Health News Roundup: Omicron BA.5 makes up 82% of COVID variants in U.S. - CDC; Biden's COVID symptoms 'almost completely resolved', his physician says and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Omicron BA.5 makes up 82% of COVID variants in U.S. - CDC

The BA.5 subvariant of Omicron was estimated to make up 81.9% of the circulating coronavirus variants in the United States for the week ended July 23, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday. This was higher than the 75.9% prevalence estimated in the preceding week.

Biden's COVID symptoms 'almost completely resolved', his physician says

U.S. President Joe Biden's COVID-19 symptoms have now "almost completely resolved" and he now feels well enough to resume his physical exercise regimen, his physician said in a memo on Tuesday. Biden will continue to isolate, the physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, said.

Experimental chewing gum reduces Omicron in saliva; sexual dysfunction, hair loss among long COVID symptoms

The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review. Experimental chewing gum reduces Omicron particles in saliva

BioNTech, Pfizer sue CureVac in U.S. over COVID-19 vaccine patent claims

COVID-19 vaccine maker BioNTech said on Tuesday that it and partner Pfizer have filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, seeking a judgment that they did not infringe U.S. patents held by rival CureVac. The lawsuit, filed Monday, said CureVac is trying to profit from the success of BioNTech and Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccines after CureVac's efforts to create its own vaccine failed.

British agencies win CEPI funds to develop standard monkeypox tools

British health agencies have secured funding to develop a standardised approach to test the performance of vaccines being used or in development against monkeypox, days after the World Health Organization (WHO) labelled the growing outbreak a global health emergency. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) said it would give up to $375,000 to the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to develop standard tools to assess the strength and duration of immune responses generated by current vaccines, and for tests used to detect monkeypox antibody levels.

WHO official: we believe monkeypox outbreak can be stopped

The rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak can be stopped, an official from the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. "We do at this moment still believe that this outbreak of monkeypox can be stopped with the right strategies in the right groups but time is going by and we all need to pull together to make that happen," Rosamund Lewis, WHO Technical Lead on Monkeypox, told reporters.

U.S. weighs declaring monkeypox a health emergency -Washington Post

The Biden administration is weighing whether to declare the monkeypox outbreak in the country a public health emergency, the Washington Post reported on Monday. The government is also planning to name a White House coordinator to oversee the country's response to the outbreak, according to the report.

Australia's COVID hospital admissions, deaths rise as variant surges

Hospital admissions for COVID-19 in Australia have reached a new high for a second straight day, data showed on Tuesday, while the daily death toll rose to its second-highest as an outbreak fuelled by a coronavirus sub-variant sweeps the country. Nearly 5,600 patients infected with COVID are in hospital while 100 new deaths were reported, just short of a record 102 deaths on Saturday.

Pfizer loses U.S. appeal over co-pays for heart failure patients

A federal appeals court on Monday rejected Pfizer Inc's challenge to a U.S. anti-kickback law the drugmaker said prevented it from helping heart failure patients, many with low incomes, afford medicine that cost $225,000 per year. A unanimous three-judge panel of the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Pfizer's effort to directly cover co-pays for patients taking its Vyndaqel and Vyndamax drugs.

Explainer-How worried should we be about the monkeypox global health emergency?

The rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak constitutes a global health emergency, the World Health Organization's highest alert level, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared on Saturday. First identified in monkeys, the virus is transmitted chiefly through close contact with an infected person. Until this year, the viral disease has rarely spread outside Africa where it is endemic.

(With inputs from agencies.)