Health News Roundup: Brazil's hospitals running out of sedatives as COVID-19 rages; COVID-19 deaths in France exceed 100,000, eighth-highest toll in world and more

Lesotho has helped pioneer the nascent legal cannabis sector in Africa which could be worth more than $7.1 billion annually by 2023 if new laws are introduced, the African Cannabis Report said two years ago. U.S. preparing for 1-year COVID-19 booster shots; Pfizer chief sees need The United States is preparing for the possibility that a booster shot will be needed between nine to 12 months after people are initially vaccinated against COVID-19, a White House official said on Thursday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Brazil's hospitals running out of sedatives as COVID-19 rages

Hospitals in Brazil were running out of drugs needed to sedate patients on Thursday, with reports of the seriously ill being tied down and intubated without effective sedatives. The scenes playing out across Brazil, one of the countries hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, are placing growing international pressure on President Jair Bolsonaro.

Global officials urge rich countries to donate excess COVID-19 vaccines, money to help end pandemic

GENEVA/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Top U.N., financial and vaccine officials on Thursday urged rich countries to donate excess COVID-19 vaccine doses to a program supplying lower income countries in a bid to end the pandemic and get the global economy back on track. At an event organised by the Gavi Vaccine Alliance to boost support for the COVAX vaccine-sharing initiative, the officials appealed for another $2 billion by June for the programme, which aims to buy up to 1.8 billion doses in 2021.

COVID-19 deaths in France exceed 100,000, eighth-highest toll in world

France's COVID-19 death toll rose on Thursday to more than 100,000, according to the latest hospital figures from the health ministry, a bleak statistic for President Emmanuel Macron's government. Data from the health ministry's GEODES website said French hospitals registered 300 COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, which, pushing the overall tally to more than 100,000.

In fight against COVID-19, Portugal continues to cautiously ease lockdown

Most Portuguese regions will enter the third phase of easing the COVID-19 lockdown next week, but stricter rules will stay in place in municipalities where transmission rates remain high, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Thursday. "These set of measures are neither prizes nor punishments," Antonio Costa told a news conference. "They are public health measures for the safety of the population, of people."

U.S. administers 198.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines: CDC

The United States had administered 198,317,040 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Thursday morning and distributed 255,400,665 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. The tally is for Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, and Johnson & Johnson's vaccines as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Thursday, the agency said.

Two to a bed in Delhi hospital as India's COVID crisis spirals

Gasping for air, two men wearing oxygen masks share a bed in a government hospital in India's capital New Delhi, victims of the country's growing COVID-19 crisis. From reporting under 10,000 new daily cases earlier this year, daily infections crossed 200,000 on Thursday, according to official data, the highest anywhere in the world.

Britain has no plans to halt rapid COVID-19 testing -health ministry

Britain's health ministry said on Thursday there were no plans to halt rapid coronavirus testing, after the Guardian newspaper reported the programme may be scaled back in England because of concerns about false positives. "With around one in three people not showing symptoms of COVID-19, regular, rapid testing is an essential tool to control the spread of the virus as restrictions ease by picking up cases that would not otherwise have been detected," a ministry spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

UK scientists find higher risk of brain clots from COVID-19 compared with vaccines

There is a much higher risk of brain blood clots from COVID-19 infection than there is from vaccines against the disease, British researchers said on Thursday, after the rollout of inoculations was disrupted by reports of rare clots. AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson have both seen very rare reports of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) linked to their vaccines. On Wednesday, the United States paused vaccinations using J&J's shot while a link with clots was investigated, with Denmark ditching AstraZeneca's shot over the issue.

EU allows Lesotho's MG Health to export cannabis flower for medicinal use

Lesotho start-up MG Health has become the first African cannabis-grower to win European Union permission to export cannabis flower for medicinal use - which can range from relieving chronic pain to treating spasms caused by multiple sclerosis. Lesotho has helped pioneer the nascent legal cannabis sector in Africa which could be worth more than $7.1 billion annually by 2023 if new laws are introduced, the African Cannabis Report said two years ago.

U.S. preparing for 1-year COVID-19 booster shots; Pfizer chief sees need

The United States is preparing for the possibility that a booster shot will be needed between nine to 12 months after people are initially vaccinated against COVID-19, a White House official said on Thursday. While the duration of immunity after vaccination is being studied, booster vaccines could be needed, David Kessler, chief science officer for President Joe Biden's COVID-19 response task force told a congressional committee meeting.