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Giving some countries such as the United States priority access to any coronavirus vaccine developed by Sanofi would be unacceptable, France's junior economy minister said on Thursday, after the firm suggested Americans could get it first.

French Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Thursday he was "reassured" by a conversation with the head of Sanofi, after critics in France targeted Sanofi for suggesting vaccine doses produced in the United States could go to U.S. patients first.

Vietnam has mounted an all-out effort to save the life of its most critically ill coronavirus patient, a British pilot who works for Vietnam Airlines, the national carrier.

Britain is in talks with Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG to buy an accurate COVID-19 antibody test, following the lead of the European Union and United States, which had already given preliminary approval to the tests.

Spain's daily coronavirus death toll rose on Thursday above 200 for the first time since May 8, the health ministry reported.

U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc said on Thursday it had started producing Long Range Model 3 vehicles in its Shanghai factory and aimed to deliver them to customers soon.

Indonesia reported 568 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, taking the total in the Southeast Asian country to 16,006, health ministry official Achmad Yurianto said.

A vaccine for the new coronavirus could be approved in about a year's time in an "optimistic" scenario, the European Medicines Agency said on Thursday.

Softbank-backed Grab is preparing for a potentially "long winter", co-founder Tan Hooi Ling said on Thursday, as the ride-hailing firm's revenue takes a hit from the coronavirus outbreak.

Sony Corp on Thursday said it would make its cash-cow image sensors smarter to broaden their application, as the Japanese electronics maker seeks to reduce reliance on a saturated smartphone market.

Skin cells reprogrammed to produce the neurotransmitter dopamine and inserted deep into the brain of a 69-year-old man with Parkinson's disease have allowed him to tie his shoes again and resume swimming and biking, researchers reported in The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday.

Chipmaker AT&S has kept core profit stable so far in its financial first quarter, it said on Thursday after reporting a 22% decline for the full year on investment to expand the businesss.

Japan has begun treating severely ill COVID-19 patients with Gilead Sciences Inc's COVID-19 remdesivir drug, a health ministry official said, just days after giving the drug emergency approval as it seeks to curb the coronavirus outbreak.

China's foreign ministry, asked about China-linked hackers breaking into U.S. COVID-19 research, said China opposed what it called slander from the United States.

Australia says its purchase of 10 million coronavirus test kits from Chinese genomics company BGI will not risk patient privacy, as researchers hope for greater price competition in a biotech market dominated by a U.S rival.

Over a third of patients treated for COVID-19 in a large New York medical system developed acute kidney injury, and nearly 15% required dialysis, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia said on Thursday it would buy back 150 million euros ($162 million) of its March 2021 notes as it restructures its finances.

Britain is in talks with Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG on rolling out an accurate COVID-19 antibody test that it said could be a 'game changer' on getting the world's fifth largest economy back to work.

Shares in Norway's Pexip Holding soared by 54% in early trade on Thursday as the video conferencing company made its stock market debut after an initial public offering (IPO) that was more than 12 times oversubscribed.

A study led by the Pasteur Institute says a mere 4.4% of the French population - or 2.8 million people - have been infected by the novel coronavirus, much higher than the official count of cases but way too low to achieve so-called "herd immunity".