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Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:

The United States will seize exports of key protective medical gear until it determines whether the equipment should be kept in the country to combat the spread of the new coronavirus, two federal agencies announced on Wednesday.

Portugal's parliament temporarily suspended electricity, water and gas shutoffs and granted partial pardon to some of its prisoners on Wednesday as the country moved to contain the economic and social damage of the coronavirus outbreak.

France reported some positive coronavirus-linked data on Wednesday, with the increase of hospital death fatalities slowing again, but the presidential palace said nonetheless the national lockdown aimed at containing the disease would be extended.

French President Emmanuel Macron offered his full support to the World Health Organization (WHO) in a call with its director on Wednesday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the international organization.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said on Wednesday that time was running out to start work on new facilities to help medical authorities cope with the coronavirus outbreak, as swathes of the United States prepare for a surge in coronavirus patients.

"I feel like 20 years from now, we'll be a history project."

The number of coronavirus cases in New York state alone approached 150,000 on Wednesday, surpassing Spain for the most infections anywhere in the world, even as authorities warned the state's official death tally may understate the true toll.

One medical worker called it "insane," another said it induces paranoia - the speed with which patients are declining and dying from the novel coronavirus is shocking even veteran doctors and nurses as they scramble to determine how to stop such sudden deterioration.

Zoom Video Communications Inc has tapped former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos as an adviser to improve the privacy and security of its rapidly growing video-conferencing app amid a global backlash, including a move by Alphabet Inc's Google to ban the desktop version of Zoom from corporate laptops.

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) on Wednesday awarded two contracts worth more than $1 billion to make ventilators needed to treat severely sick coronavirus patients and plans to announce five additional contracts later this week.

Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy rose by 542 on Wednesday, a lower tally than the 604 the day before, but the number of new cases pushed higher to 3,836 compared with a previous 3,039.

World Health Organization officials on Wednesday denied that the body was "China-centric" and said that the acute phase of a pandemic was not the time to cut funding, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he may put contributions on hold.

World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus dismissed suggestions that his agency was too close to China after criticism by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Malta announced its first death from COVID-19 on Wednesday, a 92-year-old woman with severe underlying medical problems.

Alphabet Inc's Google on Wednesday banned Zoom video conferencing application from its employees' laptops, citing security concerns.

The president of the European Union's main science organisation has quit the post he took up only in January, the European Commission said, amid controversy over the bloc's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

France will extend its national lockdown put in place to contain the spread of the new coronavirus for a second time, meaning it will run beyond April 15, the French presidential palace said on Wednesday.

Spain's official coronavirus death toll edged higher again on Wednesday, but questions persisted over the veracity of numbers and the main business lobby warned the economy may slump up to 9% this year.

The U.S Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved https://reut.rs/2RnpE3h first generic of a commonly used albuterol sulfate-based inhaler, catering to increased demand from COVID-19 patients suffering from breathing difficulties.