Health

Latin America hit a grim milestone on Saturday as coronavirus deaths topped 50,000 and cases neared 1 million, with countries such as Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru struggling to stem the tide, according to a Reuters tally.

As a nurse on the front lines of Mexico's coronavirus battle, Gisela Hernandez has stayed away from her children for nearly two months, sleeping in a hotel and even her car to avoid infecting them because she feels inadequately protected at work.

Horseshoe crabs' icy-blue blood will remain the drug industry's standard for safety tests after a powerful U.S. group ditched a plan to give equal status to a synthetic substitute pushed by Swiss biotech Lonza and animal welfare groups.

Russian scientists plan to start clinical trials within two weeks on a vaccine to combat the novel coronavirus, the health minister was quoted as saying on Saturday as authorities approved the country's first anti-COVID-19 drug.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Saturday reported a total 1,737,950 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 18,123 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 1,074 to 102,785.

France's coronavirus case numbers are continuing to decline, health officials said on Saturday, with 14,380 patients currently in hospital, down from 14,695 a day earlier.

The European Union urged the United States on Saturday to reconsider its decision to cut ties with the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

A Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine could be ready for market as early as the end of this year, China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) said in a social media post.

Malaysia reported 30 new COVID-19 infections on Saturday, taking the cumulative total to 7,762.

Indonesia reported on Saturday 557 new coronavirus infections, taking the Southeast Asian nation's tally to 25,773, health ministry official Achmad Yurianto said.

Russia on Saturday reported 181 deaths from the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, down from the record 232 deaths registered the previous day and pushing the nationwide death toll to 4,555.

Singapore's health ministry said on Saturday it had confirmed 506 more coronavirus cases, making a total 34,366 infections.

Taiwan's government said on Saturday it had approved Gilead Sciences' potential COVID-19 treatment, remdesivir, to treat the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

Thailand reported one new coronavirus case on Saturday and no new deaths, taking the total number of infections to 3,077 as local transmission of the new virus appears to wane.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 738 to 181,196, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Friday.

China recorded four new confirmed cases of coronavirus as of the end of May 29, up from none the day before, data from the country's health authority showed on Saturday.

Coronavirus cases are surging in a scorching hot desert region straddling south California and a city near Mexico's Tijuana, leading to saturated hospitals, a cross-border overspill of patients and airlifts from rural U.S. clinics.

Two U.S. House of Representatives Democrats on Friday launched an inquiry into whether the Health and Human Services Department misdirected billions of dollars in coronavirus stimulus money to healthcare providers facing criminal or civil fraud investigations.

Missouri's only abortion clinic on Friday won its legal fight to stay open, as an independent arbiter found the state's health department was unjustified in denying the clinic's application to renew its license.

Coronavirus deaths in Brazil reached 27,878, the Health Ministry said on Friday, surpassing Spain to become the fifth ranking nation in the number of dead.