Health

The World Health Organization has suspended testing the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 patients due to safety concerns, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday.

The Japanese government has given up on approving Fujifilm Holdings Corp's Avigan drug for the treatment of COVID-19 by the end of May, Kyodo News reported late on Monday.

Brazil daily coronavirus deaths were higher than fatalities in the United States for the first time over the last 24 hours, according to the country's Health Ministry.

Americans paid a low-key tribute to those who died serving in the U.S. Armed Forces on Monday, with many Memorial Day events canceled because of the coronavirus epidemic that has killed nearly 100,000 people in the United States alone.

Syria said on Monday it would lift an overnight curfew starting Tuesday and allow movement between governorates, easing coronavirus lockdown measures even as the health ministry reported the largest single-day increase in cases.

Nearly 340 meatpacking workers at a single BRF SA plant in southern Brazil have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the company said on Monday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday reported 1,637,456 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 15,342 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 620 to 97,669.

Spain's health ministry revised the country's coronavirus death toll down by nearly 2,000 to 26,834 on Monday after checking data provided by regions.

The United Kingdom's death toll from confirmed coronavirus cases has risen to 36,914, up 121 from a day earlier, official figures showed on Monday.

Americans paid a mostly low-key tribute to those who died serving in the U.S. Armed Forces on Monday, with many Memorial Day events canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak that has killed nearly 100,000 people in the United States alone.

Countries where coronavirus infections are declining could still face an "immediate second peak" if they let up too soon on measures to halt the outbreak, the World Health Organization said on Monday.

U.S. drugmaker Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said on Monday it would repurchase about $5 billion of its shares directly from France's Sanofi, without altering their over-a-decade-long partnership.

U.S. company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said it had agreed to repurchase approximately $5 billion of its shares directly from French drugmaker Sanofi.

The number of people in hospital with coronavirus in France fell by 387 to 16,798 on Monday, resuming a gradual decline that had been interrupted Sunday.

Polish Health Minister Lukasz Szumowski denied on Monday any wrongdoing as he reacted to accusations of inadequate supervision over procurement of equipment to help combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Africa has so far been spared the worst impact of the coronavirus, but the World Health Organization is worried the continent could face a "silent epidemic" if its leaders do not prioritize testing for it, a WHO envoy said on Monday.

AngloGold Ashanti on Monday said that a total of 196 people have tested positive for coronavirus at its Mponeng mine, where it suspended operations on Sunday after reporting 164 COVID-19 positive workers.

Mink with the coronavirus have infected two people in the Netherlands in what are probably the first such cases of transmission during the epidemic, government and health authorities said on Monday.

Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 92 on Monday, against 50 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the daily tally of new cases dropped to just 300 from 531 on Sunday.

Mozambique has confirmed its first COVID-19 death, the health ministry on Monday said.