Health

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday took a step toward speeding the development of coronavirus test kits, agreeing a regulatory change to give states the ability to approve tests developed in laboratories in the states, an administration official said.

Paris will close its parks until further notice in order to reduce the risk of coronavirus infections, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said in a statement on Monday.

Moscow on Monday banned all outdoor events and limited indoor public events to no more than 50 people until April 10, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a blog post on his personal website, amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Bars, restaurants, theaters and cinemas were shutting down in New York, Los Angeles and other global cities to combat the coronavirus pandemic as countries tightened borders and central banks acted aggressively to cushion the economic impact.

The regional leader of Spain's Catalonia, Quim Torra, said on Monday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus and that he was going into self-isolation in a government building.

The Women's Tennis Association has suspended play until May 2 as the coronavirus pandemic continued its unprecedented shutdown of world sport on Monday.

Early closures for restaurants, shutting non-essential shops and a ban on church services are new measures the German government wants to introduce to slow the spread of coronavirus, mass-selling newspaper Bild reported on Monday.

Austria's government said it will allocate 2 billion euros for loan guarantees on top of a 4-billion-euro aid fund to buffer the economy from the damage of coronavirus, as the number of confirmed cases in the country rose to 1,018.

Bosnia's autonomous Bosniak-Croat Federation declared a state of disaster on Monday, which will enable it to introduce emergency measures to halt the spread of the coronavirus, the region's Prime Minister Fadil Novalic said.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said on Monday Chile would close its borders to foreigners beginning on Wednesday to limit the spread of coronavirus in the South American nation.

Nurofen producer Reckitt Benckiser sought to quash warnings against taking the drug on Monday, saying it was not aware of any evidence that the pills' active ingredient ibuprofen adversely impacted patients suffering from COVID-19.

Johnson & Johnson said on Monday it had no evidence its HIV drug, Prezista, had any effect on patients suffering from the disease caused by coronavirus.

Lombardy, the northern Italian region that has suffered the biggest hit from Europe's worst coronavirus outbreak, is showing the first signs of a possible slowdown in contagion, its governor said on Monday.

Canada imposed tougher screening requirements for visitors on Monday in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus, hours before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was due to unveil further measures.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a key part of the federal response to the fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak, was hit by a cyberattack on Sunday night, prompting a response from the National Security Council, Bloomberg said on Monday.

Poland does not plan to change the date of the May 10 presidential elections due to the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Monday.

New York officials pleaded with the Trump administration on Monday to coordinate a national response to the coronavirus outbreak, saying patchwork measures enacted by state and local authorities were insufficient to confront a national emergency.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday he would take a coronavirus test if medical authorities instructed him to do so.

A dramatic surge in coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia in recent days has increased doubts over a theory that warmer weather could stem the spread of the virus, health experts say.

European Union countries must take care not to damage food and medicine supply lines as they slap on border restrictions in the drive to curb the spread of coronavirus, the EU's executive arm said on Monday.