Health News Roundup: AstraZeneca still waiting for FDA go-ahead to resume U.S. trial; SoftBank offers $19 COVID-19 tests to companies, governments and more

AstraZeneca still waiting for FDA go-ahead to resume U.S. trial AstraZeneca is still waiting for the U.S. drug regulator to approve the restart of the clinical trial of its potential COVID-19 vaccine in the United States almost three weeks after it was paused due to safety concerns.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

AstraZeneca still waiting for FDA go-ahead to resume U.S. trial

AstraZeneca is still waiting for the U.S. drug regulator to approve the restart of the clinical trial of its potential COVID-19 vaccine in the United States almost three weeks after it was paused due to safety concerns. The U.S. trial of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine candidate, initially developed by the University of Oxford, remains on hold while regulators investigate an illness in one of the participants, even after a British study and other programmes outside of the United States have resumed.

SoftBank offers $19 COVID-19 tests to companies, governments

SoftBank Group Corp said on Thursday it would offer COVID-19 tests to corporations and local governments for 2,000 yen ($19) per person as Chief Executive Masayoshi Son steps up the provision of virus countermeasures. SoftBank has conducted polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of its staff and has set up a testing centre near Tokyo with initial capacity of 4,000 tests per day.

Trump says may block stricter FDA guidelines for COVID-19 vaccine

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he may or may not approve any new, more stringent FDA standards for an emergency authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine, saying such a proposal would appear political. Trump has repeatedly said a vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, could be ready for distribution ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election.

As COVID surges in Europe, officials warn of 'twindemic' with flu

A surge in COVID-19 cases in Europe risks becoming a deadly double epidemic of flu and coronavirus infections, EU health officials warned on Thursday as they urged Europeans and their governments not to let their guard down.

"It is abundantly clear that this crisis is not behind England Test and Trace reports tripling of COVID-19 cases since late August

Three times as many people tested positive for COVID-19 in England in latest weekly figures compared to the end of August, NHS Test and Trace said on Thursday, with more people being referred to the system, though the proportion reached fell. NHS Test and Trace said 19,278 new people tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19) in England between September 10 and September 16.

United to provide COVID-19 tests to customers on San Francisco-Hawaii flights

United Airlines said on Thursday customers traveling from San Francisco to Hawaii would have the option to take a rapid COVID-19 test at the airport or a self-collected, mail-in test ahead of their trip, starting from Oct. 15. Customers who test negative on either test will not be subjected to the state's 14-day quarantine requirement, United said.

U.S. CDC reports 200,275 coronavirus deaths

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday reported 6,874,982 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 49,285 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 813 to 200,275. 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 Sept. 22 compared with its previous report a day earlier.(https://bit.ly/2FWikc8)

Dogs used to detect coronavirus in pilot project at Helsinki airport

Dogs trained to detect the novel coronavirus began sniffing passenger samples at Finland's Helsinki-Vantaa airport this week, authorities said, in a pilot project running alongside more usual testing at the airport. The dogs' efficiency has not been proven in comparative scientific studies so passengers who volunteer to be tested and are suspected as carrying the virus are instructed to also take a swab to confirm the result.

Exclusive: Top adviser steps aside from FDA COVID-19 vaccine reviews over potential conflict

A physician who heads the influential U.S. Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisory committee recused herself from the panel's review of COVID-19 vaccines because of her role overseeing a clinical trial for Moderna Inc's candidate, her spokeswoman told Reuters. Hana El Sahly, associate professor of virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, last year became chairwoman of the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee - the panel of outside experts that will make recommendations on whether coronavirus vaccines should be approved.

Parental touch soothes pain signals in babies' brains

Newborn babies undergoing a painful heel prick blood test have a reduced response to the pain signals in their brains if they are held by a parent with skin-to-skin contact, according to new research published on Thursday. Scientists who studied brain activity in 27 babies aged up to three months as they had the heel jab found that those held in clothes or blankets were not as soothed - suggesting skin-to-skin touch is crucial.