Health News Roundup: Spain's COVID-19 cases continue to rise; Indonesia to boost social, health spending amid virus battleand more

Lack of vaccine side effects no cause for concern COVID-19 Delta variant gains ground in Italy - Health Institute The highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus is gaining ground in Italy, the National Health Institute (ISS) said on Friday, releasing data showing it accounted for some 22.7% of cases as of June 22.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Spain's COVID-19 cases continue to rise

Spain reported 12,563 new coronavirus infections and 28 deaths on Friday, up from 12,345 cases and eight deaths on Thursday, as cases continue to spike mainly due to the more contagious Delta variant. Health ministry data shows daily increases this week are at their highest level since mid-April.

Indonesia to boost social, health spending amid virus battle

Indonesia will increase social assistance and healthcare spending in response to a spike in COVID-19 cases and to soften the economic blow of tougher restrictions taking effect this week, its finance minister said on Friday. Battling one of the Asia's worst coronavirus outbreaks, the world's fourth most populous country has seen record new infections on eight of the past 12 days, including 25,830 on Friday, and a record 539 deaths.

U.S. administers nearly 329 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines - CDC

The United States had administered 328,809,470 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Friday morning and distributed 382,636,520 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Those figures are up from the 328,152,304 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by July 1 out of 382,283,990 doses delivered.

U.S. sending 1.5 million doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine to El Salvador

The United States will send 1.5 million doses of Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine to El Salvador on Sunday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters at a news briefing on Friday.

South Africa hits record 24,000 new COVID-19 cases in third wave

South Africa registered more than 24,000 cases of COVID-19 on Friday, its highest tally of new infections since the pandemic began, as a third wave of the virus spread through a population in which just 5% have been vaccinated. The surge in cases in Africa's most industrialised nation has overwhelmed hospitals, especially in the main city of Johannesburg, and left overworked healthcare personnel struggling to find enough beds for critically ill patients.

'We urge caution,' WHO says on Tokyo Olympics

The World Health Organization, which is advising the International Olympic Committee in the run-up to the Tokyo Games opening later this month, is urging caution so as to stem the spread of the coronavirus, a senior WHO official said on Friday.

Crowds at Euro 2020 soccer stadiums and in pubs and bars in host cities are driving the current rise in COVID-19 infections in Europe, the WHO's regional office said on Thursday.

U.S. authorizes additional batch of J&J COVID-19 vaccine produced by Emergent

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it had authorized the use of an additional batch of Johnson & Johnson's one-dose COVID-19 vaccine manufactured at the problem-plagued Baltimore factory of Emergent BioSolutions Inc. The batch of bulk drug substance - which has not yet been put into vials - can make up to 15 million doses of J&J's vaccine, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Brazilian cities deny media reports that they used expired COVID-19 shots

Municipalities across Brazil on Friday denied a newspaper report that said health ministry data showed cities administered at least 26,000 expired AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine shots. The southern city of Maringá, cited in the Folha de S.Paulo story as being the municipality to have used the most expired shots (over 3,500), denied the allegation, saying the doses only appeared to have expired on public databases due to a delay in the registration of new data in the Health Ministry system.

Lack of side effects doesn't mean mRNA vaccine not working; mRNA shots limit breakthrough infection severity

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. Lack of vaccine side effects no cause for concern

COVID-19 Delta variant gains ground in Italy - Health Institute

The highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus is gaining ground in Italy, the National Health Institute (ISS) said on Friday, releasing data showing it accounted for some 22.7% of cases as of June 22. In the previous such survey based on data from May 18, the Delta variant represented just 1% of cases. By contrast, the Alpha variant accounted for 57.8% of cases as of June 22 against a previous 88.1%.