Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Germany's confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 460 to 177,212: RKI

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 460 to 177,212, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Friday. The reported death toll rose by 27 to 8174, the tally showed. U.S. doctors call for remdesivir data to guide coronavirus treatment

U.S. doctors and others in the scientific community are calling for the release of data that convinced health regulators to authorize emergency use of Gilead Sciences Inc's antiviral drug remdesivir to treat COVID-19, so they can direct limited supplies on the right patients. Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc Chief Executive Mihael Polymeropoulos on Wednesday published an open letter asking for a full download of the trial findings that led to emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. At centers for stranded migrants in Panama, 59 test positive for coronavirus

Fifty-nine migrants in Panamanian migration centers have tested positive for the coronavirus, a health official said, as thousands of migrants in the Central American nation wait to advance on their journey north. More than 2,500 migrants became stranded in Panama in March when the border with neighboring Costa Rica was closed in an attempt to contain the rapidly spreading coronavirus, according to figures from Panamanian migration authorities. China reports four new coronavirus cases in mainland as of end-May 21

China recorded four new coronavirus cases on May 21, up from two a day earlier, the National Health Commission (NHC) reported on Friday. China also reported two imported cases from the previous day. Brazil's Bolsonaro accepts no proof chloroquine works, but may work in some cases

Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro, a long-running advocate of malaria drug chloroquine to treat COVID-19, said on Thursday he knew there was no proof it works, but said there are cases in which it appears to have been successful. University of Alabama to push contact tracing app, require online health checks

The University of Alabama will require students and staff returning to its three campuses in the coming months to submit online health checks regularly and encourage them to download its contact tracing app, officials told Reuters on Thursday. Researchers at several dozen U.S. universities are developing mobile apps that aim to curb new infections of the novel coronavirus, but Alabama is one of the first U.S. school systems to move forward on deploying such an app. Exclusive: A quarter of Americans are hesitant about a coronavirus vaccine - Reuters/Ipsos poll

A quarter of Americans have little or no interest in taking a coronavirus vaccine, a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Thursday found, with some voicing concern that the record pace at which vaccine candidates are being developed could compromise safety. While health experts say a vaccine to prevent infection is needed to return life to normal, the survey points to a potential trust issue for the Trump administration already under fire for its often contradictory safety guidance during the pandemic. U.S. secures 300 million doses of potential AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

The United States has secured almost a third of the first 1 billion doses planned for AstraZeneca's experimental COVID-19 vaccine by pledging up to $1.2 billion, as world powers scramble for medicines to get their economies back to work. While not yet proven to be effective against the coronavirus, vaccines are seen by world leaders as the only real way to restart their stalled economies, and even to get an edge over global competitors. Abbott says new data on rapid coronavirus test used in White House shows high accuracy

Abbott Laboratories on Thursday said an analysis of data from an ongoing study of its ID NOW rapid test, which is used in the White House and elsewhere to spot COVID-19, shows it is highly accurate when compared with industry-standard tests. Abbott's data has so far shown that the test, which can be used at the point of care and produces results in minutes, finds positive cases of COVID-19 nearly 95% of the time when compared with two other tests performed in laboratories. U.S. FDA names 27 coronavirus antibody tests no longer ok to be sold

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday identified 27 coronavirus antibody tests that should no longer be sold in the United States, following up on new regulations meant to weed out dubious tests and players that had entered the country under loose rules set in March. That original policy required vendors only to notify the agency that they intended to sell the tests in the country and to self-certify the tests worked. Reuters reported that the policy had opened the market to fraud and lawmakers had pushed the FDA to change it.

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