Although daily cases are near all-time highs, China is looking to make its zero-COVID policy more targeted amid an economic slowdown and public frustration that has boiled over into unrest.
China has started taking steps to ease its zero-COVID policy, fuelling a mix of relief and worry as the public waits to see the health consequences, and impact on the medical system, of a full-blown exit.
Pfizer Inc is investing more than $2.5 billion at its drug making plants in Belgium and Ireland, gearing up to launch new products it hopes can replace lost revenue as patents expire and COVID-19 vaccine sales decline.
A second Indiana judge on Friday blocked the state from enforcing its law banning most abortions after Jewish, Muslim and other non-Christian women challenged it in a lawsuit.
Chinese President Xi Jinping blamed mass protests in Chinese cities on youth frustrated by years of the COVID-19 pandemic, but said the now dominant Omicron variant of the virus paved the way for fewer restrictions, European Union officials said.
Protests in China against the world's toughest COVID-19 restrictions are dying down because they have had an effect, a top U.S. diplomat said on Friday, as Beijing further eased testing and quarantine rules.
Uganda has discharged its last known Ebola patient from hospital, a senior health official said on Friday, raising hopes that an outbreak which has killed at least 56 people could be coming to an end.
The near year-long infant formula shortage in the United States that prompted the intervention of the White House is likely to "persist" until spring, according to Reckitt Benckiser, the maker of what is now the biggest brand in the market, Enfamil.
