Blogroll

Polish Health Minister Lukasz Szumowski denied on Monday any wrongdoing as he reacted to accusations of inadequate supervision over procurement of equipment to help combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Siemens is planning to keep a 45% stake in its energy business which the German engineering group wants to spin off later this year, two people close to the matter said on Monday.

Africa has so far been spared the worst impact of the coronavirus, but the World Health Organization is worried the continent could face a "silent epidemic" if its leaders do not prioritize testing for it, a WHO envoy said on Monday.

AngloGold Ashanti on Monday said that a total of 196 people have tested positive for coronavirus at its Mponeng mine, where it suspended operations on Sunday after reporting 164 COVID-19 positive workers.

Mink with the coronavirus have infected two people in the Netherlands in what are probably the first such cases of transmission during the epidemic, government and health authorities said on Monday.

Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 92 on Monday, against 50 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the daily tally of new cases dropped to just 300 from 531 on Sunday.

Mozambique has confirmed its first COVID-19 death, the health ministry on Monday said.

Hundreds of meatpacking workers at a single BRF SA plant in southern Brazil have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the company said on Monday, amid global concerns about the pandemic disrupting food supplies.

A researcher leading Thailand's push to manufacture a coronavirus vaccine says its aim is to make it cost-effective and accessible to Southeast Asia, and play a part in preventing a supply shortage globally.

President Vladimir Putin made a rare lockdown appearance in the Kremlin on Monday after officials said improvements in the coronavirus situation may allow Russia to re-open some tourist resorts soon and relax restrictions in many regions.

The death toll from the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Sweden has topped 4,000, statistics published by the Public Health Agency showed on Monday.

Latvia aims to become one of the first countries to launch a smartphone app using a new toolkit created by U.S. tech giants Apple and Alphabet's Google to help trace coronavirus infections.

Syria reported 20 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday, the largest single-day increase to date, the health ministry said.

Cases of the coronavirus in Russia climbed to 353,427 on Monday, having risen by 8,946 in the past 24 hours, the country's coronavirus crisis response centre said.

Singapore's health ministry on Monday confirmed 344 more coronavirus cases, taking its tally of infections to 31,960.

Bayer said on Monday it had made progress seeking a settlement over claims its glyphosate-based Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, after Bloomberg reported the company reached a verbal agreement on about 50,000 to 85,000 cases.

Switzerland's Bachem has begun round-the-clock production of Propofol, a drug needed to sedate ventilated patients whose plight during the pandemic -- prone, unconscious, hospitalised -- has become emblematic of COVID-19's hit to healthcare systems.

A French consortium announced on Monday the launch of the production phase for a saliva-based screening test to detect the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Americans sunbathed on beaches, fished from boats and strolled on boardwalks this holiday weekend, even as the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 fast approaches 100,000.

Thailand confirmed two new coronavirus cases and one additional death on Monday, a health ministry spokesman said.