Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. China's Wuhan says conducted 856,128 COVID-19 tests on Tuesday

The city of Wuhan, the original epicentre of China's coronavirus outbreak, conducted 856,128 tests for the disease on Tuesday, the local health authority said on Wednesday, compared with 467,847 a day earlier. Wuhan kicked off a campaign on May 14 to look for asymptomatic carriers - infected people who show no outward sign of illness - after confirming on May 9-10 its first cluster of COVID-19 infections since the city's lockdown was lifted on April 8. Rural Ecuador faces coronavirus outbreak without doctors

When a group of villagers in the Ecuadorean fishing community of El Real came down with coughs and fevers in early April, nobody was sure if they had the coronavirus - and no health workers were available to diagnose or treat them. Their local doctor, like many of rural Ecuador's health workers, had been transferred to the country's biggest city, Guayaquil. There, the COVID-19 pandemic had overwhelmed hospitals and left authorities struggling to collect bodies. UK PM Johnson vows 'world-beating' track and trace COVID system by June 1

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that a programme to track and trace those suspected of having been in contact with people who have tested positive for COVID-19 would be in place by June 1. He said the government would have recruited 25,000 trackers by the start of next month, capable of tracing 10,000 new cases a day, when the overall number of daily tests would have reached 200,000. Switzerland allocates $310 million to get access to coronavirus vaccine

Switzerland's interior ministry and defence department will lead efforts to get COVID-19 vaccine, the government said on Wednesday, estimating costs of 300 million Swiss francs ($310.82 million) to secure enough doses for the nation's 8.6 million population. "The cabinet expects the immunity of Swiss residents, like for residents of other countries, will be very low following the first wave of the pandemic," the government said in a statement. "Consequently, worldwide demand for vaccines will be correspondingly high." Inovio says COVID-19 vaccine produces antibodies in mice, guinea pigs

U.S. immunotherapy company Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc on Wednesday said its experimental vaccine to prevent coronavirus infection was shown to produce protective antibodies and immune system responses in mice and guinea pigs. The company's shares, which have more than quadrupled this year, surged 17.7% to $17.13 in trading before the bell. Pakistani legislator dies from COVID-19, as highest daily toll recorded

A Pakistani local legislator died on Wednesday after contracting COVID-19, hospital officials said, marking the first death of a political figure in the South Asian nation from the disease at a time the country has lifted its countrywide lockdown. Pakistan has recorded 45,898 infections and 985 deaths to date from the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Tuesday saw the most deaths in a single day reported, at 46. A nurse struggled with COVID-19 trauma. He was found dead in his car

Becoming a nurse in 2018 was a dream come true for William Coddington. He loved helping people and feeling needed at his West Palm Beach, Florida hospital. The 32-year-old was on the upswing of a decade-long battle with opioid addiction and other substance abuse, according to friends and family, who said he was committed to his recovery. Luxembourg starts mass COVID-19 testing, aims to cover everyone soon

Luxembourg began mass testing for COVID-19 this week with the goal of covering all of its 600,000 people as soon as possible to stave off a second wave of infections following the easing of lockdown measures. The diagnostic tests are voluntary, building up from around 1,500 daily tests to 20,000 a day next month. The aim is to test everyone in the Grand Duchy, in contingents and in some cases several times. Lonza CEO says on pace to make Moderna trial vaccine in June/July: CNBC

Contract drug manufacturer Lonza still expects to supply drugmaker Moderna with active ingredients for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine by June or July to support laboratory trials, the Swiss company's interim CEO, Albert Baehny, told CNBC on Wednesday. By December, Baehny said in an interview, Lonza should be able to make large volumes of vaccine in North America, provided the trials prove promising. His comments to CNBC follow Lonza's and Moderna's May 1 announcement of a 10-year collaboration agreement aimed at making up to a billion doses per year, if the drug passes safety and effectiveness hurdles. Johnson & Johnson to stop selling talc baby powder in U.S. and Canada

Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday announced it would stop selling its talc Baby Powder in the United States and Canada, saying demand had dropped in the wake of what it called "misinformation" about the product’s safety amid a barrage of legal challenges. J&J faces more than 19,000 lawsuits from consumers and their survivors claiming its talc products caused cancer due to contamination with asbestos, a known carcinogen. Many are pending before a U.S. district judge in New Jersey.