Health

Brazil confirmed 15,305 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday, a record for a 24-hour period, as well as 824 related deaths, according to data from the Health Ministry.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Bristol Myers Squibb Co's combination therapy for previously untreated patients with a form of lung cancer, a much-needed boost as the company battles the dominance of Merck's Keytruda.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday reported 1,412,121 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 27,191 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 2,043 to 85,990.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he was looking at possibly making a coronavirus vaccine available free of charge.

Gilead Sciences Inc's two clinical studies of its potential coronavirus treatment remdesivir will wind down by the end of May, closing off a path of patient access to the antiviral medication, according to U.S. researchers involved in the studies.

Clovis Oncology Inc said on Friday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved its drug Rubraca for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, whose tumors have a genetic mutation.

France's new coronavirus deaths reported on Friday were three times lower than 24 hours earlier while new confirmed cases of the COVID-19 disease kept on rising at the same slow rate of 0.4%, as the country continues to unwind its lockdown.

A keenly-watched COVID-19 vaccine will be priced to allow as wide as possible access to it, if it proves successful, and will be made at huge scale to keep costs down and supply up, said the Oxford University professor co-leading its development.

The following is a brief roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.

Spain imposed a quarantine on incoming overseas passengers on Friday and added new travel restrictions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus as the country's daily death toll falls.

Scientists and researchers are working at "breakneck" speed to find solutions for COVID-19 but the pandemic can only be beaten with equitable distribution of medicines and vaccines, the head of the World Health Organization said on Friday.

Authorities in Wuhan have tested over 3 million residents for the coronavirus in April and May and aim to test all of the rest, state media said, as the city at the epicentre of the original outbreak faces the threat of a second wave of infections.

The reproduction rate of the coronavirus in the United Kingdom is now somewhere between 0.7 and 1.0, government scientific advisers said on Friday, a slight rise on figures given last week.

Wuhan, the original epicentre of the new coronavirus outbreak in China, has tested over 3 million residents for the pathogen since April, and will now focus its testing efforts on the rest of its 11 million population, according to state media.

Spain's death toll from coronavirus registered its lowest increase since Monday as health authorities registered 138 new fatalities on Friday, the health ministry reported.

India has lost two weeks in its bid to get a picture of the spread of the coronavirus in its population because of poor Chinese testing kits, a member of a national task force said, complicating a decision on opening up from a lockdown.

Large parts of Japan marked the first day out of a state of emergency on Friday while Tokyo's governor asked residents to prepare for the "new normal" as restrictions stay in place in the capital and major cities.

Japan should boost coronavirus testing and offer more generous cash payouts to households as the epidemic could last for several years, an economist appointed to a government panel on the virus response said on Friday.

Thailand will begin allowing department stores, shopping malls and other businesses to reopen from Sunday as new coronavirus cases dwindle, the government said.

Indonesia reported 490 new coronavirus infections and 33 new deaths, taking the total number of cases to 16,496 and deaths to 1,076, health ministry official Achmad Yurianto said on Friday.