Reuters Health News Summary

Fauci doesn't think U.S. will have to go back into "shutdown mode" Top U.S. infectious disease official Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday that he doesn't think the United States will have to go back into "shutdown mode" in order to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Special Report: COVID opens new doors for China's gene giant

As countries scramble to test for the novel coronavirus, a Chinese company has become a go-to name around the world. BGI Group, described in one 2015 study as "Goliath" in the fast-growing field of genomics research, is using an opening created by the pandemic to expand its footprint globally. In the past six months, it says it has sold 35 million rapid COVID-19 testing kits to 180 countries and built 58 labs in 18 countries. Some of the equipment has been donated by BGI's philanthropic arm, promoted by China's embassies in an extension of China's virus diplomacy. U.S. to pay $1 billion for 100 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine candidate

The United States government will pay Johnson & Johnson over $1 billion for 100 million doses of its potential coronavirus vaccine, as it stocks up on vaccine and drugs in an attempt to tame the pandemic. The latest contract is priced at roughly $10 per vaccine dose produced by J&J, or around $14.50 per dose, including a previous $456 million the U.S. government promised to J&J for vaccine development in March. That compares with the $19.50 per dose that the U.S. is paying for the vaccine being developed by Pfizer Inc and German biotech BioNTech SE. Fauci expects tens of millions of coronavirus vaccine doses at start of 2021

Drugmakers will likely have tens of millions of doses of a coronavirus vaccine in the early part of next year, with production ramping up so that it hits a billion doses by the end of 2021, Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. government official on infectious diseases, said in a Reuters interview on Wednesday. Fauci said he has not seen any pressure from the White House to announce a vaccine close to the Nov. 3 election in the hopes of boosting President Donald Trump's re-election chances. Cuomo relays U.S. governors' demand for federal COVID-19 aid in upcoming relief package

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, speaking on behalf of all U.S. governors on Wednesday, urged Congress to include $500 billion in unrestricted state funding in a COVID-19 relief package currently under consideration. The Democrat, speaking as the new chairman of the National Governors Association at its virtual 2020 summer meeting, said the states needed the federal government's support to weather the economic fallout from the pandemic. Moderna prices COVID-19 vaccine at $32-$37 per dose for smaller volume deals

Moderna Inc said on Wednesday smaller volume agreements for its experimental coronavirus vaccine have been priced in the range of $32 to $37 per dose, higher than the price set by the U.S. deal for Pfizer Inc's vaccine candidate. As the race to develop COVID-19 vaccines reach a decisive stage, with several candidates being tested in pivotal late-stage studies, pricing has come under increasing scrutiny. CDC says some sickened after swallowing hand sanitizer

Fifteen cases of methanol poisoning caused by swallowing alcohol-based hand sanitizers were reported in Arizona and New Mexico in May and June, leading to four deaths, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday. Hand hygiene has been promoted as an important way to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the United States, and the CDC recommends using alcohol-based sanitizer products to clean hands if soap and water are not available. Virginia touts nation's first contact tracing app with Apple-Google tech

Virginia on Wednesday launched the first contact tracing app for the novel coronavirus in the United States that uses new technology from Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google . The state is betting that the app, COVIDWISE, can help it catch new cases faster, though long delays in getting test results must be overcome in order for it to be effective. Global coronavirus deaths exceed 700,000, one person dies every 15 seconds on average

The global death toll from the coronavirus surpassed 700,000 on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally, with the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico leading the rise in fatalities. Nearly 5,900 people are dying every 24 hours from COVID-19 on average, according to Reuters calculations based on data from the past two weeks. Fauci doesn't think U.S. will have to go back into "shutdown mode"

Top U.S. infectious disease official Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday that he doesn't think the United States will have to go back into "shutdown mode" in order to contain the spread of COVID-19. "We can do much better without locking down," Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said at an event hosted by Harvard University. He said Americans should wear masks, keep physically distanced, shut down bars, wash their hands and favor outdoor activities over indoor ones in order to help stop transmission of the virus. Respiratory therapist struggles to catch her own breath after COVID-19

Ana Carolina Xavier was helping as many as six coronavirus patients a day to slowly recover lung capacity when she began worrying about her own breathing. As the 33-year-old physical therapist was working a holiday shift in a Rio de Janeiro field hospital, she felt her heart pumping, head throbbing and lungs struggling to expand.