Health News

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday identified 27 coronavirus antibody tests that should no longer be sold in the United States, following up on new regulations meant to weed out dubious tests and players that had entered the country under loose rules set in March.

A quarter of Americans have little or no interest in taking a coronavirus vaccine, a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Thursday found, with some voicing concern that the record pace at which vaccine candidates are being developed could compromise safety.

Argentina, which has enforced one of the world's toughest travel bans against the coronavirus, plans to help charter a private flight to bring in rabbis from Israel to certify meat at the country's packing plants for kosher markets around the world.

Daily new hospitalizations across New York state for the novel coronavirus are below rates seen prior to its March lockdown, further evidence the state hit hardest by the pandemic has turned the corner, New York Governor Andrew said on Thursday.

Spain's daily death toll from the coronavirus fell below 50 on Thursday for the first time since a lockdown was imposed in mid-March, but the figure excludes deaths in the northeastern region of Catalonia.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it has removed 27 makers of coronavirus antibody tests from its list of vendors who have notified the agency that they were selling a test and plan to apply for emergency use authorization.

Health secretary Matt Hancock said on Thursday he was confident that a COVID-19 track and trace system would be operating by June 1, allowing lockdown rules to be eased without risking a spike in infections.

The United Nations rejected on Thursday an accusation by the United States that the world body was using the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to promote access to abortion through its humanitarian response to the deadly global outbreak.

The growth rate of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in France slowed slightly on Thursday, with health authorities reporting an additional 318 known infections, an increase of 0.2% over 24 hours.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday reported 1,551,095 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 22,860 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 1,397 to 93,061.

Britain said on Thursday it had agreed to acquire over 10 million coronavirus antibody tests from Roche and Abbott which would be rolled out to health and care workers from next week.

Britain's health minister said the health service's COVID-19 smartphone app was working on the Isle of Wight, where it is being trialled, and the country's test and trace operation would be ready to launch on June 1 when the lockdown is further eased.

In a sign that the coronavirus will one day be history, the Czech National Museum is opening an exhibition of face masks worn to protect against the infection.

Britain will buy 10 million coronavirus antibody tests from Roche and Abbott and will roll them out to health workers from next week, health minister Matt Hancock said on Thursday.

Lebanon's Health Ministry reported 63 new cases of the coronavirus on Thursday, the largest single-day increase since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Italy recorded 156 new deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic on Thursday, against 161 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the daily tally of new cases also declined slightly to 642 from 665 on Wednesday.

A U.S. Air Force plane delivered a first batch of medical aid including 50 ventilators to Russia on Thursday to help it cope with a rising number of coronavirus cases and deaths.

Healthcare workers in Britain and Thailand have started taking part in a trial to determine whether two anti-malarial drugs can prevent COVID-19, including one that U.S. President Donald Trump says he has been taking.

Singapore's health ministry said on Thursday it confirmed another 448 coronavirus cases, taking the city-state's tally of infections to 29,812.

The United Kingdom's death toll from confirmed cases of COVID-19 rose by 338 to 36,042 as of 1600 GMT on May 20, the health ministry said.