Reuters Health News

Britain's GlaxoSmithKline laid out plans on Thursday to produce 1 billion doses of vaccine efficacy boosters, or adjuvants, next year as the race to develop and produce a successful solution to the coronavirus crisis heats up.

Russia on Thursday reported 174 deaths from the new coronavirus in the previous 24 hours, matching its record daily rise for fatalities and taking the overall death toll to 4,142.

Moderna Inc has extended a deal to secure large volumes of the lipids used to produce its experimental COVID-19 vaccine in a bid to meet increasing demand for the medicine, the U.S. biotech company said on Thursday.

Millions of women worldwide are facing shortages of sanitary products, price hikes, and worsened stigma while managing periods during the coronavirus pandemic, a charity warned on Thursday.

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

Roche plans to test if mixing its anti-inflammation drug Actemra with Gilead Sciences Inc's anti-viral treatment remdesivir works better against severe COVID-19 pneumonia than remdesivir alone, the Swiss drugmaker said on Thursday.

Thailand on Thursday reported 11 new coronavirus cases and no new deaths, bringing its total to 3,065 confirmed cases and 57 fatalities since the outbreak started in January.

Leonardo Silveira, a bookstore owner in Montevideo, is hopeful about the future as Uruguay begins a gradual reopening. The small country has kept rates of COVID-19 at one of the lowest levels in Latin America, even as the region becomes a coronavirus epicenter.

South Korea reported 79 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the most since April 5 and the third straight day of rising infections, raising the spectre of a second wave of disease in a country widely praised for containing the initial outbreak.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 353 to 179,717, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Thursday.

At the beginning of April, a young Japanese sumo wrestler known as Shobushi came down with a fever. His coaches tried calling a local public health centre to get him a coronavirus test, but the phone lines were busy.

Australia's National Rugby League football competition, a bruising body contact sport, will on Thursday resume after a two-month hiatus as the number of coronavirus cases in the country slows and social restrictions are eased.

Along with hair stylists, camera operators and the hundreds of others who make magic happen for TV and film, Hollywood is counting on a new supporting member for future productions: COVID-19 consultants.

Mexico on Wednesday registered 3,463 new cases of coronavirus and 463 deaths, bringing its totals to 78,023 cases and 8,597 fatalities, according to information provided by health authorities.

China reported two new confirmed coronavirus cases in the mainland on May 27, up from one a day earlier, the country's health authority said on Thursday.

Brazil's death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 25,000 people on Wednesday, at 25,598, the Health Ministry said. Deaths from the disease caused by the coronavirus over the last 24 hours were 1,086.

Larry Kramer, an author, playwright and film producer who helped shape U.S. healthcare policy with his early advocacy of a national response to AIDS when it first emerged in the 1980s, died on Wednesday at 84.

Gilead Sciences Inc, which has suggested that a shorter treatment duration could extend limited supplies of its drug remdesivir, on Wednesday published results of a study showing no significant difference in outcomes between 5- and 10-day courses of the drug for patients with severe COVID-19.

European governments moved on Wednesday to halt the use of anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 patients, and a second global trial was suspended, further blows to hopes for a treatment promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The following is a brief roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.