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Britain is working as quickly as it can to get ventilators, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday, after London was criticised for not taking part in an EU scheme to try to buy the breathing machines in the coronavirus outbreak.

Private hospitals in the Philippines capital Manila have stopped accepting coronavirus patients in the face of surging numbers of sufferers and people seeking tests, the hospitals said.

Spain's death toll from the coronavirus rose by 769 overnight to 4,858, but a senior health official said the daily increase in the number of fatalities was stabilizing.

The Swiss death toll from the new coronavirus has reached 197 people, the country's public health agency said on Friday, rising from 161 people on Thursday.

U.S. drugmaker Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Friday it would delay starting some clinical trials and temporarily pause enrolment in some studies, as it looks to free up hospitals to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.

After a busy session at his clinic, Indonesian doctor Fakhrurrozi hops on the back of a motorized tricycle with a loud-hailer to urge residents to stay at home to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

To prepare for the birth of her first child, Veronika Legat, a 35-year-old Czech lawyer, has cut off contact with her family and friends to avoid getting ill from the coronavirus or even catching a mild cold.

Indonesia has confirmed 153 new coronavirus cases, the biggest daily rise so far and taking the Southeast Asian country's total to 1,046, Health Ministry official Achmad Yurianto said on Friday.

Indonesia's chief security minister said on Friday that the government was preparing to issue a regulation soon to allow for the "quarantine" or lockdown of regions affected by coronavirus.

Spain's coronavirus death toll rose overnight by 769 cases to 4,858, the health ministry said on Friday, a new record in the number of fatalities recorded in 24 hours.

The latest data from Spain's health ministry show the death toll from the coronavirus is beginning to stabilize, health emergency chief Fernando Simon told a news conference on Friday.

A spike in coronavirus cases will put France under huge pressure in coming days, its prime minister said on Friday, after reporting its biggest daily death toll and officials fearing hospitals in and around Paris could be saturated in 48 hours.

Chinese President Xi Jinping told U.S. President Donald Trump during a phone call on Friday that he would have China's support in fighting the coronavirus, as the United States faces the prospect of becoming the next global epicentre of the pandemic.

Li Yu is happy she sold six pieces of roasted corn on the day she reopened her stall after travel restrictions were lifted in Jingzhou, but she worries about the future of her business near the city's ancient wall, a tourist attraction in Hubei province.

Nurses in Kenya's capital and at least two towns have launched protests or refused to treat suspected coronavirus patients because the government has not given them enough protective gear or training, a medical union chief said.

The United Kingdom will use firefighters to help deliver food, retrieve dead bodies and drive ambulances as it braces for the looming peak of the coronavirus outbreak that has already claimed the lives of more than 22,000 people across the world.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is struggling to provide enough staffing and equipment for former vets hospitalized with the coronavirus illness in New York City, nursing union representatives say, yet some lawmakers are pressing the agency to treat civilians as well.

Germany has proposed using big data and location tracking to isolate people with coronavirus once social distancing measures now in force have slowed its spread, media reported on Friday.

The number of U.S. coronavirus infections climbed above 82,000 on Thursday, surpassing the national tallies of China and Italy, as New York, New Orleans and other hot spots faced a surge in hospitalizations and looming shortages of supplies, staff and sick beds.

Nurses in Kenya's capital and at least two towns have launched protests or refused to treat suspected coronavirus patients because the government has not given them enough protective gear or training, a medical union chief said.