Health News Roundup: U.S. administers 368.9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines - CDC; Thailand to allow local flights to resume in COVID-risk areas and more

The desperately poor country, where health infrastructure has been devastated by six years of war, received 360,000 doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine in March through COVAX. India's new COVID-19 cases rise by 45,083 India reported 45,083 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, according to data from the health ministry, driven by surging cases in the southern state of Kerala.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

U.S. administers 368.9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines - CDC

The United States has administered 368,863,734 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Sunday morning and distributed 440,028,085 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Those figures are up from 367,911,870 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by Aug. 28 out of 439,428,235 doses delivered.

Thailand to allow local flights to resume in COVID-risk areas

Thailand will allow some domestic flights to and from Bangkok and other high risk areas for COVID-19 to resume from Sept. 1, the country's aviation authority said Sunday, to help boost economic activity. The announcement follows the easing of tough restrictions in 29 high-risk provinces from next month, including allowing more provincial travel and the reopening of shopping malls, as the government tries to revive a struggling economy https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL4N2PL05N hit by the outbreak.

Australia's COVID-19 cases hit new record as 'reopening' debate heats up

Australia logged a record 1,323 local COVID-19 cases on Sunday as debate rages on whether the country should start living with the virus in the community, after initially being successful with suppressing coronavirus. Australia's most populous state New South Wales (NSW), the epicentre of the nation's Delta-fuelled outbreak, reported 1,218 cases as authorities there are set to slightly ease restrictions after nine weeks in lockdown. The lockdown is scheduled to last until the end of September.

Yemen gets first batch of J&J COVID-19 vaccines

Yemen received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines made by Johnson & Johnson on Sunday, roughly 151,000 doses, the health ministry said. The desperately poor country, where health infrastructure has been devastated by six years of war, received 360,000 doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine in March through COVAX.

India's new COVID-19 cases rise by 45,083

India reported 45,083 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, according to data from the health ministry, driven by surging cases in the southern state of Kerala. The country's COVID-19 cases stood at about 32.7 million, with deaths rising by 460 to 437,830 in the last 24 hours, data showed.

Israel offers COVID-19 booster to all vaccinated people

Israel on Sunday began offering a COVID-19 booster to children as young as 12, and its prime minister said a campaign that began a month ago among seniors has slowed a rise in severe illness caused by the Delta variant. Announcing the decision, top Israeli health officials said the effectiveness of the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine waned six months after administration, making a booster necessary.

Thousands protest in Berlin against COVID curbs, vaccines

Several thousand people marched through the streets of Berlin on Sunday for a second day of unauthorised protest against coronavirus vaccinations and restrictions aimed at curbing a fourth wave of the pandemic. Shouting "Hands off our children", the protesters waved signs decrying what they called "vaccination apartheid" as parts of Germany consider imposing tougher restrictions on people who are not vaccinated against coronavirus.

Italy reports 37 coronavirus deaths and 5,959 new cases on Sunday

Italy reported 37 coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday, down from 54 the previous day, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 5,959 from 6,860, the health ministry said. A total of 129,093 deaths linked to COVID-19 have been registered in Italy since its outbreak emerged in February last year. That is the second-highest tally in Europe behind Britain and the eighth-highest globally. Italy has reported 4.53 million cases to date.

Fauci backs COVID-19 vaccine mandate for U.S. school children

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said on Sunday he supports COVID-19 vaccine mandates for children attending schools as the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus continues to fuel a surge in cases in the nation. "I believe that mandating vaccines for children to appear in school is a good idea," Fauci told CNN’s "State of the Union" program. "We've done this for decades and decades, requiring polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis" vaccinations.

Japan eyes mixed use of COVID-19 shots to speed vaccine rollout

Japan is looking into the possibility of mixing shots of AstraZeneca Plc's COVID-19 vaccine with those developed by other drug makers in a bid to speed up its vaccine rollout, the minister in charge of vaccinations said on Sunday. Japan, which has previously relied on the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc vaccines, approved AstraZeneca's vaccine in July and has secured two million doses.

(With inputs from agencies.)