Health News Roundup: Merck in talks with governments, other drugmakers to produce COVID-19 shots; Biden is 'interested in getting all the facts' about China and origins of COVID-19 and more

"I'm interested in getting all the facts," Biden said when asked by a reporter if he has "any interest in punishing China for not being truthful about COVID last year." Mexico's confirmed coronavirus death toll rises to 169,760 - health ministry Mexico's health ministry on Wednesday reported 1,328 new confirmed deaths from COVID-19, bringing the total to 169,760.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Merck in talks with governments, other drugmakers to produce COVID-19 shots

Merck & Co Inc said on Wednesday it was in talks with governments and companies to potentially help with manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines that have been already authorized. "Beyond our own candidates, we are actively involved in discussions with governments, public health agencies, and other industry colleagues to identify the areas of pandemic response where we can play a role, including potential support for production of authorized vaccines," a company spokesman said.

Biden is 'interested in getting all the facts' about China and origins of COVID-19

President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he wants to know all the facts when asked about "punishing" China for possibly not fully disclosing information on the coronavirus, which first appeared in China in late 2019 and kills thousands daily in a global pandemic. "I'm interested in getting all the facts," Biden said when asked by a reporter if he has "any interest in punishing China for not being truthful about COVID last year."

Mexico's confirmed coronavirus death toll rises to 169,760 - health ministry

Mexico's health ministry on Wednesday reported 1,328 new confirmed deaths from COVID-19, bringing the total to 169,760. The government says the real number of infected people and the death toll in Mexico are both likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.

China reports two new COVID-19 cases, fewest in over five months

China reported the fewest number of new COVID-19 cases in over five months, official data showed on Thursday, after a combination of robust countermeasures helped stamp out a new wave of the disease in the northeast that emerged last month. A total of two new cases were reported on Feb. 10, the National Health Commission said in a statement, down from 14 a day earlier and matching the total reported on Sept. 8. Both of the new infections were imported cases from overseas.

Two masks protect better than one; asthma, antiviral drugs show promise as treatments

The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.

Two masks likely better than one, CDC says AstraZeneca vaccine could get WHO emergency approval by mid-February: WHO

AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine is in the final stages of review for a World Health Organization emergency-use listing and could receive approval by mid-February, the United Nations health agency said on Wednesday. In a joint briefing with the WHO's SAGE expert panel on immunisation, officials recommended the shot should be widely used, emphasising that its benefits outweigh any risks.

WHO's Wuhan probe ends, U.S.-China bickering over COVID continues

China called on the United States on Wednesday to invite the World Health Organization to investigate origins of the COVID-19 outbreak there, as sparring over the pandemic continued after the WHO wrapped up its field work in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Hours after the WHO team revealed preliminary findings at a Wuhan news conference on Tuesday, Washington said it wants to scrutinize data used by the team, which concluded that the virus causing COVID-19 did not originate in a laboratory in Wuhan, and that bats remain a likely source.

New COVID cluster in Australia's Melbourne expands to 10 cases

Health authorities in Australia's Victoria state ramped up contact tracing and prepared for more mass testing of residents in Melbourne after a new COVID-19 cluster linked to a quarantine hotel grew to ten cases on Thursday. More than 22,500 test results were conducted in the past 24 hours in Australia's second most populous city Melbourne and authorities urged residents to get tested amid fears of community transmission from a worker at the Holiday Inn in the city.

Mexico approves China's CanSino and Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines

Mexico has authorized emergency use of the Chinese Sinovac and CanSino COVID-19 vaccines, Mexico's Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said on Wednesday. Mexico's vaccination drive has gotten off to a slow start, and officials in Latin America's second-largest economy are hoping to source millions of doses from China to boost their efforts amid global vaccines shortages and delays.

U.S. government partnering with Texas to build three mass vaccination sites

The federal government is partnering with the state of Texas to build three mass vaccination sites, following last week's announcement that it would build such sites in California, federal health officials said during a Wednesday media briefing. Each site will be able to administer 10,000 shots per day, according to Jeffrey Zients, the White House's COVID-19 response coordinator, and should begin giving the shots by Feb. 22.