Health News Roundup: China sees new COVID-19 cases drop; Mexico could buy 24 million doses of Russia and more

Japan to widen state of emergency beyond Tokyo as virus surges: media Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told a meeting of ruling party executives on Tuesday he would declare a state of emergency for the three western prefectures of Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo to stem the spread of COVID-19, Kyodo news reported.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

China sees new COVID-19 cases drop, but push on with new curbs

China reported a drop in the number of new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours amid a flurry of new measures in Hebei province surrounding Beijing, ranging from home quarantines starting on Tuesday in one county and a lockdown of the provincial capital. The National Health Commission said in a statement on Tuesday that a total of 55 new COVID-19 cases were reported, down from 103 a day earlier. Hebei accounted for 40 of the 42 local infections, with Beijing and northeastern Heilongjiang province reporting one local case each.

Mexico could buy 24 million doses of Russia's Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine

Mexico is considering acquiring 24 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine and will receive its first batch of AstraZeneca jabs from Argentina to finish production of them, a top Mexican health official said. Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell, who traveled to Buenos Aires last week to discuss Argentina's vaccination campaign using Sputnik and the production of AstraZeneca's vaccine, said Mexico reached agreements to potentially acquire the Russian vaccine.

Gorillas at San Diego Zoo Safari Park diagnosed with COVID-19

As many as eight gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park are presumed to have contracted COVID-19 from a human handler after one of the animals tested positive, marking the first known transmission of the virus to apes, zoo officials said on Monday. Three among the band of critically endangered western lowland gorillas at the sprawling wildlife park have shown symptoms of the respiratory virus, such as coughing, though none appears severely ill, and all are expected to fully recover, the zoo said in online statements.

India gears up for 'world's biggest vaccination drive'

Indian carrier Spicejet carried a large consignment of COVID-19 vaccines from the city of Pune to the capital New Delhi on Tuesday in preparation for what it called the world's biggest ever inoculation drive. The private carrier will transport bulk vaccine consignments to several cities as state authorities prepare to launch the distribution process.

Moderna says COVID-19 vaccine immunity to stay at least a year

Immunity from Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine should last at least a year, the company said on Monday at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference. The drugmaker said it was confident that the messenger RNA (mRNA) technology it used was well suited to deploy a vaccine based on the new variant of the coronavirus which has emerged in a handful of countries.

Japan to widen state of emergency beyond Tokyo as virus surges: media

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told a meeting of ruling party executives on Tuesday he would declare a state of emergency for the three western prefectures of Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo to stem the spread of COVID-19, Kyodo news reported. Responding to pressure from Tokyo and three neighbouring prefectures in eastern Japan, Suga last week declared a one-month state of emergency for that region until Feb. 7.

PM Johnson says UK in 'race against time' as it faces worst weeks of pandemic

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday Britain was in "a race against time" to roll out COVID-19 vaccines as deaths hit record highs and hospitals ran out of oxygen, and his top medical adviser said the pandemic's worst weeks were imminent. A new, more transmissible variant of the disease is now surging through the population, with one in 20 people in parts of London now infected, threatening to overwhelm the National Health Service (NHS) as hospitals fill up with patients.

Global coronavirus cases surpass 90 million in battle on new variant

Worldwide coronavirus cases surpassed 90 million on Monday, according to Reuters tally, as nations around the globe scramble to procure vaccines and continue to extend or reinstate lockdowns to fight new coronavirus variants. The new COVID-19 variants discovered initially in the United Kingdom and South Africa are rapidly spreading globally.

U.S. sets COVID-19 death record for second week, cases surge

The United States lost more than 22,000 lives to COVID-19 last week, setting a record for the second week in a row, as new cases also hit a weekly high. California was the state with the most deaths at 3,315 in the week ended Jan. 10, or about eight out of every 100,000 people, up 44% from the prior week, according to a Reuters analysis of state and county reports.

CDC says 9 million Americans now vaccinated as U.S. states scramble

Nearly 9 million Americans had been given their first COVID-19 vaccination dose as of Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, as states scrambled to step up inoculations that have yet to slow the roaring pandemic. The 8,987,322 people who have been jabbed with the first of two shots, according to the CDC, represent less than one-third of the 25 million total doses distributed to states by the U.S. government.