Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Special Report: FDA's lax rules on coronavirus blood tests open U.S. market to dubious vendors

As the coronavirus pandemic engulfed the United States, Joe Shia, a consultant to Chinese medical companies, said he was bombarded with inquiries from American firms who saw a golden opportunity in selling tests to determine coronavirus immunity. Unlike his typical clients, some firms seeking his help had never before sold medical equipment. Others wanted to register test kits with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration without approval from the manufacturer, or to offer home-based tests, which are not allowed by the FDA. One was in the window business, he said. Moderna, Switzerland's Lonza strike deal on potential COVID-19 vaccine

Moderna Inc and Swiss contract drugmaker Lonza Group AG said on Friday they would accelerate the manufacturing of the U.S. drug developer's potential coronavirus vaccine. The announcement comes at a time when drugmakers are pausing clinical trials for other disease areas as they focus on testing potential treatments for the coronavirus. Fax-loving Japan to introduce online system for reporting coronavirus

Japan's health ministry will introduce a system for health centres to report new coronavirus cases online instead of by hand-written faxes, phone or email - drawing praise from some but scorn from others wondering what took it so long. Despite Japan's high-tech image, many businesses and government offices still rely on fax machines, generating documents on which officials can stamp their approval with traditional "hanko" seals, and leaving a paper trail. Australia to consider next Friday easing of coronavirus containment measures

Australia will consider next Friday whether to relax coronavirus-related mobility restrictions, as the growth rate of new infections slows, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday following a national cabinet meeting. Morrison urged Australians to download an app aimed at tracing contacts of COVID-19 patients, saying it was a pre-condition to relaxing the containment measures. Pfizer aims for 10-20 million doses of coronavirus vaccine by end-2020

Pfizer aims to make 10-20 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine it is developing with Germany's BioNtech by the end of 2020 for emergency use should it pass tests, the U.S. drugmaker's head of vaccines said on Thursday. The companies, whose project relies on messenger RNA technology never before used in an approved vaccine, have dosed the first humans in Germany and hope to begin a U.S. trial soon, pending regulators' blessing. Experts call for Japan to keep current framework of virus containment

Japan's coronavirus experts said it was desirable for the nation to keep its current framework of coronavirus containment policies until the number of new infections fell to a certain level, according to Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura. The experts also said that some regions needed to keep strict restrictions in place while others could start to ease them, Nishimura quoted them as telling a government panel meeting on Friday. Afghanistan likely facing coronavirus 'health disaster': U.S. watchdog

Afghanistan, beset by a poor healthcare system, malnutrition, war and other vulnerabilities, likely is facing a "health disaster" from the coronavirus, a watchdog report to the U.S. Congress warns. The report released late on Thursday by Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko could heighten concerns among U.S. officials and lawmakers that the pandemic threatens to derail stalled U.S.-led peace efforts. Thailand reports six new coronavirus cases, no deaths

Thailand reported six new coronavirus cases and no new death on Friday, taking its tally to 2,960 infections while fatalities remained at 54 since the outbreak began in January. New daily infections have stayed in the single digits for five consecutive days. The six cases also marked the lowest new daily infections since early March. Gilead to work with partners to ramp up production of potential coronavirus treatment

Gilead Sciences Inc, maker of the closely-watched experimental coronavirus drug remdesivir, on Thursday said it will work with international partners to expand production of the potential COVID-19 treatment. The company said it still expects to have more than one million remdesivir treatment courses manufactured by December, "with plans to be able to produce several million treatment courses in 2021." Nearly a dozen approved drugs could be effective against COVID-19: study

At least 10 different drug compounds ranging from cancer therapies to antipsychotics and antihistamines may be effective at preventing the new coronavirus from multiplying in the body, according to a multidisciplinary study conducted by a team of scientists in the United States and France. The researchers mapped the human proteins the virus interacts with inside the body when it infects cells and makes copies of itself, then looked for compounds that could block the virus from using those proteins.