Health News Roundup: Turkey's daily coronavirus cases close to three month-high; WHO says Guinea monitoring 155 contacts after confirmed Marburg case and more

The spread of coronavirus has been particularly severe in the southeastern United States, including Florida, which is also prone to storms as the country heads into the height of the Atlantic hurricane season. Brazil reports 34,885 new coronavirus cases, 1,211 deaths Brazil recorded 34,885 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, along with 1,211 deaths from COVID-19, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Turkey's daily coronavirus cases close to three month-high

Turkey recorded 26,597 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, close to last week's three-month high, and the number of fatalities hovered close to a two-month peak. Daily cases have surged from a low of just over 4,000 in early July to over 20,000 for the last two weeks.

WHO says Guinea monitoring 155 contacts after confirmed Marburg case

Health authorities in Guinea are monitoring 155 people who may have been in contact with a confirmed case of Marburg virus disease, a highly infectious haemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola, a World Health Organization official said on Tuesday. The Marburg case, which the WHO said was the first in West Africa, was confirmed in Gueckedou in southeastern Guinea. The region was the origin of the 2014–2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak, the deadliest in history, and saw a brief resurgence of Ebola this year.

Chinese vitamin C price-fixing lawsuit thrown out by U.S. appeals court

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday threw out a price-fixing lawsuit against two Chinese companies that make vitamin C, a case that spotlighted trade tensions between the United States and China. Dismissing the 16-1/2-year-old case was justified because of a "true conflict" between Chinese and U.S. antitrust laws, and the potential impact on foreign relations, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said.

Merkel prods Germans to get COVID-19 vaccine as 4th wave worries mount

Germany's coronavirus vaccination drive has slowed and those people who have not taken up the opportunity to have shots will have to take COVID-19 tests to take a full part in public life, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday. To nudge more people to get vaccinated amid concerns about a rise in new cases, Merkel said the government will stop offering free tests from Oct. 11, except for those for whom vaccination is not recommended, such as children and pregnant women.

Biden to urge Americans in hurricane-prone states to get COVID-19 shots

U.S. President Joe Biden planned on Tuesday to urge Americans in hurricane-prone states to get vaccinated against COVID-19 to protect them in case they have to evacuate from their homes, a White House official said. The spread of coronavirus has been particularly severe in the southeastern United States, including Florida, which is also prone to storms as the country heads into the height of the Atlantic hurricane season.

Brazil reports 34,885 new coronavirus cases, 1,211 deaths

Brazil recorded 34,885 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, along with 1,211 deaths from COVID-19, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday. Brazil has registered more than 20 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 564,773, according to ministry data.

Florida, Texas schools defy governors' bans on mask mandates as COVID cases soar

School districts in Florida and Texas are bucking their Republican governors' bans on requiring masks for children and teachers as coronavirus cases soar in conservative areas with low vaccination rates. The Broward County school board in Florida on Tuesday became the latest major district to flout an order by Republican Governor Rick DeSantis outlawing mask requirements in that state. The Dallas Independent School District said late Monday that it would also require masks, despite an order banning such mandates from Republican Governor Greg Abbott.

NIH assesses third COVID-19 vaccine dose in kidney transplant recipients

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on Tuesday it had launched a new study to assess how patients on immunosuppressive therapy after kidney transplant, who did not respond to the first two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, respond to a third dose. The study, sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), aims to determine whether a third dose of either Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine could help kidney transplant patients overcome the problem of not developing immune response to the coronavirus even after vaccination.

Suspected saline switch sparks vaccine stir in Germany

Authorities in northern Germany appealed to thousands of people on Tuesday to get another shot of COVID-19 vaccine after a police investigation found that a Red Cross nurse may have injected them with a saline solution. The nurse is suspected of injecting salt solution into people's arms instead of genuine doses at a vaccination centre in Friesland - a rural district near the North Sea coast - in the early spring.

Oxford researcher urges Britain to donate vaccines rather than give boosters

Booster shots for COVID-19 vaccines are not currently needed and the doses should be given to other countries, Oxford vaccine chief Andrew Pollard said on Tuesday in contrast to the position taken by Britain's health minister. Pollard, who heads the Oxford Vaccine Group, said that a decision to boost should be based on scientific studies, and there had not been any evidence yet of an increase in severe disease or deaths among the fully vaccinated.