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Facebook Inc. launched a service in Italy to check the accuracy of information on coronavirus circulating on its messaging platform WhatsApp, the U.S. tech firm said on Thursday.

U.S. doctors running out of narcotics needed for COVID-19 patients on ventilators are asking the federal government to raise production limits for drugmakers, according to a letter seen by Reuters, after national quotas had been tightened to address the opioid addiction crisis.

Amazon.com Inc plans to roll out temperature checks and face masks for staff at all its U.S. and European warehouses plus Whole Foods stores by early next week, a huge deployment for workers on the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak.

SoftBank Group Corp said it has terminated a $3 billion tender offer for additional WeWork shares agreed last year with shareholders, drawing threats of legal action and plunging the floundering office space company further into crisis.

Amazon is not liable for unknowingly stocking goods for third-party sellers that infringe trademarks, Europe's top court said on Thursday, handing online retailers a victory in their battle against luxury goods companies.

The British government's worst case scenario envisages a coronavirus death toll of 50,000 if self isolation is not fully adhered to, but the United Kingdom is not right now on course for a toll of that scale, a source familiar with the government's emergency discussions said.

Alphabet Inc's Google will begin to allow some advertisers to run ads relating to the coronavirus on its platforms, in a change to its rules on ads around "sensitive events," according to a copy of a memo to advertising clients seen by Reuters.

Global coronavirus deaths topped 50,200 on Thursday as the pandemic ravages the United States and Europe, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday reported 213,144 cases of coronavirus, an increase of 27,043 cases from its previous count, and said the number of deaths had risen by 910 to 4,513.

Initial tests in mice of a potential COVID-19 vaccine delivered via a fingertip-sized patch have shown it can induce an immune response against the new coronavirus at levels that might prevent infection, U.S. scientists said on Thursday.

Somali doctor Abdirizak Yusuf Ahmed has escaped an execution, battled deadly diseases and treated war victims. Now - at 35 years old - he's been tapped to lead his nation's response to the coronavirus.

Facebook Inc on Thursday rolled out the desktop version of its Messenger app for Apple's Mac and Microsoft's Windows to make video chats available on computer screens for Facebook users.

Doctors in the Netherlands have been advising elderly patients to think twice before agreeing to COVID-19 treatment in hospital intensive-care units, drawing criticism that they are attempting to ration scarce ICU beds.

Netflix Inc led rivals YouTube, Amazon Prime and Disney+ with over 59 million installs in the first quarter of 2020, but more time was spent on YouTube's Kids service as usage boomed following the shutdown of thousands of schools in March.

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance has agreed to buy leading industry data site CoinMarketCap for an undisclosed sum, the companies said in a joint statement on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia's digital marketplace Sary, which connects small businesses with merchant wholesalers, has secured $6.6 million in financing to boost expansion as coronavirus-driven demand for essential goods boosts appetite for its services.

Health minister Matt Hancock will set out on Thursday how Britain will boost its testing regime to help tackle the coronavirus outbreak, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, acknowledging more needed to be done.

Spain's death toll from the coronavirus rose above 10,000 on Thursday after a record 950 people died overnight, but health officials saw a glimmer of hope with the epidemic slowing in terms of proportional daily increases in infections and deaths.

Indonesia needs to perform "massive" testing to reveal the full spread of the coronavirus and ensure that people who travel home during the approaching Muslim holiday isolate themselves, the governor of the archipelago's most populous province said.

German eyewear manufacturer Fielmann has started to produce protective glasses to combat the spread of the coronavirus and plans to donate the first 20,000 to hospitals and other medical organisations, it said on Thursday.