Blogroll

By Michael Shields, Carl O'Donnell, Roxanne Liu and Anthony Deutsch

Many people across Asia wear face masks to try and protect themselves against COVID**19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. In Europe and the United States, masks are less commonly worn, but many people are asking: Should they wear them during the pandemic?

British engineer Babcock International said on Wednesday it had joined forces with a leading medical equipment company to design and supply thousands of critical care ventilators to Britain's publicly funded health service.

Amazon.com Inc on Wednesday said it temporarily would not require sellers in its marketplace to repay loans it had made to them, as merchants confront the prospect of declining sales during the coronavirus pandemic.

Countries that have locked down their populations to prevent the spread of coronavirus need to put a premium on finding new cases and doing everything they can "to suppress and control" the virus, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

Spain's Grifols has agreed to work with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other agencies to gather plasma from patients who have recovered from COVID-19 and test potential therapies for the disease, the pharmaceutical firm said on Wednesday.

As independent contractors, U.S. ride-hail drivers for Uber and Lyft benefited from soaring trip demand and flexible work hours.

Older malaria drugs are being studied, and in some cases used, to treat or try to prevent infection with the new coronavirus, even though there is no firm evidence to show they are effective.

The total confirmed cases of coronavirus in Ireland rose to 1,564 on Wednesday from 1,329 a day earlier, with two more deaths reported to bring the number of fatalities to nine, the health department said.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday pledged "massive investments" in the country's public hospital health system, close to a breaking point as it copes with the coronavirus outbreak which has already caused 1,331 deaths in the country.

Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Orange and five other telecoms providers have agreed to share mobile phone location data with the European Commission to track the spread of the coronavirus, lobbying group GSMA said on Wednesday.

The World Health Organization is impressed by the offers of technology to help fight the coronavirus, but privacy and human rights must be protected, Michael Ryan, WHO's top emergencies expert said on Wednesday.

Streaming service Netflix Inc has fixed a temporary outage that affected some users in the United States and United Kingdom on Wednesday, the company said.

Telecoms industry group GSMA said on Wednesday it would refund tickets bought for the Mobile World Congress last month after the trade fair in Barcelona became one of the first business casualties of the coronavirus pandemic.

Telecom Italia's (TIM) network can cope with the surge in traffic driven by the coronavirus crisis, CEO Luigi Gubitosi was quoted as saying on Wednesday, as U.S. activist hedge fund Elliott Management cut its stake in the group.

A U.S. cybersecurity firm said Wednesday it has detected a surge in new cyberspying by a suspected Chinese group dating back to late January, when coronavirus was starting to spread outside China.

Spotify Technology SA said on Wednesday it had launched a COVID-19 music relief project to raise funds for musicians as the coronavirus pandemic grounds life to a halt in most countries, while taking a toll on the economy.

Walmart Inc's Flipkart will resume e-commerce services for essential products after receiving federal and state government assurances on the safety of its delivery staff and a hassle-free supply chain.

People should avoid using the microwave at the same time as they are making video calls, watching HD videos or doing something important online because the ovens can slow wifi signals, Britain's media regulator Ofcom said on Wednesday.

More than 170,000 people have signed up to help Britain's National Health Service tackle the coronavirus outbreak just hours after a request for a quarter of a million volunteers.