Health News Roundup: Australia on high alert after overseas travelers bring new COVID-19 strains; Germany's confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 24,694 and more

More than a dozen states looking to deploy unused coronavirus vaccines are starting to give shots to older members of the general population while others have not, meaning protection for more than 20 million Americans aching to hug their grandchildren may depend on where they live. Australia on high alert after overseas travelers bring new COVID-19 strains Australia's health officials said on Saturday they are on high alert after cases of highly transmissible new variants of the coronavirus, discovered in Britain and South Africa, have made it into the country.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Older Americans scramble for COVID-19 shots as some U.S. states broaden access

At Don's Pharmasave in Louisiana's rural Avoyelles parish, pharmacist Constance Rabalais and colleagues have had to come up with their own policies and procedures for doling out their first 100 COVID-19 vaccine doses amid overwhelming demand. More than a dozen states looking to deploy unused coronavirus vaccines are starting to give shots to older members of the general population while others have not, meaning protection for more than 20 million Americans aching to hug their grandchildren may depend on where they live.

Australia on high alert after overseas travelers bring new COVID-19 strains

Australia's health officials said on Saturday they are on high alert after cases of highly transmissible new variants of the coronavirus, discovered in Britain and South Africa, have made it into the country. Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, on Saturday went into a three-day strict lockdown after the discovery of a virulent strain of the virus that causes COVID-19, linked to Britain. A variant that emerged in South Africa was found in Sydney, Australia's largest city, in a hotel quarantine.

Germany's confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 24,694 - RKI

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 24,694 to 1,891,581, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Saturday. The reported death toll rose by 1,083 to 39,878, the tally showed.

White House COVID-19 task force warns of possible new 'USA variant' driving spread - CNBC The White House coronavirus task force said there could be a new variant of the virus that evolved in the United States and is driving spread, CNBC reported on Friday, citing a document obtained by NBC News. The recent spike in cases has been at nearly twice the rate seen in the spring and summer seasons, according to the report. (https://cnb.cx/3hWHpCw)

Coronavirus variants may lead to false negative results with molecular tests - FDA The U.S. drugs regulator said on Friday genetic variants of COVID-19, including the one found in the UK, could lead to false negative results from some molecular COVID-19 tests, but the risk of the mutations affecting overall testing accuracy is low. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it has alerted lab staff and healthcare providers to the possible false negative results and has asked them to consider such results in combination with clinical observations, and use a different test if COVID-19 is still suspected. (https://bit.ly/3ost0R6)

ICUs clogged on the way in, morgues on the way out in California's COVID crisis Southern California is so overwhelmed with coronavirus cases that patients are backed up trying to get into hospitals, and corpses get stuck in another logjam once they leave. At one hospital in Orange County, ambulances loaded with patients are lining up outside waiting for space in the intensive care unit, and COVID-19 patients fill the emergency room hallway.

U.S. governors work to speed up vaccinations, Biden pledges faster distribution President-elect Joe Biden may speed up distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to U.S. states, a spokesman said on Friday, in an effort to jump-start the slow roll-out of inoculations that have made little impact on the pandemic one week into the new year. Such a move by Biden when he takes office on Jan. 20 would be a departure from a Trump administration strategy to stockpile enough doses to ensure that required second doses of the vaccines are available.

Biden will get second dose of vaccine Monday -transition official U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will get a second dose of a coronavirus vaccine on Monday, and critical members of his team are being vaccinated, transition official David Kamin said on Friday.

U.S. World War Two veterans roll up sleeves for vaccination in Los Angeles Harry Corre, a U.S. Army veteran of World War Two who survived the Bataan Death March and a Japanese slave labor camp, rolled up his sleeve on Friday for his second coronavirus vaccine shot at a VA hospital in Los Angeles to help promote immunizations. Corre, 97, was one of three World War Two vets, all former prisoners of war, receiving vaccinations at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System outside a newly established mobile isolation unit for COVID-19 patients.

NHS England plans to vaccinate all frontline staff against COVID-19 in next few weeks NHS England said on Friday it had made plans to vaccinate all frontline staff against COVID-19 in the next few weeks following the rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Nikita Kanani, the Nation Health Service medical director for primary care, said the vaccine will be administered to "all health and social care staff" by mid-February.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)