Reuters Health News Summary

Pregnant women being infected at higher rates; COVID-19 from UK variant lasting longer 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.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. A day that will live in infamy: U.S. nears 500,000th COVID-19 death

The United States on Monday closed in on the staggering milestone of 500,000 COVID-19 deaths just over a year to the day since the coronavirus pandemic claimed its first known U.S. victims in Santa Clara County, California. The country had recorded more than 28 million COVID-19 cases and 499,510 lives lost as of Monday morning, according to a Reuters tally of public health data, although daily deaths and hospitalizations have fallen to the lowest level since before the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. French COVID intensive care patients at highest in two-and-a-half months

The number of people being treated in intensive care units in France for COVID-19 reaching 3,407 on Monday, exceeding 3,400 for the first time since Dec. 3, while the average increase in new cases reached a 17-day peak. The figures were published after the Alpes-Maritimes region, around Nice in the South of France announced a partial lockdown over the next two weekends in the coastal area between Menton and Theoule to fight a surge in infections. Venezuela inoculates health workers in Caracas hospital

One of the main hospitals in Venezuela's capital of Caracas is vaccinating health workers against COVID-19 and on Tuesday will begin the inoculation of Cuban doctors who are stationed there, the hospital's director said on Monday. The Ana Francisca de Perez de Leon hospital on Friday began inoculating personnel with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, director Zaida Medina told Reuters. Trials of retooled vaccines for variants could take months: U.S. FDA

Drugmakers should test any COVID-19 vaccines that have been retooled to combat new variants of the coronavirus in clinical trials designed to track the immune response of hundreds of test subjects, which could take months, U.S. regulators said on Monday. Vaccine developers may need to modify their shots to provide protection against new variants of the coronavirus that turn up in the United States should they fail to elicit immune response in their current form, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a statement. Pregnant women being infected at higher rates; COVID-19 from UK variant lasting longer

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. Pregnant women infected by COVID-19 at higher rate 'One-way road to freedom': Johnson sets out cautious lockdown exit plan

Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled a map out of lockdown for England on Monday that would keep some businesses shuttered until the summer, saying caution was necessary to ensure there were no reversals on a "one-way road to freedom". After imposing one of the strictest lockdowns in the western world in January to counter a highly contagious variant of the coronavirus, Johnson said Britain was now in a position to enjoy the fruits of one of the world's fastest vaccine programmes. U.S. administers 64.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines - CDC

The United States has administered 64,177,474 doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of Monday morning and delivered 75,205,940 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 Monday, the agency said. UK PM promises not to 'pull the rug out' from those needing COVID aid

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday his government would not abandon people and businesses who need government help during the COVID-19 pandemic, after he announced a provisional timetable for lifting English COVID restrictions. Johnson's remarks to parliament put pressure on his finance minister Rishi Sunak to extend a 70 billion pound ($98 billion) job furlough programme which is due to expire on April 30, well before most social-distancing restrictions will be lifted. 'I just ask God to help me': Texas funeral home crushed by death as U.S. COVID toll tops 500,000

Sunday is traditionally a quiet day for Chuck Pryor's Houston funeral home, but on this Sunday in February, almost a year after the global pandemic reached Texas, the phone was still ringing. Pryor took the call: COVID-19 had taken yet another American life -- one of more than 500,000 lost to the pandemic so far -- and another grieving family required the services of the exhausted funeral director and his staff. Teachers may play role in in-school COVID-19 transmission: U.S. CDC

Teachers may play an important role in the transmission of COVID-19 within schools, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday, citing a study conducted in elementary schools in a Georgia school district. The report comes after researchers from the agency last month said there was little evidence that schools were spreading COVID-19 infections in the country - based in part on a study of schools in Wisconsin - easing concerns about allowing in-person learning. The Wisconsin study found significantly lower virus spread within schools compared with transmission in the surrounding communities.