Health News Roundup: U.S. administers 330.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines - CDC; Exclusive: South Korea in talks with mRNA vaccine makers to make up to 1 billion doses - government official and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

U.S. administers 330.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines - CDC

The United States has administered 330,604,253 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Sunday morning and distributed 383,068,740 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Those figures are up from the 329,970,551 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by July 3 out of 383,067,560 doses delivered.

Exclusive: South Korea in talks with mRNA vaccine makers to make up to 1 billion doses - government official

South Korea is in talks with mRNA vaccine makers including Pfizer and Moderna to produce COVID-19 shots in the country and is ready to offer the capacity to make up to 1 billion doses immediately, a senior government official said. The plan, if agreed, would help ease the tight global supply of COVID-19 vaccines, particularly in Asia which lags North America and Europe in vaccine rollouts, and put South Korea a step closer to its ambition to become a major vaccine manufacturing center.

Brazil COVID-19 deaths surpass 524,000: Health Ministry

Brazil registered 27,783 new COVID-19 cases and 830 new deaths in the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Sunday.

That brought the total in Brazil to 18,769,808 cases and 524,417 deaths.

Australia's New South Wales says next 2 days 'critical' as COVID-19 cases rise

Australia's New South Wales (NSW) on Monday said the next two days would be "absolutely critical" in deciding whether a two-week anti-coronavirus lockdown in Sydney, set to end on July 9, will have to be extended amid rising Delta variant cases. With more than five million Sydney residents under strict stay-at-home orders, total infections in the latest outbreak have topped 300. NSW reported 35 locally acquired cases on Monday, matching the biggest daily rise in infections so far this year, recorded two days ago.

Indonesia ramps up oxygen output after dozens die amid scarcity

Indonesia has ordered oxygen makers to prioritize medical needs amid growing demand from COVID-19 patients, the government said on Sunday, following more than 60 deaths in a hospital where the supply of the life-saving gas was almost exhausted. The world's fourth most populous nation is battling one of Asia's worst coronavirus outbreaks, with Saturday's 27,913 infections becoming the newest of many peaks during the last two weeks.

Portugal's Madeira to allow visitors with COVID shots not approved by EU

The popular Portuguese islands of Madeira will allow entry to visitors with any of the COVID-19 jabs being administered worldwide and not only with those approved by Europe's drug regulator, but the regional government also said on Sunday.

The European Union, which launched its digital COVID certificate last week, has so far authorized only four vaccines - those of Pfizer Inc and BioNTech, Moderna Inc, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson.

Face masks to become a personal choice in England, minister says

The wearing of face coverings in England will become a personal choice and the data that will determine if lockdown restrictions can be lifted this month was looking "very positive", Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said on Sunday. "It will be a different period where we as private citizens make these judgments rather than the government telling you what to do," Jenrick told Sky News.

French health minister warns of fourth COVID wave

Health Minister Olivier Veran on Sunday urged as many French people as possible to get a COVID-19 vaccine, warning that France could be heading for a fourth wave of the epidemic by the end of the month due to the highly transmissible Delta variant. "For five days, (the infection rate) hasn't come down - it's rising again. Because of the Delta variant, which is very contagious. The British example shows that a fourth wave is possible from the end of July," Veran said on Twitter.

Israel says negotiating Pfizer surplus with other countries

Israel is in talks with other countries about a deal to unload its surplus of Pfizer/BioNtech COVID-19 vaccines, doses of which are due to expire by the end of the month, officials said on Sunday. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said he spoke with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla about securing more vaccines for Israel and about possible deals to swap vaccines between Israel and other countries, though he did not say which ones.

Venezuela to give COVAX ultimatum to ship vaccines

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday he will give the COVAX system an ultimatum this week to send the country's share of coronavirus vaccines as all pending payments had been made to the global vaccine-sharing scheme. Venezuela received word from COVAX in June that the last four payments had been blocked by UBS. The payments to cover the $120 million fees have already been made, he said.

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