Health News Roundup: India records 134,154 new COVID-19 cases over past 24 hours; Australia's Victoria state posts lowest rise in daily COVID-19 cases in a week and more

Melbourne is seven days into a hard lockdown, now scheduled to run until June 10, spurred by the latest outbreak of a virus variant first detected in India, which authorities said is highly contagious and could become uncontrollable. COVID-19 cases rising again says America's health agency, but not in North America Lack of effective political leadership has hampered efforts to stop the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America, where infections are dangerously on the rise again, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

India records 134,154 new COVID-19 cases over past 24 hours

India announced on Thursday 134,154 new COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, while deaths from the coronavirus rose by 2,887. The country's total COVID-19 caseload now stands at 28.4 million, while total fatalities are at 337,989, according to data from the health ministry.

Australia's Victoria state posts lowest rise in daily COVID-19 cases in a week

Australia's second-most populous state Victoria reported its lowest rise in new COVID-19 cases in more than a week on Thursday, a day after a snap lockdown in state capital Melbourne was extended for another week. Melbourne is seven days into a hard lockdown, now scheduled to run until June 10, spurred by the latest outbreak of a virus variant first detected in India, which authorities said is highly contagious and could become uncontrollable.

COVID-19 cases rising again, says Americas health agency, but not in North America

Lack of effective political leadership has hampered efforts to stop the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America, where infections are dangerously on the rise again, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday. While the United States, Canada and Mexico are reporting overall reductions in COVID-19 cases and deaths, new infections are increasing in the rest of the Americas, PAHO Director Carissa Etienne said.

'Get a shot, have a beer': Biden, Anheuser-Busch push July vaccination goal

From free beer to free childcare, President Joe Biden on Wednesday touted new efforts to get 70 percent of U.S. adults at least one shot of vaccination against COVID-19 by the July 4 Independence Day holiday. The Democratic president has made recovering from the pandemic one of his top priorities in his first few months in office. A rollout of vaccines has led to a dramatic drop in the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths nationwide, a trend the White House is eager to extend.

India signs deal with domestic vaccine maker Biological-E for 300 million doses

India's government said on Thursday it has inked a deal with domestic vaccine maker Biological-E for 300 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for 15 billion rupees ($205.62 million), the first such order for unapproved shots. The vaccine, which is currently undergoing phase-3 clinical trials, is likely to be available in the next few months, the health ministry said in a statement.

Exclusive: Amazon starts testing UK staff for coronavirus variants

Amazon is testing its front-line staff in Britain for coronavirus variants and feeding the data to public health officials, including in hotspots where a strain first found in India is spreading fast. The retail giant opened COVID-19 testing labs in the UK and the United States last year to provide voluntary testing for staff and can now also test for variants in Britain, where scientists have pioneered sequencing coronavirus genomes.

Taiwan health ministry to get $2.9 billion boost to fight COVID-19

Taiwan's health ministry will receive an extra T$79.2 billion ($2.87 billion) in spending to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, including buying vaccines, the government said on Thursday, detailing a stimulus package approved this week. Taiwan's parliament approved on Monday an extra T$420 billion in spending to help the economy deal with the virus' impact, as the island curbs business activity to counter a spike in domestic infections.

Britain hosts G7 health summit amid pressure to broaden COVID vaccine access

Britain will host health ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) rich countries in Oxford on Thursday for a two-day summit, as pressure intensifies to do more to broaden access to COVID-19 vaccines across the world. British foreign minister Dominic Raab has said that equitable access to coronavirus vaccines will be at the top of the agenda when G7 leaders meet next week.

Japan working to supply COVID-19 vaccines to Taiwan this month -Kyodo

Japanese foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi in parliament on Thursday said he is working to supply COVID-19 vaccines to Taiwan this month, Kyodo news agency reported. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Wednesday said Japan will donate about 30 million vaccine doses to other countries and regions through the COVAX programme.

AstraZeneca in talks to shift COVID-19 vaccine production to Catalent factory - NYT

AstraZeneca Plc is in talks with the U.S. government to shift production of its COVID-19 vaccine from a troubled Baltimore plant to a factory owned by Catalent Inc, the New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The British drugmaker has been on the lookout for an alternative production site since the U.S. government stopped it from using Emergent BioSolutions Inc's Baltimore plant after workers accidentally contaminated a batch of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine with ingredients from AstraZeneca's that was also being produced at the time.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)