Reuters Health News Summary

Israel's COVID vaccination pass opens fast track to normal life Israel reopened swathes of its economy including malls and leisure facilities on Sunday, with the government saying the start of a return to routine was enabled by COVID-19 vaccines administered to almost half the population.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Cold, lack of water overwhelm Texas hospitals more than COVID-19 did

Texas doctor Natasha Kathuria has practiced medicine in 11 countries, worked through the 2014 "Snowmageddon" storm that ground Atlanta to a halt, and survived the past year's COVID-19 pandemic crush. But Kathuria and some other doctors in Texas are saying they have never seen a more harrowing week than this one. U.S. administers 63.1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines: CDC

The United States has administered 63,090,634 doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of Sunday morning and delivered 75,204,965 doses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The tally of vaccine doses are for both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, the agency said. Start of Ebola vaccinations in Guinea delayed by poor weather

The start of a vaccination campaign against Ebola in southeastern Guinea has been delayed by a day after the vaccines did not arrive in the country on Sunday due to bad weather, health authorities said. The start of inoculations in the Nzérékoré region, where an outbreak of the deadly virus was declared last weekend, is now expected on Tuesday, rather than on Monday, the National Agency of Health Safety (ANSS) said on Facebook. German teachers, nursery workers could get vaccine sooner: health minister

Primary school teachers and nursery workers in Germany could get a COVID-19 vaccine sooner than originally planned, the country's Health Minister Jens Spahn said. In its vaccination strategy, Germany has defined three groups of the population to make sure those in need, including people aged 80 or more, get their shots first. So far, teachers and childcare workers are part of the last group. South Korea to begin using Pfizer coronavirus vaccines on Feb. 27, PM says

South Korea will begin administering the first of 117,000 doses of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine on Feb. 27, a day after the country begins its first vaccinations with AstraZeneca's products, the prime minister announced on Sunday. Plans call for about 10 million high-risk people, including health care workers and staffers and some residents of assisted care facilities and nursing homes, to be inoculated by July. UK to reopen in stages after driving down South African variant, Hancock says

Britain has started to drive down cases of the more infectious South African variant of coronavirus and will only emerge from lockdown in stages to make sure that does not change, the country's health secretary said on Sunday. A day before Prime Minister Boris Johnson sets out his plan to ease restrictions in England, Hancock said there was also early data showing that the faster-than-expected vaccine rollout was reducing transmissions and easing pressure on hospitals. Israel's COVID vaccination pass opens fast track to normal life

Israel reopened swathes of its economy including malls and leisure facilities on Sunday, with the government saying the start of a return to routine was enabled by COVID-19 vaccines administered to almost half the population. Shops were open to all. But access to gyms, hotels and theatres was limited to people with a "Green Pass": those who have had both doses of the vaccine more than a week prior, or recovered from the disease with presumed immunity. Belgian Catholics contest 15 at-a-time COVID rule in one of world's biggest churches

Brussels' cavernous basilica is one of the largest churches in the world but COVID-19 rules allow only 15 people at a time to attend mass there, the same limit applied to much smaller religious venues in Belgium. Dozens of worshippers of different religions and clergy demonstrated in the centre of the Belgian capital on Sunday calling for a change to the rules. U.S. not 'out of the woods' as nation nears 500,000 COVID-19 deaths

The United States faces a dark milestone despite a recent decline in COVID-19 cases as it prepares to mark a staggering half million deaths this week, nearly a year after the novel coronavirus pandemic upended the country with dueling public health and economic crises. While the number of COVID-19 cases fell for the fifth straight week and officials scrambled to inoculate the population, the nation prepared to soon reach 500,000 deaths from the highly infectious respiratory disease. (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2WTOZDR) India's Serum Institute says prioritising domestic vaccine needs, asks for patience

Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's biggest vaccine maker by volume, on Sunday asked for patience from foreign governments awaiting their supply of COVID-19 shots, saying it had been directed to prioritise India's requirements. "...I humbly request you to please be patient," SII's Chief Executive Adar Poonawalla said in a tweet https://twitter.com/adarpoonawalla/status/1363346341275967488, adding the company "has been directed to prioritise the huge needs of India and along with that balance the needs of the rest of the world."