Health

Singapore's health ministry on Wednesday confirmed 788 new coronavirus cases, taking the city-state's tally to 20,198.

A llama called Winter could prove useful in the hunt for a treatment for COVID-19, according to U.S. and Belgian scientists who have identified a tiny particle that appears to block the new coronavirus.

Yemen on Wednesday reported the first three cases of the novel coronavirus in the southern province of Lahaj, one of whom has died, and another infection in the southern port of Aden.

The death toll from the new coronavirus outbreak in Iran rose by 78 in the past 24 hours to 6,418 and the total number of infections to 101,650, the Health Ministry said in a tweet on Wednesday.

At least 90,000 health-care workers worldwide are believed to have been infected with COVID-19, and possibly twice that, amid reports of continuing shortages of protective equipment, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) said on Wednesday.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday considered a bid by Donald Trump's administration to implement rules allowing employers to obtain religious exemptions from an Obamacare requirement that health insurance that they provide to employees covers women's birth control.

In April, an elderly resident living in Seine-Saint-Denis, France's poorest commune on the edge of Paris, went to hospital worried they had COVID-19. The test returned negative and the pensioner was sent home. Ten days later they were found dead.

A genetic analysis of samples from more than 7,500 people infected with COVID-19 suggests the new coronavirus spread quickly around the world late last year and is adapting to its human hosts, scientists said on Wednesday.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez looks set to secure enough parliamentary votes on Wednesday to extend a state of emergency for two more weeks as the country relaxes a lockdown imposed to control one of the world's worst coronavirus outbreaks.

Just a few months ago, coronavirus floated around unnoticed in the hospital near Madrid where Cristina Cadenas worked as nurse in the orthopaedics department.

Fitbit Inc on Wednesday launched a virtual study to test if its wearable devices can detect irregular heart rhythms, which could identify a condition called atrial fibrillation.

More than 60 workers at a factory run by the Indonesian unit of U.S. tobacco giant Philip Morris have tested positive for the coronavirus after operations were suspended when two staff died from COVID-19, a provincial government official said.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Netherlands rose by 232 to 41,319 on Wednesday, with 36 new deaths, health authorities said.

Swiss drugmaker Ferring International Center SA said its experimental non-antibiotic treatment met the main goal of reducing the recurrence of antibiotic-resistant infections caused by a superbug.

AstraZeneca's diabetes drug Farxiga has become the first in its class to win U.S. approval as a treatment for heart failure, opening up a major new market opportunity outside of the medicine's established field.

Gilead Sciences Inc is in talks with chemical and drug makers to produce its experimental drug remdesivir, a potential coronavirus treatment, for Europe, Asia and the developing world, the firm has said.

The spread of the novel coronavirus in Kazakhstan has slowed in recent days, the Central Asian nation's government said on Wednesday, indicating it could exit a state of emergency next week.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday is set to hear a bid by President Donald Trump's administration to implement federal rules allowing employers to obtain religious exemptions from an Obamacare requirement that health insurance that they provide to employees covers women's birth control.

A genetic analysis of samples from more than 7,500 people infected with COVID-19 suggests the new coronavirus spread quickly around the world late last year and is adapting to its human hosts, scientists said on Wednesday.

The death toll from the new coronavirus outbreak in Iran rose by 78 in the past 24 hours to 6,418, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said in a statement on state TV on Wednesday.