Health News

Spared the worst of COVID-19, the largest for-profit hospital chains in the United States are pursuing a speedy recovery backed by billions of dollars in federal aid, while other hospitals say they have been harder hit and left wanting.

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

As opioid pills and patches fueled a two-decade epidemic of overdoses in the United States, hospitals faced chronic shortages of the same painkillers in injectable form - narcotics vital to patients on breathing machines.

AstraZeneca has secured support from the U.S. government to advance the development of antibody-based COVID-19 treatments as the British drugmaker ramps up efforts beyond its potential vaccine to combat the global health crisis.

Twenty-one U.S. states reported weekly increases in new cases of COVID-19, with Arizona, Utah and New Mexico all posting rises of 40% or higher for the week ended June 7 compared with the prior seven days, according to a Reuters analysis.

While some potential vaccines have emerged in the global race to find a way to stop the spread of COVID-19, many scientists and researchers believe antibody based therapies hold great promise for treating people already infected with the disease.

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

Mira Robotics developed its "ugo" robot to reinforce greying Japan's shrinking workforce, but as the coronavirus threat persists, the Japanese startup is offering its machine as a tool in the fight against the outbreak, the company's CEO said.

The United Kingdom's COVID-19 death toll neared 52,000 on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally of official data sources that highlighted the country's place as one of the worst hit in the world.

The Philippine health ministry on Tuesday recorded six new coronavirus deaths and 518 additional infections.

Indonesia has resumed domestic flights for all passengers provided airlines operate at 70% capacity and follow strict rules brought into force on Tuesday, when the country announced its biggest daily rise in cases of the novel coronavirus.

About 64,000 more people than usual have died in the United Kingdom during this year's coronavirus pandemic, an expert from the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday.

Indonesia's health ministry reported 1,043 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, its biggest daily rise in cases, taking the total number of infections to 33,076.

Residents of Moscow began to resume their normal routines on Tuesday as a lockdown designed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus was lifted after more than two months despite the Russian capital still reporting over a thousand daily cases.

The coronavirus might have been spreading in China as early as August last year, according to Harvard Medical School research based on satellite images of hospital travel patterns and search engine data, but China dismissed the report as "ridiculous".

South Korea's Daewoong Pharmaceutical said its anti-parasitic drug niclosamide had eliminated the novel coronavirus from animals' lungs during testing.

Mainland China reported three confirmed and 21 asymptomatic COVID-19 cases as of Monday, the National Health Commission said.

Thailand on Tuesday reported two new coronavirus cases and no new deaths, bringing its total to 3,121 confirmed cases, of which 58 were fatalities.

New coronavirus cases had their biggest daily increase ever as the pandemic worsens globally and has yet to peak in central America, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday, urging countries to press on with efforts to contains the virus.

The Mexican government reported 2,999 new coronavirus cases on Monday, bringing total confirmed infections to 120,102, according to data from the health ministry.