The number of heat-related patients in South Korea has exceeded 3,000 so far this year, as scorching heat continues to sweep across the nation, health authorities said on Friday.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), the total number of such patients had reached 3,019 as of Wednesday, since May 20, when the government began monitoring cases for the year, news agency reported.

The agency said that extreme heat has also claimed 28 lives so far this year in the country.

It marks the second-largest tally on record, with the highest number of heat-related patients reported in 2018 when 4,526 cases were recorded.

The latest figure has already surpassed the 2,818 cases posted in 2023, which were recorded between May 20 and September 30 last year.

The Korea Meteorological Administration, meanwhile, expects the country to remain under the influence of heat waves and to experience tropical nights through early September.

The excessive use of gadgets among individuals aged 20 to 55 is leading to a significant increase in back and spine problems, doctors warn.

Many are experiencing severe and debilitating symptoms, including sharp, stabbing, or dull pain in the back or neck, muscle spasms, tingling, loss of sensation, and even weakness or limited mobility.

Prolonged screen time is increasing musculoskeletal disorders, particularly affecting the spine, with severe pain, tingling, and functional weakness being reported.

"In this digital era, prolonged screen time is causing a rise in musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), particularly affecting the spine. There has been a 60 per cent surge in back and spine issues. Individuals aged 20-55 are reporting severe pain, sometimes accompanied by loss of urinary or bowel control, tingling in the extremities, and functional weakness. Seven in ten patients I see daily suffer from back and neck pain," Mohit Muttha, Orthopaedic & Spine Surgeon at Apollo Spectra, Pune told.

The number of patients hospitalised for COVID-19 showed signs of abating, health authorities said on Thursday.

Although the weekly number of COVID-19 inpatients grew last week, the growth rate of hospitalisation plunged, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), news agency reported.

The number of COVID-19 patients in 220 hospitals last week came to 1,444, up 5.7 per cent from a week earlier, the KDCA said.

That compared with 1,366 patients in the second week of this month, up 55.2 per cent from a week earlier, and 880 patients in the first week, up 85.7 per cent from a week ago.

"Considering the current trend, the number of infections is expected to decrease after this week or the next," KDCA Commissioner Jee Young-mee said during a meeting with related government agencies.

Recent weeks have witnessed a substantial wave of Covid-19 infections across the US, primarily driven by the emergence of new variants and exacerbated by the hot summer weather, the media reported.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s wastewater dashboard, the viral activity levels in wastewater reached their highest point since July 2022, news agency reported.

This tracking method, which provides a more comprehensive picture of viral spread than traditional testing methods, indicated that nationally, the wastewater viral activity level for Covid is currently "very high," noted the CDC's latest monitoring report last week.

Even modest smoking of just 1-2 cigarettes per day, either before or during pregnancy is strongly linked to serious health issues for the foetus, warned research.

The research, led by Shandong University researchers in China, reinforces the body of evidence suggesting that women who are or planning to get pregnant should quit smoking to safeguard the health of their unborn child.

Previous research has linked smoking during pregnancy with the increase in the risk of preterm delivery, low birth weight, and restricted growth of the foetus.

However, the possibility that a newborn could be impacted by the mother's timing and intensity of cigarette smoking is less understood.

The researchers note that this is significant since many women think it's acceptable to smoke before getting pregnant, during the first three months of pregnancy, or that mild smoking is probably not detrimental.

For the study, they used national birth certification data from the US from 2016 to 2019 -- a total of 15,379,982 recorded live births.

The KP.3.1.1 Covid-19 variant, now the predominant SARS-CoV-2 variant circulating in the US, has been causing increasing infections in the country, the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed.

KP.3.1.1, of the Omicron family, is among many currently co-circulating JN.1-derived variants in the US, news agency reported.

For the two-week period ending August 17, KP.3.1.1 is predicted to account for between 31 per cent and 43 per cent of Covid-19 clinical specimens, compared to between 20 per cent and 26 per cent for the two-week period ending August 3, according to the latest CDC data released.

The deadly Chandipura virus is spreading across Rajasthan as the number of people infected by it has increased to four, while 74 people are suspected to be infected by it, state health officials said on Saturday.

On Friday, a new case was detected in Rajasthan. The patient is a nine-year-old boy who was in close contact with the third positive patient in Shahpura.

Officials said that around 70 samples of people suspected to be infected by the virus were collected, in which reports of 32 are pending.

In fact 91 samples (71 in Udaipur and 20 in Dungapur) of animals have also been collected as the virus can infect them too. All animal sample results are pending.

Mpox vaccine procurement for at-risk populations across Africa is crucial to contain the deadly outbreak and save lives, according to a report on Friday.

The report by GlobalData, a data and analytics company, noted that while Mpox vaccines played an important role in containing the 2022 mpox outbreak in high-income nations, “none are currently widely available in Africa”.

Bavarian Nordic’s MVA-BN vaccine (Jynneos/Imvanex) -- approved in the US, Europe, and Canada -- is the leading mpox vaccine worldwide.

In addition, KM Biologics’ LC16 vaccine is available in Japan and Emergent BioSolutions’ ACAM2000 is also under regulatory review for mpox in the US.

Fiona Chisholm, Associate Director of Infectious Diseases at GlobalData, called for a coordinated international response to put “pressure on countries with stockpiles to donate their mpox vaccines.”

Hospitals in South Korea are set to wrap up the hiring of more junior doctors on Friday, but few more applicants are expected as many trainee doctors have defied the government's medical reform for nearly seven months, the officials said.

Hospitals issued new recruitment notices for trainee doctors last week after the medical community was lukewarm to the initial round that ended last month. Some medical professors have even warned of a potential boycott of training new applicants, news agency reported.

During the previous round, the total number of applicants was just 104, filling only 1.4 per cent of the 7,645 available positions.

The health ministry reported that the number of applicants for the new round continued to remain low as of Wednesday, adding that it will review additional measures after hospitals close applications.

"There are not many applicants so far," a health ministry official said.

A decline in psychological well-being, particularly in areas like purpose in life and personal growth, in old age may precede the development of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) -- a common precursor to dementia, according to new research.

The study, published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, indicates that these aspects of well-being start deteriorating two to six years before an MCI diagnosis, even when no cognitive symptoms are evident, and this decline occurs regardless of whether the individual later develops dementia.

While much research has linked psychological well-being to brain ageing and dementia, it often focuses primarily on a sense of purpose, leaving out other important components such as self-acceptance, autonomy, environmental mastery, and meaningful relationships.