Latin America

Dengue cases break records in Americas amid warmer temperatures A record more than 4 million cases have been reported throughout the Americas and Caribbean so far this year. NBC News

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Dengue is sweeping across the Western Hemisphere in numbers not seen since record-keeping began more than four decades ago, with experts warning that rising temperatures and rapid urbanization are accelerating the pace of infections.

Pfizer more than doubles price of lifesaving Covid-19 medication Paxlovid as US transitions out of pandemic phase | CNN The price of the lifesaving Covid-19 antiviral medication Paxlovid will more than double as the United States transitions out of the emergency phase of the pandemic, drugmaker Pfizer said Wednesday. Meg Tirrell CNN

The list price, before insurance, will be $1,390 for a five-day course, Pfizer said in a statement. That’s 2.6 times higher than the $530-per-course price paid by the US government, which provided Paxlovid free to patients during the pandemic. The Wall Street Journal first reported the new price.

In hopeful sign for the US, flu vaccine shows strong protection against hospitalization in South America, CDC report shows | CNN Early data from South America shows that the flu vaccine has cut the risk of hospitalization in half this year, a hopeful sign that the vaccine will provide a similar level of protection in the United States as the country heads into its own respiratory virus season. Deidre McPhillips CNN

...

Global COVID markers show few hot spots as XBB.1.16 overtakes XBB.1.5 CIDRAP

Some countries continue to report high COVID-19 burdens, reflected mainly in hospitalization and death data, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest weekly update. ..