Health News (Reuters)

Researchers in Switzerland have been able to detect the new corovarirus at even low concentrations in wastewater, offering a potential early warning system for flareups in infections as countries emerge from emergency lockdowns.

Indonesia confirmed on Thursday 347 new coronavirus infections, taking the total in the Southeast Asian country above 10,000 for the first time with 10,118 infections, health ministry official Achmad Yurianto said.

There are probably more people dying from the novel coronavirus in Germany than reported numbers suggest but the excess mortality is not rising by as much as in other countries, the head of the public health authority RKI said on Thursday.

A pug living in a North Carolina home with three people who have tested positive for coronavirus became the first U.S. dog diagnosed with the COVID-19 respiratory illness, the American Humane Society said on Tuesday.

The spread of the novel coronavirus has been contained in the Czech Republic and the government will continue to cautiously open up the economy, Health Minister Adam Vojtech said on Thursday.

Malaysian health authorities reported 57 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, raising the cumulative total to 6,002 cases.

Concerns over leaks compelled the top U.S. infectious disease official to reveal data on Gilead Sciences Inc’s experimental drug remdesivir, the first in a scientifically rigorous clinical trial to show benefit in treating COVID-19.

The Philippines reported 276 new coronavirus infections and 10 more deaths, bringing its total number of cases to 8,488 and fatalities to 568.

The head of British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said now was the time to take risks by betting on a COVID-19 vaccine and he should know by June or July whether one from its University of Oxford partner will be effective or not.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd said on Thursday it will start clinical trials in India of antiviral drug favipiravir, seen as a potential treatment for COVID-19, sending its shares up as much as 9%.

The top U.S. infectious disease official said Gilead Sciences Inc's experimental antiviral drug remdesivir will become the standard of care for COVID-19 after early clinical trial results on Wednesday showed it helped patients recover more quickly from the illness caused by the coronavirus.

New clinical data on Gilead Sciences Inc's experimental antiviral drug remdesivir has raised hopes it might be an effective treatment for the novel coronavirus that has infected more than 3 million people and killed over 225,000 worldwide.

U.S. drug regulators may announce their decision allowing emergency use of Gilead Science Inc's experimental coronavirus drug remdesivir as soon as Wednesday, the New York Times reported, citing an unnamed senior administration official.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday greeted as good news reports that a Gilead Sciences Inc experimental antiviral drug might help fight the coronavirus, and infectious disease official Anthony Fauci said data shows it appears to help patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

A top World Health Organization official declined comment on Wednesday on reports that Gilead Science's remdesivir could help treat COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, but said that further data was needed.

South Korea reported on Thursday no new domestic coronavirus cases for the first time since its Feb. 29 peak, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.

Yemen has reported its first two deaths from the novel coronavirus, its health minister told Yemen TV late on Wednesday.

China reported four new coronavirus cases for April 29, down from 22 a day earlier, data from the country's health authority showed.

Mexico's health ministry on Wednesday reported 1,047 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 163 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 17,799 cases and 1,732 deaths.

Confirmed cases of coronavirus infection in Panama reached 6,378 on Wednesday, a rise of 178 from the previous day, and deaths climbed by two to 178, the health ministry said.