• China’s Health Commission announced the first known human case of the H10N3 bird flu in a 41-year-old man from Jiangsu Province, who has recovered. They did not find evidence of human-to-human transmission and it is not known how he became infected. Source
• Moderna issues a press release announcing a long-term agreement with UNICEF and its procurement partners, on behalf of COVX, for up to 34 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine in Q4 of 2021, and up to 466 million doses in 2022, at the company’s lowest tiered price (which has not been disclosed to the public). Source
• Moderna issues a press release announcing an additional agreement with Lonza to produce drug substance production via a new production line at a facility in the Netherlands, which will contribute to the supply of 300 million 50 µg doses of the company’s experimental coronavirus booster, if approved. This agreement adds to increased capacity from Moderna’s prior agreement with Spain’s ROVI, allowing the company to supply 600 million doses from facilities in the EU. Source
• India cancels national exams for over one million 12th graders to prevent further spread of the coronavirus. Source
• The lockdown in Melbourne, Australia, has been extended for another week as 60 coronavirus infections have been detected. Source
• In Sri Lanka, zoo animals have been enjoying a year without human visitors marked by a 25 percent increase in birth rates. Some animals have bred for the first time, including a black swan, a white peacock and a nilgai; there are three new lion cubs and an Arabian oryx, a scimitar-horned oryx, a zebra and a black duck have given birth. Source
• A study in Israel discovers a probable link between the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine and myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, mostly in young men ages 16-19. Health officials reported 275 cases of myocarditis among more than five million people who received the vaccine; 27 occurred after the first dose. Most cases were mild. Because the benefits of the vaccine outweigh risks, the country is expanding vaccination to cover children ages 12-16. Source
• The Delta coronavirus variant – with a mutation ( K417N) – has been detected in Nepal, and cases have already been detected in India, Japan, Portugal, the UK, the US and other countries. Source