VIRUS CORONA - June 3 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization will resume its trial of hydroxychloroquine for potential use against the coronavirus, its chief said on Wednesday, after those running the study briefly stopped giving it to new patients over health concerns.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
- More than 6.43 million people have been reported infected with the new coronavirus globally and 380,411 have died, a Reuters tally showed as of 1420 GMT on Wednesday.
- For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread, open https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser.
- For a U.S.-focused tracker with state-by-state and county map, open https://tmsnrt.rs/2w7hX9T in an external browser.
- For Eikon users, see MacroVitals (cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?navid=1592404098) for a case tracker and a summary of developments.
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EUROPE
- The Spanish government on Wednesday secured parliament's backing for a final extension to the state of emergency imposed to tackle the coronavirus epidemic and which will now last until June 21.
- British doctors are testing a formulation of anti-inflammatory ibuprofen to see if it reduces respiratory failure in patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19.
- The results of almost all tests for the coronavirus should be available within 24 hours by the end of this month, the British prime minister said.
- An elementary school in the Netherlands closed in the city of The Hague after two teachers tested positive for COVID-19 and seven students developed gastrointestinal symptoms.
- Sweden's chief epidemiologist said the country should have done more to combat the coronavirus but backed the broad strategy, which avoided the strict lockdowns seen in many other countries.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin does not plan to take part in an online summit on a possible coronavirus vaccine being organised by the British government this week.
- Germany said it will lift a travel ban for European Union members plus Britain, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland from 15 June as long as there are no entry bans or large-scale lockdowns in those countries.
- Austria is lifting all coronavirus-related border restrictions including quarantines for all neighbouring countries except Italy as of Thursday.
AMERICAS
- The Trump administration has selected five companies, including Moderna Inc, AstraZeneca Plc and Pfizer Inc, as the most likely candidates to produce a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, the New York Times reported.
- A senior U.S. Army vaccine researcher said on Tuesday it was reasonable to expect that some sort of coronavirus vaccine could be available to part of the U.S. population by the end of 2020.
- U.S. President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro discussed a joint research effort on using the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as both a prophylaxis and treatment for the coronavirus, the White House said.
- Brazil registered a record 1,262 deaths over the last 24 hours, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
- Mexico's deputy health minister said on Tuesday the coronavirus had reached its peak intensity in the country after the ministry reported a record rise in daily cases.
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ASIA-PACIFIC
- China denied a report that said it delayed sharing COVID-19 information with the World Health Organization (WHO).
- India's government has approved Gilead Sciences Inc's antiviral drug remdesivir for emergency use for five doses in treating COVID-19 patients.
- India's coronavirus infections crossed 200,000, the health ministry said, and a peak could still be weeks away.
- Two Japanese baseball players and a striker in the J.League have tested positive for the coronavirus.
- Two children suspected to be South Korea's first cases of a life-threatening syndrome linked with the virus were found to have contracted Kawasaki disease, a similar but separate infection.
- Vietnam's most gravely-ill COVID-19 patient, a British pilot who works for its national airline, has started to recover and may no longer require a lung transplant.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
- Turkey's health minister said on Wednesday his team would not recommend extending a weekend stay-at-home order nearly two months after it was imposed.
- Ugandan medical workers say they lack adequate supplies of personal protective equipment for tackling COVID-19 and the risk of infection is making some reluctant to treat patients.
- Zimbabwe has raised 500 million Zimbabwe dollars ($20 million) in treasury bill auctions to help combat the spread of the coronavirus.
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ECONOMIC FALLOUT
- U.S. state tax revenue, which plunged due to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, could start to slowly recover this summer as long as the outbreak does not undergo a resurgence, analysts said.
- A gauge of global equity markets rose and the euro gained against the dollar on Wednesday, indicating strong risk appetite as easing lockdowns and hopes for more monetary stimulus boosted investor confidence.
- Italy's unemployment rate plummeted to 6.3% in April, the lowest for more than 12 years, as people stopped looking for work.
- Australia's economy has fallen into recession after data showed gross domestic product fell last quarter.
- The coronavirus pandemic further hit Germany's labour market in May as companies continued to slash thousands of jobs and put millions of employees on reduced working hours.
(Compiled by Anita Kobylinska, Anna Rzhevkina and Amy Caren Daniel; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Anil D'Silva)