Health News Roundup: Peru strikes deal to purchase 20 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine; Britain's COVID-19 cases up by nearly 41% over past week and more

Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock earlier this month asked the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate whether FDA representatives' interactions with drugmaker Biogen Inc were inconsistent with agency policies. Delta variant behind more than 80% of U.S. cases; vaccines still highly effective -Fauci The Delta variant of the coronavirus is the cause of more than 80% of new U.S. COVID-19 cases, but the authorized vaccines remain more than 90% effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths, said top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci during U.S. Senate hearing on Tuesday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Peru strikes deal to purchase 20 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine

Peru has signed a deal to purchase 20 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday, a move to shore up the hard-hit Andean nation's defenses over fears of a potential third wave of coronavirus. Officials said the agreement, signed with the Russian Fund for Direct Investment, would ensure the arrival of the vaccines within "the next few months."

Britain's COVID-19 cases up by nearly 41% over past week

Britain has reported 46,558 new cases of COVID-19, government data showed on Tuesday, meaning the rise in cases between July 14 and July 20 stood at 40.7% compared with the previous seven days. A further 96 people were reported as having died within 28 days of a positive test for COVID-19.

U.S. eases COVID travel advisory for India -State Department

The U.S. State Department has lowered its COVID-related travel advisory for India to "Level 3 – Reconsider Travel," the department said in a statement on Tuesday. The advisory for Pakistan was similarly eased to reconsider travel, it said. The COVID advisories previously asked Americans not to travel to the two countries.

Former FDA adviser calls for wider probe into Biogen Alzheimer's drug approval

A federal probe of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of a controversial new Alzheimer's disease drug should look into why that decision was made without clear evidence of patient benefit, a former adviser to the agency said on Tuesday. Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock earlier this month asked the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate whether FDA representatives' interactions with drugmaker Biogen Inc were inconsistent with agency policies.

Delta variant behind more than 80% of U.S. cases; vaccines still highly effective -Fauci

The Delta variant of the coronavirus is the cause of more than 80% of new U.S. COVID-19 cases, but the authorized vaccines remain more than 90% effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths, said top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci during U.S. Senate hearing on Tuesday. The hearing featured a pointed exchange with Republican U.S. Senator Rand Paul, in which he accused Fauci of lying about the National Institutes of Health providing funding for research at China's Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Turkey's virus cases nearly twice the low touched in early July

Turkey's daily coronavirus cases rose to 8,780 on Tuesday, nearly double a low water mark touched earlier this month, while 46 new related deaths were logged, according to the government tally. Infections remain well down from a wave in April-May when new COVID-19 cases peaked above 60,000. They fell to 4,418 on July 4 in the wake of a stringent lockdown that ended in mid-May.

80% of new COVID-19 cases in Spain among non-vaccinated people, health minister says

The vast majority of new COVID-19 cases in Spain in the past five weeks were detected among non-vaccinated people, Health Minister Carolina Darias said on Monday, as new infections rose by 27,286. Just 5.5% of new cases within the period were detected among people who had been fully vaccinated, Darias said, adding 11.4% were partially vaccinated and 83.1% were unvaccinated.

Nine airport workers in Nanjing, China, test positive for COVID-19 - Xinhua

Nine airport workers in Nanjing, capital of China's Jiangsu province, have tested positive for COVID-19, state media reported. Positive results were found during the routine nucleic acid testing for airport workers carried out by local health authorities, the Xinhua news agency reported, adding that more samples were being tested.

New York, drug distributors reach $1.18 billion opioid settlement as national deal looms

The three largest U.S. drug distributors agreed mid-trial to pay up to $1.18 billion to settle claims by New York state and two of its biggest counties over their role in the nationwide opioid epidemic, the state's attorney general said on Tuesday. McKesson Corp, Cardinal Health Inc and AmerisourceBergen Corp settled as state attorneys general prepare to announce as soon as this week a landmark $26 billion deal with the distributors and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson resolving cases nationwide.

EU begins real-time review of Sanofi-GSK COVID-19 vaccine

Europe's drug regulator said on Tuesday it had started a real-time review of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by French drugmaker Sanofi and Britain's GlaxoSmithKline, the fifth shot currently under such a review. The decision to start the "rolling review" of the vaccine, Vidprevtyn, was based on preliminary results from lab studies and early stage clinical trials in adults, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/ema-starts-rolling-review-covid-19-vaccine-vidprevtyn.

(With inputs from agencies.)