Health News Roundup: India's new COVID-19 cases stay above 300,000; Documenting the death of a COVID patient outside a Delhi hospital and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Quad vaccine pact for Asia 'on track' despite India crisis -U.S. officials

An agreement between the United States and three of its closest Indo-Pacific partners to produce up to a billion coronavirus vaccine doses in India by the end of 2022 to supply other Asian countries is "still on track," senior U.S. officials said on Monday, despite a surge of COVID-19 in India. "It's moving forward expeditiously," a senior administration official told reporters in a briefing call, referring to the agreement last month between the leaders of the United States, India, Japan and Australia, a grouping known as the Quad.

Canada to send army, Red Cross to province worst affected by COVID-19 surge

Canada will send the armed forces and Red Cross to Ontario to help the country's most populous province as it struggles to cope with a surge in hospitalizations from COVID-19, the country's public safety minister said on Monday. The federal government approved a request from Ontario which would include air lifting medical personnel from the Atlantic province of Newfoundland and Labrador to Toronto, the epicentre of Ontario's third wave, a spokesman from Public Safety Canada said in a statement, without giving details of personnel involved.

Top U.S. trade negotiator meets Pfizer, AstraZeneca execs on COVID-19 IP waiver

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Monday met virtually with top executives of drugmakers Pfizer and AstraZeneca PLC to discuss a proposed waiver of certain intellectual property rights in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Members of the World Trade Organization are due to discuss a proposal by India and South Africa to waive certain provisions of the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) on April 30, but the United States and a few other big countries have blocked such a move.

Factbox: Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

India ordered its armed forces to help tackle surging new COVID-19 infections, as nations including Britain, Germany, and the United States pledged urgent medical aid to try to contain an emergency overwhelming the country's hospitals. DEATHS AND INFECTIONS * Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of the news.

New U.S. COVID cases fall sharply last week, deaths lowest since October

New cases of COVID-19 in the United States fell 16% last week to about 409,000, the biggest percentage drop in weekly new cases since February, according to a Reuters analysis of state and county data. Deaths from COVID-19 fell 4% to 4,972 in the week ended April 25, dropping below 5,000 for the first time since October.

Indian Americans in U.S. Congress, tech organize COVID-19 aid to India

Some U.S. lawmakers and wealthy technology executives have joined forces to boost aid to India as it grapples with a severe spike in coronavirus infections, with a focus on ensuring aid are equally distributed across the country, a Congress member said. U.S. Representative Ro Khanna, Democratic vice chair of the Congressional Caucus on India, told Reuters that Indian-American billionaire and Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla and other Indian-American tech executives at Google, IBM, and Microsoft are working closely with the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on India.

Japan's defense ministry to open mass vaccination centre in Tokyo

Japan will open a mass vaccination center in central Tokyo next month, officials said on Tuesday, part of the country's bid to speed up its COVID-19 inoculation campaign as the Olympic Games looms. No decision has been made on which vaccine will be used or how many people will get shots each day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters.

Documenting the death of a COVID patient outside a Delhi hospital

For Reuters photographer Danish Siddiqui, covering India's second wave of the coronavirus pandemic is a daily circuit of crematoriums, cemeteries, and hospitals, capturing the struggles of a nation of 1.4 billion people. From that experience, he knew the situation at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, a government-run facility in the capital New Delhi with 400 COVID ICU beds, might be chaotic.

India's new COVID-19 cases stay above 300,000, army called to help

India's new coronavirus cases stayed above 300,000 for a sixth consecutive day on Tuesday, while its armed forces pledged urgent medical aid to help battle the staggering spike in infections. Over the past 24 hours, India recorded 323,144 new cases, below Monday's worldwide peak of 352,991, with overrun hospitals continuing to turn away patients due to a shortage of beds and oxygen supplies.

U.S. to share up to 60 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses globally: White House

The United States will start to share up to 60 million doses of AstraZeneca Plc's coronavirus vaccine with other countries as soon as the next few weeks, the White House said on Monday. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the United States would release the doses to other countries as they become available.

(With inputs from agencies.)