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It is too early to be able to exclude some international travellers from quarantine measures due to be introduced next week to prevent a resurgence of the coronavirus, Britain's COVID-19 testing coordinator said on Tuesday.

Any resurgence of COVID-19 in Britain would probably be local and patchy, testing coordinator John Newton said on Tuesday.

Lonza aims to speed completion of two commercial production lines for Moderna Inc's trial COVID-19 vaccine so manufacturing could start four to six weeks earlier than planned if the project is successful, the Swiss drugmaker's chairman said on Tuesday.

Gilead Sciences Inc is developing easier-to-administer versions of its antiviral treatment remdesivir for COVID-19 that could be used outside of hospitals, including ones that can be inhaled, after trials showed moderate effectiveness for the drug given by infusion.

An outbreak of COVID-19 at a logistics centre run by one of South Korea's largest online shopping companies has raised concerns over whether the virus can be transmitted by package deliveries.

Britain's statistics watchdog chided the government on Tuesday for publishing data on coronavirus tests that it said were often mistrusted and "far from complete and comprehensible".

An elderly Rohingya refugee has become the first person to die from coronavirus in the camps in southern Bangladesh, officials said on Tuesday.

Britain has more work to do to understand why COVID-19 has a disproportionate effect on black and minority ethnic minorities, health minister Matt Hancock said on Tuesday.

Scientists have found 27 key proteins in the blood of people infected with COVID-19 which they say could act as predictive biomarkers for how ill a patient could become with the disease.

Sweden's testing for the new coronavirus rose last week to its highest level since the outbreak began but still fell far short of the target, in what has increasingly become a focal point of criticism of the government's pandemic policy.

EU regulators are seeking feedback about a possible new power to investigate businesses and demand changes even when no competition rules have been broken, in a move aimed at stopping companies from abusing their dominance.

Fewer than one in 10 of coronavirus test samples collected daily in Afghanistan are being processed, officials said on Tuesday, and of those more than 30% are consistently testing positive, suggesting a high and hidden number of infections.

India launched a $6.65 billion plan on Tuesday to boost electronics manufacturing, saying it would start by offering five global smartphone makers incentives to establish or expand domestic production.

Japan on Tuesday approved saliva-based tests for the coronavirus, offering a safer, simpler way to diagnose infection than nasal swabs as it looks to boost its testing rates.

Black and Asian people in England are up to 50% more likely to die after being infected with COVID-19, an official study said on Tuesday, reinforcing previous reports which indicated ethnic minority groups were more at risk from the virus.

Keeping at least one metre apart and wearing face masks and eye protection are the best ways to cut the risk of COVID-19 infection, according to the largest review to date of studies on coronavirus disease transmission.

The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus outbreak began, has found no new cases of people suffering from COVID-19 after testing almost its entire population, and 300 asymptomatic carriers of the virus, officials said on Tuesday.

The United Kingdom's COVID-19 death toll neared 50,000 on Tuesday, confirming its place as one of the worst hit countries in the world just as Prime Minister Boris Johnson tries to ease the stringent novel coronavirus outbreak.

British health minister Matt Hancock has spoken to the head of the country's statistics watchdog to pledge his commitment to work closely with it after David Norgrove criticised the government for publishing testing data that were "far from complete".

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