Health News Roundup: Factbox-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus; Sinovac in talks about setting up South Africa vaccine production and more

Singapore's new daily infections have risen sharply recently and hit 450 on Thursday, the most in a year, after containment measures were eased as part of a phased reopening upon vaccination of 80% of its population. Australia's daily COVID-19 cases near 2,000 as Delta gains ground Australia's COVID-19 daily cases topped 1,900 for the first time in the pandemic on Friday as an outbreak fuelled by the highly infectious Delta variant continued to gain ground in locked-down Sydney and Melbourne, its largest cities.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Factbox-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

President Joe Biden took aim on Thursday at vaccine resistance in America, announcing policies requiring most federal employees to get COVID-19 vaccinations and pushing large employers to have their workers inoculated or tested weekly. However, the plan to mandate vaccination or repeated testing for around two-thirds of U.S. workers could be hampered by supply challenges as test manufacturers strain to keep pace with demand.

Sinovac in talks about setting up South Africa vaccine production

China's Sinovac Biotech is in talks about setting up a vaccine production facility in South Africa to supply the African continent with shots against a range of diseases, the chief executive of its local partner said on Friday. Numolux Group CEO Hilton Klein made the comments at the launch of the South African leg of a global Phase III trial of Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine in children and adolescents.

Germany recommends COVID-19 vaccinations for pregnant women

Germany's vaccine oversight body on Friday recommended that women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should be vaccinated against COVID-19 with an mRNA-based shot. The Permanent Vaccination Commission (STIKO) advises that women should receive two shots from the second trimester of pregnancy, according to guidance posted on the website of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases.

Singapore watching outbreak closely, holds off on restrictions

Singapore is trying to live with COVID-19 and sees no need to tighten restrictions to address a spike in cases, but will hold off on more reopening moves while monitoring for increases in severe cases, officials said on Friday. Singapore's new daily infections have risen sharply recently and hit 450 on Thursday, the most in a year after containment measures were eased as part of a phased reopening upon vaccination of 80% of its population.

Australia's daily COVID-19 cases near 2,000 as Delta gains ground

Australia's COVID-19 daily cases topped 1,900 for the first time in the pandemic on Friday as an outbreak fuelled by the highly infectious Delta variant continued to gain ground in locked-down Sydney and Melbourne, its largest cities. Australia is in the grip of the third wave of infections with the Delta outbreak forcing officials to ditch their COVID-zero strategy in favor of suppressing the virus.

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England's COVID R number steady at 0.9-1.1

England's COVID-19 weekly reproduction "R" number was unchanged between 0.9 and 1.1, government estimates said on Friday, and it remained unclear whether the epidemic was growing or shrinking. An R number between 0.9 and 1.1 means that for every 10 people infected, they will on average infect between 9 and 11 other people.

BioNTech to seek approval soon for vaccine for 5-11 year olds-Spiegel

BioNTech is set to request approval across the globe to use its COVID-19 vaccine in children as young as five over the next few weeks and preparations for a launch are on track, the biotech firm's two top executives told Der Spiegel. "Already over the next few weeks we will file the results of our trial in five to 11-year-olds with regulators across the world and will request approval of the vaccine in this age group, also here in Europe," Chief Medical Officer Oezlem Tuereci told the newsweekly.

Auckland COVID cases drop again as New Zealand presses on with Delta curbs

New Zealand reported 11 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, all in locked down Auckland, its biggest city, as the country looks to limit the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus. The latest daily number was down from the 13 infections recorded on Thursday and the lowest any day this week, taking the total number of infections from the current outbreak, which started in mid-August, to 879.

France sees bird flu outbreak as virus spreads again in Europe

France has raised its bird flu alert level after a severe form of the virus was found among backyard poultry in the northeast, on top of cases in neighboring Belgium and Luxembourg, the farm ministry said on Friday. The highly contagious H5N8 strain of avian influenza was found this week among ducks, hens, turkeys, and pigeons belonging to a household in the Ardennes region, with all the animals slaughtered as a precaution, the ministry said in a statement.