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A newly revised coronavirus mortality model predicts nearly 135,000 Americans will die from COVID-19 by early August, almost double previous projections, as social-distancing measures for quelling the pandemic are increasingly relaxed, researchers said on Monday.

Germany could only allow coronavirus antibody tests to help determine how freely people can move once it has advice from its ethics council, Health Minister Jens Spahn said, after securing millions of the tests from Swiss drugmaker Roche.

Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google on Monday said they would ban the use of location tracking in apps that use a new contact tracing system the two are building to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The World Health Organization said on Monday that comments by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo citing "evidence" that the new coronavirus had emerged from a Chinese laboratory were "speculative", and called for a science-based inquiry.

New Zealand recorded no new coronavirus cases for a second day in a row on Tuesday, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the outcome of her discussions with Australia on a travel bubble between the two countries would be announced later in the day.

Global coronavirus deaths rose past a quarter of a million on Monday after infections topped 3.5 million, a Reuters tally of official government data showed, even as several countries began easing lockdowns designed to contain the pandemic.

Mexico registered 1,434 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday and 117 new deaths, a health official said, bringing the total in the country to 24,905 confirmed cases and 2,271 deaths.

Brazilian Health Minister Nelson Teich on Monday disputed the need to set up a new hospital to fight the coronavirus pandemic in hard-hit Manaus, even as the city's hospitals are overwhelmed and officials have resorted to burying COVID-19 victims in mass graves.

Apple Inc on Monday capitalized on the Federal Reserve's emergency measures in response to the coronavirus outbreak to issue its cheapest bonds in years, making it the latest blue-chip company to do so to fund stock buybacks and dividends.

China reported one new coronavirus case for May 4, down from three the day before, data from the national health authority showed on Tuesday.

Israel has isolated a key coronavirus antibody at its main biological research laboratory, the Israeli defence minister said on Monday, calling the step a "significant breakthrough" toward a possible treatment for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Indonesia reported on Monday 395 new coronavirus infections, taking the total in the Southeast Asian country to 11,587, said health ministry official Achmad Yurianto.

Chipmaker Intel Corp has bought Israeli public transit app maker Moovit for about $900 million to help it develop self-driving "robotaxis" that could take to the streets in early 2022, the company said on Monday.

Ecuador on Monday exceeded 30,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, while the government launched a plan to start gradually relaxing quarantine measures that have been in place since mid-March.

A new forecast projects nearly 135,000 deaths due to COVID-19 in the United States through the beginning of August mainly due to reopening measures under way, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington said on Monday.

Hairdressers, ironmongers and florists opened for business with restrictions on Monday as Spain began a four-phase plan to reopen by end-June, while the 24-hour death tally from the coronavirus pandemic stayed under 200 for the second day in a row.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that medicinal plants such as Artemisia annua, touted as possible treatments for COVID-19, should be tested for efficacy and side effects.

World leaders and organisations pledged $8 billion to research, manufacture and distribute a possible vaccine and treatments for COVID-19 on Monday, but the United States refused to contribute to the global effort.

Britain will start testing its own COVID-19 tracing app on the Isle of Wight from Tuesday, hoping that the technology in combination with more testing and tracking will help limit transmission of the coronavirus.

Robinhood Markets Inc said on Monday it has raised $280 million in a funding round that valued the online brokerage at $8.3 billion as it benefits from new signups amid increased market volatility and stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus.