Health

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed support on Friday for the role of the World Health Organization in the campaign against the new coronavirus, in contrast with U.S. President Donald Trump who has vowed to cut U.S. funding to the agency.

France's state-supported tracing app project "StopCovid" will not be ready when parliament debates it on April 28-29, the minister for digital affairs Cedric O said on Friday.

Deaths in the Netherlands in the week of April 6-12 were around 2,000 higher than in an average week, national statistics agency CBS said on Friday.

The Swiss death toll from the new coronavirus has reached 1,059 people, the country's public health agency said on Friday, rising from 1,017 on Thursday.

The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Spain rose to 188,068 on Friday, the country's head of health emergencies Fernando Simon said at a news conference.

Spain's overnight death toll from coronavirus rose to 585 on Friday, up from 551 on Thursday but still far off figures of over 900 registered during the peak of the outbreak in early April.

Forty-eight people died in Northern Irish care homes and private residences on top of the 109 COVID-19 hospital deaths reported a week ago, the region's statistics office said on Friday, adding to evidence that the UK toll is higher than so far reported.

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Iran's death toll from the new coronavirus rose by 89 in the past 24 hours to reach 4,958 on Friday, health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said on state TV.

Malaysian health officials reported 69 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the lowest daily increase since the government imposed curbs on movement and business on March 18, taking the cumulative total to 5,251 cases.

Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate urged people to look after their mental health during the novel coronavirus outbreak and drew attention to the particular psychological strain felt by frontline health workers.

Oregon resident George Polas learned in March he had an aggressive type of prostate cancer that would require surgical removal - just as the coronavirus pandemic began spreading rapidly in the United States.

Russia on Friday reported a record rise of 4,069 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, bringing its nationwide tally to 32,007, the Interfax news agency said.

The Philippines' health ministry on Friday reported 25 new coronavirus deaths and 218 additional infections.

China's total coronavirus death toll has been revised up to 4,632, up from 3,342, following the release of new data from Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, the country's health authority said on Friday.

Italy plans to use a smartphone app developed by tech start-up Bending Spoons to track people who test positive for the new coronavirus as part of efforts to lift its nationwide lockdown.

China has confirmed a new case of African swine fever in the eastern province of Jiangsu, the agriculture ministry said on Friday.

A coronavirus contact tracing app will be ready for Germans to download and use on their smartphones in three to four weeks, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Friday.

The Chinese city of Wuhan hiked its death toll from the novel coronavirus by 50% on Friday bringing the total to 3,869, state-run TV reported, confirming residents' worst fears amid rising international doubts about Beijing's handling of the outbreak.

Reported cases of the coronavirus crossed 2.14 million globally and 143,744 people have died, according to a Reuters tally as of 0200 GMT on Friday.