MADRID (Reuters) – Usually at this time of year Madrid’s Las Ventas bullring is packed as matadors take on lethal half-tonne bulls in daily fights during the annual San Isidro festival. But plazas across Spain are empty this season as the coronavirus epidemic ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Haruki Murakami, one of Japan’s most acclaimed novelists, will host a radio special to try to lift the nation’s spirits as a state of emergency over the novel coronavirus lingers. Murakami, whose breakout novel “Norwegian Wood” debuted in 198... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – The Spanish government ordered a two-week quarantine for all travellers coming into the country from May 15 in a bid to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus after one of the Europe’s strictest lockdowns helped slow down the epidemic in S... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A fire apparently started by an overloaded ventilator killed five novel coronavirus patients in an intensive care unit in a Russian hospital on Tuesday, news agencies reported. Russia’s emergency ministry confirmed the death of intensive car... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s health authority said on Tuesday that the reappearance of local clusters of coronavirus cases in recent days suggests that counter-epidemic measures cannot be relaxed yet. While prevention and control efforts have normalised, that d... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s government should extend a costly job support programme until the end of the year for retail and hospitality workers hit hardest by the coronavirus, a think tank said on Tuesday, ahead of an expected government announcement. The Re... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Tuesday he was not considering tax cuts, including a reduction in the sales tax, for the time being as a way of easing the economic pain from the coronavirus pandemic. “Japan’s fiscal condition is in... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s government will offer a wide range of funding support for the country’s automobile industry, which is facing slumping output due to the coronavirus pandemic, top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said on Tuesday. He also told a regu... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – At the Tokyo elder-care home where 27-year-old Yoshimu works, the coronavirus has stretched already tight staffing, leaving residents to sometimes sit longer in soiled diapers or to steal food from one another. “Everything’s slower. If feedin... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia on Tuesday reported 10,899 new cases of the novel coronavirus in the last 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total past that of Britain to 232,243, the third highest total worldwide. The country’s coronavirus response centre said the d... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will on Tuesday announce changes to programme that is paying the wages of more than 6 million workers at businesses affected by the coronavirus, its health minister said. Britain’s finance minister, Rishi Sunak, will make a statement... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore’s health ministry said on Tuesday it had confirmed another 884 coronavirus cases, taking the city-state’s tally of infections to 24,671. Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-singapore/singapores-health-m... More »
(Reuters) – Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk on Monday said production was resuming at the automaker’s sole U.S. vehicle factory, in California, defying an order to stay closed and saying if anyone had to be arrested it should be him. The move come... More »
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand on Tuesday reported two new coronavirus cases and no new deaths, bringing the total to 3,017 cases and 56 deaths since the outbreak started in January. The two new cases are a 19-year-old woman from Bangkok and a 51-year-old woman ... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 933 to 170,508, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Tuesday. The reported death toll rose by 116 to 7,533, the tally showed. Source: ht... More »
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday declared gyms and hair salons as essential services that can stay open through the new coronavirus outbreak, easing measures to control the disease despite new cases and deaths surging in the co... More »
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s health ministry confirmed 1,305 new cases of coronavirus infections on Monday, along with 108 additional deaths. The new infections brought confirmed coronavirus cases to 36,327 and 3,573 deaths in total, according to the offic... More »
(Reuters) – Major League Baseball owners will present a proposal to players on Tuesday that will outline plans for the start of the coronavirus-hit 2020 season, a source close to the talks told Reuters on Monday. Like other major professional sports leagues, M... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump accused Democrats of moving to reopen U.S. states from coronavirus lockdown measures too slowly for political advantage on Monday, as Pennsylvania’s governor hit back against Republicans pushing a faster timetable.... More »
(Reuters) – Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) will add labels and warning messages on some tweets with disputed or misleading information about COVID-19, the company said on Monday, as part of a new approach to misinformation that will eventually extend to other topics. Tw... More »
(Reuters) – Tesla Inc sued local authorities in California on Saturday as the electric carmaker pushed to re-open its factory there and Chief Executive Elon Musk threatened to move Tesla’s headquarters and future programs from the state to Texas or Nevada. Mus... More »
CANNES, France (Reuters) – In a normal year, Joseph Morpelli would be getting ready to plant his stepladder opposite the Cannes Festival venue so he and his fellow diehard fans can get a glimpse of celebrities walking down the red carpet. This year, coronaviru... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The following is a brief roundup of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. Men’s blood contains more of enzyme that helps coronaviru... More »
LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigerian comedian Maryam Apaokagi has a sure-fire way of getting people to listen to her coronavirus health advice – she delivers it with a hard slap in the face. The 21-year-old has joined a line-up of the nation’s top performers working hea... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Thousands of visitors streamed into Shanghai Disneyland on Monday for the first time in three months as the Chinese park became the first reopened by Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) after the coronavirus pandemic brought the Magic Kingdom to a stan... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House has begun informal talks with Republicans and Democrats in Congress about what to include in another round of coronavirus relief legislation, officials said on Sunday, while predicting further U.S. jobs losses in the comi... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump may be open to further federal funding to help U.S. states recover funds spent battling the novel coronavirus, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Sunday as Congress weighs another possible economic ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Millions of Japanese viewers of the world’s longest-running animated cartoon TV show will have to make do with re-runs from next week after the coronavirus pandemic disrupted production, Fuji Television Network said on Sunday. Aired every Sun... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – While President Donald Trump traveled to the battleground state of Arizona this week, his Democratic opponent for the White House, Joe Biden, campaigned from his basement as he has done throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Those optics h... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The following is a brief roundup of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. New coronavirus antibody test highly accurate A new antib... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia will ease social distancing restrictions in a three-step process, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday, as Canberra aims to remove most curbs by July and get nearly 1 million people back to work amid a decline in coronaviru... More »
BANGKOK (Reuters) – As Thailand’s capital cautiously reopens many restaurants shuttered over coronavirus fears, the feline “employees” of the Caturday Cafe are back at work. The few dozen friendly cats typically lounge around the cafe, breaking up naptime to s... More »
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – At an outer suburban manufacturing plant, engineer Byron Kennedy is resetting a machine to spray-print a layer of copper on to a door handle, aiming to use the metal’s antiviral properties to counter the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. H... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A young boy chooses a nurse as the superhero he wants to play with over Batman and Spiderman in a new artwork by Banksy that encapsulates the gratitude Britons have felt toward the country’s National Health Service during the coronavirus cri... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The following is a brief roundup of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. New coronavirus is adapting to different populations A ge... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Antwerp is regaining its glitz as Belgium eases a two-month nationwide coronavirus lockdown that virtually halted business in the world’s largest diamond trade centre. The return of some of the brokers, cutters and couriers who normally th... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Londoners locked out of galleries can find an alternative art fix on a wall under under some railway arches after street artist Lionel Stanhope painted a Caravaggio classic, updated for the coronavirus age. The Italian baroque master’s “Supp... More »
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Chewy and Miley, both two-year-old Schnauzer dogs, are getting their hair cut at a groomer in Bangkok for the first time since the new coronavirus outbreak began in Thailand in January. Pet grooming shops are among a handful of businesses t... More »
HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba’s artists are rising to the occasion during the coronavirus lockdown, taking to rooftops and balconies to create music or dance. A pair of twins in the Acosta Dance Company are stuck at home after the troupe’s world tour was suddenly ca... More »
MONTREAL (Reuters) – The major Canadian province of Quebec, among the worst hit by the coronavirus, started gradually restarting its economy on Monday while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau maintained his cautious stance. Quebec is allowing stores with an outside... More »
BERLIN/MUNICH (Reuters) – The business climate in Germany’s auto sector suffered its biggest slump in April and hit its lowest level since 1991, when the Ifo economic institute began collecting data post-reunification, a survey showed on Monday. The news came ... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – The French government has rejected a request by Amazon (AMZN.O) to tap a state partial unemployment scheme for employees at its six warehouses in the country, a spokeswoman for the labor ministry said on Monday. The e-commerce giant has shut ... More »
ROME/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Italy and the United States were among a slew of countries easing lockdown restrictions on Monday to resurrect economies, but officials cautioned against moving too swiftly as global deaths from the coronavirus neared a quarter of a... More »
(Reuters) – Insurers are normally great with numbers. But the coronavirus pandemic has them struggling to estimate how many billions of dollars in losses they face, and what the fallout will be for their massive investment portfolios. Executives, lawyers and a... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – A French hospital which has retested old samples from pneumonia patients discovered that it treated a man who had COVID-19 as early as Dec. 27, nearly a month before the French government confirmed its first cases. Yves Cohen, head of resusci... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Like the myriad approaches governments are taking to tackle the coronavirus crisis, the way the world’s top banks are calculating their potential losses also differs widely, with puzzling outcomes for investors. These discrepancies are roote... More »
BERN (Reuters) – Environmental activists delivered a petition to a special session of the Swiss parliament on Monday demanding that a government aid package should promote a “green recovery” from the coronavirus crisis. With some lawmakers wearing protective f... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Uber Technologies’ Careem subsidiary said on Monday it was cutting 536 jobs this week, representing 31% of the Dubai-headquartered company’s workforce. The announcement came hours after Uber said it was shuttering its Eats delivery business i... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s coronavirus death toll is much higher than reported, statistics bureau ISTAT said on Monday in an analysis pointing to thousands of fatalities that have never been officially attributed to COVID-19. In its first report of the epidemic’... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Hairdressers, ironmongers and florists opened for business with restrictions on Monday as Spain began a four-phase plan to reopen by end-June, while the 24-hour death tally from the coronavirus pandemic stayed under 200 for the second day in... More »
AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) – Indian police fired tear gas on Monday to scatter migrant workers during clashes in the western state of Gujarat, officials said, as authorities relaxed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns to stem the spread of the coronavirus. ... More »
(Reuters) – Ten people have tested positive for coronavirus in more than 1,700 tests carried out by Germany’s professional soccer league (DFL) at its 36 clubs ahead a planned resumption of full training, it said on Monday. The DFL, which tested players and coa... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – World leaders launched a pledging “marathon” on Monday – without the United States – to raise at least $8 billion for research into a possible vaccine and treatments for the coronavirus. Organisers included the European Union, non-EU state... More »
(Reuters) – General Electric Co (GE.N) said on Monday it was planning to cut the global workforce of its aviation unit this year by as much as 25%, or up to 13,000 jobs, including both voluntary and involuntary layoffs, citing prolonged aircraft reduction sche... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he now believes as many as 100,000 Americans could die in the coronavirus pandemic, after the death toll passed his earlier estimates, but said he was confident a vaccine would be developed by t... More »
(Reuters) – Spanish soccer clubs Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad want their postponed Copa del Rey final to be rescheduled for when the coronavirus is no longer a threat so it can be played with spectators, they said in a joint statement on Monday. The first... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday said bipartisan discussions are underway over whether more U.S. government relief funding is needed amid the nation’s novel coronavirus outbreak, but that President Donald Trump is focused on t... More »
(Reuters) – SailGP’s four remaining second season races have been rescheduled to next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and results from the first race have been declared null and void, the sailing championship said on Monday. The championship was suspended af... More »
(Reuters) – Vir Biotechnology Inc and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc plan to begin human testing of their COVID-19 drug candidate by the end of the year, as drugmakers across the globe scramble to find therapies for the highly-infectious virus. The are currently ... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian Air (NWC.OL) shareholders backed its financial survival plan on Monday, with more than 95% of votes cast supporting the conversion of nearly $1 billion of debt into equity and raising more cash from its owners. The approval follows w... More »
MANILA (Reuters) – Dressed as “Star Wars” characters, local officials in the Philippines are out and about to enforce strict quarantine measures while also handing out relief packages. With Darth Vader and Stormtrooper outfits made from rubber mats and old pla... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – New Zealand and Australia could soon open their borders to each other, creating what they call a “Trans-Tasman bubble” as they look to restart their economies after getting their novel coronavirus outbreaks under control. New Zealand Prime M... More »
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand and Australia are discussing the potential creation of a “travel bubble” between the two countries, even as Australia on Monday reported its highest number of coronavirus cases in two weeks. New Zealand Prime Minister ... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Grandparents hugged their grandchildren, toddlers rushed excitedly through parks and factories revived their long-stalled production lines as Italy started the slow process of unwinding Europe’s longest coronavirus lockdown. Nearly two months ... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Netherlands rose by 199 on Monday to 40,770, with 26 new deaths, health authorities said. Total deaths in the country rose to 5,082, the Netherlands Institute for Health (RIVM) said in its ... More »
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia criticised the World Health Organisation on Monday for advising adults to avoid palm oil in their diet during the COVID-19 outbreak and use alternatives such as olive oil. The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office said in ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s ITV said its popular dating show Love Island would be cancelled this year because of the coronavirus pandemic and there would not be a new series until 2021, in a big setback for the broadcaster’s advertising revenues. ITV said in ... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – More than 10 times as many people in Germany have likely been infected with the coronavirus than the number of confirmed cases, researchers from the University of Bonn have concluded from a field trial in one of the worst hit towns. The p... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The English Football Association (FA) plans to slash its annual budget by 75 million pounds ($93.20 million) to tackle a possible deficit of 300 million pounds over the next four years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chairman Greg Clarke also ... More »
DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Coronavirus test kits used in Tanzania were dismissed as faulty by President John Magufuli on Sunday, because he said they had returned positive results on samples taken from a goat and a pawpaw. Magufuli, whose government has already... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Swimming’s world governing body FINA rescheduled the 2021 Fukuoka aquatics world championships to May 2022 on Monday to avoid a clash with the postponed Tokyo Olympics. The new dates for the swimming event in the Japanese city are May 13-29, ... More »
LAGOS (Reuters) – Two dozen Lagos healthcare workers in scrubs and face masks rushed outside the isolation tents and, making sure to keep six feet apart on the bright green grass, danced and swayed as a saxophone and trumpet struck up the band. Inside the tent... More »
(Reuters) – Harold Varner III is getting impatient to play professional golf again, and has no qualms about jumping straight back into the water when the PGA Tour resumes next month amid the COVID-19 pandemic. While some players have expressed reticence to com... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Russia and China are taking advantage of the coronavirus emergency to put their interests forward in Europe, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Monday, describing Chinese efforts to promote Huawei mobile phone network equipment as malig... More »
SUKOHARJO, Indonesia (Reuters) – Volunteers clad as Superman and Spider-Man sprayed disinfectant against the coronavirus on Indonesia’s island of Java, flanking a colleague wearing the winged helmet of local superhero Gatotkaca who shouted, “Wear masks, wash h... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – American tennis player Taylor Fritz and his doubles partner, Tik Tok personality Addison Rae, won the virtual Stay At Home Slam on Sunday as real-life tennis remains on hold because of the coronavirus crisis. The likes of the Williams sisters... More »
(Reuters) – Britain’s four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome is unsure if the organisers can fully prevent large crowds from gathering at the race that was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tour, scheduled to start on June 27, was pushed ba... More »
(Reuters) – Former NHL enforcer Georges Laraque, who is in a Quebec hospital after contracting COVID-19, said his condition was steadily improving but that people needed to take the respiratory disease seriously. In a series of videos posted over the weekend, ... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s state-supported “StopCOVID” contact-tracing app should enter its testing phase in the week of May 11 when the country starts to unwind its lockdown, a government minister said on Sunday. Minister for Digital Affairs Cedric O, a membe... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – The number of people who have died in France after contracting the new coronavirus rose on Sunday by 135 to 24,895, the health ministry said. The number of people treated in hospital for the coronavirus and the number of people in intensive c... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Top U.S. health official Anthony Fauci will not testify next week to a congressional committee examining the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, the White House said on Friday, calling it “counterproductive” to h... More »
TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) – Before the coronavirus pandemic, Desi Marinov considered herself “apolitical.” The Fort Lauderdale, Florida, flight attendant didn’t even bother to vote in the 2016 presidential election. Losing her job due to lockdowns to curb the spre... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top Republicans in the U.S. Congress displayed a united front on Friday in their drive for coronavirus-related liability protections for businesses, saying such measures will be crucial to talks about future relief legislation. Senat... More »
(Reuters) – For a glimpse at how Disney recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, look no further than Shanghai, where the entertainment giant has staged a limited reopening of Shanghai Disney Resort. Adults, kids and senior citizens wear masks while wandering a... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Some dividend fund managers are wading back into the shares of battered railroad stocks, energy companies and other economically sensitive, cyclical names, even as a host of companies have slashed their payouts. Cyclical stocks were among ... More »
(Reuters) – Some of Britain’s top comedians are joining forces to raise money for pubs shut down by the coronavirus, by hosting an online virtual pub quiz with a plan to set a new world record. Russell Howard, Nish Kumar, Jon Richardson, Joel Dommett, Marcus B... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Coronavirus patients with light symptoms arriving to stay at several Tokyo hotels are likely to get a lift from a pleasant surprise – a robot greeter in the lobby. Japan is now using hotels to house patients who have tested positive for the c... More »
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Dressed in black and wearing a facemask, the dancer leaps and pirouttes across Budapest’s deserted central Heroes Square – to the strains of a melody that mirrors the molecular structure of the coronavirus. To mark World Dance Day, Zsolt V... More »
CHAMBLON, Switzerland (Reuters) – In the battle against coronavirus, Swiss soldiers are using smartphones to test a new contact tracing application that could prevent infections while also protecting users’ privacy. Switzerland hopes to launch the app on May 1... More »
(Reuters) – Moderna Inc and Swiss contract drugmaker Lonza Group AG said on Friday they would accelerate the manufacturing of the U.S. drug developer’s potential coronavirus vaccine. The announcement comes at a time when drugmakers are pausing clinical trials ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. jobless claims have exceeded 30 million since the coronavirus outbreak hit the country, wiping out a decade of job gains and sending many Americans scrambling to find work and cash in on government aid. As part of our weekly #AskReute... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Researchers in Switzerland have been able to detect the new corovarirus at even low concentrations in wastewater, offering a potential early warning system for flareups in infections as countries emerge from emergency lockdowns. Should the s... More »
MOUSCRON, Belgium (Reuters) – With potato farmers and processors struggling, Belgians are being urged to eat more fries to offset a slump in demand during the coronavirus pandemic. Belgium is the world’s largest exporter of fries and other frozen potato produc... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. deaths from the novel coronavirus topped 60,000 on Wednesday and the outbreak will soon be deadlier than any flu season since 1967, according to a Reuters tally. America’s worst flu season in recent years was in 2017-2018 when more than 61,000... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – If you were laid off in April, the health insurance from your job may stop at the end of the month. Then what? Rest assured there are options, even if they are all expensive. If you are losing a workplace plan, you will get paperwork expla... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A London bus stop has been transformed into a children’s art gallery by a local resident who wanted to brighten the drudgery of lockdown life, creating a colourful community hub amid the anxiety and isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic. A hand... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – It’s not every day that the face of a chief epidemiologist is inked as a tattoo. But then it’s not every country that has tackled the coronavirus pandemic like Sweden. Anders Tegnell was until the start of the crisis an unknown civil serv... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister Boris Johnson returns to work on Monday to the biggest dilemma of his premiership: how to lift the coronavirus lockdown that is destroying swathes of the British economy without triggering a deadly second wave of the outbreak.... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Researchers at a Hong Kong university say they have developed an antiviral coating which could provide 90 days of “significant” protection against bacteria and viruses such as the one causing COVID-19. The coating, called MAP-1, took 10 y... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s economy minister urged the country’s 16 federal states on Monday to go slowly in lifting coronavirus restrictions to avoid the outbreak spreading further and being forced to backtrack later. Under Germany’s decentralised political ... More »
