Health News Roundup: Africa not 'walking away' from AstraZeneca vaccine; Brazil reports 54,742 new coronavirus cases and more

South Africa to start vaccinating millions against local COVID-19 variant: Ramaphosa South Africa has secured millions of doses of Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer Inc vaccines to fight the highly infectious COVID-19 variant that is dominant in the country, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Recently vaccinated people need not quarantine post COVID-19 exposure: CDC

People who have received the full course of COVID-19 vaccines can skip the standard 14-day quarantine after exposure to someone with the infection as long as they remain asymptomatic, U.S. public health officials advised. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday the vaccines have been shown to prevent symptomatic COVID-19, thought to play a greater role in the transmission of the virus than asymptomatic disease.

New Zealand will get first batch of coronavirus vaccines next week

New Zealand will receive its first batch of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine next week, ahead of previous expectations of receipt by the end of the first quarter, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Friday. Ardern said in a news conference in Auckland that the government expects to start offering the vaccine to border and managed isolation facility workers on Feb. 20.

EU approves all requests for COVID-19 vaccine export to UK, U.S., Japan, China

The European Commission has so far approved all requests for the export of COVID-19 vaccines, including to Britain, the United States, China and Japan, since it set up on Jan. 30 a mechanism to monitor vaccine flows, a spokeswoman said on Thursday. The accommodating stance is expected to alleviate concerns from global partners about the EU's willingness to allow COVID-19 vaccines to leave its territory, despite the 27-nation bloc having faced supply disruptions and a cut in vaccine deliveries.

Brazil reports 54,742 new coronavirus cases, 1,351 deaths

Brazil recorded 54,742 additional confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, along with 1,351 deaths from COVID-19, the Health Ministry said on Thursday. Brazil has registered more than 9.7 million cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to over 236,000, according to ministry data.

South Africa to start vaccinating millions against local COVID-19 variant: Ramaphosa

South Africa has secured millions of doses of Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer Inc vaccines to fight the highly infectious COVID-19 variant that is dominant in the country, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday. During a televised annual state of the nation address, Ramaphosa said South Africa had secured 9 million doses of the J&J vaccine, with 500,000 expected to arrive over the next four weeks so authorities can start inoculating health workers. Another 20 million doses of the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech were also on their way, he said.

68.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines delivered, 46.4 million administered: U.S. CDC

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had administered 46,390,270 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Thursday morning and delivered 68,285,575 doses. The tally of vaccine doses are for both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, vaccines as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Thursday, the agency said.

'Our gratitude always': From China's CanSino, Mexico welcomes biggest vaccine shipment yet

Mexico received its biggest COVID-19 vaccine shipment yet on Thursday, in the form of the active ingredient for 2 million doses of China's CanSino shot, a relief for the Latin American country after slow delivery on orders from Western companies. Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard recognized China's support and thanked CanSino Biologics Inc for the "timely shipment" in a tweet.

UK's mutating variant a concern as it might undermine vaccines, scientist says

The coronavirus variant first found in the British region of Kent is a concern because it is mutating and so could undermine the protection given by vaccines against developing COVID-19, the head of the UK's genetic surveillance programme said. She also said the British variant was dominant in the country and was likely "to sweep the world, in all probability".

Roche arthritis drug reduces COVID-19 deaths in trial in hospitalised patients

Roche's arthritis drug tocilizumab cuts the risk of death among patients hospitalised with severe COVID-19, also shortening the time to recovery and reducing the need for mechanical ventilation, results of a large trial showed on Thursday. The findings - from the RECOVERY trial, which has been testing a range of potential treatments for COVID-19 since March 2020 - should help clear up confusion about the potential benefits of tocilizumab for COVID-19 patients after a slew of recent mixed trial results.

Africa not 'walking away' from AstraZeneca vaccine, CDC says

The African Union (AU) will not be "walking away" from AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine but will target its use in countries that have not reported cases of the variant dominant in South Africa, the head of its disease control body said on Thursday. The comments come after South Africa paused the rollout of the vaccine because of preliminary trial data showing it offered minimal protection against mild to moderate disease caused by the 501Y.V2 variant dominant in the country.