Health News Roundup: COVID restrictions to be widened in Paris; COVID vaccine deliveries on ice as AstraZeneca and more

Ireland on track to get COVID-19 surge under control, official says Ireland is on track to get its second wave of COVID-19 infections under control by the end of November when the government hopes to ease some of the strictest restrictions in Europe, a senior public health official said on Thursday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Paris mayor Hidalgo: COVID restrictions to be widened in Paris

Paris will be placed under more restrictions to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, including a requirement for more shops to close in the evening, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo told BFM TV on Thursday. Regeneron hopes U.S. will authorize coronavirus antibody drug soon

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc said U.S. health regulators were doing a careful analysis of its experimental antibody cocktail to treat COVID-19 and that it was hopeful the drug could be authorized for emergency use in the country soon. The treatment, which was given to U.S. President Donald Trump during his COVID-19 infection, has been under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration since last month.

COVID vaccine deliveries on ice as AstraZeneca awaits trial data

A summer dip in UK coronavirus infections has pushed back test results for AstraZenca's potential COVID-19 vaccine, leading the drugmaker to delay deliveries of shots to the UK government. Britain's vaccines chief said on Wednesday it would receive just 4 million doses of the potential vaccine this year, against initial estimates for 30 million by Sept. 30.

Ireland on track to get COVID-19 surge under control, official says

Ireland is on track to get its second wave of COVID-19 infections under control by the end of November when the government hopes to ease some of the strictest restrictions in Europe, a senior public health official said on Thursday. Ireland moved to the highest level of restrictions to fight the virus two weeks ago, when the government banned visiting other households and travel of over 5 kilometres and closed restaurants and non-essential retail for six weeks, until Dec. 1.

Exclusive: WHO-led COVID drug scheme doubles down on antibodies, steroids and shuns remdesivir

A World Health Organization-led scheme to supply COVID-19 drugs to poor countries is betting on experimental monoclonal antibody treatments and steroids but shunning Gilead's remdesivir therapy, an internal document shows. The Oct. 30 WHO draft document seen by Reuters says priorities are to secure monoclonal antibodies in a tight market and to boost distribution of cheap steroid dexamethasone, of which it has already booked nearly 3 million courses of treatment for poorer countries.

U.S. CDC reports 233,129 deaths from coronavirus

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday reported 9,463,782 cases of the novel coronavirus, an increase of 106,537 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 1,141 to 233,129. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19 as of 4 p.m. ET on Nov. 4, compared with its previous report released a day earlier.

Denmark tightens lockdown in north, mink cull devastates industry

Denmark announced strict new lockdown rules on Thursday in the north of the country after authorities discovered a mutated coronavirus strain in minks bred in the region, prompting a nationwide cull that will devastate the large pelt industry. The government said on Wednesday that it would cull all minks - up to 17 million - to prevent human contagion with a mutated coronavirus, which authorities said could be more resistant against future vaccines.

Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen book billions in opioid settlement-related charges

Drug distributors AmerisourceBergen Corp and Cardinal Health Inc on Thursday reported $7.62 billion in new charges between them related to talks to resolve thousands of lawsuits alleging they helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic. The news came after rival McKesson Corp on Tuesday disclosed it and the other two distributors could be expected to pay up to $21 billion over 18 years under a new settlement proposal by state attorneys general.

UK PM says there is light at end of COVID tunnel

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday there was light at the end of the tunnel on COVID-19 as England entered its second countrywide lockdown - for four weeks - to prevent a rising number of cases and deaths from the virus. "The UK government and the devolved administrations are working together on a joint approach to the Christmas period, because all of us want to ensure families can come together, wherever they live," he told a media conference.

Ambulances forced to queue as hospitals scramble for COVID-19 beds in Poland

Marcin Serwach, an ambulance first responder from Warsaw, says he had to deliver oxygen at 3:00 a.m. to a colleague who spent 15 hours parked in front of a hospital with a patient in respiratory distress waiting to be admitted. Then, last Sunday, he sat for five hours in his ambulance with an elderly patient showing coronavirus symptoms before a bed was found for her in an isolation ward.