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 Australian doctors warn of risks to hospitals once curbs ease
Australian doctors on Thursday warned the country's hospitals are
not ready to cope with the government's reopening plans, even with
higher vaccination rates, as some states prepare to move from a
virus suppression strategy to living with COVID-19.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) said the health system was
in danger of being locked into a "permanent cycle of crisis" and has
called for new modelling to check if staffing levels in hospitals
can withstand an expected surge in cases when lockdown rules ease.
Pfizer, Merck launch new trials of oral COVID-19 drugs
Pfizer Inc and Merck & Co Inc announced on Wednesday new trials of
their experimental oral antiviral drugs for COVID-19 as the race to
develop an easy-to-administer treatment for the potentially fatal
illness heats up.
Rivals Pfizer and Merck, along with Swiss pharmaceutical Roche
Holding AG, have made the most progress in developing what would be
the first antiviral pill to treat, or possibly prevent, COVID-19.
U.S. gives third vaccine dose to over 1 million people
The United States has administered a third dose of either Pfizer
Inc-BioNTech or Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccines to over 1 million
people since Aug. 13, when regulators authorized an additional shot
for immunocompromised people.
The CDC recommends a third dose at least 28 days after the second
dose of either Pfizer or Moderna vaccines for people with moderate
to severely compromised immune systems, who are likely to have
weaker protection from the two-dose regimens.
South Korean health workers drop strike plans after agreement
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 South Korean frontline health
workers on Thursday dropped plans to strike
after they reached an agreement with the
government on their demand for increased
staffing and better work conditions during
last-ditch negotiations overnight.
The Korean Health and Medical Worker's Union had warned some of its
80,000 members, including nurses, medical engineers, and pharmacists
who say they are exhausted from battling waves of COVID-19
outbreaks, would begin striking from Thursday if their demands were
not met. Upon the union's request, the government agreed to
establish at least four public infectious disease hospitals by 2024,
draft a detailed nurse deployment guidelines per severity of
COVID-19 patients by October, and expand funding to subsidise those
treating contagious diseases to go into effect in January 2022.
Spain fully vaccinates 70% of its population
Spain said on Wednesday 70% of its population had been fully
vaccinated against COVID-19, fulfilling a goal set by the government
for August, while the incidence rate kept the decreasing tendency of
the past month after a big surge.
With over 66 million doses administered, 70.3% of the Spanish
population had received by Aug. 31 a complete vaccination programme
while 77% had been partially vaccinated, Health Ministry data
showed.
(Compiled by Karishma Singh; Editing by Michael Perry)
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