Health

The doggies and kitties of a Cairo veterinary clinic have an important message, and they are taking it to the internet.

The number of coronavirus cases in the six Gulf Arab states doubled in less than a month to surpass 200,000 on Wednesday, according to a Reuters' tally, at a time the region's two biggest economies move to resume activity.

The World Health Organization announced on Wednesday the creation of a foundation to tap new sources of funding that could help ease a potential cash shortage as it leads the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Gru and the popular yellow Minions from the animated "Despicable Me" movie franchise are urging people to keep their distance to help fight the spread of the novel coronavirus in a new public service announcement unveiled on Wednesday.

(Reuters - AstraZeneca Plc is testing one of its diabetes drugs as a treatment for COVID-19, even as doctors are advising diabetes patients infected by the coronavirus to stop taking the medicine and others like it because of a potentially dangerous side effect.

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Moscow, the epicentre of Russia's coronavirus outbreak, had succeeded in preventing what he called worst-case scenarios as the city announced it would ease tough lockdown measures within days.

France's coronavirus death toll rose by less than 100 for the seventh day running on Wednesday while the number of confirmed cases climbed only modestly, according to data which indicated the worst of the pandemic could be over for the country for now.

A COVID-19 test and trace service will start in England on Thursday to allow the loosening of lockdown measures for most of the population, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

Author Larry Kramer, whose early advocacy for a national response to AIDS as the disease first emerged in the 1980s helped raise awareness and shape healthcare policy into the 1990s, died on Wednesday at 84.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday reported 1,678,843 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 16,429 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 770 to 99,031.

Twenty U.S. states reported an increase in new cases of COVID-19 for the week ended May 24, up from 13 states in the prior week, as the death toll from the novel coronavirus approaches 100,000, according to a Reuters analysis.

The number of coronavirus cases in Zimbabwe has more than doubled to 132 over the past 24 hours, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.

Quest Diagnostics Inc on Wednesday started offering blood tests, temperature monitoring and other tailored services to U.S. employers as they attempt to reopen factories and offices after months under coronavirus-led lockdowns.

Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 117 on Wednesday, against 78 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the daily tally of new cases climbed to 584 from 397 on Tuesday.

Spain has registered 27,118 deaths from the coronavirus, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday, just one more than the previous day, but countrywide mortality data suggest the actual toll could be much higher.

In a sign that the coronavirus will one day be history, the Czech National Museum is opening an exhibition of face masks worn to protect against the infection.

"It's a girl and she is fine, we all are fine," said Rayhona, 23. "They have shown her to me on a smartphone."

Switzerland said on Wednesday it would lift curbs on larger public gatherings next month and free up travel within Europe's 26-nation Schengen zone by July 6, further easing restrictions on public life as the coronavirus outbreak ebbs.

An international hydroxychloroquine trial led by the University of Oxford has been paused, Britain's pharmaceutical regulator said on Wednesday, less than a week after the trial started, amid fresh safety concerns over the drug.

Drug developer Novavax Inc on Wednesday acquired Praha Vaccines, a unit of India's Cyrus Poonawalla Group, for about $167 million as it looks to boost capacity to produce its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.