Following is a summary of current health news briefs.
Australia’s New South Wales reports record 1,218 COVID-19 cases
Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, reported a record 1,218 locally acquired COVID-19 infections on Sunday, exceeding the previous day’s record of 1,035. Six more people have died in the current outbreak of the highly transmissible Delta variant, which began in the state in mid-June. There are 813 people now in hospital, 126 of them in intensive care, the New South Wales health ministry said on Twitter.
U.S. administers 367.9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines – CDC
The United States has administered 367,911,870 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Saturday morning and distributed 439,428,235 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Those figures are up from the 366,838,484 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by Aug. 27 out of 437,567,285 doses delivered.
Number of French COVID-19 intensive care patients drops
The number of people in French hospital intensive care units due to COVID-19 dipped on Saturday for the first time in nine days, dropping by 11 to 2,259 in total. Since July 21, the number of patients in critical care had risen continuously, bar a small drop on Aug. 19. This period of rising ICU numbers coincided with the fourth wave of COVID-19 infections, according to the French government.
Australia’s Victoria reports 92 local COVID-19 cases
Australia’s state Victoria, home to more than a quarter of the country’s 25-million population, reported on Sunday 92 new locally acquired coronavirus cases, the highest number in nearly a year. Victoria and the neighboring New South Wales, as well as the Australian Capital Territory, have been in lockdowns for weeks, as authorities struggle to quell the highly infectious Delta variant.
India’s new COVID-19 cases rise by 45,083
India reported 45,083 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, according to data from the health ministry, driven by surging cases in the southern state of Kerala. The country’s COVID-19 cases stood at about 32.7 million, with deaths rising by 460 to 437,830 in the last 24 hours, data showed.
Okinawa finds contaminants in Moderna COVID-19 vaccines- NHK
Contaminants were found in Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccines at a large-scale vaccination center in Japan’s Okinawa prefecture, suspending inoculations, public broadcaster NHK reported on Sunday. The Okinawa vaccines are from different Moderna lots already suspended by the Japanese government due to reports of contamination, NHK said.
New Zealand reports 83 local COVID-19 cases as Delta outbreak grows
New Zealand reported 83 locally acquired cases on Sunday of the highly infectious Delta coronavirus variant, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying that some changes on how the outbreak is managed could be announced on Monday. Ardern on Friday extended the lockdown for the country of 5.1 million until midnight on Tuesday, after which the restrictions were to ease slightly. Auckland, however, which is the epicenter of the outbreak was to remain locked down for longer
Cuba to deploy China’s Sinopharm alongside homegrown vaccines
Cuba, which to date had deployed exclusively its homegrown COVID-19 vaccines, will start also using the Sinopharm vaccine of its Communist-run ally China in its bid to battle one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the world. Health authorities will apply two doses of Sinopharm combined with a Cuban booster in the central province of Cienfuegos from Sunday, Vicente Verez, the head of the Cuban Finlay Vaccine Institute, was cited as saying by the provincial state-run outlet 5deSeptiembre.
China reports 33 COVID-19 cases for Aug 28, none local
China reported 33 confirmed coronavirus cases in the mainland for Aug. 28, up from 21 a day earlier, according to the National Health Commission on Saturday. All the cases were imported, the health authority said, compared with one local infection the previous day.
Singapore fully vaccinates 80% of population against COVID-19
Singapore has fully inoculated 80% of its 5.7 million people against COVID-19, the health minister said on Sunday, becoming the world’s most vaccinated country and setting the stage for further easing of curbs. “We have crossed another milestone, where 80% of our population has received their full regimen of two doses,” Ong Ye Kung said in a Facebook post.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
