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India said on Tuesday it was making public the source code of its coronavirus contact-tracing app Aarogya Setu for Google's Android smartphones, a move digital rights activists said will boost the security of users.

Merck & Co Inc , which has largely kept to the sidelines of the race for COVID-19 treatments, said it was buying Austrian vaccine maker Themis Bioscience and would collaborate with research nonprofit IAVI to develop two separate vaccines.

Britain said on Tuesday it had agreed deals with more than 100 new suppliers of personal protective equipment (PPE) used to combat the spread of the coronavirus, addressing supply problems seen earlier during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Germany's government and its state premiers have agreed to extend social distancing rules until June 29 to contain the coronavirus pandemic, a government spokesman said.

Britain will provide the anti-viral drug remdesivir to certain COVID-19 patients that it is most likely to benefit as part of a collaboration with manufacturer Gilead Sciences, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

The Americas have emerged as the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a Tuesday briefing, as a U.S. study forecast deaths surging in Brazil and other Latin American countries through August.

As Brazil's daily COVID-19 death rate climbs to the highest in the world, a University of Washington study is warning its total death toll could climb five-fold to 125,000 by early August, adding to fears it has become a new hot spot in the pandemic.

Apple Inc plans to reopen about 100 U.S. stores, mostly with curbside pickup but some with walk-in service, the company said on Tuesday.

German chipmaker Infineon Technologies aims to raise about 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) by issuing new shares to partially finance its $10 billion acquisition of U.S.-based Cypress Semiconductor, it said on Tuesday.

France's cumulative death toll from coronavirus infection rose by 73 or 0.3% to 28,530 on Tuesday, a similar rate of increase as the day before despite health authorities having resumed taking into account nursing home data after a four-day interruption.

The new robot barista at the cafe in Daejeon, South Korea, is courteous and swift as it seamlessly makes its way towards customers.

U.S. biotech company Novavax Inc has joined the race to test coronavirus vaccine candidates on humans and said it was targeting production of over a billion doses of its vaccine candidate next year.

World TeamTennis, an innovative mixed-gender professional tennis league, will start from July 5 at the Greenbrier, West Virginia, and up to 500 fans will be allowed to attend matches during its three-week season, tournament organisers said on Tuesday.

British health minister Matt Hancock hinted at a review of fines for families who faced penalties for breaking lockdown rules, after a top government adviser received widespread public condemnation for his lockdown travel.

Spain's Health Ministry on Tuesday defended changes to its methodology for recording coronavirus data that have led to wild fluctuations in daily statistics and provoked sharp criticism by opposition parties.

The United Kingdom's COVID-19 death toll surpassed 47,000 on Tuesday, a dire human cost that could define the premiership of Boris Johnson.

France again ranked fourth in coronavirus deaths after the United States, Britain and Italy, as Spain revised its tally down by nearly 2,000 on Monday.

Nokia last week suspended operations at a telecoms gear manufacturing plant in southern India, the company said on Tuesday, after some employees tested positive for COVID-19.

Britain's health minister Matt Hancock said anti-viral drug Remdesivir was probably the most significant development yet in treating COVID-19 patients.

Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 78 on Tuesday, against 92 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the daily tally of new cases increased to 397 from 300 on Monday.