Blogroll

Britain's health minister said on Friday he would love to wave a magic wand to get large quantities of personal protective equipment for the health workers fighting the novel coronavirus outbreak but that there was a global shortage.

Some European countries have announced plans to ease restrictions on social life, transport and cross-border travel imposed since mid-March to battle the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Saxony became the first German state to make the wearing of masks compulsory on public transport and in shops, German magazine Focus reported on Friday.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday said China's role in the global coronavirus pandemic is likely to force countries to rethink their telecommunications infrastructure, including the adoption of China-based Huawei's 5G networks.

Didi Chuxing, China's biggest ride-hailing firm which counts SoftBank as an investor, aims to complete 100 million orders a day and have 800 million monthly active users globally by 2022, CEO Cheng Wei said.

Poland's telecoms regulator has dropped a deadline for its first 5G auction due a government clampdown designed to tackle the spread of the corononavirus.

Didi Chuxing, China's biggest ride-hailing firm which counts SoftBank as an investor, aims to complete 100 million orders a day and 800 million monthly active users globally by 2022, its chief executive Cheng Wei said.

Activist investors say telecommunications pioneer AT&T Inc won't take their calls for its upcoming annual meeting, reinforcing their concerns that the shift of the gatherings to cyberspace due to the COVID-19 pandemic would restrict shareholder input.

Malaysia may extend its travel curbs beyond April 28 but with more sectors open for business, its second-most senior minister told Reuters on Friday as the government tries to balance health and economic requirements during the COVID-19 crisis.

The coronavirus outbreak in Germany has become manageable again as the number of patients who have made a recovery has been higher than the number of new infections every day this week, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Friday.

The coronavirus outbreak in Germany has become manageable again as the number of patients who have made a recovery has been higher than the number of new infections every day this week, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Friday.

As coronavirus explodes across Latin America, Venezuela's leaders have taken to the airwaves to laud the nation's efforts to control the spread.

Swiss drugmaker Roche aims next month to be able to offer blood tests to identify those who have been infected with the coronavirus, joining a huge global push to inform locked-down nations about who might have some immunity and return to work.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed support on Friday for the role of the World Health Organization in the campaign against the new coronavirus, in contrast with U.S. President Donald Trump who has vowed to cut U.S. funding to the agency.

France's state-supported tracing app project "StopCovid" will not be ready when parliament debates it on April 28-29, the minister for digital affairs Cedric O said on Friday.

France's state-supported tracing app project "StopCovid" will not be ready when parliament debates it on April 28-29, the minister for digital affairs Cedric O said on Friday.

The COVID-19 pandemic arrived just as Respond Software CEO and co-founder Mike Armistead was trying to sell automated cyber security software to new clients. Most of them are no longer in a buying mood. So Respond Software, a 50-employee, venture-backed startup, applied for about $1 million in government support.

Deaths in the Netherlands in the week of April 6-12 were around 2,000 higher than in an average week, national statistics agency CBS said on Friday.

The Swiss death toll from the new coronavirus has reached 1,059 people, the country's public health agency said on Friday, rising from 1,017 on Thursday.

The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Spain rose to 188,068 on Friday, the country's head of health emergencies Fernando Simon said at a news conference.