Health

As China's parliament prepares new laws to ban the trade and consumption of wildlife, local action plans published this week suggest the country's fur trade and lucrative traditional medicine sectors will continue as usual.

Mexico's health ministry on Wednesday registered 2,248 new coronavirus infections and an additional 424 fatalities, a record one-day death toll since the start of the pandemic.

New York City residents from low-income communities have tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies at a higher-than-average rate, underscoring the disproportionate impact of the disease on people of color, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday.

Ecuador's largest city allowed some businesses to reopen on Wednesday following a fall in daily deaths from the coronavirus pandemic that had for weeks required the city to remain in quarantine.

China recorded two new coronavirus cases for May 20, down from five a day earlier, the National Health Commission (NHC) reported on Thursday.

Authorities in 23 countries across five continents have sought access to contact tracing technology from Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google, the companies announced on Wednesday as they released the initial version of their system.

Apple and Google said they were continuing to talk to the British government about the technology used in its smartphone COVID-19 contact tracing app as the two companies released the initial version of their own system.

Gilead Sciences Inc and partner Galapagos NV said on Wednesday only a higher dose of their experimental drug filgotinib showed greater effectiveness than placebo in a pivotal study testing it in ulcerative colitis patients.

Brazil's coronavirus outbreak worsened on Wednesday and the South American nation could soon have the second-highest number of cases in the world as the Health Ministry reported 888 new deaths and nearly 20,000 new infections in a single day.

Brazil's coronavirus outbreak worsened on Wednesday and the South American nation could soon have the second-highest number of cases in the world as the Health Ministry reported 888 new deaths and nearly 20,000 new cases in a single day.

A top U.S. scientist said on Wednesday that governments should not count on a successful vaccine against COVID-19 being developed anytime soon when deciding whether to ease restrictions imposed to curb the pandemic.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the regimen of an anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine that he is taking to ward off the coronavirus finishes in the next day or two.

Spain's fragile left-wing coalition won backing from political foes to extend a state of emergency on Wednesday as public protests simmered over economic damage and social restrictions during the coronavirus outbreak.

The head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) appealed on Wednesday for the world to work together toward a coronavirus vaccine, warning against any unilateral action that could prevent access for poor countries.

U.S. nursing homes have been plagued with infection control deficiencies even before the coronavirus pandemic turned them into hotspots for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, a government report said on Wednesday.

Argentine scientists are producing what they call a fast and inexpensive coronavirus test, which according to the government has captured the interest of other countries.

(This May 19 story corrects name to Pioneers Memorial Hospital, from Pilgrims Memorial Hospital, in paragraphs 3 and 7)

Gilead Sciences Inc and partner Galapagos NV said on Wednesday a higher dose of their experimental drug filgotinib showed greater effectiveness than placebo in a mid-stage study testing it in ulcerative colitis patients.

Peru's number of confirmed coronavirus cases surpassed 104,000, the Ministry of Health reported on Wednesday, as the outbreak puts pressure on the demand for medicines, whose prices have soared in recent days.

South Africa recorded its first neonatal coronavirus death on Wednesday, as the death toll jumped by 27 to 339, the health ministry said.