Health News Roundup: South Korea eases curfew on businesses outside Seoul; Understanding COVID-19 origins will take years, says WHO team member and more

New Zealand investigates new COVID-19 case linked to quarantine facility New Zealand health authorities said on Saturday they were investigating a new community coronavirus infection, the fourth in two weeks among people who completed mandatory isolation at an Auckland quarantine facility for returned overseas travellers.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

South Korea eases curfew on businesses outside Seoul

South Korea on Saturday eased curfews on more than half a million restaurants and other businesses outside the capital Seoul, letting them stay open an hour later, amid a public backlash over tight curbs to contain COVID-19. After using aggressive testing and tracing to blunt several earlier waves of the coronavirus without drastic lockdowns, the authorities have imposed increasingly rigid social distancing rules as they fight the latest wave of the epidemic.

58.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines distributed, 36.8 million administered: U.S. CDC

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had administered 36,819,212 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Friday morning and distributed 58,380,300 doses. The tally of vaccine doses are for both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, vaccines as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Friday, the agency said.

Understanding COVID-19 origins will take years, says WHO team member

A member of the World Health Organization-led team visiting the central Chinese city of Wuhan said he has been surprised by the complexity of getting to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and that years of research lay ahead. Dominic Dwyer, a microbiologist and infectious diseases expert, said the team in Wuhan had received the access it requested from Chinese authorities as it tries to understand the early days of the novel coronavirus outbreak first identified in Wuhan.

Germany's confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 10,485 - RKI

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 10,485 to 2,275,394, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Saturday. The reported death toll rose by 689 to 61,286, the tally showed.

Yankee Stadium makes debut as big-league vaccination hub

Friday was a different sort of Opening Day at Yankee Stadium, the legendary home of baseball's "Bronx Bombers," as New York ramped up its drive to vaccinate its most vulnerable residents, many who live in the hard-hit Bronx neighborhoods that surround the legendary sports venue. The stadium, which opened its doors as the city's newest COVID-19 vaccination hub, is the pride of the Bronx, the most recognizable landmark in the borough that has struggled with one of the highest death rates during the global coronavirus pandemic. The Bronx is predominantly Black and Hispanic, communities that have suffered higher infection and death rates.

Mainland China reports 12 new COVID-19 cases vs 20 a day earlier

Mainland China reported 12 new COVID-19 cases on Feb. 5, down from 20 cases a day earlier and the lowest daily increase since Dec. 17, the national health authority said on Saturday. The National Health Commission, in a statement, said four of the new cases were locally transmitted, including three in the northeastern border province of Heilongjiang and one in neighbouring Jilin. The number of local transmissions was the lowest since Dec. 22.

White House says it is working to speed early production of J&J COVID-19 vaccine

The Biden administration is exploring every option for increasing manufacturing of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine, which is under regulatory review, and said on Friday that currently expected levels of early doses were less than hoped. The White House has invoked the Defense Production Act to help Pfizer Inc ramp up COVID-19 vaccine production and that "every option" was on the table to produce more Johnson & Johnson vaccine should it be authorized.

Sinovac says COVID-19 vaccine effective in preventing hospitalization, death

China's Sinovac Biotech on Friday said late-stage trial data of its COVID-19 vaccine from Brazil and Turkey showed it prevented hospitalization and death in COVID-19 patients, but had a much lower efficacy rate in blocking infections. The 12,396-person trial found the CoronaVac vaccine was 100% effective in preventing COVID-19 sufferers from being hospitalized or dying and 83.7% effective in avoiding cases that required any medical treatment, but only 50.65% effective at keeping people from getting infected, according to a statement.

COVAX bottlenecks need to be urgently addressed, U.N. agency says

A top official at the U.N. agency in charge of vaccine deliveries via the COVAX sharing scheme urged recipient countries on Friday to address bottlenecks that could hamper the rollout set to begin this month. COVAX is meant to start dispatching the first of hundreds of millions of COVID-19 vaccines for poorer countries from February in a bid to address the inequity in vaccine distribution which has so far favoured wealthy countries.

New Zealand investigates new COVID-19 case linked to quarantine facility

New Zealand health authorities said on Saturday they were investigating a new community coronavirus infection, the fourth in two weeks among people who completed mandatory isolation at an Auckland quarantine facility for returned overseas travellers. The new case was diagnosed in a person self-isolating at home in Hamilton, a city in the North Island of New Zealand, who was released from a two-week hotel quarantine on Jan. 30 after testing negative twice for the virus.