Amid evolving workplaces, young professionals in India are increasingly experiencing stress and mental well-being, according to a new report on Tuesday.

The report by ADP, a global technology company, highlights the shifting emotional landscape of work, where generational differences in stress levels are increasingly evident.

The report showed that young professionals (aged 27-39) have the highest stress levels, with 11 per cent saying they experience high stress, above the national average of 9 per cent. Just 51 per cent of workers aged 18-26 reported better stress management.

On the other, older workers (aged 55-64) reported better stress management, with 81 per cent saying they feel stress less than once a week.

Work overload was found as the major trigger for younger employees -- 16 per cent of those aged 18-26 report stress due to heavy workloads, twice as many as their older counterparts aged between 55to 64 (8 per cent).

Singapore reported 151 new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases in 2024, with 78 of them diagnosed at a late stage of infection, according to the latest data released by the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA).

About 62 per cent of the newly reported cases were detected during medical care, with the majority already in the late stage of HIV infection.

The fact that more than half of the new cases were diagnosed late is a cause for concern, Wong Chen Seong, head of the national programs for HIV, hepatitis C, and sexually transmitted infections under the CDA, told local media.

He said that although both early- and late-stage patients can typically suppress the HIV viral load to undetectable levels after three to six months of treatment, those diagnosed at a late stage often already suffer from serious complications due to weakened immune systems.

With media reports citing cases of Covid-19 infections surging in Southeast Asia, bringing fresh fears about the disease that affected millions of people and the global economy, health experts on Tuesday dismissed them as seasonal trends of flu.

As per media reports, the weekly Covid-19 infections in Singapore surged by 28 per cent from 11,100 in late April to 14,200 in the first week of May, with hospitalisations also rising 30 per cent.

Hong Kong recorded 31 virus-related deaths in the week ending May 3, the city’s highest weekly toll in a year. New infections in Hong Kong rose to 1,042 in the week ending May 10, up from 972 the previous week.

The virus responsible for mpox (formerly known as Monkeypox) was circulating for about eight years ago in West Africa before the 2022 global outbreak, according to a study.

The study, published in the journal Nature, highlights the need for improved global surveillance and medicines, given the threat of impending pandemics.

Using genomic tracing, the researchers estimate that the virus's ancestor first emerged in southern Nigeria in August 2014 and spread to 11 states before human infections were detected in 2017.

"We could have very easily prevented the 2022 multi-country outbreak if countries in Africa were given better access to therapeutics, vaccines, and surveillance technologies," said Edyth Parker, from the Kristian Andersen Lab at Scripps Research.

Because the virus involved in the 2022 outbreak had an unexpected number of genetic mutations, scientists thought that mpox might have been circulating in Nigeria for much longer than expected.

South Korea has suspended imports of poultry and related products from Brazil after a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak was confirmed at a commercial farm in the country, the agriculture ministry said Saturday.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said the measure follows Brazil's official report to the World Organisation for Animal Health confirming an HPAI outbreak at a breeder farm in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul on Friday (local time), news agency reported.

Imports of Brazilian poultry products, including hatching eggs and day-old chicks, have been suspended, effective for shipments departing on or after May 15, the ministry said.

Shipments that departed within 14 days before the ban will undergo HPAI testing upon arrival.

The United States has reported 1,024 measles cases so far in 2025, marking a sharp increase from previous years, according to the latest data released by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

A total of 14 measles outbreaks have been recorded nationwide this year. The CDC defines an outbreak as three or more related cases.

Confirmed infections have been reported across 31 US jurisdictions, with 128 hospitalisations and three deaths recorded, the CDC said.

Approximately 96 per cent of the cases occurred in individuals who were either unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown.

High midlife stress may increase the chances of Alzheimer's disease in women after their menopause, according to a study.

Scientists at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, in the US, discovered that high levels of the stress hormone cortisol in midlife can increase amyloid deposition -- a hallmark of Alzheimer's -- in postmenopausal women later.

"The results highlight the importance of identifying early risk factors when biomarkers are detectable but cognitive impairment is absent," said Arash Salardini, Associate Professor at the varsity.

In the study, published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia, the team analysed data from 305 cognitively unimpaired participants in Massachusetts, US.

The combination of air pollution, dense urban development and limited green spaces increases the risk of asthma in both children and adults, according to a new study.

Improving these can help prevent one in 10 cases of asthma -- a chronic respiratory condition characterised by inflammation and narrowing of the airways, making breathing difficult.

Previous studies have typically calculated the risk of one environmental factor at a time. The new study combined several environmental factors and described how they together affect the risk of developing asthma.

This provided a better picture of environmental risks, as life in a city usually involves exposure to several environmental risk factors at the same time

If you are finding it hard to control hypertension or high blood pressure then eating dark chocolate, grapes, or drinking tea may help you, according to a study.

Researchers from the University of Surrey, UK, found that naturally occurring compounds called flavan-3-ols -- found in cocoa, tea, apples, and grapes -- may improve blood pressure and the health of our blood vessels.

The research, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, analysed data from 145 randomised controlled studies, and found that regular consumption of flavan-3-ols can lead to a reduction in blood pressure readings, particularly in people with elevated or high blood pressure.

Hypertension or high blood pressure is a silent killer that affects over 294 million people in the Southeast Asia region, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday, ahead of World Hypertension Day.

World Hypertension Day is observed every year on May 17 to raise awareness of hypertension and its serious medical complications.

The theme this year is "measure your blood pressure accurately, control it, live longer". It emphasises the importance of regular and accurate blood pressure measurements.

“Hypertension continues to be a major public health challenge -- a silent killer that affects over 294 million people across the WHO South-East Asia Region,” said Saima Wazed, Regional Director for WHO South-East Asia.