Health

A global campaign to fund the development of vaccines and therapies against COVID-19 has so far raised 9.5 billion euros ($10.4 billion), the head of the European Commission said on Tuesday.

Thailand's cabinet on Tuesday extended an emergency decree to fight the coronavirus to June 30, with a spokeswoman denying opposition suggestions that the prime minister, a onetime junta leader, was seeking a return to unchecked powers.

Malaysia reported 187 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, with illegal migrants held at a detention centre accounting for most of them, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 7,604.

Indonesia reported on Tuesday 415 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections to 23,165, its health ministry said.

China's health tracking QR codes, which have played a key part in the country's successful containment of the coronavirus, now look set to play a much broader role in daily life as local authorities dream up new uses for the technology.

The Philippine health ministry on Tuesday reported 13 deaths and 350 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus, the largest single-day increase in infections in seven weeks.

Russia said on Tuesday 174 people with the coronavirus had died in the past 24 hours, a record one-day amount that pushed the nationwide death toll to 3,807.

Singapore's health ministry confirmed on Tuesday 383 more cases of the new coronavirus, taking the city-state's tally to 32,343.

Italy's nursing homes, ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic which claimed the lives of thousands of residents, face financial pressures that threaten to put many out of business and create a fresh elderly care crisis.

Fujifilm Holdings Corp will continue research on Avigan into June, Japan's government said on Tuesday, effectively dashing hopes by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the drug would be approved as a COVID-19 treatment this month.

Germany plans to ease social distancing steps from June 29, a week earlier than previously planned, and aims to lift a travel warning for 31 European countries from mid-June, German media reported.

Novavax Inc said on Monday it has started the Phase 1 clinical trial of a novel coronavirus vaccine candidate and has enrolled the trial's first participants, with preliminary results slated for July.

Children under the age of two shouldn't wear masks because they can make breathing difficult and increase the risk of choking, a Japan medical group said, launching an urgent appeal to parents as the country reopens from the coronavirus crisis.

Thailand on Tuesday reported three new coronavirus cases and no new deaths, bringing its total to 3,045 confirmed cases and 57 fatalities.

The Red Cross called for an end to cyberattacks on healthcare and medical research facilities during the coronavirus pandemic, in a letter published Tuesday and signed by a group of political and business figures.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 432 to 179,002, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Tuesday.

Three dozen inmates in Salvadoran prisons have tested positive for coronavirus, health authorities said Monday, adding that strict health and isolation protocols would be implemented to halt the virus's spread in the facilities.

China reported 7 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the mainland as of end-May 25, up from 11 a day earlier, the National Health Commission reported.

Mexican health officials on Monday reported 2,485 new cases of coronavirus and 239 deaths, bringing the country's totals to 71,105 and 7,633, respectively.

Mexico's capital registered 8,072 more deaths in the first five months this year than the average from the same period over the past four years, an analysis by independent researchers showed on Monday, suggesting a possible surge due to the coronavirus.