Reuters Health News Summary

Novavax completes enrollment in U.S. trial of COVID-19 vaccine Drug developer Novavax Inc said on Monday it has completed patient enrollment in the late-stage study of its COVID-19 vaccine in the United States and Mexico.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Resurgence of COVID-19 in India's Maharastra forces fresh containment measures

Alarmed by signs that a second wave of the coronavirus epidemic is building, India's richest state of Maharashtra ordered fresh restrictions on people's movement and imposed night curfews in some cities, though not in the financial capital Mumbai. Maharastra alone reported nearly 7,000 new cases on Sunday, a steep rise from just 2,000 cases earlier this month, with fears heightened by the appearance of new strains of the virus in parts of the country. Germany's Merkel proposes three-stage plan to lift virus curbs: sources

German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants a staggered plan to lift coronavirus restrictions that is linked to increased testing, she told a meeting of her Christian Democrats leadership committee according to two participants. Merkel wants to reopen parts of society in three stages, starting with expanding the number of personal contacts, followed by schools and vocational schools and thirdly sports groups, restaurants and culture, according to participants. British PM Johnson to plot path out of lockdown on Monday

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce plans on Monday to reopen England's schools and allow people to see family and friends, part of a phased exit from COVID-19 lockdown that is aided by one of the world's fastest vaccine rollouts. With more than 120,000 fatalities, Britain has suffered the world's fifth-highest official death toll from the pandemic and its $3 trillion economy its biggest crash in over 300 years. GSK and Sanofi start with new COVID-19 vaccine study after setback

GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi on Monday said they had started a new clinical trial of their protein-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate, reviving their efforts against the pandemic after a setback in December delayed the shot's launch. The British and French drugmakers aim to reach final testing in the second quarter, and if the results are conclusive, hope to see the vaccine approved by the fourth quarter after having initially targeted the first half of this year. COVID vaccine reducing risk of hospitalisations, Scottish study suggests

Scotland's vaccination drive appears to be markedly reducing the risk of hospitalisation for COVID-19, suggesting that both the Pfizer-BioNtech and Oxford-AstraZeneca shots are highly effective in preventing severe infections, preliminary study findings showed on Monday. Results of the study, which covered the entire Scottish population of 5.4 million people, showed that by the fourth week after the initial dose, the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines were found to reduce the risk of hospitalisation by up to 85% and 94% respectively. Novavax completes enrollment in U.S. trial of COVID-19 vaccine

Drug developer Novavax Inc said on Monday it has completed patient enrollment in the late-stage study of its COVID-19 vaccine in the United States and Mexico. The company said last month its vaccine was 89.3% effective in preventing COVID-19 in a trial conducted in the United Kingdom, and was nearly as effective in protecting against the more highly contagious variant first discovered in the UK. Over 43 million doses of Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccines used globally: state media

More than 43 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from China's state-backed China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) have been used, including over 34 million administered in the country and the rest overseas, official media said on Sunday. China National Biotec Group Company (CNBG), a Sinopharm unit, has two COVID-19 vaccines. One of them is developed by its Beijing unit and has been approved for general public use in China and emergency use in several countries including Iraq, Pakistan and Morocco. Hong Kong leader gets China's Sinovac vaccine to bolster public confidence

Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam received China's Sinovac vaccine on Monday together with top officials at a live televised event to bolster public confidence ahead of the vaccine's rollout in the global financial hub this week. Sinovac is the first COVID-19 vaccine to be introduced in Hong Kong, ahead of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine set to arrive in the Chinese special administrative region before the end of February. Gaza launches COVID-19 vaccinations, with just 22,000 doses

Palestinians in Gaza began a limited COVID-19 vaccination programme on Monday after receiving doses donated by Russia and the United Arab Emirates, but a wider campaign could be further off as health officials await larger shipments. Officials in the coastal enclave, run by the Islamist group Hamas and home to 2 million people, are administering the first of their 22,000 Russia Sputnik V doses to health workers. Patients with chronic diseases and those over 60 years old will follow. France's Sanofi to help Johnson & Johnson manufacture COVID-19 vaccine

French healthcare company Sanofi will provide COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing support to U.S. peer Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi said on Monday. Once authorized, Sanofi will provide Johnson & Johnson access to the established infrastructure and expertise of its vaccine manufacturing plant in Marcy l'Etoile, France, to formulate and fill vials of Johnson & Johnson's Janssen COVID-19 vaccine candidate in 2021 at a rate of approximately 12 million doses per month.