Health News Roundup: South African variant can 'break through' Pfizer vaccine; Italy reports 334 COVID-19 deaths and more

India's overall tally of 13.21 million is the third-highest globally, just shy of Brazil and below the worst affected country, the United States. India reports record 152,879 new COVID-19 infections India reported a record 152,879 new COVID-19 cases, health ministry data showed on Sunday, as a second-wave of infections continued to surge and overwhelm hospitals in parts of the country.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

South African variant can 'break through' Pfizer vaccine, Israeli study says

The coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa can "break through" Pfizer/BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine to some extent, a real-world data study in Israel found, though its prevalence in the country is low and the research has not been peer reviewed. The study, released on Saturday, compared almost 400 people who had tested positive for COVID-19, 14 days or more after they received one or two doses of the vaccine, against the same number of unvaccinated patients with the disease. It matched age and gender, among other characteristics.

Italy reports 344 coronavirus deaths on Saturday, 17,567 new cases

Italy reported 344 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday against 718 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 17,567 from 18,938 the day before. Italy has registered 113,923 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world. The country has 3.75 million cases to date.

Mainland China reports 10 new COVID-19 cases vs 14 a day earlier

Mainland China reported 10 new COVID-19 cases on April 10, down from 14 cases a day earlier, the country's national health authority said on Sunday. The National Health Commission, in a statement, said all the new cases were imported infections originating from overseas.

French coronavirus intensive care cases and deaths keep rising

France reported a further increase in the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care on Saturday and the country’s death toll from the epidemic also kept rising. Data showed there were 5,769 COVID-19 patients in intensive care, compared with 5,757 on Friday.

India's daily COVID-19 cases rise to record for fifth time this week

India's daily coronavirus cases on Saturday rose by a record for the fifth time this week and deaths surged to the highest in more than five months, with hospitals and crematoriums overflowing in parts of the country. New cases in the world's second-most populous country have totalled the most of anywhere in the world over the last two weeks. India's overall tally of 13.21 million is the third-highest globally, just shy of Brazil and below the worst affected country, the United States.

India reports record 152,879 new COVID-19 infections

India reported a record 152,879 new COVID-19 cases, health ministry data showed on Sunday, as a second-wave of infections continued to surge and overwhelm hospitals in parts of the country. The number of new fatalities stood at 839, the most deaths in more than five months, taking the toll to 169,275.

South Asia surpasses grim milestone of 15 million COVID-19 cases: Reuters tally

Coronavirus infections in the South Asia sub-region surpassed the grim milestone of 15 million on Saturday, a Reuters tally shows, led by India's record daily infections and vaccine shortages. South Asia - India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, and Sri Lanka - accounts for 11% of global cases and almost 6% of deaths. The region accounts for 23% of the world's population of 7.59 billion people.

Mexico reports 2,192 new coronavirus deaths after data review

Mexico's government on Saturday reported 2,192 new confirmed coronavirus deaths, one of its biggest one-day tolls during the pandemic, after consolidating data from last year to include deaths that were not confirmed at the time. The figure was far above the daily averages reported by the health ministry in recent weeks.

France extends gap between mRNA vaccine shots to ramp-up rollout

France will lengthen the period between the first and second shots of mRNA anti-COVID vaccines to six weeks from four weeks as of April 14 to accelerate the inoculation campaign, Health Minister Olivier Veran told the JDD newspaper on Sunday. Although France's top health authority advised a six-week period between the two shots in January in order to stretch supplies, the government at the time said there was insufficient data on how well the vaccines performed with a longer interval.

U.S. has administered 183.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, CDC says

The United States had administered 183,467,709 doses of COVID-19 vaccines and distributed 237,791,735 doses as of Saturday morning, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Those figures are up from the 178,837,781 doses the CDC said had been administered by April 9, out of 233,591,955 doses delivered.

(With inputs from agencies.)