Reuters Health News Summary

CureVac says in talks with potential vaccine development partners CureVac is still in discussions with pharma majors to find a potential partner for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine, the German biotech firm's chief executive said on Thursday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Cuba leads race for Latin American coronavirus vaccine

As Latin American nations test experimental coronavirus vaccines from across the globe and economic heavyweights such as Brazil and Mexico jockey for supply deals with major drugmakers, Communist-run Cuba already has two of its own vaccines in clinical trials. Should its efforts succeed, the Caribbean island could become an important supplier to neighboring countries that might otherwise struggle to access vaccine supply as wealthy Western nations rush to secure doses, regional experts said. U.S. notches up more COVID-19 case and hospitalization records

The United States continued to notch up grim records on Wednesday as it battles through the coronavirus pandemic, with a worsening outbreak in the northeast of the country adding pressure on top of an already reeling Midwest. Reported new COVID-19 infections of 142,279 were at an all-time daily high for a second day in a row and above 100,000 for an eighth consecutive day, according to a Reuters tally. Pope offers Rome's homeless free Covid-19 tests at Vatican

Pope Francis is offering free coronavirus tests for Rome's poor and homeless as part of the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of the Poor activities, the Vatican said on Thursday. The swabs are being offered at a clinic off St. Peter's Square that the pope set up several years ago to provide basic medical care to destitute people, some of whom live on the streets in the neighbourhood around the Vatican. Iran's coronavirus death toll exceeds 40,000: health ministry

Iran's death toll from the coronavirus rose by 457 to 40,121 on Thursday, the highest in the Middle East, with the total number of identified cases reaching 726,585, health ministry data showed. Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told state TV that Iran had identified 11,517 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. English COVID-19 contacts traced still near record lows as weekly cases rise 8%

Positive COVID-19 cases in England rose 8% on the previous week, the same weekly rate of increase as before, the country's test and trace scheme said on Thursday, with the proportion of contacts of the cases reached remaining near record lows. There were 141,804 people transferred to the contact tracing system between Oct 29 and Nov 4, and 85% of positive cases were reached and asked to provide information about their contacts, up from 82.7% reported for the previous week. Gates Foundation adds $70 million more funding for COVID vaccines for poor

The Gates Foundation added another $70 million of funding on Thursday to global efforts to develop and distribute vaccines and treatments against the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it hoped other international donors would now also pledge more. An extra $50 million will go to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) led by the GAVI vaccine alliance, the foundation said, and another $20 million to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) which is co-funding development of several COVID-19 vaccine candidates. WHO says faces 'onslaught' of cyberattacks as Taiwan complains of censorship

The World Health Organization said on Thursday it had faced an "onslaught" of cyberattacks by activists using key words like "Taiwan", after the government complained posts in support of the self-ruled island were being censored on Facebook. Fiercely democratic Taiwan, which China claims as its own, has been angered by its inability to fully access the WHO, of which it is not a member due to China's objections, during the COVID-19 pandemic. WHO chief says coronavirus is 'not tired', urges vigilance

People are becoming weary of the coronavirus pandemic but should remain vigilant and continue to take precautions while the world awaits a vaccine, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday. Eleven months into the pandemic that has killed more than 1.2 million people, derailed economies and turned daily lives upside down around the world, he said relying on promising but as-yet unproven vaccines was a risky bet. CureVac says in talks with potential vaccine development partners

CureVac is still in discussions with pharma majors to find a potential partner for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine, the German biotech firm's chief executive said on Thursday. "The location of the partner does not play a role. We are looking for a partner who is best placed to support us," Chief Executive Franz-Werner Haas told a media briefing. Misinformation could prompt people to turn against COVID-19 vaccines: study

Conspiracy theories and misinformation fuel mistrust in vaccines and could push levels that potential COVID-19 vaccines are taken in the United States and Britain below the rates needed to protect communities against the disease, a study found on Thursday. The study of 8,000 people in the two countries found that fewer people would "definitely" take a COVID-19 vaccine than the 55% of the population scientists estimate is needed to provide so-called "herd immunity".