Blogroll

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday greeted as good news reports that a Gilead Sciences Inc experimental antiviral drug might help fight the coronavirus, and infectious disease official Anthony Fauci said data shows it appears to help patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

A top World Health Organization official declined comment on Wednesday on reports that Gilead Science's remdesivir could help treat COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, but said that further data was needed.

South Korea reported on Thursday no new domestic coronavirus cases for the first time since its Feb. 29 peak, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.

Facebook Inc beat analysts' estimates for quarterly revenue on Wednesday and said it has seen "signs of stability" for sales in April after a plunge in March, in yet another signal that tech giants may weather the coronavirus-induced economic collapse better than other sectors.

Yemen has reported its first two deaths from the novel coronavirus, its health minister told Yemen TV late on Wednesday.

SoftBank Group Corp said it sees a loss of around 700 billion yen ($6.6 billion) in the year ending March on the portion of its WeWork investment held outside the Vision Fund, extending the group's expected net loss to 900 billion yen.

China reported four new coronavirus cases for April 29, down from 22 a day earlier, data from the country's health authority showed.

Mexico's health ministry on Wednesday reported 1,047 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 163 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 17,799 cases and 1,732 deaths.

Confirmed cases of coronavirus infection in Panama reached 6,378 on Wednesday, a rise of 178 from the previous day, and deaths climbed by two to 178, the health ministry said.

A coronavirus outbreak in Australia's remote southern island state of Tasmania likely originated from the Ruby Princess cruise ship, a government report published on Thursday concluded, as the national death toll rose to 91.

Doctors caring for COVID-19 patients at hospitals across the United States have taken up temporary residence in donated recreational vehicles, parked outside their homes, as a way to keep them near to their families yet isolated.

The Trump administration is planning to speed up development of a coronavirus vaccine with the goal of having 100 million doses ready by the end of 2020, a senior administration official said on Wednesday.

Britain plans to test a randomly chosen group of 100,000 people for COVID-19 as part of its efforts to understand infection rates better before loosening restrictions on the public, its health ministry said on Thursday.

Deaths from the coronavirus outbreak have piled up so fast in the Amazon rainforest's biggest city that the main cemetery is burying five coffins at a time in collective graves.

Spain's lockdown is making progress against the new coronavirus but a gradual easing from next week will require even more discipline, officials said on Wednesday, after the country recorded 325 deaths from the infection overnight.

Qualcomm Inc on Wednesday forecast current-quarter revenue largely in line with expectations as it signed more contracts for 5G phones, which use higher-priced chips, at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted production channels and led to a fall in demand for smartphones.

Hologic Inc on Wednesday said it is launching a second COVID-19 test that will help to dramatically expand testing capabilities in the United States.

The "vast majority" of children with COVID-19 have mild cases and recover completely, but a small number in a few countries have developed a rare inflammatory syndrome, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

Self-driving cars, trucks, sidewalk robots and shuttles are rolling out of the labs and parking garages and onto American streets to help deliver groceries, meals, and medical supplies.

U.S. deaths from the novel coronavirus topped 60,000 on Wednesday and the outbreak will soon be deadlier than any flu season since 1967, according to a Reuters tally.