Health News Roundup: Monkeypox symptoms differ from previous outbreaks; Eastern China cities tighten COVID curbs as new clusters emerge and more

Dine-in services in restaurants were suspended, and the government advised people to work from home. German health minister in move to boost use of COVID treatment Paxlovid Germany's health minister said on Sunday he will push for more prescriptions of Pfizer's oral COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid by family doctors to reduce severe cases of the disease.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Germany has two more African swine fever cases in farm pigs - ministry

Two more case of African swine fever (ASF) have been confirmed in farm pigs in Germany, Germany’s federal agriculture ministry said. One was in the western state of Lower Saxony which was previously free of the disease and one in the eastern state of Brandenburg where the disease has been found before.

Monkeypox symptoms differ from previous outbreaks - UK study

Patients with monkeypox in the UK have noticeably different symptoms from those seen in previous outbreaks, according to researchers in London, raising concerns cases are being missed. Patients reported less fever and tiredness and more skin lesions in their genital and anal areas than typically seen in monkeypox, the study of 54 patients at London sexual health clinics in May this year found.

Eastern China cities tighten COVID curbs as new clusters emerge

Cities in eastern China tightened COVID-19 curbs on Sunday as coronavirus clusters emerge, posing a new threat to China's economic recovery under the government's strict zero-COVID policy. Wuxi, a manufacturing hub in the Yangtze Delta on the central coast, halted operations at many public venues located underground, including shops and supermarkets. Dine-in services in restaurants were suspended, and the government advised people to work from home.

German health minister in move to boost use of COVID treatment Paxlovid

Germany's health minister said on Sunday he will push for more prescriptions of Pfizer's oral COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid by family doctors to reduce severe cases of the disease. "A system involving family doctors will be prepared to administer this far too rarely-used COVID life saver more routinely," he wrote https://twitter.com/Karl_Lauterbach/status/1543582226788634624 on Twitter on Sunday, adding that sufficient stockpiles were available.

(With inputs from agencies.)