Health News Roundup: California startup aims to monitor social distancing and face masks using drones; U.S. CDC reports 1,994,283 coronavirus cases and more

The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4 pm ET on June 10, versus its previous report on Wednesday.(https://bit.ly/3cUcwKI) Australia has eliminated COVID-19 in some parts, says chief medical officer Australia has effectively eliminated COVID-19 in some parts of the country, its chief medical officer said on Friday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

California startup aims to monitor social distancing and face masks using drones

Airspace Systems, a California startup company that makes drones that can hunt down and capture other drones, on Thursday released new software for monitoring social distancing and face-mask wearing from the air. The software analyzes video streams captured by drones and can identify when people are standing close together or points where people gather in clusters. The software can detect when people are wearing masks. The system can also process video captured by ground-based cameras, and Airspace aims to sell the system to cities and police departments.

Fears of second U.S. coronavirus wave rise on worrisome spike in cases, hospitalizations

About half a dozen states including Texas and Arizona are grappling with a rising number of coronavirus patients filling hospital beds, fanning concerns that the reopening of the U.S. economy may spark a second wave of infections. The rally in global stocks came crashing down on Thursday over worries of a pandemic resurgence. The last time the S&P 500 and Dow fell as much in one day was in March when U.S. coronavirus cases began surging.

Coronavirus spreads among fruit and vegetable packers, worrying U.S. officials

From apple packing houses in Washington state to farmworkers in Florida and a California county known as "the world's salad bowl," outbreaks of the novel coronavirus are emerging at U.S. fruit and vegetable farms and packing plants. A rising number of sick farm and packing house workers comes after thousands of meat plant employees contracted the virus and could lead to more labor shortages and a fresh wave of disruption to U.S. food production.

Japan's PeptiDream to work with Merck in developing COVID-19 therapies

Japanese drug-discovery company PeptiDream Inc said on Friday it would collaborate with Merck & Co in developing COVID-19 therapies. The companies will work to develop peptide therapeutics that may be effective against multiple coronavirus strains, they said in a release. The agreement builds on the research and licensing partnership announced in 2015.

India's coronavirus cases reach over 297,000, fourth worst hit nation

India on Friday reported a total of 297,535 coronavirus infections, surpassing the United Kingdom to become the fourth worst affected country in the world. The number of infections increased by 10,956 on Friday from the previous day, and the death toll reached 8,498, India's ministry of health and family welfare said.

U.S. CDC reports 1,994,283 coronavirus cases

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday reported 1,994,283 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 20,486 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 834 to 112,967. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4 pm ET on June 10, versus its previous report on Wednesday.

Australia has eliminated COVID-19 in some parts, says chief medical officer

Australia has effectively eliminated COVID-19 in some parts of the country, its chief medical officer said on Friday. Australia has recorded 38 cases of the novel coronavirus over last week, Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy told reporters in Canberra. More than half of them are travelers returning from overseas and already quarantined in hotels.

'This is about livelihoods': U.S. virus hotspots reopen despite second wave specter

Facing budget shortfalls and double-digit unemployment, governors of U.S. states that are COVID-19 hotspots on Thursday pressed ahead with economic reopenings that have raised fears of a second wave of infections. The moves by governors of states such as Florida and Arizona came as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the United States could not afford to let the novel coronavirus shut its economy again and global stocks tanked on worries of a pandemic resurgence.

South Korea to extend virus guidelines on prevention, sanitation

South Korea will extend its prevention and sanitation guidelines against the coronavirus until daily new infections drop to single digits, the health minister said on Friday, failing which he warned of a return to tough social distancing measures. The announcement came as such cases persist in the mid-double digits following a series of new clusters in the area around Seoul, the capital, with 56 new cases on Thursday taking the national tally to 12,003, and 277 deaths.

How a vaccine made of mosquito spit could help stop the next epidemic

Five years ago, in an office complex with a giant sculpture of a mosquito just northwest of Phnom Penh, Jessica Manning struck on a novel idea. Rather than spend more years in what felt like a futile search for a malaria vaccine, she would take on all mosquito-borne pathogens at once. Her idea revolved around mosquito spit.