Health News

Gilead Sciences Inc is developing easier-to-administer versions of its antiviral treatment remdesivir for COVID-19 that could be used outside of hospitals, including ones that can be inhaled, after trials showed moderate effectiveness for the drug given by infusion.

An outbreak of COVID-19 at a logistics centre run by one of South Korea's largest online shopping companies has raised concerns over whether the virus can be transmitted by package deliveries.

The European Commission on Tuesday started a process that could lead to reforms of drug manufacturing to limit shortages of vaccines and antibiotics and make medicines more easily available.

Pfizer Inc said on Tuesday it will invest up to $500 million into publicly traded drug developers to fund their treatment candidates and provide access to the U.S. drugmaker's scientific expertise.

The first results from the world's largest randomised trial of drugs to treat COVID-19 patients could be available in early July, one of the scientists leading the UK-based study called Recovery said on Tuesday.

Scientists have found 27 key proteins in the blood of people infected with COVID-19 which they say could act as predictive biomarkers for how ill a patient could become with the disease.

Sweden's testing for the new coronavirus rose last week to its highest level since the outbreak began but still fell far short of the target, in what has increasingly become a focal point of criticism of the government's pandemic policy.

Britain's statistics watchdog chided the government on Tuesday for publishing data on coronavirus tests that it said were "far from complete and comprehensible".

Fewer than one in 10 of coronavirus test samples collected daily in Afghanistan are being processed, officials said on Tuesday, and of those more than 30% are consistently testing positive, suggesting a high and hidden number of infections.

Japan on Tuesday approved saliva-based tests for the coronavirus, offering a safer, simpler way to diagnose infection than nasal swabs as it looks to boost its testing rates.

Black and Asian people in England are up to 50% more likely to die after being infected with COVID-19, an official study said on Tuesday, reinforcing previous reports which indicated ethnic minority groups were more at risk from the virus.

Keeping at least one metre apart and wearing face masks and eye protection are the best ways to cut the risk of COVID-19 infection, according to the largest review to date of studies on coronavirus disease transmission.

The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus outbreak began, has found no new cases of people suffering from COVID-19 after testing almost its entire population, and 300 asymptomatic carriers of the virus, officials said on Tuesday.

The United Kingdom's COVID-19 death toll neared 50,000 on Tuesday, confirming its place as one of the worst hit countries in the world just as Prime Minister Boris Johnson tries to ease the stringent novel coronavirus outbreak.

British health minister Matt Hancock has spoken to the head of the country's statistics watchdog to pledge his commitment to work closely with it after David Norgrove criticised the government for publishing testing data that were "far from complete".

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

Several southern U.S. states reported sharp increases in COVID-19 infections, with Alabama, South Carolina and Virginia all seeing new cases rise 35% or more in the week ended May 31 compared with the prior week, according to a Reuters analysis.

India's government said on Tuesday it has approved Gilead Sciences Inc's antiviral drug remdesivir for emergency use for five doses in treating COVID-19 patients.

U.S. drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb Co said on Tuesday its treatment Zeposia, which it gained through its $74 billion buyout of Celgene last year, met the main goals of a late-stage study testing it in patients with an inflammatory bowel disease.

With temperatures checked, masks fitted, and hand sanitizers at the ready, many Singapore children returned to school on Tuesday after a novel coronavirus lockdown of nearly two months.