Health News Roundup: UK scraps quarantine for fully vaccinated Britons in boost for airlines; Olympics to ban spectators as Tokyo declares COVID-19 emergency -report and more

Some countries including Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have already started giving a booster shot to those inoculated with Chinese vaccines amid concerns that they may not be as effective against new and more transmissible coronavirus variants. COVAX aims to deliver 520 million vaccine doses to Africa this year The global vaccine distribution scheme COVAX aims to deliver 520 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Africa this year, its director said on Thursday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

UK scraps quarantine for fully vaccinated Britons in boost for airlines

Fully-vaccinated Britons returning from medium-risk amber list countries will no longer have to quarantine when they arrive home from July 19, transport secretary Grant Shapps said on Thursday. The rule change will be a huge boost to airlines and the travel industry which have been brought to their knees by 15 months of restrictions. In Britain, 65% of adults have been fully vaccinated, opening up travel for millions.

Olympics to ban spectators as Tokyo declares COVID-19 emergency -report

Organisers are set to ban all spectators from the Tokyo 2020 Games, the Asahi newspaper said on Thursday, as Japan declared a coronavirus state of emergency for the capital that will run throughout the event. The ban will be formally decided during talks on Thursday, the newspaper said, citing people involved in the Games, as Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said it was essential to prevent Tokyo, where the highly infectious Delta COVID-19 variant was spreading, from becoming the source of another wave of infections.

Indonesia, Thailand consider booster shots amid doubts over Sinovac vaccine

Indonesia and Thailand are considering offering a booster shot to their medical workers immunized with Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine, a move likely to reduce public trust in the Chinese product that has been their main inoculation tool. Some countries including Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have already started giving a booster shot to those inoculated with Chinese vaccines amid concerns that they may not be as effective against new and more transmissible coronavirus variants.

COVAX aims to deliver 520 million vaccine doses to Africa this year

The global vaccine distribution scheme COVAX aims to deliver 520 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Africa this year, its director said on Thursday. Aurelia Nguyen, managing director of COVAX, told a news conference organised by the World Health Organization's Africa region that the scheme was not happy with progress supplying doses so far, but that deliveries should ramp up from September.

Sanofi, GSK get Indian approval for late-stage trial of COVID-19 vaccine

Sanofi SA and GlaxoSmithKline Plc have received an approval from Indian authorities for a late-stage clinical trial of their protein-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate, the drugmakers said on Thursday. France's Sanofi and Britain's GSK in May kicked off global trials to include more than 35,000 adults to test the shot. They hope to get approvals by the end of 2021 after early-stage results showed the vaccine produces a robust immune response.

AstraZeneca-Amgen drug gets FDA speedy review as asthma treatment

Drugmakers AstraZeneca and Amgen said on Thursday their experimental drug tezepelumab was granted a speedy review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for potential approval as a treatment for asthma. The medicine showed in trials it can reduce asthma attacks in patients with severe and uncontrolled forms of the respiratory condition, with promise for wider use against different triggers.

Aerial images of expanding graves capture Indonesia's deadliest days

A morbid grid of graves widens as excavators dig deep, piling up soil to make space for Indonesia's pandemic dead to be laid to rest. Ambulances, lights flashing, deliver bodies to the Jakarta burial site as trucks carry away dirt beside rows of rectangles carved out of the brown earth.

U.S. FDA updates label for Biogen's Alzheimer's drug to specify disease stage

Biogen Inc said on Thursday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved changes to the product information for its Alzheimer's disease drug to specify that it has not been studied in treating later stages of the disease. Treatment with the drug, Aduhelm, should be initiated in patients with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia stage of disease, according to the updated product information on the drug.

Analysis: UK PM Johnson's new COVID gamble worries some scientists

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to reopen England's economy from coronavirus lockdown on July 19, but if he does so, it won't be without disquiet from some of the scientists whose advice he has followed thus far. Despite one of the world's highest vaccination rates, Britain is facing a new wave of COVID-19. Johnson is taking a gamble: rather than shutting the country down, he is aiming to live with the virus in what is a world-first test case of the ability of vaccines to protect from the Delta variant. (Graphic on global vaccinations) https://tmsnrt.rs/3hG1IVb

Moscow mayor says COVID-19 situation stabilising, but cases still high

Moscow's mayor said the COVID-19 situation was gradually stabilising after a surge in infections blamed on the more contagious Delta variant, but the new daily case tally remained high nationwide on Thursday. The coronavirus task force reported 24,818 new cases in the last 24 hours, including 6,040 in the capital. Russia also reported 734 coronavirus-related deaths, close to a record daily high.