Health News

The World Health Organization has recommended Pakistani authorities reimpose "intermittent lockdowns" of targeted areas to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, stating the country did not meet the global body's conditions for lifting restrictions.

Brazil on Tuesday restored detailed COVID-19 data to its official national website following controversy over the removal of cumulative totals and a ruling by a Supreme Court justice that the full set of information be reinstated.

Ontario has started testing about 8,000 migrant farm workers for COVID-19 in a hard-hit rural region of the province after two young workers died and the coronavirus was found on at least 17 farms, according to the local public health authority.

The president of a California medical technology company has been charged for ties to a scheme involving false and fraudulent claims for allergy and COVID-19 testing, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Tuesday.

Merck & Co said on Tuesday its blockbuster therapy Keytruda used along with chemotherapy failed to meet the main goals of a late-stage study testing the combination as a first-line treatment for bladder cancer.

Brazil restored on Tuesday detailed COVID-19 data to the official national website, following a scandal about the removal of cumulative totals and a ruling by a Supreme Court justice that the full set of information be reinstated.

Peru's Health Ministry on Tuesday said confirmed cases of the new coronavirus have risen above 200,000, with 5,738 deaths.

The Moroccan government said on Tuesday it will start easing restrictive measures imposed to curb coronavirus infections but delay a full lifting of the state of emergency until July 10.

Some Washington D.C. National Guard troops have tested positive for the coronavirus after being deployed to the city to respond to protests over the death of an African-American man in police custody, the military said on Tuesday.

The World Health Organization's regional director for the Americas Carissa Etienne said on Tuesday that data has raised concerns that novel coronavirus cases are surging in new places in Latin America as some areas show "exponential" rises.

The coronavirus pandemic in Mexico is advancing toward its peak level of infections but social distancing should continue until a vaccine is made available, World Health Organization officials said on Tuesday.

Gilead Sciences Inc's antiviral drug remdesivir prevented lung disease in macaque monkeys infected with the new coronavirus, according to a study published in the journal Nature on Tuesday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday reported 1,956,421 cases of new coronavirus, an increase of 17,598 cases from its previous count, and said the number of deaths rose by 550 to 110,925.

The leaders of six European Union nations have called for building up EU stocks of critical medicines and equipment and other measures to boost the bloc's long-term resilience to public health crises.

France's coronavirus death toll rose by 87 or 0.3% to 29,296 on Tuesday, the highest daily toll since June 2, but remained under 100 for the seventh day in a row, health ministry data showed.

Beijing dismissed as "ridiculous" a Harvard Medical School study of hospital traffic and search engine data that suggested the new coronavirus may already have been spreading in China last August, and scientists said it offered no convincing evidence of when the outbreak began.

Brazil's most populous state São Paulo registered on Tuesday a record in daily coronavirus deaths, as COVID-19 continues to ravage the country.

Germany plans to extend a travel ban for non-European countries until Aug. 31, government sources told Reuters on Tuesday, adding Berlin was also strongly advising against any cruises due to the special risks related to coronavirus.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Tuesday it would distribute about $25 billion to hospitals that have not previously received relief funds as they grapple with a rise in COVID-19 cases.

Israel's internal security service Shin Bet has halted its cell-phone tracking of coronavirus carriers, an official said on Tuesday, citing the success of alternatives to the controversial method of containing contagions.