Health News Roundup: New Zealand reports 21 new local COVID-19 cases as outbreak grows; Russia reports 20,564 new COVID-19 cases and 762 deaths and more

Some 120 people deemed close contacts of the infected five workers at Pudong Airport were placed into quarantine, along with hundreds of others deemed secondary contacts. South Korea to get more Moderna COVID shots in boost to vaccination effort South Korea's health ministry said on Sunday that Moderna Inc will supply the country with 7.01 million doses of coronavirus vaccines by the first week of September, following a government request to speed up delivery.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

New Zealand reports 21 new local COVID-19 cases as outbreak grows

New Zealand recorded 21 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, as the current community outbreak of the highly transmissible Delta variant continues to grow, bringing infections associated with the outbreak to 72, health officials said. Of the 21 new cases, 20 are in Auckland, the largest city, and one is in the capital Wellington. Five people were in hospital, but no one was an intensive care unit.

Australian PM Morrison defends lockdown strategy as daily cases hit record

Australia will stick to its lockdown strategy against the coronavirus until at least 70% of its population is fully vaccinated, but after that it will have to start living with the virus, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday. The country set a record with 914 infections, its highest daily figure, as the southern and eastern states of New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory remain under a strict lockdown.

Florida Board of Education gives school districts ultimatum on masks

The Florida Board of Education on Friday told two school districts they would have some of their state funding withheld if they failed within the next 48 hours to provide parents with a way to opt out of a requirement that their children wear masks. School boards in Broward and Alachua counties have mandated masks in schools in defiance of an executive order issued last month by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis that barred local officials from imposing mask mandates.

Israel finds COVID-19 vaccine booster significantly lowers infection risk

A third dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine has significantly improved protection from infection and serious illness among people aged 60 and older in Israel compared with those who received two shots, findings published by the Health Ministry showed on Sunday. The data were presented at a meeting of a ministry panel of vaccination experts on Thursday and uploaded to its website on Sunday, though the full details of the study were not released.

Russia reports 20,564 new COVID-19 cases and 762 deaths

Russia reported 20,564 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, including 1,661 in Moscow and 1,481 in St. Petersburg, which took the national tally to 6,747,087. The Russian coronavirus task force said 762 more deaths of coronavirus patients had been confirmed in the past 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 176,044.

UK to begin offering COVID antibody testing to general public for first time -media

The United Kingdom will begin offering COVID-19 antibody testing to the general public in the coming week for the first time, British media reported on Sunday. The government's new programme is intended to produce data on antibody protections for people following infection by different coronavirus variants, according to details of the programme published by multiple media outlets, including Sky News and BBC.

Shanghai places hundreds in quarantine after airport COVID-19 cases

Authorities in Shanghai have quarantined hundreds of people in an attempt to halt a fresh COVID-19 outbreak in the city after infections were detected in cargo workers at its airport, the municipal government said on Saturday. Some 120 people deemed close contacts of the infected five workers at Pudong Airport were placed into quarantine, along with hundreds of others deemed secondary contacts.

South Korea to get more Moderna COVID shots in boost to vaccination effort

South Korea's health ministry said on Sunday that Moderna Inc will supply the country with 7.01 million doses of coronavirus vaccines by the first week of September, following a government request to speed up delivery. Some 1.01 million doses are expected to arrive on Monday, the ministry said, with another 6 million to be supplied sequentially.

U.S. administers 362.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines- CDC

The United States has administered 362,657,771 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Sunday morning and distributed 428,531,345 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Sunday. Those figures are up from the 361,684,564 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by Saturday out of 428,506,065 doses delivered.

(With inputs from agencies.)