Health News Roundup: Australia posts surge in new COVID-19 cases; With hospitals 'close to collapse,' Bogota doctors call for city-wide quarantine and more

'In the fight of our lives': Australia posts surge in new COVID-19 cases Australia's Victoria state on Friday reported a record daily increase in COVID-19 cases while neighbouring New South Wales said it was banning dancing, singing and mingling at weddings as authorities struggle to contain a new wave of infections.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

'In the fight of our lives': Australia posts surge in new COVID-19 cases

Australia's Victoria state on Friday reported a record daily increase in COVID-19 cases while neighboring New South Wales said it was banning dancing, singing and mingling at weddings as authorities struggle to contain a new wave of infections. Victoria, which has forced nearly 5 million people in the country's second-most populous state into a partial lockdown for more than a week, said it has found 428 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours.

With hospitals 'close to collapse,' Bogota doctors call for city-wide quarantine

Doctors in Bogota are calling for a return to a strict city-wide quarantine to slow coronavirus infections in Colombia's capital, warning that medical services are close to collapsing, a leading medic said on Thursday. The Andean country has reported over 165,000 cases of the coronavirus and around 6,000 deaths. Bogota accounts for more than a third of the country's total cases and over 20% of its deaths.

Wear a mask? Georgia governor, mayors embroiled in latest coronavirus clash

Officials in the U.S. state of Georgia were headed for a clash over masks to fight the spread of the coronavirus on Thursday after the Republican governor barred mayors from requiring residents to wear them. Governor Brian Kemp issued an executive order late on Wednesday suspending local regulations requiring "face coverings, masks, face shields or any other personal protective equipment" in public.

U.S. prepares push to reduce 'unnecessary' COVID-19 testing: official

The United States is preparing to issue guidance on reducing "unnecessary" testing for COVID-19 as it works to cut turnaround times for tests, a senior U.S. health official said on Thursday. Details of the guidance are still being hammered out but it would be aimed partly at discouraging COVID-19 patients who have completed home quarantine from getting retested before returning to work or school, said Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Exclusive: J&J in talks with Japan, Gates Foundation to lock in deals on COVID-19 vaccine

Johnson & Johnson is in talks with the government of Japan and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation about locking up allocations of its potential COVID-19 vaccine as it prepares to kick off human trials, the company's Chief Financial Officer Joseph Wolk told Reuters in an interview. More than a hundred vaccines are under development to try and stop the COVID-19 pandemic, and drugmakers including J&J are working to ramp up supply for their vaccines in the face of unprecedented demand.

Fauci implores young people to stay vigilant on coronavirus risk

The leading U.S. expert on infectious diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, on Thursday, implored younger people to continue social distancing and other measures to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has surged in some parts of the country. "Please assume the societal responsibility of being part of the solution, not part of the problem," he said in a live interview with Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg.

India tops a million coronavirus cases as pandemic hits villages

India on Friday became the third country in the world to record more than one million coronavirus cases, behind only the United States and Brazil, as infections spread further out into the countryside and smaller towns. For India's population of around 1.3 billion, experts say a million cases are still low and the number will rise significantly in the coming months as testing is expanded.

Israel sets new weekend shutdown to fight coronavirus surge

Israel imposed a new weekend shutdown on Friday and tightened a series of coronavirus curbs to lower infection rates, amid growing public anger over the government's handling of the crisis. People would be allowed to leave their homes this weekend but malls, shops, pools, zoos, and museums would shut from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning, the government said in a statement.

Hydroxychloroquine ineffective against mild COVID-19, U.S. study shows

The anti-malaria drug touted by U.S. President Donald Trump as a COVID-19 treatment was ineffective for patients with a mild version of the disease in a study conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota. About 24% of the patients given hydroxychloroquine in the study had persisting symptoms over a 14-day period, while roughly 30% of the group given a placebo were determined to have persistent symptoms over the same period.

U.S. shatters coronavirus record with over 77,000 cases in a day

The United States shattered its daily record for coronavirus infections on Thursday, reporting more than 77,000 new cases as the number of deaths in a 24-hour period rose by nearly 1,000, according to a Reuters tally. The loss of 969 lives was the biggest increase since June 10, with Florida, South Carolina and Texas all reporting their biggest one-day spikes on Thursday.