TOKYO (Reuters) – As Japan faces a fresh wave of coronavirus infections and the government prepares for a state of emergency, medical staff say a shortage of beds and a rise in cases linked to hospitals are pushing Tokyo’s medical system to the brink of collap... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Angela Merkel’s chief of staff told German broadcasters RTL/n-tv on Monday that he did not think the chancellor’s plans not to run for a fifth term in office had changed after Bild newspaper last week raised the question of whether she might... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Mainland China reported 39 new coronavirus cases as of Sunday, up from 30 a day earlier, and the number of asymptomatic cases also surged, as Beijing continued to struggle to extinguish the outbreak despite drastic containment efforts. The ... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland faces a shortage of the raw material needed to make disinfectant to tackle the coronavirus pandemic after the country abandoned its emergency reserve of 10,000 tonnes of ethanol two years ago, newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reported on... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – It took Silvia Bertuletti 11 days of frantic phone calls to persuade a doctor to visit her 78-year-old father Alessandro, who was gripped by fever and struggling for breath. When an on-call physician did go to her house near Bergamo, at the e... More »
(Reuters) – A tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York City has tested positive for the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in the first known case of a human infecting an animal and making it sick, the zoo’s chief veterinarian said on Sunday. Nadia... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea reported fewer than 50 new coronavirus cases for the first time since its peak at the end of February as daily infections in Asia’s largest outbreak outside China continued to trend downward. The Korea Centers for Disease Control ... More »
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico on Sunday had registered 2,143 cases of the novel coronavirus in the country, an increase of 253 cases from a day earlier, the health ministry said. The number of deaths linked to the virus rose by 15 to 94. Source: https://www.r... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Engineers at Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) showed a prototype for a ventilator on Sunday evening in a video published on the company’s YouTube channel, as hospitals around the country overwhelmed by coronavirus patients face device shortages. The des... More »
(Reuters) – Former Vice President Joe Biden, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, said on Sunday the party may be forced to host a “virtual” nominating convention in August due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. The Democratic ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A top official at the U.S. Federal Reserve said on Sunday the $2.3 trillion economic relief bill approved by Congress was appropriately sized and that a further relief effort may not be needed if support efforts are well executed. “I fel... More »
(Reuters) – The IBF’s mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev said he will donate half of his purse from the world heavyweight title fight against Briton Anthony Joshua to help medical workers fight the “devilish” coronavirus. The 38-year-old Bulgarian is expected t... More »
(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc has been in contact with the CEOs of two coronavirus test makers as it considers how to screen its staff and reduce the risk of infection at its warehouses, according to internal meeting notes seen by Reuters. The chief executives of... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s pick for the new watchdog overseeing $2.3 trillion in coronavirus-related fiscal spending is not independent enough to do the job, congressional Democrats said on Saturday. The White House said late on Frida... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A conspiracy theory that links 5G mobile telecommunications masts to the spread of the novel coronavirus is dangerous fake news and completely false, Britain said on Saturday after masts in several parts of the country were torched. When ask... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – It will take a week or two before Britain’s social distancing measures start to translate into lower hospitalization rates but there has been a bit of a plateauing in London in recent days, NHS England Medical Director Stephen Powis said. “T... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would ask Congress for more money to make loans to small businesses struggling with the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak if the original $349 billion allocated in a fiscal sti... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday postponed oral arguments scheduled for April as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and is considering alternative options for handling the various outstanding cases. The court, which already had delayed... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Glenview Capital Management, the hedge fund run by Larry Robbins, has lost roughly 30% in the first three months of 2020 as the spread of the new coronavirus hurt the healthcare facilities and hospital operators the firm has invested in. The... More »
(Reuters) – 3M Co (MMM.N) said on Friday it would increase the production of respirators and import more masks into the United States, after President Donald Trump invoked a law to help ease a shortage in the items needed to protect health staff against the co... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – A spike in novel coronavirus infections and deaths in Stockholm has raised questions about Sweden’s decision to fight the outbreak without resorting to the lockdowns that have left much of Europe at a standstill. Governments across Europe... More »
BEIJING/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Global cases of the new coronavirus have shot past 1 million with more than 53,000 fatalities, a Reuters tally showed on Friday, as death tolls soared in the United States and western Europe while the world economy nosedived. In th... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – The Swiss government on Friday boosted its powers to order companies to raise production of critical medical supplies like drugs and protective gear should more be needed in the fight against coronavirus-caused COVID-19. “If the supply…canno... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The United Kingdom death toll from the coronavirus rose by 684 to 3,605 as of 1600 GMT on April 2, up 23% on the previous day. As of 9am 3 April, a total of 173,784 people have been tested of which 38,168 were positive. Stephen Powis, the na... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s car sector needs immediate cash and the government should introduce measures to support suppliers, some of which only have enough money to handle the coronavirus crisis for weeks not months, the head of the main trade body told Reu... More »
(Reuters) – Ford Motor Co (F.N) said on Friday Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett’s total compensation fell to $17.4 million in 2019 from $17.8 million in 2018. The ratio of Hackett’s annual compensation to the median of the annual compensation of all employe... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House task force on the coronavirus, had a message for Americans on Thursday: do better at social distancing. President Donald Trump didn’t like the message. At what has become a daily brief... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Fujifilm Holdings Corp said it has developed a new, faster test for the novel coronavirus that that causes the COVID-19 disease, reducing the time of results delivery to about two hours. The test was developed by subsidiary Fujifilm Wako Pure... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Healthcare companies Sanofi and Regeneron announced on Friday more encouraging results for their Dupixent product used to treat severe atopic dermatitis, often commonly known as eczema. The companies said that Dupixent Phase 3 data showed a s... More »
(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc’s general counsel on Thursday said his emotions clouded his judgment when he wrote meeting notes in which he allegedly outlined a public relations strategy against a protest organizer and questioned the employee’s intelligence. Amazo... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Sanofi SA will be able to provide millions of doses of hydroxychloroquine for patients with the illness caused by the novel coronavirus if the old malaria drug proves successful in clinical trials, its chief executive told Reuters on Thursday... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A call for help from Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker prompted an unorthodox mission from the New England Patriots, who sent their team jet to China this week in order to retrieve 1.7 million N95 medical masks, the NFL side said on Thu... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Democratic Party on Thursday postponed its U.S. presidential nominating convention by a month until August, citing the coronavirus health crisis that has upended daily life and caused many states to postpone their primaries. Democrat... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House is expected to issue guidance for people in areas hard hit by the coronavirus to wear face coverings to help stop the spread of the disease, an administration official said on Thursday. The announcement was not planned fo... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two top Democrats in Congress on Thursday asked Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai to reassure broadcasters the agency will not revoke their licenses for airing advertisements critical of President Donald Trump. On... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday she will form a bipartisan select committee on the coronavirus crisis to oversee the spending of $2.3 trillion that Congress has approved to respond to the pandemic. In ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Losing your sense of smell and taste may be the best way to tell if you have COVID-19, according to a study of data collected via a symptom tracker app developed by scientists in Britain and the United States to help monitor the coronavirus ... More »
(Reuters) – Bond investor and DoubleLine Capital Chief Executive Jeffrey Gundlach said on Tuesday he believes the coronavirus sell-off is not over yet and that the lows stocks hit in March will be surpassed in April due to uncertainty over the outbreak. “I thi... More »
DAKAR (Reuters) – The mural stretched over 10 metres of wall in Senegal’s seaside capital Dakar shows a giant pair of hands reaching out for sanitiser, and a woman in hoop earrings and a facemask colored blue, red, gold and green. It is the work of RBS CREW, a... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund said on Monday the relaxation of the euro zone’s fiscal rules and support from the European Central Bank and the European Stability Mechanism is critical to a strong regional response to the coronavirus pa... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The coronavirus epidemic in the United Kingdom is showing signs of slowing and antibody tests could be ready in days, Neil Ferguson, a professor of mathematical biology at Imperial College London, said on Monday. “We think the epidemic is ju... More »
WUHAN, China (Reuters) – China reported a drop in new coronavirus infections for a fourth day as drastic curbs on international travellers reined in the number of imported cases, while policymakers turned their efforts to healing the world’s second-largest eco... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Shionogi & Co (4507.T), creator of the blockbuster cholesterol treatment Crestor, said on Monday it would tie up with Ping An Insurance Group Co of China (601318.SS), selling a 2.05% voting stake for 33.53 billion yen ($311 million). ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain has ordered more than 10,000 ventilators from a consortium of leading aerospace, engineering and Formula One racing teams which have met an urgent government plea for help with production due to start this week. The group, including ... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Germany has risen to 57,298 and 455 people have died of the disease here, statistics from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Monday. Cases rose by 4,751 compared ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A new version of a breathing aid that can help coronavirus patients has been developed in less a week by a team involving Mercedes Formula One, and is being trialed at London hospitals. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) devices have... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump, who excoriated General Motors Co on Friday and invoked emergency powers to compel the production of badly needed ventilators to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, has abruptly shifted gears to praise the automaker. ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fresh partisan divisions flared on Sunday on the next steps for the U.S. Congress in dealing with the coronavirus crisis, with the top House of Representatives Republican casting doubt on the need for more economic stimulus legislation w... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday bragged about the millions of people tuning in to view his daily press briefings on the coronavirus pandemic, saying on Twitter that his average ratings matched a season finale of “The Bachelor.” “Because the ‘... More »
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazilian rapper MV Bill added his voice to a chorus of criticism of President Jair Bolsonaro for downplaying the gravity of the new coronavirus epidemic in a video clip that urges people to protect themselves. His rap “Quarantine” r... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday the House will set up a panel to oversee expenditures under the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief law. Pelosi made the comment in an MSNBC interview when asked about a stat... More »
(Reuters) – Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) will donate more than $800 million in funds towards producing medical supplies used to fight COVID-19, and in ad credits to government and health organizations and businesses, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said on Fri... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Some lower-paid U.S. workers could effectively get a short-term raise if they lose their jobs during the coronavirus crisis, thanks to government computer systems that rely on 1950s-era technology. Aging state mainframes do not have the ... More »
(Reuters) – Apple Inc and the White House said on Friday that the iPhone maker worked with the Trump administration and federal agencies to release an app and website that will direct users to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control on the disease caused... More »
HANOI (Reuters) – You’ve got to eat it, to beat it: That’s the philosophy of one Hanoi chef who is attempting to boost morale in the Vietnamese capital by selling green, coronavirus-themed burgers. Laughing in the face of the global pandemic, Chef Hoang Tung a... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury secretary and the Senate Democratic leader voiced confidence late on Monday for a deal to be reached soon on a far-reaching coronavirus economic stimulus package that had been stalled in the U.S. Senate as lawmakers hag... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut were spending their final weeks on Earth in quarantine before they are scheduled to blast off on April 9 for the International Space Station for six months as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps Ea... More »
NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – An award-winning U.S. screenwriter has swapped fiction for fact, donating medical supplies from the set of his hit Netflix series to a New York hospital in a bid to combat the coronavirus. Ryan Murphy, known for creating... More »
(Reuters) – Gilead Sciences Inc’s experimental drug remdesivir, seen as one of the more promising potential treatments for the coronavirus, on Monday received the orphan drug designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The announcement comes days a... More »
BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s central military hospital, which for decades was inundated with victims of landmines and other casualties of the country’s internal conflict, is being outfitted to battle a new enemy: coronavirus. The hospital’s staff parking lot ... More »
(Reuters) – Drugstore chain CVS Health Corp said on Monday it was hiring 50,000 employees across the United States to assist patients and customers with the coronavirus outbreak. The new hires would fill in roles ranging from store associates to home delivery ... More »
(Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Sunday the United States will make a decision at the end of a 15-day period on “which way we want to go”, to curb the spread of the coronavirus. “We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself,” he said on Tw... More »
(Reuters) – The NBA may have been suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak but that has not stopped the league from using its massive online reach to good effect by educating its followers, sharing important information and guidelines related to the pandemic.... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – With the coronavirus pandemic in the United States intensifying, Senate Democrats and Republicans will scramble on Monday to come to an agreement on a far-reaching $1 trillion-plus coronavirus stimulus package after a procedural vote to ... More »
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Mainland China saw a drop in its daily tally of new coronavirus cases, reversing four straight days of gains, as the capital Beijing ramped up measures to contain the number of infections arriving from abroad. China had 39 new conf... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish opera singer Placido Domingo said on Sunday he had tested positive for coronavirus and had gone into self isolation with his family. “We are currently all in good health but I developed a cough and a fever and decided to get tested, ... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The EU agreed on Friday to suspend requirements that oblige airlines to use at least 80% of their take-off and landing slots in order to keep them the following year until Oct. 24 due to the aviation industry crisis unleashed by coronaviru... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany will spare no effort to help its economy weather the coronavirus crisis and is in talks with its European Union partners about how to minimize the economic impact of the outbreak, a finance ministry spokesman said on Friday. “We are ... More »
JAKARTA (Reuters) – The governor of Indonesia’s capital Jakarta on Friday declared a state of emergency for the next two weeks in the city, the center of Indonesia’s coronavirus outbreak. Governor Anies Baswedan told a news conference that public entertainment... More »
DEPOK, Indonesia (Reuters) – While many Muslims in Indonesia’s capital accepted advice to avoid religious gatherings and prayed at home on Friday elsewhere in the world’s most populous Muslim country, people ignored the risk of coronavirus and crowded into the... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain has asked 65,000 former nurses and doctors to return to work and will deploy final-year medical students to fight the coronavirus health crisis, the health ministry said. As the coronavirus outbreak sweeps across the world, governmen... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s death toll from the coronavirus epidemic soared to 1,002 on Friday from 767 on the previous day, the country’s health emergencies chief Fernando Simon said. The number of registered cases in the country rose to 19,980 on Friday from ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – For the last few days, unease and paranoia have followed Ann Ostburg like a black cloud, as the coronavirus swept through the United States, reaching all 50 states by this week. With state and local governments urging isolation to stem the... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The coronavirus has dealt a blow to NASA’s plan to return Americans to the moon by 2024, as the space agency chief on Thursday ordered the temporary closure of two rocket production facilities after an employee tested positive for the il... More »
HIGASHIMATSUSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) – A plane carrying the Olympic torch from Greece arrived on Friday on Japan’s northwestern coast ravaged by a 2011 tsunami, but the welcome ceremony will have no spectators, amid worries the Games could be cancelled over the ... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Two Los Angeles Lakers players have tested positive for coronavirus, the NBA franchise said on Thursday, and have been quarantined under the care of the basketball team’s doctor. The Lakers did not identify the two infected players but ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday urged Congress to move quickly to pass a $1 trillion economic relief measure by early next week, saying he expects bipartisan support for the bill to get cash payments to Americans durin... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday gave his full backing for the European Central Bank’s (ECB) latest monetary stimulus measures aimed at helping the euro zone fight the global coronavirus crisis. “Full support for the exceptional m... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – A hedge fund manager in Hong Kong has publicly apologised after a parody video of him licking his finger and wiping it on a hand rail in a metro car went viral, sparking anger in the city which is grappling to contain an outbreak of the n... More »
(Reuters) – Drugs used for treating arthritis are being tested as treatments for COVID-19, the disease caused by a new coronavirus, as researchers rush to find ways of helping patients and slowing the number of infections. Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals ... More »
TBILISI (Reuters) – Georgia on Monday banned all foreigners from entering the country over coronavirus concerns the prime minister’s spokesman, Irakli Chikovani, told a briefing. Georgia has reported 33 confirmed cases of coronavirus. Source: https://www.reute... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s southern state of Bavaria on Monday announced a fund worth up to 10 billion euros ($11.21 billion) to help the region withstand the coronavirus outbreak, its premier said, declaring a state of emergency as the number of new cases c... More »
HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finland’s largest opposition party on Monday stepped up criticism of the government as most schools and daycares remained open despite the coronavirus outbreak. “There are only four countries in the EU which have not closed schools. Respon... More »
ISLAMABAD/KABUL (Reuters) – Health authorities across South Asia reported rising tallies of coronavirus cases on Monday, raising the prospect of rapidly spreading outbreaks overwhelming poor medical facilities in a region that is home to a quarter of the world... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will ask manufacturers to retool production to start making specialist health equipment including ventilators and will look at using hotels as emergency hospitals to cope with the coronavirus outbreak. Br... More »
VIENNA (Reuters) – If the European Central Bank sees the need for further stimulus in the area of government bonds to help countries tackle the coronavirus impact, it is ready to do so, European Central Bank policymaker Robert Holzmann said on Monday. “If ther... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish ministers said on Monday that a state of emergency over the coronavirus which has shut down much of the country will have to be extended beyond an initial 15-day period, and the government was also considering closing borders. “Obvio... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google sister company Verily launched a website late on Sunday that invites adults in northern California to answer questions about their recent health and travel that could result in their getting a free coronavirus test. U.S. Presid... More »
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s health ministry reported more coronavirus cases on Sunday, urging people to maintain a “healthy distance” to avoid infection, even as the president held rallies in the country, shaking hands with and hugging dozens of people. I... More »
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s health ministry late on Sunday rejected media reports that the country had registered its first coronavirus death, saying that the person reported to have died, businessman Jose Kuri, was alive but in critical condition. Earlie... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The mayors of New York City and Los Angeles, the two largest cities in the United States, on Sunday said they were ordering restaurants, theaters, bars and movie houses closed in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Any restaur... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders blasted President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak during Sunday’s Democratic debate, and offered competing visions for how they would lead in a time of crisis that has upended the daily li... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders faced off on Sunday in what was possibly the final debate of the 2020 Democratic presidential nominating contest, with their ideological differences laid bare amidst the national crisis over the coronavirus p... More »
(Reuters) – Nike Inc, Lululemon Athletica Inc and Under Armour Inc on Sunday said they would close stores in the United States and other markets, joining a growing list of major retailers moving to help limit the spread of the coronavirus. The virus, which beg... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic presidential contenders Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders faced off on Sunday in their first one-on-one debate, a key moment before votes in four states on Tuesday that could give Biden an insurmountable lead in the party’s White H... More »
(Reuters) – Joe Biden smiled and reached his elbow out to touch his rival Bernie Sanders’ arm on Sunday, an unusual greeting that started a Democratic presidential debate during the coronavirus pandemic. Sanders and Biden, vying for their party’s nomination to... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday officials will have a better idea this week of the total cost of a coronavirus aid package, but predicted it will likely be “significant but not huge.” Mnuchin told “Fox News Sunday” ... More »
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel plans to use anti-terrorism tracking technology and a partial shutdown of its economy to minimize the risk of coronavirus transmission, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday. Cyber tech monitoring would be deployed to ... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Bans on mass gatherings introduced to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic might have been expected to deal a death blow to musical life, but have instead prompted a boom in free online concerts. One musician to step up to the plate i... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Chinese billionaire and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma has pledged to donate two million protective masks for distribution across Europe, with a first consignment arriving in Belgium late on Friday. A cargo plane loaded with 500,000 masks and ... More »
