronavirus or designed to address more than one variant, known as a bivalent vaccine, ahead of the fall season, he said.

Chinese Omicron-specific mRNA COVID vaccine candidate to be trialed in UAE

China's Suzhou Abogen Biosciences Co said its COVID-19 vaccine candidate using the messenger RNA (mRNA) technology and targeting the Omicron variant has obtained clinical trial approval in the United Arab Emirates. With Friday's announcement, Abogen joins Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna in trialing candidates modified specifically against Omicron, a highly transmissible variant with increased resistance to antibodies elicited by existing shots.

South Africa says it may be entering fifth COVID wave

South Africa may be entering a fifth COVID wave earlier than expected after a sustained rise in infections over the past 14 days that seems to be driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants, health officials and scientists said on Friday. The country that has recorded the most coronavirus cases and deaths on the African continent only exited a fourth wave around January and had predicted a fifth wave could start in May or June, early in the southern hemisphere winter.

AstraZeneca says its COVID shot has market potential despite lower demand

AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine still has market potential despite an expected global oversupply of shots and delays in the vaccine's approval in the United States, its chief executive Pascal Soriot said on Friday. Soriot told reporters after AstraZeneca published its first quarter results that although the focus as now shifted to protection from severe disease in cases of COVID-19, AstraZeneca's shot, which it developed with Britain's Oxford University, is expected to offer durability.

Moderna asks Canada for extension of COVID vaccine to young children

Canada is reviewing a request by Moderna to approve its COVID-19 vaccine for pediatric use in children aged 6 months to 5 years, the government and the company said on Friday. Moderna's Canada General Manager Patricia Gauthier said at a news conference the request was filed with Canada Health on Thursday night.

Pfizer says COVID treatment Paxlovid fails to prevent infection of household members

Pfizer Inc on Friday said a large trial found that its COVID-19 oral antiviral treatment Paxlovid was not effective at preventing coronavirus infection in people living with someone infected with the virus. The trial enrolled 3,000 adults who were household contacts exposed to an individual who was experiencing symptoms and had recently tested positive for COVID-19. They were either given Paxlovid for five or 10 days or a placebo.

(With inputs from agencies.)