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Thailand will begin allowing department stores, shopping malls and other businesses to reopen from Sunday as new coronavirus cases dwindle, the government said.

Indonesia reported 490 new coronavirus infections and 33 new deaths, taking the total number of cases to 16,496 and deaths to 1,076, health ministry official Achmad Yurianto said on Friday.

France's Accor , which runs hotels such as Ibis and Movenpick, said on Friday it would offer its clients free access to online medical consultations run by insurer AXA as it prepares for a recovery from the coronavirus crisis.

Japan's Rakuten Inc said on Friday the launch of its 5G services planned for June has been delayed by three months due to disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

The number of novel coronavirus cases in the Philippines' has passed the 12,000 mark, and more than 800 people have now died, the health ministry said on Friday.

Russia on Friday reported 10,598 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, pushing its nationwide case tally to 262,843.

The risk of a COVID-19 resurgence in China from so-called imported infections is controllable, an official of the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Friday.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday that Abbott Laboratories’ speedy coronavirus test, which can deliver results within minutes and is used at the White House, could potentially be inaccurate but can still be used to test patients.

Germany's financial watchdog BaFin said it has no plans to ban short-selling in payments company Wirecard even as hedge funds increased their bets speculating on a fall in the company's share price.

Taiwan's Foxconn posted an almost 90% drop in first-quarter profit on Friday, as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted production and hit demand from Apple Inc and other major clients.

Britain has given the green light to Abbott Laboratories to produce a COVID-19 antibody test, shortly after it gave the same approval to Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding, health officials said on Friday.

Any vaccine to fight the new coronavirus will not be ready for use for at least two years, the chief executive of Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, which no longer makes vaccines itself, told a German newspaper.

Beijing has hosted a teleconference with its Pacific island nation allies to discuss COVID-19 aid and publicised their pledge to support the "One China" principle and "oppose any attempt" to politicise the coronavirus pandemic.

Swedish DIY and homewares firm Clas Ohlson said on Friday it would reach its profitability target in its fiscal year through April as sales remained robust in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

Thailand reported seven new coronavirus cases on Friday, while the number of deaths remained unchanged at 56.

Swiss drugmaker Roche said on Friday it will start selling a new digital diagnostics product that may simplify and accelerate screening of patients with breathing problems during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Illicit drug markets in the Asia-Pacific continue to expand and diversify and appear to be largely unaffected by the coronavirus outbreak, the United Nations said on Friday.

Osang Healthcare Co, the first South Korean maker of coronavirus test kits to win preliminary approval from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, is ready to ship kits that can test 100 million people in the United States, an executive said on Friday.

Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings has joined the Facebook-backed Libra digital currency project which has faced intense scrutiny from global regulators worried its launch could erode national control over money.