Health News Roundup: Where are we in the COVID-19 vaccine race?; CDC reports 236,547 deaths from coronavirus and more

France reports 271 new COVID-19 deaths The number of people to die in French hospitals from coronavirus rose by 271 over the last 24 hours, bringing the total deaths to 40,439, data from the health ministry showed.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Q&A: Where are we in the COVID-19 vaccine race?

Drugmakers and research centers around the world are working on COVID-19 vaccines, with large global trials of several of the candidates involving tens of thousands of participants well underway. Some companies had suggested early trial data could be ready for release in October, but have since pushed that back to November and December.

The following is what we know about the race to deliver vaccines to help end the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed over a million lives worldwide:

CDC reports 236,547 deaths from coronavirus

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday reported 9,808,411 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 93,811 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 1,072 to 236,547. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. ET on Nov. 7 versus its previous report a day earlier.

China's Tianjin to test cold storage food sites after confirmed coronavirus case

China's northern port city of Tianjin said on Sunday it plans to carry out tests on some cold storage facilities and their staff after a confirmed coronavirus case involving a worker who had handled frozen pork imported from Germany. The patient, a 38-year-old male employee of a frozen food company in the Binhai New Area district of the city, had handled pork products from Germany on Nov. 4, the local government said.

France reports 271 new COVID-19 deaths

The number of people to die in French hospitals from coronavirus rose by 271 over the last 24 hours, bringing the total deaths to 40,439, data from the health ministry showed. The ministry reported a total of 1,787,324 confirmed COVID-19 cases, up 38,619 from Saturday when the total increased by a new record of 86,852.

Britain reports 20,572 new cases of COVID-19, 156 deaths

Britain reported 20,572 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday and 156 deaths from the virus, both lower than figures from a day before, government data showed.

Argentina agrees on deal for 22 million doses of AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine

Argentina has struck a deal with drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc to receive around 22 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine being developed with the University of Oxford, with the aim to start deliveries in the first half of next year. The drugmaker, one of a number developing vaccines worldwide to fight the novel coronavirus, said in a statement circulated by the government on Saturday that the delivery time-frame depended on ongoing trials being successful and obtaining necessary approvals by regulatory authorities. Italy new COVID-19 cases fall to 32,616 on Sunday

Italy has registered 32,616 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Sunday, compared to 39,811 on Saturday. The ministry also reported 331 COVID-19 related deaths, down from 425 the day before.

Texas becomes first U.S. state to exceed one million coronavirus cases

Texas became the first state to surpass a million coronavirus cases in the United States on Saturday, as the country battled a third wave of new infections and recorded over 100,000 infections three times in less than a week. In Texas, the surge in new cases in the past week came mainly from Harris, Dallas and El Paso counties, based on a Reuters tally. The surge is straining medical facilities, with the city of El Paso converting a convention center into a field hospital.

With cases soaring, Biden to announce COVID-19 task force

Making the resurgent coronavirus his immediate priority, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on Monday will announce a 12-member task force to deal with the pandemic. Biden spent much of his election campaign criticizing President Donald Trump's handling of the pandemic, which has now caused the deaths of 237,000 people in America. The United States saw a record number of new infections last week, with the total number of cases nearing 10 million.

Combative U.S. FDA panel votes against Biogen Alzheimer's drug

A panel of outside advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday voted that a potential Alzheimer's treatment from Biogen Inc has not been proven to slow the progression of the disease, a sharp rebuke to agency staff who earlier this week praised the drug. The FDA still could decide to approve the drug, aducanumab, making it the first new Alzheimer's treatment in decades. But the group of scientific advisers made their doubts about the treatment clear.