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Vietnam is staying on top of its coronavirus infections as a result of strong leadership by the government and cooperation among its people in helping to contain the spread, the World Health Organization's regional chief said on Tuesday.

Singapore is facing a very challenging situation to tackle a sharp increase in coronavirus infections, but has the healthcare system and risk management capacity to handle it, the World Health Organization's regional chief said on Tuesday.

Australia will relax restrictions on elective surgeries after slowing the spread of coronavirus, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday.

Hong Kong's government will extend restrictions aimed at tackling the coronavirus for another 14 days to preserve the city's success in keeping the number of cases down, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Tuesday.

The World Health Organization has recognised a worrisome trend of infections among healthcare workers in the Philippines and is working closely with the country's health ministry on ways of addressing it.

The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that it is not possible to determine the precise source of the new coronavirus at this stage.

The U.S. debate over restrictions for fighting the coronavirus intensified on Monday, as protesters labeled mandatory lockdowns as "tyranny," while medical workers and health experts cautioned that lifting them too soon risked unleashing a greater disaster.

The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that it was concerned about the increasing number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in Japan.

Hong Kong's government will extend social restrictions aimed at tackling the coronavirus for another 14 days, the Chine-ruled city's leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday.

Mexico and Haiti have detected coronavirus infections among migrants deported recently from the United States, officials said on Tuesday, part of a growing trend of contagion among deportees.

Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG said on Monday it will test the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in a randomized trial to see if the much talked about medicine is actually effective against COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

Walmart Inc's video-on-demand service, Vudu, said on Monday it would be acquired by Fandango Media LLC, a movie ticketing service owned by cable company Comcast Corp.

Researchers began testing an entire town in northern California for the novel coronavirus and its antibodies on Monday, one of the first such efforts since the pandemic hit the United States.

China reported 11 new confirmed coronavirus cases on April 20, down from 12 a day earlier, with no new deaths, the country's health authority said on Tuesday.

Panama registered 191 new cases of the coronavirus on Monday, bringing the country's total to 4,658 cases, the Health Ministry said.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday he hopes this would be the last week of stay-at-home measures to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus, wishing for an end to a policy he has branded an ill-founded jobs killer.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he was working with state governors to make sure they had the resources needed to ramp up coronavirus testing and added that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo would visit the White House to discuss the response to the pandemic.

White House adviser Peter Navarro charged on Monday that China may be withholding data about early coronavirus infections because it wants to win the commercial race to create a vaccine.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday he understood why some people were protesting against the lockdowns imposed to stem the coronavirus outbreak, but said restrictions must be lifted in a way that prevented further outbreaks.

U.S. coronavirus deaths topped 42,000 on Monday, according to a Reuters tally, as more protesters gathered in state capitals to demand an early end to the lockdowns, while officials pleaded for patience until more testing becomes available.