Health News Roundup: CDC issues guidelines on how to reopen schools; German coronavirus reproduction rate remains below critical and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

CDC issues guidelines on how to reopen schools, transit and workplaces

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday issued guidelines to help schools and workplaces determine whether they are ready to open for business. The six so-called "decision trees" cover yes or no scenarios that are aimed to help assess readiness for opening workplaces, restaurants and bars, mass transit, childcare, camps and schools.

German coronavirus reproduction rate remains below critical threshold

The reproduction rate for the coronavirus in Germany remained below the key threshold of 1 according to both the conventional calculation method and a new, less volatile measure, the Robert Koch Institute for disease control said on Thursday. The daily measure that it has been using - the so-called 'R' number - was 0.75, down from 0.81 reported on Wednesday.

Dutch researchers: in talks to develop antibody treatment for coronavirus

Researchers from Utrecht University said on Thursday they are in talks with major pharmaceutical manufacturers on developing an antibody treatment for the new coronavirus. "I think the most optimistic scenario is that we can reach the first patients in about six months," said virologist Berend-Jan Bosch at a press conference. The university has formed a partnership with Erasmus Medical Centre and Harbour Biomed to develop the potential treatment.

Cases of children with rare inflammatory syndrome spike in Italy and France

Doctors in France and northern Italy, one of the areas hardest hit by the new coronavirus, have reported spikes in cases of a rare inflammatory syndrome in young children that appears similar to one reported in the United States, Britain and Spain, according to a report in The Lancet. The condition, "Pediatric Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome Potentially Associated with COVID-19," shares symptoms with toxic shock and Kawasaki disease including fever, rashes, swollen glands and, in severe cases, heart inflammation.

Europe pins hope on antibody tests to avoid second virus wave

As Europe gingerly eases its coronavirus lockdowns, many governments are scrambling to buy antibody tests to find out how many of their citizens were infected, in the hope that will help them craft strategies to avoid a second wave of COVID-19 cases. But exactly how - or even if - the information will be of use remains unclear, raising the risk that public funds and government time are being wasted.

Russia's ChemRar says in second-, third-phase testing of coronavirus drug favipiravir

A Russian company trialling a drug to treat the new coronavirus said on Thursday it was testing it on infected patients in what it called second- and third-phase clinical trials based on World Health Organisation (WHO) criteria. The first phase of testing, which involved healthy volunteers, was carried out by the drug's initial developer, before trials began in Russia, a spokeswoman for ChemRar, the company conducting the trials, told Reuters.

NIH to study malaria drug championed by President Trump against COVID-19

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on Thursday it began a study to evaluate the combination of antibiotics azithromycin and malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which was previously touted by U.S. President Donald Trump as a "game changer", for the treatment of COVID-19. The mid-stage study, for which Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd will be donating medicines, will assess whether the combination can prevent hospitalization and death from COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus.

Trump mobilizing U.S. military to deliver coronavirus vaccine

President Donald Trump is mobilizing the U.S. military to distribute a novel coronavirus vaccine when one becomes available and will focus first on older Americans. "You know it's a massive job to give this vaccine," Trump said in an interview broadcast Thursday on Fox Business Network. "Our military is now being mobilized so at the end of the year, we're going to be able to give it to a lot of people very, very rapidly."

France defends equal access to any vaccine as U.S. eyes its own plans

France said on Thursday that the world's nations would have equal access to any novel coronavirus vaccine developed by pharmaceuticals giant Sanofi, a day after the CEO suggested that Americans would likely be the first in line. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in an interview, said he hoped that any vaccine developed would be shared worldwide.

How sewer science could ease testing pressure and track COVID-19

The science of sewage surveillance could be deployed in countries across the world to help monitor the spread of national epidemics of COVID-19 while reducing the need for mass testing, scientists say. Experts in the field - known as wastewater epidemiology - say that as countries begin to ease pandemic lockdown restrictions, searching sewage for signs of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus could help them monitor and respond to flare-ups.