Following is a summary of current health news briefs.
After COVID-19, ‘black fungus’ robs some in India of their eyesight
Saheb Rao Shinde’s family thought the worst was over when the 65-year-old recovered from COVID-19 last month at his home in western India. But a few weeks later, the revenue-stamp vendor lost sight in one eye. After a catastrophic second wave of COVID-19 in India since April which has seen its overall death toll climb to almost 400,000, thousands who contracted the virus also suffered from a rare fungal disease called mucormycosis, or “black fungus”. [
Greece to vaccinate teenagers once experts give go-ahead
Greece will start vaccinating teenagers once it gets the go-ahead from experts, a government spokesperson said on Thursday, after Athens earlier this week offered those aged 18-25 cash and phone data in exchange for getting a shot. Some 44% of Greeks aged over 18 have been vaccinated and the country has been easing restrictions as infections fall.
CureVac says speaking to EU about ideal region to use vaccine
Curevac said it was in discussions with its prospective customer, the European Union, about where in the world to best deploy its experimental COVID-19 vaccine if it wins approval. Under CureVac’s only major supply deal, the European Union last year secured up to 405 million doses of the vaccine in November, of which 180 million doses were optional.
Novartis weighs entry into mRNA technology, chairman tells paper
Swiss drugmaker Novartis could get into the field of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) technology, which has come to the fore in vaccine development during the coronavirus pandemic, Chairman Joerg Reinhardt said in a newspaper interview. In the Aargauer Zeitung interview, Reinhardt also highlighted the company’s resurgent interest in anti-infective products that has also been driven by the pandemic.
Russia’s daily COVID-19 deaths hit new pandemic high
Russia reported 672 coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday, the most confirmed in a single day since the pandemic began, amid a surge in cases that authorities blame on the Delta variant. The government coronavirus task force also confirmed 23,543 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the most since Jan. 17, including 7,597 in Moscow. That pushed the national case total to 5,538,142 since the start of the outbreak.
Rising Delta virus, absent Brits dampen Europe’s tourism hopes
While not a complete wash-out, the summer tourism season vital to southern Europe’s economies will be less than sizzling as the Delta coronavirus spreads and travel hurdles keep British and other sun-seekers at home. A European Union COVID-19 travel certificate launched on Thursday may help some make trips but arrivals to tourist hotspots from Portugal to Croatia are set to remain well down on normal levels, putting businesses and hospitality jobs at risk.
Some European countries to allow travellers from India inoculated with Covishield – Indian govt sources
Germany and Spain are among nine countries in Europe who have told India they will accept travellers inoculated with Covishield, the Indian-made version of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, Indian foreign ministry sources said on Thursday. Friction emerged between India and Europe in recent days over the exclusion by the European Union vaccine passport programme of Covishield as one of its accepted vaccines.
Indonesia to impose emergency measures as COVID-19 cases spike
President Joko Widodo said on Thursday that Indonesia will impose emergency measures until July 20 to contain an exponential spike in coronavirus cases that has strained the medical system. There has been an alarming climb in virus cases in the world’s fourth most populous country in recent weeks, prompting warnings from health experts the outbreak could be as bad as India’s devastating second wave if tighter measures are not introduced.
Tokyo mom creates COVID-19 vaccination database amid information vacuum
Balancing a new software programming job and caring for a toddler in Tokyo, LaShawn Toyoda saw increasing confusion in her social media feeds among non-Japanese speakers about how they could get a COVID-19 vaccine. The 36-year-old, a former English teacher who had recently completed an intensive coding course as part of a pandemic-prompted career change, decided she had the skills to help ease concerns amid a lack of clear direction from officials.
Euro 2020 crowds driving rise in COVID-19 infections, says WHO
Crowds at Euro 2020 football stadiums and in pubs and bars in host cities are driving the current rise in coronavirus infections in Europe, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday. A 10-week decline in new coronavirus infections across the region has come to an end and a new wave of infections is inevitable if football fans and others drop their guard, according to WHO.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
