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China has found the trading sections for meat and seafood in Beijing's wholesale food market to be severely contaminated with the new coronavirus and suspects the area's low temperature and high humidity may have been contributing factors, officials said on Thursday.

China's capital has mandated coronavirus tests for hundreds of thousands of people as it widens measures against a new outbreak of the disease that has sent anxious residents flooding to clinics for voluntary tests, putting a strain on the system.

China's capital cancelled scores of flights, shut schools and blocked off some neighbourhoods as it ramped up efforts to contain a coronavirus outbreak that has fanned fears of wider contagion.

Thailand's central bank unveiled on Thursday plans to build a prototype of a payment system for businesses using central bank digital currency (CBDC), or traditional money but in digital form being developed by monetary authorities around the world.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund will invest 113.67 billion rupees ($1.49 billion) in Reliance Industries Ltd's Jio Platforms, the Indian oil-to-telecoms conglomerate said on Thursday.

Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri said on Thursday Italy was still committed to a shared global deal on a tax on digital services, after the United States decided to quit global talks on how to tax sector giants.

Roche's rheumatoid arthritis drug Actemra failed to help patients with early-stage COVID-19 pneumonia in an Italian study, the latest instance in which an anti-inflammatory drug has fallen through in a coronavirus trial.

Russia has revised steeply higher, to nearly 500, the number of medical workers who have died after contracting COVID-19, illustrating the severe toll the pandemic has taken on its frontline doctors and nurses.

The coronavirus has disrupted supply chains and demand across the global economy, but it is the prospect of Europe becoming a casualty in the U.S.-China tech war that keeps the president of the European Chamber in China "awake at night".

Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:

German logistics group Deutsche Post AG said its dependence on Amazon is falling as the coronavirus crisis prompts a big rise in parcel shipments by other customers which it expects to continue in the second half of 2020.

A cheap steroid that can help save the lives of patients with severe COVID-19 should be reserved for serious cases in which it has been shown to provide benefits, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

The number of contacts of positive COVID-19 cases reached by England's test and trace system in its first two weeks of operation was 87,639, Britain's health ministry said on Thursday.

Shares in online fashion retailers Zalando and ASOS jumped on Thursday after the German company said it expects a big increase in second-quarter sales and operating profit as coronavirus lockdowns accelerate a shift to ecommerce.

Ford Motor Co said on Thursday that it will offer hands-free driving on its new Mustang Mach-E in fall 2021, six years after Tesla Inc and four years after General Motors Co introduced similar systems.

Beijing has brought its latest coronavirus outbreak under control, a Chinese medical expert said on Thursday, although the capital can still expect sporadic new cases.

China reported 28 new coronavirus cases in the mainland as of end-June 17, 21 of which were in the capital of Beijing, the country's health commission said on Thursday.

Peru's miners are revving up stalled operations with mass testing, isolation periods and revamped shift patterns, setting up the world's No. 2 copper producer to hit 80% of production capacity by the end of June, industry officials said.

(The June 17 story corrects to show 79% of hospitalized patients were black, not 79% of black patients were hospitalized, in second paragraph)

The European Union is ready to go it alone with taxing digital services of firms like Google, Amazon, Facebook or Apple if there is no global deal on such a tax this year, European Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said on Thursday.