Following is a summary of current health news briefs.
Factbox: Countries weigh ‘mix and match’ COVID-19 vaccines
A growing number of countries are looking at switching to different COVID-19 vaccines for second doses or booster shots after supply delays and safety concerns have slowed their vaccination campaigns. The World Health Organization said on July 12 the practice was a “dangerous trend” since there was little data available about the health impact, while Europe’s drug regulator on July 14 made no definitive recommendations on switching doses.
U.S. FDA approves Merck’s Keytruda combo for early breast cancer treatment
Merck & Co Inc said on Tuesday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its immunotherapy Keytruda as a treatment for an early form of a tough-to-treat breast cancer in combination with chemotherapy. The FDA approval is for treating triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive form of the disease with an increased risk of recurrence.
India expects about 150 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in August
The Indian government expects to have around 150 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in August, Vinod Kumar Paul, who heads a federal government panel on vaccines, told a news conference on Tuesday. India will meet its target of supplying more than half a billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to states by the end of this month, the health ministry had said earlier in the day.
Bangkok to convert disused train carriages into COVID-19 ward
Authorities in Thailand’s capital Bangkok plan to convert 15 disused railway carriages into a 240-bed COVID-19 isolation ward for patients with less severe symptoms, the city’s governing body said on Tuesday. Thailand has been battling its biggest coronavirus outbreak since the pandemic began. The Southeast Asian country reported 14,150 new cases and 118 deaths on Tuesday, bringing the total number of reported cases to 526,828 and 4,264 deaths so far.
UK PM Johnson: don’t get carried away with falling COVID-19 cases
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that people should not get carried away by six days of better COVID-19 infection data, while one of the country’s top epidemiologists said the end of the pandemic could be just months away. Johnson has lifted restrictions in England and is betting he can get one of Europe’s largest economies firing again because so many people are now vaccinated, a decision which marks a new chapter in the response to the novel coronavirus.
Vietnam health ministry reports 7,913 new coronavirus infections
Vietnam reported 7,913 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, the fifth straight day the country has recorded more than 7,000 cases as it battles its largest and most difficult outbreak yet, the health ministry said. Vietnam has reported a total of 114,260 cases so far, with at least 524 deaths. The country largely succeeded in suppressing virus in 2020, but has lately been hit with a fast-spreading outbreak, with around a third of its total cases recorded in just the last five days.
Indonesia considers COVID-19 booster shots for wider use – govt official
Indonesia, which uses the Sinovac vaccine as its main COVID-19 inoculation, is considering providing a booster shot, as a study showed antibodies provided by the two-dose shot fade over time, a senior health ministry official said on Tuesday. Indonesia, which has become Asia’s COVID-19 epicentre with record infections and deaths this month, relies heavily on the Sinovac vaccine that accounts for more than fourth-fifths of 173 million doses of vaccine supplies it has received so far.
Olympic host Tokyo hits record 2,848 COVID-19 cases, seeks more hospital beds
Tokyo’s 2,848 COVID-19 infections on Tuesday were the Olympic host city’s highest since the pandemic began, officials said, as media reported that authorities had asked hospitals to prepare more beds for patients as the Delta variant drives the surge. The rise in cases threatens to further erode support for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, whose ratings have slid to their lowest level since he took office last September, in large part because of his haphazard handling of the pandemic.
Vietnam companies agree COVID-19 vaccine tech transfer with Japan’s Shionogi – media
Vietnamese firms AIC and Vabiotech have signed a deal with Japan’s Shionogi & Co to produce COVID-19 vaccines based on recombinant DNA protein technology, a health ministry official told local media outlet VnExpress on Tuesday. After successfully containing the virus for much of the pandemic, Vietnam has been facing record daily surges of infections since an outbreak which emerged in late April.
Myanmar floods, coup, complicate growing COVID-19 outbreak
Flooding in Myanmar has displaced hundreds of people, residents said on Tuesday, adding to the misery of a nation struggling against a fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak while living through the chaos created by a military coup in February.
Heavy downpours since the weekend caused flooding in several areas, forcing healthcare workers to move COVID-19 patients through drenched streets and alleys in search of someplace drier.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
