Reuters Health News Summary

WHO chief calls for waiving of patents on tools to fight COVID-19 The head of the World Health Organization said on Friday that now was the time for the waiving of patents on the tools poorer countries needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Preliminary data from a study conducted at the University of Oxford indicates that the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca PLC is effective against the P1, or Brazilian, variant, a source with knowledge of the study told Reuters on Friday. The data indicates that the vaccine will not need to be modified in order to protect against the variant, which is believed to have originated in the Amazonian city of Manaus, said the source, who requested anonymity as the results have not yet been made public. WHO chief calls for waiving of patents on tools to fight COVID-19

The head of the World Health Organization said on Friday that now was the time for the waiving of patents on the tools poorer countries needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was addressing a briefing before next week's World Trade Organization meeting on issue. EU regulator advises on use of Lilly's COVID-19 antibody cocktail

Europe's medicines regulator said on Friday Eli Lilly and Co's antibody drug combination can be used to treat COVID-19 patients who do not require oxygen support and are at high risk of progressing to severe illness. The recommendation can now be used as guidance in individual European nations on the possible use of the combination of bamlanivimab and etesevimab, before a broader approval is given, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said. (https://bit.ly/3kMpkZr) Brazil's COVID-19 task force estimates daily deaths could reach 3,000, sources say

Brazil's daily COVID-19 death toll could reach 3,000 if serious action is not taken to halt the spread of the virus, according to a presentation made in a meeting of the government's crisis response team, two sources present told Reuters. The inter-ministerial task force, which includes the Health Ministry and the office of the president's chief of staff, met on Thursday to discuss the current situation of the pandemic in Brazil where a brutal second wave is killing people faster than at any previous point. UK locates missing person with Brazil COVID-19 variant: Financial Times

English health authorities have tracked down a previously-unidentified person who tested positive for the so-called 'Brazil variant' of COVID-19, the Financial Times reported on Friday. Health officials said on Sunday they had not been able to account for one of six cases in the country of a highly transmissible variant of coronavirus first identified in the Brazilian city of Manaus. Abbott's test to distinguish coronavirus and flu viruses gets U.S. authorization

Abbott Laboratories said on Friday the U.S. health regulator has granted emergency use authorization for its molecular test to detect and distinguish the coronavirus and two types of flu viruses with a single test. The test, Alinity m Resp-4-Plex, can be conducted with one nasal swab sample and can differentiate the coronavirus, flu A, flu B and another respiratory virus called respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the company said.

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