Health News

A cheap steroid that can help save the lives of patients with severe COVID-19 should be reserved for serious cases in which it has been shown to provide benefits, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

The number of contacts of positive COVID-19 cases reached by England's test and trace system in its first two weeks of operation was 87,639, Britain's health ministry said on Thursday.

China's capital has mandated coronavirus tests for hundreds of thousands of people as it widens measures against a new outbreak of the disease that has sent anxious residents flooding to clinics for voluntary tests, putting a strain on the system.

The European Commission is in advanced talks with pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson to reserve or buy up-front doses of its COVID-19 vaccine under development, two officials familiar with the talks told Reuters.

Beijing has brought its latest coronavirus outbreak under control, a Chinese medical expert said on Thursday, although the capital can still expect sporadic new cases.

China reported 28 new coronavirus cases in the mainland as of end-June 17, 21 of which were in the capital of Beijing, the country's health commission said on Thursday.

Peru's miners are revving up stalled operations with mass testing, isolation periods and revamped shift patterns, setting up the world's No. 2 copper producer to hit 80% of production capacity by the end of June, industry officials said.

(The June 17 story corrects to show 79% of hospitalized patients were black, not 79% of black patients were hospitalized, in second paragraph)

The World Health Organization is looking at interim data from its large multi-country trial of the combination of HIV drugs Lopinavir and Ritonavir to treat COVID-19 patients, the UN agency's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said on Thursday.

China's capital, Beijing, has mandated coronavirus tests for hundreds of thousands of people as it widens measures against a new outbreak of the disease that has sent anxious residents pouring into clinics for voluntary tests, putting a strain on the system.

Beijing's latest coronavirus outbreak has been brought under control, Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist of China's Center for Diseases Prevention and Control, said at a regular news conference on Thursday.

Elmo, Cookie Monster and Muppets from Asia and the Middle East are joining forces for a special episode of "Sesame Street" aimed at helping kids cope with a world turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic.

Russia on Thursday reported 7,790 new cases of the novel coronavirus, its lowest daily rise in infections in six weeks, bringing the nationwide total to 561,091.

Several U.S. states including Oklahoma reported a surge in new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, days before a planned campaign rally for President Donald Trump in Tulsa that would be the nation's largest indoor social gathering in three months.

Healthcare and clinical diagnostics company Novacyt, whose shares have surged on the back of its COVID-19 testing products, on Thursday announced the launch of three new products to support testing for the presence of the virus.

Thailand on Thursday reported six new coronavirus infections and no new deaths, bringing its total to 3,141 confirmed cases, of which 58 were fatalities.

LONDON/GENEVA - The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that testing of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in its large multi-country trial of treatments for COVID-19 patients had been halted after new data and studies showed no benefit.

Proposed changes to requirements that state-run Medicaid programs are given the best drug prices would clear the way for commercial health insurers to enter into "value-based" payment schemes, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said on Wednesday.

Beijing confirmed 21 new COVID-19 cases as of June 17, China's health authority said on Thursday, down from 31 a day earlier.

The first wave of COVID-19 came slowly to San Joaquin County in the heart of California's breadbasket, but the much-feared second surge is roaring through, sickening as many people in the two weeks since Memorial Day as in March and April combined.