Health News Roundup: What you need to know about the coronavirus right now; Poland finds first case of COVID-19 in mink and more

COVAX to send AstraZeneca shot to Latin America, some states to get Pfizer too The COVAX global vaccine sharing scheme expects to deliver 35.3 million doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine to 36 Caribbean and Latin American states from mid-February to the end of June, the World Health Organization's regional office said.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Exclusive: Oxford kept COVID-19 vaccine trial volunteers in dark about dosing error, letter shows

About 1,500 of the initial volunteers in a late-stage clinical trial of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine were given the wrong dose, but weren't informed that a mistake had been made after the blunder was discovered, documents obtained by Reuters show. Instead, the dosing mishap was presented to the trial participants in a letter dated June 8 as an opportunity for University of Oxford researchers to learn how well the vaccine works at different doses. The letter was signed by the trial's chief investigator, Oxford professor Andrew J. Pollard, and sent to the trial subjects.

What you need to know about the coronavirus right now

Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now: Oxford kept vaccine trial volunteers in dark Britain detects South African variant in people with no travel links

Two people in southern England have tested positive for the South African variant of the coronavirus without having any links to people who have travelled recently, prompting "surge testing" to contain the outbreak. Residents in parts of Surrey, to the south west of London, will now be tested whether they are showing any symptoms or not, the local authority said.

Poland finds first case of COVID-19 in mink

Poland has found its first case of COVID-19 in mink, the agriculture ministry said, raising fears of costly culls in an industry that counts over 350 farms in the country. With new variants of the coronavirus threatening global efforts to get the pandemic under control, authorities in several countries have begun mass culls of the animals due to fears of a mutated strain of the illness being transmitted to humans.

WHO team in China's Wuhan visits provincial CDC

A World Health Organization-led team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday visited the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in China's central region of Hubei, where the outbreak emerged in late 2019. The group of independent experts spent about 4-1/2 hours on its longest site visit since completing two weeks of quarantine on Thursday, and did not speak to waiting journalists.

With pandemic worsening, Portugal reports nearly half of all COVID-19 deaths in January

Portugal reported close to half of all its COVID-19 deaths in January, highlighting the severe worsening of the pandemic in a country that had largely been spared by the first waves of the coronavirus. Hospitals across the nation of just over 10 million appear on the verge of collapse, with ambulances queuing sometimes for hours for lack of beds and some health units struggling to find enough refrigerated space to preserve bodies.

COVAX to send AstraZeneca shot to Latin America, some states to get Pfizer too

The COVAX global vaccine sharing scheme expects to deliver 35.3 million doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine to 36 Caribbean and Latin American states from mid-February to the end of June, the World Health Organization's regional office said. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said the Americas region needed to immunise about 500 million people to control the pandemic.

UK PM Johnson says must keep up restrictions to lower COVID rates further

British infection rates flattening and possibly beginning to fall, but they remain at a high level which means there can be no premature easing of COVID-19 restrictions, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday "We're starting to see some signs of flattening, and maybe even a falling off infection rates and hospitalisations. But don't forget that they're still at a very high level," Johnson told broadcasters.

U.S. patients scramble for appointments for second COVID-19 vaccine dose

As the number of Americans ready for their second COVID-19 vaccine shot grows, some are falling through the cracks of an increasingly complex web of providers and appointment systems. While many people are getting the required second doses, the process is taking a toll on some of the most vulnerable - older adults who in many cases rely on family members or friends to navigate complex sign-up systems and inconvenient locations.

Vietnam shuts schools due to virus outbreak ahead of Lunar New Year

Vietnam has shut schools in 22 provinces ahead of the Lunar New Year "Tet" holiday and ended a ruling Communist Party congress early on Monday following the detection of a new cluster of coronavirus cases in northern areas last week. Thanks to targeted mass testing and strict quarantining, Vietnam has kept its tally to a low 1,850 cases and 35 deaths, winning plaudits worldwide for one of the most successful national responses to the pandemic.