Health News Roundup: Western Australia state reports no new local COVID-19 cases; Israel extends lockdown, sees delay in COVID-19 turnaround and more

Authorities seek to boost trust, low COVID vaccination rates among Black New Yorkers Black New Yorkers' skepticism about vaccines developed at record speed to fight COVID-19 means they lag behind other racial groups in inoculations to fight the pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 people in the United States, officials said on Sunday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Western Australia state reports no new local COVID-19 cases

Western Australia state reported no new local COVID-19 cases on Monday, a day after it recorded its first case in 10 months that prompted authorities to enforce a five-day lockdown in the capital city of Perth. "These are encouraging signs but it is still early days," state Premier Mark McGowan told reporters.

Israel extends lockdown, sees delay in COVID-19 turnaround

Israel extended a national lockdown on Sunday as coronavirus variants offset its vaccination drive and officials predicted a delay in a turnaround from the health and economic crisis. Highlighting Israel's challenges in enforcing restrictions, thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews attended the Jerusalem funerals of two prominent rabbis on Sunday, drawing criticism from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition partners.

China's CanSino says gets green light to continue Phase III trials

China's CanSino Biologics Inc said on Monday an independent committee found the drugmaker's COVID-19 vaccine met its pre-specified primary safety and efficacy targets under an interim analysis of Phase 3 trial data. No adverse events related to the vaccine had occurred and the findings of the Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC) meant the company could go ahead with advancing its Phase 3 clinical trial for the candidate, known as Ad5-nCoV or Convidecia, CanSinoBio said.

Authorities seek to boost trust, low COVID vaccination rates among Black New Yorkers

Black New Yorkers' skepticism about vaccines developed at record speed to fight COVID-19 means they lag behind other racial groups in inoculations to fight the pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 people in the United States, officials said on Sunday. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state plans to run an advertising campaign that will seek to boost trust and dispel hesitancy among many Black New Yorkers to get the potentially life-saving vaccine.

Chicago schools postpone in-person classes over COVID-19 safety plan

Chicago Public Schools on Sunday delayed the resumption of in-person classes for thousands of elementary and middle school students by at least a day as the district and teachers failed to reach an agreement on a COVID-19 safety plan. The third-largest school district in the United States told the parents of 62,000 elementary and middle school students who opted to begin taking some of their classes in their schools on Monday to stay home, saying it hopes to resume in-person classes for those students on Tuesday.

WHO team in Wuhan to visit provincial CDC on Monday

A World Health Organization-led team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic was due on Monday to visit the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Hubei province, the central Chinese region where the outbreak emerged in late 2019. The group of independent experts left two weeks of quarantine on Thursday in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, and is conducting two weeks of field work. So far, it has included visits to hospitals, markets, and an exhibition commemorating Wuhan's battle with the outbreak.

Mexico reports 7,030 new coronavirus cases, 462 more deaths

Mexico's health ministry on Sunday reported 7,030 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 462 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 1,864,260 cases and 158,536 deaths. The government says the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.

U.S. distributes 49.9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, administers 31.1 million shots -CDC

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had administered 31,123,299 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Sunday morning and distributed 49,933,250 doses. The doses are for both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines as of 6 a.m. ET (1100 GMT) on Sunday, the agency said.

Colombia reports two infections of Brazilian coronavirus variant

Two Colombian citizens in Leticia, capital of the country's Amazonas province, have been infected with the Brazilian variant of coronavirus, the National Health Institute (INS) said on Sunday. "The National Health Institute confirmed yesterday afternoon infections in a man and a woman - both with Colombian nationality - with the Brazilian P1 strain," the INS said in a statement.

EU's Von der Leyen says AstraZeneca will deliver 9 million more vaccine doses

AstraZeneca will deliver nine million more doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to the European Union in the first quarter of this year, making a total of 40 million for the period, and will start deliveries one week earlier than expected, the president of the European Commission said on Sunday. The Anglo-Swedish company unexpectedly announced earlier this month that it would cut supplies to the EU of its vaccine candidate in the first quarter, sparking a row over supplies.