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A rift has opened up over the design of smartphone apps to trace people in Europe at risk of coronavirus infection, potentially hindering efforts to curb the pandemic and ease crippling travel restrictions.

Three Indonesian digital fintech firms are working with Facebook Inc to apply for regulatory approval to launch mobile payments in the country, an official at the financial regulator said.

S Capital, an Israel-based venture capital investment firm, said on Monday it closed a second direct investment fund of $120 million that will focus on early-stage tech startups.

Shares in Polish gaming company Games Operators rose further on Monday, after doubling on their debut late last week as investors bet on increased interest in gaming during lockdowns due to the coronavirus.

The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in Iran reached 5,209 on Monday with 91 deaths in the past twenty four hours, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said in a statement on state TV on Monday.

Malaysian health authorities on Monday reported 36 new coronavirus cases, the lowest daily rise since the government imposed curbs on movement and business to contain the spread of the pandemic a month ago.

The number of people diagnosed with the new coronavirus in Spain has surpassed the 200,000 threshold, the country's health ministry said on Monday.

Indonesia reported on Monday 185 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of infections in the Southeast Asian country to 6,760, health ministry official Achmad Yurianto said.

China's health authority called for a stronger and more rigorous testing regime to ensure that the new coronavirus does not escape detection, whether in travellers arriving from abroad or from other parts of the country.

China dismissed as groundless on Monday Australia's questioning of how Beijing handled the coronavirus pandemic, saying it had been open and transparent, despite growing scepticism about the accuracy of its official death toll.

A black market has developed in Russia for an antiviral HIV drug explored as a possible treatment for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, according to sellers, HIV activists and the head of the drug's main Russian producer.

Britain has secured 25 million protective gowns from China and is working across the globe to secure more supplies of medical clothing after some hospitals warned they were running dangerously low, Culture Minister Oliver Dowden said on Monday.

The Philippines health ministry on Monday reported 19 new coronavirus deaths and 200 additional infections.

Russia reported 4,268 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Monday, fewer than 6,060 on the previous day, which took the total number of cases to 47,121.

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The United Kingdom is preparing to collect the blood from COVID-19 survivors to investigate if convalescent plasma transfusions could improve an infected patient's speed of recovery and chances of survival.

Novartis has won the go-ahead from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to conduct a randomized trial of malaria drug hydroxychloroquine against COVID-19 disease, the Swiss drugmaker said on Monday, to see if it helps patients.

More than 13,400 people linked to a COVID-19 outbreak in a village on the outskirts of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi have tested negative for the coronavirus, the government said on Monday.

The United Kingdom is tight on gowns for front line health workers fighting COVID-19 but hopes to get the right equipment where it is needed by the end of this weekend, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Friday.

Ghana is using delivery drones from U.S.-based startup Zipline to enable it to test people more quickly outside major cities for the novel coronavirus, the company said on Monday.