The Latest: South Korean firm to produce Novavax vaccine

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in has met with the CEO of Maryland-based Novavax and promised to push for a swift approval of the company’s coronavirus vaccine, which will be produced through a local biotech firm.

South Korean officials hope that SK Bioscience’s production of the Novavax vaccine will help prevent possible supply shortages in coming months as the United States, European nations, and India strengthen controls on vaccine exports while coping with domestic outbreaks.

Officials say SK Bioscience is contracted to manufacture 40 million doses of the Novavax vaccine this year. Production could begin in June, and as many as 20 million shots could be delivered through September for use in South Korea, according to officials. SK already is producing at its factory in the southern town of Andong the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca.

In his meeting with Novavax CEO Stanley Erck on Tuesday, Moon said his government will establish a special team within the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to ensure a speedy approval process for the Novavax vaccine, which is currently being reviewed in Britain and Europe, the South Korean government said.

Moon also expressed hope that Novavax would extend its manufacturing agreement with SK beyond next year to help stabilize future vaccine supplies.

South Korea hopes to get 190 million doses of coronavirus vaccines this year through bilateral deals with pharmaceutical companies and the WHO-backed COVAX program.

Around 2.4 million of South Korea's 51 million people had received their first shots as of Tuesday.

___

THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— In fight against virus, Biden looks for path back to normal

— In Africa, vaccine hesitancy adds to slow rollout of doses

— Hungarian traveling circus stays fit for post-COVID opening

— Follow more of AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

___

HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Police in Pakistan registered a case against a provincial health minister who allegedly hosted a large dinner in violation of social distancing rules in the country’s northwest.

Taimur Saleem Jhagra is a health minister in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan.

The police action on Tuesday came hours after a photo surfaced on social media showing Jhagra breaking a Ramadhan fast with dozens of friends and supporters from the ruling political party.

Jhagra hosted the dinner Monday night as Pakistan is in the middle of a third wave of coronavirus infections. The country on Tuesday reported 142 more virus-related deaths, one of the highest daily death tolls since last year.

The government has deployed troops to ensure people adhere to social distancing rules.

___

PARIS — France is sending breathing machines, ICU gear and long-term oxygen equipment aimed at helping hospitals around India treat thousands of virus patients.

The first aid shipment is expected to leave France later this week, bringing eight oxygen generators. Each generator can equip a hospital of 250 beds for several years, French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said.

France will also send breathing machines, pumps and containers of liquid medical oxygen aimed at helping up to 10,000 patients per day, according to the French Foreign Ministry. That first oxygen shipment is expected to arrive from Europe to India next week.

The value of the aid was not released.

The French government said the effort aims to provide long-term help to Indian hospitals both for the crisis they are facing now and beyond the pandemic.

France is still fighting a persistent virus surge at home.

___

TOKYO — Japan will set up a large vaccination center in Tokyo and Osaka beginning in late May in a bid to speed up its snail-paced inoculation campaign so that at least the elderly people will finish their second shots by the end of July, officials said Tuesday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters that in Tokyo a vaccination center will be set up as early as May 24 at a government building where the Self-Defense Forces will dispatch its doctors and nurses to give shots for about three months. Kato said a similar vaccination center is also under way in Osaka and that further details are still being decided.

Each of the large inoculation centers are expected to accommodate about 10,000 people and will use the Moderna vaccine, whose approval by the health ministry is expected in May.

Japan’s attempts to develop its own vaccines are still in the early stages. Japan has so far approved only the Pfizer Inc. vaccine, with approval for Moderna and AstraZeneca pending.

Inoculations started in mid-February and have covered only about 1% of the Japanese people. Inoculations for 36 million elderly people started in mid-April and only a fraction of them got their first shots.

Japan’s started its third state of emergency in Tokyo, Osaka and two neighboring areas Sunday to curb a rapid resurgence three months ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. Japan has reported more than 567,000 cases and about 10,000 deaths since the pandemic began last year.

___

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka on Tuesday closed schools in the capital and suburbs for four days and issued work-from-home plans for government workers in the latest moves to contain the rising number of COVID-19 positive cases.

After weeks of reporting fewer than 300 new cases per day, Sri Lanka confirmed 997 during the past 24 hours. The highest number were in the Colombo district which includes the capital.

Health officials have warned of a rapid increase to come because people engaged in crowded celebrations and shopping during the traditional new year festival that fell on April 14.

From Tuesday, half of state employees would be called to offices while the balance would work from home.

Already, the government has imposed lockdowns on nearly a dozen of villages in different parts of the country.

Sri Lanka has reported more than 102,376 virus cases with 642 fatalities.

___

NEW DELHI — India recorded more than 320,000 new cases of coronavirus infection as a grim surge weighed on the country's sinking health system.

Tuesday’s 323,144 new infections raised India’s total past 17.6 million. It ended a five-day streak of recording the largest single-day increases in any country throughout the pandemic, but the decline likely reflects lower weekend testing rather than reduced spread of the virus.

The health ministry also reported another 2,771 deaths, with roughly 115 Indians succumbing to the disease every hour. The latest fatalities pushed India’s total to 197,894, which experts say are probably an undercount.

Foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi tweeted photos Tuesday of the first shipment of medical aid India received from Britain. It included 100 ventilators and 95 oxygen concentrators.

Other nations like the U.S., Germany and Pakistan have also promised medical aid to India.

___

TORONTO — The government of Ontario will be getting help from Canada’s military in dealing with a surge of coronavirus infections, while several other Canadian provinces are tightening health restrictions in hopes of avoiding a similar situation.

Ontario’s solicitor general says resources are coming from the Canadian armed forces and the Canadian Red Cross.

Ontario has been struggling with a new wave of the pandemic that has seen the number of COVD-19 patients in intensive care surge. Ontario’s Ministry of Health reported 2,271 people were in hospitals with COVID-19 on Monday, including 877 in ICUs.

Several other provinces imposed new restrictions Monday, including Nova Scotia, which closed Halifax-area schools to in-person learning for two weeks after the province recorded a single-day record for new cases for the second day in a row.

___

SAN FRANCISCO -- Officials at the University of California, San Francisco say a man in his 30s is recuperating after developing a rare blood clot in his leg within two weeks of receiving the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine.

As of Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had reported the rare clots in 15 people, all women, after 8 million doses of the vaccine were administered nationally.

Federal officials lifted an 11-day pause on use of the single-shot vaccine Friday, saying the benefits outweighed the very rare risks.

The university said Monday that “to the best of our knowledge, this is the first male patient with VITT syndrome in the U.S.” It says the man was admitted 13 days after receiving the vaccination and should be released shortly.

___

CAMBRDIGE, Mass. — The French pharmaceutical company Sanofi will help manufacture the Moderna coronavirus vaccine beginning in September, joining other companies assisting with production of one of the three vaccines now approved in the U.S.

Under the agreement announced Monday, Sanofi will handle final manufacturing steps, including filling, inspecting and labeling vaccine vials and packaging them. The deal involves up to 200 million doses of Moderna’s two-shot vaccine.

Sanofi will do the work at its existing manufacturing plant in Ridgefield, New Jersey.

Moderna earlier this month said it was expanding its partnership with contract manufacturer Catalent by dedicating a new high-speed production line at its Bloomington, Indiana, factory for filling vials with the Moderna vaccine.

In April, Moderna struck an agreement with Baxter International to provide “fill and finish” services and packaging for about 60 million to 90 million doses.