Blogroll

Algeria has started producing rapid test kits for the novel coronavirus, with a detection time of 15 minutes and a production capacity of 200,000 units per week, the government said on Monday.

Tesla Inc sued local authorities in California on Saturday as the electric carmaker pushed to re-open its factory there and Chief Executive Elon Musk threatened to move Tesla's headquarters and future programs from the state to Texas or Nevada.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said both he and local health officials would speak to officials at Tesla Inc, after the company ordered workers back on the job despite ongoing coronavirus restrictions in Alameda County, where its auto plant is located.

Global alarm was sounded on Monday over a potential second wave of coronavirus cases after Germany, relatively successful in slowing the outbreak, reported that infections had accelerated again after the first tentative steps to ease a lockdown.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that "extreme vigilance" was needed as countries begin to exit from lockdowns imposed to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, amid global concerns about a second wave of infections.

Pregnant women are no more likely to become severely ill with COVID-19 than other women, according to a preliminary study in Britain, but most expectant mothers who do develop serious illness tend to be in the later stages of pregnancy.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Monday recommended that Gilead Sciences Inc's experimental drug for the new coronavirus be given under compassionate use to patients other than those undergoing invasive mechanical ventilation.

The number of deaths in New York City from causes other than COVID-19 rose by more than 5,000 people above the seasonal norm during the first two months of the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Saturday approved emergency use authorization (EUA) to Quidel Corp for the first COVID-19 antigen test.

Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in France on Monday were almost four times higher than Sunday and new confirmed cases more than doubled over 24 hours, as the country started unwinding an almost two-month national lockdown put in place to contain the spread of the disease.

Senegal's holy city of Touba is fighting a second wave of COVID-19 infections, dashing hopes that swift action by authorities had stopped the new coronavirus from spreading in the one-time epicentre.

Lebanese authorities warned of a new wave of coronavirus cases after the number jumped to its highest point in more than a month as the government eased some restrictions on public life.

A new surge in coronavirus cases took Russia's tally past those in Italy and Britain on Monday, making it the third highest in the world just hours before President Vladimir Putin was due to issue an update on the situation.

President Vladimir Putin said that Russia would start gradually easing coronavirus-related lockdown measures from Tuesday, but that individual regions would need to tailor their approach to varying local conditions.

The number of coronavirus cases in the six Gulf Arab states surpassed 100,000 on Monday, with 557 deaths, according to Reuters calculations based on official figures.

Togo reported an outbreak of African swine fever in a farm northwest of the capital Lome, where 44 pigs have died of the disease since April 18.

About half of Spain's 47 million population on Monday entered the second stage of a four-phase plan to lift a coronavirus lockdown and return to normal by the end of June.

Britain's COVID-19 death toll has risen by 210 to 32,065, according to figures announced on Monday by the Department of Health.

Germany reported on Monday that new coronavirus infections were accelerating exponentially after early steps to ease its lockdown, news that sounded a global alarm even as businesses opened from Paris hair salons to Shanghai Disneyland.

Men in the lowest-skilled jobs have the highest death rates involving COVID-19 among working-age people, according to data for England and Wales that also showed fatalities among nurses and doctors were no higher than the average.