Health News Roundup: U.S. administers 374.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines -CDC; Britain's COVID-19 cases up by 2.4% over past week and more

There are 1,030 people admitted to hospital, with 175 of them in intensive care unit, the New South Wales health ministry said on Twitter. New Zealand reports 20 local COVID-19 cases New Zealand reported 20 local COVID-19 cases on Sunday, the same as in previous day and all in Auckland, the epicentre of an outbreak of the highly transmissible Delta variant, health authorities said.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

U.S. administers 374.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines -CDC

The United States had administered 374,488,924 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Saturday morning and distributed 450,175,825 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Those figures are up from the 373,516,809 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by Friday, out of 447,619,715 doses delivered.

Britain's COVID-19 cases up by 2.4% over past week

Britain has reported 37,578 new cases of COVID-19, government data showed on Saturday, meaning cases reported between Aug. 29 and Sept. 4 were up 2.4% compared with the previous seven days. A further 120 people were reported as having died within 28 days of a positive test for COVID-19, leaving the seven-day total unchanged from the previous week.

Australia's New South Wales reports 1,485 COVID-19 cases

Australia's New South Wales state reported 1,485 new locally acquired COVID-19 infections and three further deaths on Sunday, as authorities are struggling to contain a growing Delta outbreak. There are 1,030 people admitted to the hospital, with 175 of them in the intensive care unit, the New South Wales health ministry said on Twitter.

New Zealand reports 20 local COVID-19 cases

New Zealand reported 20 local COVID-19 cases on Sunday, the same as in the previous day and all in Auckland, the epicenter of an outbreak of the highly transmissible Delta variant, health authorities said. This brings to 801 the number of cases of the community outbreak, the vast majority of them in Auckland. Of those, 38 people are in hospital, and six are in intensive care.

Australia reports 1,684 new COVID-19 cases but planning a merry Christmas

Australia reported 1,684 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday as authorities race ahead with vaccinations in a bid to end lockdowns on the populous southeast coast in the hope of making Christmas as close to normal as possible. More than 15 million people in Victoria state, neighboring New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory have been under stay-at-home orders as officials struggle to quell Australia's worst wave of coronavirus infections, driven by the Delta variant.

Ex-UK PM Brown accuses West of 'moral outrage' over COVID vaccine stockpiling

Former British prime minister Gordon Brown accused rich countries of committing a "moral outrage" by stockpiling COVID-19 doses while poor countries are struggling to get supplies. Brown, who is a United Nations special envoy, called on U.S. President Joe Biden and other Group of Seven leaders to urgently ship vaccines from warehouses in America and Europe to Africa.

Brazil health regulator suspends use of 12 million Sinovac vaccine shots

Brazil's federal health regulator Anvisa on Saturday suspended the use of over 12 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd that were produced in an unauthorized plant, it said in a statement. Anvisa said it was alerted on Friday by Sao Paulo's Butantan Institute, a biomedical center that has partnered with Sinovac to locally fill and finish the vaccines, that 25 batches, or 12.1 million doses, sent to Brazil had been made in the plant.

Drug companies say enough U.S. states join $26 billion opioid settlement to proceed

Three large U.S. drug distributors and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson will proceed with a proposed $26 billion settlement resolving claims that they fueled the opioid epidemic after "enough" states joined in, the companies said on Saturday. The companies had until Saturday to decide whether enough states back the $21 billion proposed settlement with McKesson Corp, AmerisourceBergen Corp, and Cardinal Health Inc and a $5 billion agreement with J&J.

Florida teachers on edge as mask war, COVID surge mark first weeks of school

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten crouched to sit at a first-graders table in a Florida school, chatting with masked 6-year-olds about books and their former kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Smith. Lillian Smith, a local union steward who taught at William A. Chapman Elementary in Miami-Dade County for more than 30 years, died last month of COVID-19. At least four Miami-Dade County teachers or staff have died from COVID so far this school year, as cases and hospitalizations in Florida have soared.

Japan to issue digital COVID-19 vaccination certificates in December -Nikkei

Japan will issue online COVID-19 vaccination certificates from December, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Sunday. The government plans to issue the certificates - which will be intended for overseas travel rather than domestic use - via a QR scan code through a smartphone app from around mid-December, the Nikkei said, without citing sources.