Health News Roundup: COVID-19 spikes in Arizona, Texas and Florida; Chile says accounting errors led to omission and more

COVID-19 spikes in Arizona, Texas and Florida; church linked to Oregon outbreak For a second week in a row, half a dozen U.S. states face a surge in new coronavirus cases and rising hospitalizations, including an outbreak linked to a church in rural Oregon.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

COVID-19 spikes in Arizona, Texas and Florida; church linked to Oregon outbreak

For a second week in a row, half a dozen U.S. states face a surge in new coronavirus cases and rising hospitalizations, including an outbreak linked to a church in rural Oregon. Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas all reported record increases in new cases on Tuesday after recording all-time highs last week. Nevada also reported its highest single-day tally of new cases on Tuesday, up from a previous high on May 23.

Chile says accounting errors led to omission of 31,000 coronavirus cases

A rash of accounting glitches in Chile led to the omission of more than 31,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, or nearly one-sixth of the country's total so far, health officials said on Tuesday. The cases, discovered during a review of the health ministry's databases, stemmed back to mid-March when the outbreak began in Chile, authorities said.

WHO Americas director says coronavirus pandemic still accelerating in the region

The number of people infected with the coronavirus in the Americas is fast approaching 4 million with almost 204,000 deaths, and the pandemic continues to accelerate, World Health Organization (WHO) regional director Carissa Etienne said on Tuesday. Speaking in a virtual briefing from Washington-based Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Etienne said COVID-19 has hit the region's migrants particularly hard.

Hat in hand: U.S. scientists scramble to support their COVID immunity research

It wasn’t easy to build a COVID-19 antibody test during Illinois’ statewide lockdown. In April, when a key enzyme couldn't be delivered to his shuttered laboratory, Northwestern University researcher Thomas McDade hunted for the package across the empty campus near Chicago, finally locating it at a loading dock. To verify the test’s accuracy, the biological anthropologist and his colleague, pharmacologist Alexis Demonbreun, asked friends and family if they’d be willing to spot them some blood. McDade took a sample from his wife over their kitchen table.

Steroid drug hailed as 'breakthrough' for seriously ill COVID-19 patients

A cheap and widely used steroid called dexamethasone has become the first drug shown to be able to save the lives of COVID-19 patients in what scientists said is a "major breakthrough" in the coronavirus pandemic. Trial results announced on Tuesday showed dexamethasone, which is used to reduce inflammation in other diseases such as arthritis, reduced death rates by around a third among the most severely ill COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital.

U.S. CDC reports 2,104,346 coronavirus cases, 116,140 deaths

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday reported 2,104,346 cases of coronavirus, an increase of 18,577 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 496 to 116,140. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. ET on June 15 versus its previous report released on Monday. (https://bit.ly/2BROCTB).

Weekly coronavirus death toll in French nursing homes doubles to 73

The number of people who died from coronavirus infection in France rose by 111 to 29,547 on Tuesday with the health ministry including weekly data for the death toll in nursing homes. The number of people who died in hospitals increased by 38 to 19,090 on Tuesday, compared to 29 on Monday and an average of 25 over the past seven days.

Exclusive: CureVac becomes second company to test coronavirus vaccine in Germany - sources

The unlisted biotech firm CureVac will become the second company to launch human trials of an experimental coronavirus vaccine in Germany, two people familiar with the plans told Reuters on Tuesday. The clinical trial, to be announced on Wednesday, is the second to be approved by Germany's vaccines regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, after a trial by BioNTech that began in April.

Mexico's coronavirus death surge puts testing regime under the microscope

Mexico went into the coronavirus outbreak insisting it would beat the pandemic without mass testing, but with deaths surging as it prepares to exit lockdown, the strategy looks increasingly untenable. Mexico's coronavirus czar, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell, has doggedly eschewed widespread testing for new cases in favor of a lighter regime based on a model drawn up over a decade ago, arguing it made more efficient use of medical resources.

U.S. narrowing support to seven COVID-19 vaccine candidates, expects them to be free for many

The Trump administration aims to narrow its financial support to about seven experimental coronavirus vaccines from the 14 it has been working with so far, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Tuesday. U.S. government officials also said that they expect many Americans to get an approved vaccine to prevent COVID-19 at no charge once it begins distribution, potentially in January.

(With inputs from agencies.)