Health

Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy rose by 602 on Tuesday, up from 566 the day before, posting a second consecutive daily increase, but new infections slowed to 2,972 from 3,153, seeing the smallest daily tally since March 13.

Doctors and nurses dealing with the influx of coronavirus patients in a south London hospital said on Tuesday that the donated meals delivered to them daily made a big difference.

Britain is working towards including coronavirus deaths which take place outside of hospital in its daily figures, Public Health England Medical Director Yvonne Doyle said on Tuesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump is to announce a loan program on Tuesday with the aim of making as many as 60,000 ventilators available to help coronavirus patients, a senior administration official said.

Canada's economic shutdown will last for weeks more to ensure measures to fight the coronavirus are working, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday, while the death toll from the outbreak rose more than 12%.

The French government is set to raise the total amount of its crisis-response package by 10 billion euros ($11 billion), the second increase in days, when it updates its 2020 budget on Wednesday, two financial ministry sources said.

Spain is flattening the curve showing the spread of the coronavirus in the country, the government said on Tuesday, one month into a strict lockdown, but some voiced alarm over the loosening of restrictions that began this week.

Britain's death toll from the coronavirus could run some 15% higher than official figures have indicated so far, according to broader data published on Tuesday that include deaths in the community such as in nursing homes.

The Philippines introduced a more aggressive testing programme for the coronavirus on Tuesday to locate what it said could be as many as 15,000 unknown infections, despite having implemented some of Asia's strictest and earliest lockdown measures.

AstraZeneca Plc said on Tuesday it would start a clinical trial of its cancer drug Calquence to assess its potential to control the exaggerated immune system response associated with COVID-19 infection in severely ill patients.

The municipal government of Beijing said on Tuesday it had tested 1,056 people arriving from Wuhan since the lockdown ended on April 8, and all had tested negative for coronavirus.

More than 1.88 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 119,168 have died, according to a Reuters tally, as of 0200 GMT on Tuesday.

Authorities in Moscow have warned that the Russian capital may run out of hospital beds to treat a rising influx of coronavirus patients in the next two to three weeks despite frantic efforts to get more beds in place.

A lower number of new coronavirus cases in Germany in recent days is likely due to less testing over the Easter holiday, the head of the Robert Koch health institute said on Tuesday.

Gerson Monje holds up his cellphone to proudly show off his online sex shop. A red banner reading "sold out!" is plastered across half of the products.

The Philippine health ministry on Tuesday reported 20 more deaths linked to the new coronavirus and 291 more cases.

Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday extended until April 30 the state of emergency introduced in its two major cities and several districts due to the coronavirus outbreak, President Sooronbai Jeenbekov's office said.

Thousands of shops across Austria will reopen on Tuesday as it becomes one of the first countries in Europe to loosen its coronavirus lockdown, but the government is still telling the nation it is "not out of the woods" yet.

Taiwan on Tuesday reported no new cases of the coronavirus for the first time in more than a month, in the latest sign that the island's early and effective prevention methods have paid off.

Russia on Tuesday reported 2,774 new cases of the coronavirus, a record daily rise, bringing its overall nationwide tally to 21,102, the country's coronavirus response centre said.