Health

German victims of defective breast implants made by French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) cannot claim damages from its insurer as its policy covered only French victims, Europe's top court said on Thursday, dealing a blow to thousands of women worldwide.

The scramble to research the novel coronavirus has exposed weaknesses in the vetting of healthcare data being supplied by a growing number of U.S. firms, a flaw that forced two of the most respected medical journals to pull studies last week.

Chile on Thursday exceeded 154,000 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus and 2,600 deaths, one hundred days after the outbreak began and with the health service straining under massive admissions numbers.

France's coronavirus death toll rose by 27 on Thursday, versus an average daily increase of 50 over the last 15 days, to 29,346, the fifth-highest total in the world.

Beating the coronavirus was only the first step towards recovery for patients at a Barcelona rehabilitation centre providing treatment for a range of debilitating after-effects.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday reported 1,994,283 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 20,486 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 834 to 112,967.

Georgia will send doctors to Armenia to help fight the coronavirus and will provide its neighbour with 10,000 diagnostic tests free of charge, Georgian officials said on Thursday.

British health minister Matt Hancock said on Thursday people should not attend large demonstrations for public health reasons after protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement attracted tens of thousands over the last week.

AstraZeneca Plc on Thursday picked Emergent BioSolutions Inc to help produce the 300 million doses of the British drugmaker's potential COVID-19 vaccine pledged to the United States.

Europe could face a surge of COVID-19 infections in the coming weeks caused by mass protests in the continent over the last days, politicians, European Union officials and experts said on Thursday.

The Butantan Institute, one of Brazil's leading biomedical research centers, on Thursday announced an agreement with China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd to potentially produce a vaccine against the new coronavirus.

Ryanair rejected new British government guidance for passengers to check in all luggage including hand bags, saying on Thursday it would instead recommend that passengers minimise checked-in luggage.

An international group of neuroscientists will examine how the world is sleeping, or failing to, during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has upended work, social and family life for countless people.

The European Commission is seeking a mandate from EU countries to buy promising COVID-19 vaccine candidates in advance from pharmaceutical firms, as long as they are not produced solely in the United States, officials said.

The United States may see 200,000 deaths because of the coronavirus at some point in September, a leading expert said, while total U.S. coronavirus cases surpassed 2 million on Wednesday as governments relax restrictions.

The coronavirus pandemic is accelerating in Africa, spreading to rural areas after international travellers brought it to capital cities, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.

Moderna Inc on Thursday confirmed it plans to start a trial of 30,000 volunteers of its much-anticipated coronavirus vaccine in July as the company enters the final stage of testing.

England's test and trace system identified 31,794 people who had been in close contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19 in its first week of operation, the government said on Thursday.

The European Commission is seeking a mandate from EU governments to buy in advance from pharmaceutical firms up to six promising vaccines against the coronavirus, two officials told Reuters.

Governments around the world have spent $10 trillion in fiscal actions to respond to the novel coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout, but significant further efforts are needed, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday.