Health News Roundup: Venezuela receives second batch of 2.5 million vaccines via COVAX; Brazil's unvaccinated president misses soccer match and more

The country has reported 4.7 million cases to date. Sydney emerges from pandemic lockdown, beer in hand Sydney's oldest pub opened one hour early on Monday to welcome back its regulars after the city emerged from a more than 100-day lockdown, allowing COVID-19 vaccinated locals to enjoy new freedoms including a morning beer at their favourite bar.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Venezuela receives second batch of 2.5 million vaccines via COVAX

Venezuela on Sunday received the second batch of 2.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines via the COVAX mechanism, while the government said it hoped to reach immunity for 70% of Venezuelans by the end of the month. Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and Unicef representatives, as well as the Venezuelan government, were present at Maiquetia international airport outside Caracas to receive the doses.

Brazil's unvaccinated president misses soccer match

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Sunday he was not allowed to attend a league match between Santos and Gremio because the home club did not allow unvaccinated supporters into their stadium. The soccer match was Santos' first with supporters present since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the club insisted it would only permit entry of vaccinated people or those who had a negative PCR test.

Italian police arrest far-right party leaders after anti-vax riot

Italian police said on Sunday they had arrested 12 people including the leaders of the extreme right-wing party Forza Nuova, after clashes in Rome a day earlier over a government drive to make the COVID-19 "Green Pass" mandatory for all workers. Thousands of people took to the streets of the Italian capital on Saturday to oppose the move. Some tried to break past police in riot gear guarding access to Prime Minister Mario Draghi's office, while a separate group broke into the headquarters of Italy's main CGIL trade union and turned its offices upside down.

In hospital with COVID, conservative Texan running for governor condemns vaccine mandates

Conservative firebrand and Texas Republican gubernatorial candidate Allen West was receiving care for COVID-19 in a hospital on Sunday, he said on Twitter, noting that his experience with the illness had strengthened his opposition to vaccine mandates. West, 60, served as chairman of the Republican Party of Texas for less than a year before stepping down in June. He has opposed vaccine mandates and is not vaccinated against COVID-19, according to his Twitter page.

Canada's overworked healthcare sector braces for staff shortages as vaccine mandates loom

Canada's health and long-term care industries are bracing for staff shortages and layoffs, as deadlines for vaccine mandates loom across the country, with unions pushing federal and provincial governments to soften hard-line stances.

For hospitals and nursing homes, a shortage of workers would strain the already overburdened workforce dealing with nearly two years of the pandemic. The uncertainty sparked by vaccine mandates underscores the challenges on the road to recovery.

Russian rocket engine facility suspends tests to save oxygen for COVID patients

Russia will suspend test-firing rocket engines at one of its design bureaus in the city of Voronezh until the end of the month to conserve oxygen supplies for COVID-19 patients, a top space official said on Sunday. Russia, which is grappling with a surge of COVID-19 cases, on Saturday registered the most coronavirus-related deaths it has recorded in a single day since the pandemic began.

New Zealand makes COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for health workers

New Zealand will require teachers and workers in the health and disability sectors to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday, as she extended restrictions in Auckland, its largest city, for another week. New Zealand is fighting the highly infectious Delta outbreak that forced it to abandon its long-standing strategy of eliminating the new coronavirus amid persistent infections and is looking to live with the virus through higher vaccinations.

Three detained in Egypt after coronavirus vaccines found dumped

Egypt's public prosecution said on Sunday it had ordered the arrest of three people after thousands of unused COVID-19 vaccines were found dumped along a water channel. It said the vaccines had been allocated to the health directorate in the city of Minya, about 220 km (137 miles) south of Cairo, where 18,400 vaccine packages with a value of more than 5 million Egyptian pounds ($319,000) were found to be missing.

Italy reports 27 coronavirus deaths on Sunday, 2,278 new cases

Italy reported 27 coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday, down from 46 the previous day, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 2,278 from 2,748. Italy has registered 131,301 deaths linked to COVID-19 since the outbreak in February last year. It has the second-highest toll in Europe behind Britain and the ninth highest in the world. The country has reported 4.7 million cases to date.

Sydney emerges from pandemic lockdown, beer in hand

Sydney's oldest pub opened one hour early on Monday to welcome back its regulars after the city emerged from a more than 100-day lockdown, allowing COVID-19 vaccinated locals to enjoy new freedoms including a morning beer at their favorite bar. Soon after doors opened at 9:00 a.m. (2200 GMT Sunday), a handful of customers filled up one side of the bar at the Fortune of War, an almost two-century-old pub looking out towards Sydney's main ferry and cruise ship wharf in The Rocks precinct.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)