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China tightened restrictions on exports of masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) on Friday, calling for shipments of the items to be subjected to a mandatory customs inspection, with immediate effect.

A prominent Chinese lawyer who served on the board of telecoms equipment giant ZTE Corp has resigned after several news articles in state-backed media reported that he was under investigation for alleged sexual assault.

The number of confirmed infections of the novel coronavirus were reported to have exceeded 1.56 million globally and the death toll rose above 95,000, according to a Reuters tally as of 0200 GMT.

Iran's total death toll from the new coronavirus outbreak rose to 4,232 on Friday with 122 lives lost in the past 24 hours, according to a health ministry spokesman.

A Nintendo Switch video game has been pulled off China's grey market e-commerce platforms, Reuters' checks show, after Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong used the game to protest against Beijing’s rule of the Chinese territory.

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

Less than 1% of Austria's population is infected with the coronavirus, a study published on Friday found, based on testing a representative sample of more than 1,500 people.

The number of people dying of coronavirus in Spain each day fell again on Friday as the country registered 605 fatalities over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said.

Chemical company INEOS, which sponsors the Tour de France-winning cycling team, is starting to deliver hand sanitisers to NHS hospitals as part of its efforts to help Britain contain the coronavirus outbreak.

When Indonesian doctor Ratih Purwarini was buried at dusk in a Jakarta cemetery, only her son Firos saw her plastic-wrapped coffin used for coronavirus victims lowered into the grave.

Auxiliary nurse Chelo Megia soldiered on through the toughest weeks of the coronavirus epidemic as it decimated elderly residents of a Spanish care home where she has worked without taking any sick days for 15 years.

China's foreign ministry said on Friday that Beijing is opposed to any action by the United States to revoke China Telecom Corp's authorisation to provide international telecommunications to and from the United States.

China has accused Taiwan of "venomously" attacking the World Health Organization (WHO), seeking independence and conniving with internet users to spread racist comments, after the WHO chief said racist slurs against him had come from the island.

A sixth person infected with the coronavirus has died in Taiwan, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said on Friday.

French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi said Friday it had decided to donate 100 million doses of hydroxychloroquine, the decades-old anti-malaria drug touted by some as a potential weapon against the novel coronavirus, across 50 countries.

Yemen reported its first case of the novel coronavirus on Friday as aid groups try to prepare for an outbreak in a country where war has shattered the health system and spread hunger and disease.

East Timor has confirmed another case of coronavirus, health authorities said on Friday, bringing the total number of cases to two.

Thailand reported 50 new coronavirus cases and the death of a 43-year-old woman on Friday.

Yemen has reported its first coronavirus case in‮ ‬Hadhramaut Governorate, supreme national emergency committee tweeted early on Friday.

The number of confirmed coronavirus infections in Germany rose by 5,323 in the past 24 hours to 113,525 on Friday, climbing for a fourth straight day after four previous days of declines, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed.