Health

The number of coronavirus cases in New York state alone approached 150,000 on Wednesday, surpassing Spain for the most infections anywhere in the world, even as authorities warned the state's official death tally may understate the true toll.

One medical worker called it "insane," another said it induces paranoia - the speed with which patients are declining and dying from the novel coronavirus is shocking even veteran doctors and nurses as they scramble to determine how to stop such sudden deterioration.

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) on Wednesday awarded two contracts worth more than $1 billion to make ventilators needed to treat severely sick coronavirus patients and plans to announce five additional contracts later this week.

Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy rose by 542 on Wednesday, a lower tally than the 604 the day before, but the number of new cases pushed higher to 3,836 compared with a previous 3,039.

World Health Organization officials on Wednesday denied that the body was "China-centric" and said that the acute phase of a pandemic was not the time to cut funding, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he may put contributions on hold.

World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus dismissed suggestions that his agency was too close to China after criticism by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Malta announced its first death from COVID-19 on Wednesday, a 92-year-old woman with severe underlying medical problems.

The president of the European Union's main science organisation has quit the post he took up only in January, the European Commission said, amid controversy over the bloc's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

France will extend its national lockdown put in place to contain the spread of the new coronavirus for a second time, meaning it will run beyond April 15, the French presidential palace said on Wednesday.

Spain's official coronavirus death toll edged higher again on Wednesday, but questions persisted over the veracity of numbers and the main business lobby warned the economy may slump up to 9% this year.

The U.S Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved https://reut.rs/2RnpE3h first generic of a commonly used albuterol sulfate-based inhaler, catering to increased demand from COVID-19 patients suffering from breathing difficulties.

The number of coronavirus cases in New York state alone approached 150,000 on Wednesday, surpassing Spain for the most infections anywhere in the world, even as authorities warned the state's official death tally may understate the true toll.

The number of people who died from coronavirus infections in French hospitals climbed by 8% in a day to a cumulative total of 7,632, state health agency director Jerome Salomon told a news conference on Wednesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron will address the nation regarding the new coronavirus situation on Monday evening, the presidential palace said on Wednesday.

Switzerland plans to ease restrictions now in place to combat the new coronavirus starting at the end of April, the government said on Wednesday, adding the economic damage from the epidemic could be the worst on record.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday thanked India for its decision to increase exports of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, an unproven treatment that Trump has promoted in the fight against the novel coronavirus.

Rite Aid Corp will pay a $4.75 million civil fine to resolve U.S. allegations it failed to keep track of customers who bought products containing pseudoephedrine, an ingredient in many cold and cough medicines that can also be used to illegally manufacture methamphetamine.

Italian authorities are working on introducing a smartphone app that would help health services trace the contacts of people who test positive for the coronavirus as the government looks at ways of gradually lifting a lockdown imposed a month ago.

At least 20 doctors at a public hospital outside Mexico City have tested positive for the coronavirus, the head of Mexico's social security institute (IMSS) said on Wednesday, in the second major outbreak among health workers in the country.

The number of National Guard troops helping combat coronavirus is expected to increase by more than 10,000 in the next week or two, the head of the U.S. National Guard said on Wednesday.