Health News Roundup: Moderna expects vaccine shipments to Britain; Delhi faces hospital bed shortage as coronavirus cases surge and more

Oxygen is in short supply," said chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, adding that almost one in four tests for the virus were giving a positive result. U.S. administers 205.9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines The United States has administered 205,871,913 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Saturday morning and distributed 264,499,715 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Saturday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Moderna expects vaccine shipments to Britain, Canada to be delayed, EU, Swiss roll-out on track

Moderna Inc said on Friday a shortfall in COVID-19 vaccine doses from its European suppliers will delay deliveries to countries including Canada and Britain, but shipments to the European Union and Switzerland are on track. The drugmaker will deliver about 650,000 doses by the end of April, not the expected 1.2 million, Canada's Procurement Minister Anita Anand said.

India's capital Delhi faces hospital beds shortage as coronavirus cases surge

India's capital New Delhi recorded 24,000 coronavirus cases in a 24-hour period and is facing an acute shortage of hospital beds, its chief minister said on Saturday, as the country overall recorded more than 200,000 cases for a third day. "The situation is very critical, worrying. Oxygen is in short supply," said chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, adding that almost one in four tests for the virus were giving a positive result.

U.S. administers 205.9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines

The United States has administered 205,871,913 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Saturday morning and distributed 264,499,715 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Saturday. Those figures are up from the 202,282,923 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by April 16 out of 258,502,815 doses delivered.

UK delivers more than 600,000 vaccines in 24 hours

More than 600,000 first and second doses of coronavirus vaccine were administered in Britain in the space of 24 hours, according to data released on Saturday. Official figures showed that 119,306 first doses were given on Friday, and 485,421 second doses. The data also showed a further 35 people had died from the virus within 28 days of a positive test, and 2,206 people had tested positive.

Number of COVID-19 patients in French intensive care falls again

The number of coronavirus patients in intensive care units in France has fallen and the number of patients in hospital has also dropped, the health ministry said on Saturday, in a sign that pressure on the medical system is easing. Health ministry data showed that 5,877 people were in intensive care units with COVID-19 on Saturday, 37 fewer than on Friday. The number of COVID-19 patients in hospital fell by 143 to 30,329, the fifth consecutive fall.

Australia to continue review of COVID vaccinations - health minister

Australia will continue its review of coronavirus vaccines after a 48-year-old woman's death was likely linked to the inoculation, Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Saturday. On Friday, Australia reported its first fatality from blood clots in a recipient of AstraZeneca's (AZN.L) COVID-19 shot. It was the third case of the rare blood clots appearing in people who have been administered the vaccine in the country. "The government will ask ATAGI (Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation) to ensure continuous review of all of the vaccines in terms of their safety and their efficacy," Hunt said at a televised briefing.

Senators urge Biden to back temporary WTO waiver of IP rights to speed vaccine access

Bernie Sanders and nine other Democratic senators urged President Joe Biden on Friday to back a temporary patent waiver for COVID-19 vaccines that would allow countries to manufacture treatments locally and accelerate the global vaccination effort.

World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonko-Iweala on Wednesday urged WTO member to address inequitable access to vaccines, with low-income countries administering just 0.2% of 700 million global doses.

Italy reports 310 coronavirus deaths on Saturday, 15,370 new cases

Italy reported 310 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday against 429 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections edged down to 15,370 from 15,943. Italy has registered 116,676 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world. The country has reported 3.857 million cases to date.

Biden administration to invest $1.7 billion to fight COVID-19 variants

The Biden administration on Friday said it will invest $1.7 billion to help states and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fight COVID-19 variants that are rapidly spreading across the United States. The investment, which will be part of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, will improve detection, monitoring, and mitigation of these variants by scaling up genomic sequencing efforts - a key step in containing the spread, the White House said.

J&J scientists refute idea that COVID-19 vaccine's design linked to clots

Scientists at Johnson & Johnson on Friday refuted an assertion in a major medical journal that the design of their COVID-19 vaccine, which is similar AstraZeneca's, may explain why both have been linked to very rare brain blood clots in some vaccine recipients. The United States earlier this week paused distribution of the J&J vaccine to investigate six cases of a rare brain blood clot known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), accompanied by a low blood platelet count, in U.S. women under age 50, out of about 7 million people who got the shot.