Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. NIH trial: Gilead's drug works best in COVID patients on oxygen

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Friday said that data from its trial of Gilead Sciences Inc's remdesivir show that the drug offers the most benefit for COVID-19 patients who need extra oxygen but do not require mechanical ventilation. The peer-reviewed data was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. South America a new COVID epicenter, Africa reaches 100,000 cases

South America has become a new epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic with Brazil hardest-hit, while cases are rising in some African countries that so far have a relatively low death toll, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. "The COVID-19 pandemic today reached a milestone in Africa, with more than 100,000 confirmed cases. The virus has now spread to every country in the continent since the first case was confirmed in the region 14 weeks ago," the WHO said in a statement, noting there were 3,100 confirmed deaths on the vast continent. U.S. CDC reports total of 1,595,885 coronavirus cases, 96,002 deaths

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Saturday reported 1,595,885 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 24,268 cases from its previous count, and said the number of deaths had risen by 1,852 to 96,002. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by the new coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. ET on May 22, compared with its count a day earlier. Singapore's health ministry confirms 642 more coronavirus cases

Singapore's health ministry said on Saturday it had confirmed 642 more coronavirus cases, taking its tally of infections to 31,068. The vast majority of the newly infected people are migrant workers living in dormitories, the ministry said in a statement. Six are permanent residents. Thailand begins coronavirus vaccine trials on monkeys

Thailand on Saturday began testing a vaccine against the coronavirus on monkeys after positive trials in mice, an official said. Thailand's minister of higher education, science, and research and innovation, Suvit Maesincee, said researchers had moved testing of the vaccine to monkeys and hoped to have a "clearer outcome" of its effectiveness by September. Beyond politics, gold-standard COVID-19 trials test malaria drug taken by Trump

In the fight against COVID-19, the decades-old anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine has become a political football, with U.S. President Donald Trump personally taking it and hailing it as a "game changer," to the derision of critics. Some studies already have been done on hydroxychloroquine and the closely related chloroquine, including one published on Friday showing a higher risk of death and heart rhythm problems for coronavirus patients who used them compared to those who did not. But doctors are waiting for the debate about the usefulness of these drugs for COVID-19 to be settled by gold-standard scientific trials, with some results due as soon as next week. Russia reports 9,434 new coronavirus infections

Russia said on Saturday that 9,434 new cases of the novel coronavirus had been reported in the last 24 hours, pushing its nationwide tally to 335,882. The country's coronavirus crisis response centre reported 139 new fatalities after a record of 150 deaths the day before, bringing the death toll to 3,388. French COVID-19 cases slow and patient tallies continue to fall

Coronavirus infection rates in France have slowed further and the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital and intensive care continued to fall, health ministry figures showed, a sign that social distancing is keeping contagion in check for now. Nearly two weeks after lockdown ended, health ministry data on Saturday showed the number of confirmed cases rose by 250 to 144,806 over 24 hours, an increase of 0.2%, below the average 0.3% increase of the past seven days and well below the average 0.8% increase seen in the last week of lockdown. Philippines reports six coronavirus deaths, 180 more cases

The Philippines on Saturday recorded six additional coronavirus deaths and 180 more infections, the health ministry said. In a bulletin, the ministry said total infections have risen to 13,777, while deaths have reached 863. But 85 more patients have recovered, bringing total recoveries to 3,177. Exclusive: U.S. plans massive coronavirus vaccine testing effort to meet year-end deadline

The United States plans a massive testing effort involving more than 100,000 volunteers and a half dozen or so of the most promising vaccine candidates in an effort to deliver a safe and effective one by the end of 2020, scientists leading the program told Reuters. The project will compress what is typically 10 years of vaccine development and testing into a matter of months, testimony to the urgency to halt a pandemic that has infected more than 5 million people, killed over 335,000 and battered economies worldwide.

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