Health News (Reuters)

Novartis won European approval for its gene therapy Zolgensma for the hereditary disease spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the Swiss drugmaker said on Tuesday, adding it is in talks over price with countries in hopes of a quick launch.

Russia said on Tuesday that 9,263 new cases of the novel coronavirus had been reported in the last 24 hours, pushing its nationwide tally to 299,941.

Singapore's health ministry said on Tuesday it confirmed 451 more coronavirus cases, taking the city-state's tally of infections to 28,794.

The number of new coronavirus cases in the Czech Republic showed its biggest daily rise in four weeks and climbed above 100 for the first time this month, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany rose by 513 to 175,210, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Tuesday, with new infections accelerating after decelerating the previous four days.

The United States will announce on Tuesday that it has signed a $354 million contract with a company to make generic medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients in the country needed to treat COVID-19, the New York Times reported late on Monday.

Swiss drugmaker Novartis said on Tuesday it was awarded conditional European approval for its gene therapy Zolgensma for treating children with the hereditary disease spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

(This May 18 story, corrects to say France has fourth highest number of coronavirus deaths, not confirmed cases, in paragraph 2)

Singapore has apologised to 357 COVID-19 patients who received an erroneous text message saying they had again tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Thailand on Tuesday confirmed two new coronavirus cases and no additional deaths, bringing its total to 3,033 infections, a senior official said.

New Zealand recorded no new coronavirus cases for the second straight day on Tuesday, but authorities said it was premature to discuss moving the country to "level one" in its scale of alert.

Australia's death toll from the novel coronavirus reached 100 on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally of official data, a fatality rate much lower than in North America and Europe despite its earlier exposure to the outbreak.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said on Monday that 309 people have died of pneumonia since January in the Central American country, 87 more people than in the same period last year, but that only some deaths were linked to the coronavirus.

Moderna Inc's experimental COVID-19 vaccine, the first to be tested in the United States, produced protective antibodies in a small group of healthy volunteers, according to very early data released by the biotech company on Monday.

Australia's death toll from the novel coronavirus reached 100 on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally of official data, a fatality rate much lower than in North America and Europe despite the Pacific country's earlier exposure to the pandemic.

China reported six confirmed coronavirus cases for May 18, including a new case in Wuhan, the health authority said on Tuesday, compared to seven a day earlier.

The phased reopening of U.S. business and social life gained traction on Monday with more Americans emerging from coronavirus lockdowns and financial markets boosted by promising early results from the first U.S. vaccine trial in humans.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) plans a nationwide study of up to 325,000 people to track how the new coronavirus is spreading across the country into next year and beyond, a CDC spokeswoman and researchers conducting the effort told Reuters.

Researchers have documented a drop in child vaccination rates in Michigan since restrictions were imposed to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, raising concern about outbreaks of other diseases such as measles, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report on Monday.

Niagara Falls is part of a sixth New York state region to start reopening after clearing a hurdle for tracing the spread of the novel coronavirus, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday.