 | | | | China will push forward research and development of COVID-19 vaccines "with all efforts", the National Medical Products Administration said on Thursday. | | | | | | Novartis's Sandoz division will not profit from 15 generic drugs it is making available to developing countries to treat symptoms of COVID-19 for the pandemic's duration, the Swiss drugmaker said on Thursday. | | | | | | France accelerated plans on Thursday to make it compulsory to wear protective face masks in enclosed public spaces because of concerns about COVID-19, and the Mayenne region made it obligatory immediately in several places. | | | | | | Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now: | | | | | | The proportion of the contacts of positive COVID-19 cases reached by England's test and trace system was broadly steady in its fifth week of operation, figures from the health ministry showed on Thursday. | | | | | | Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm has begun Phase III clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine in Abu Dhabi using up to 15,000 volunteers, the government in the capital of the United Arab Emirates said on Thursday. | | | | | | The number of coronavirus cases in India neared one million on Thursday as infection numbers rose in the countryside, pushing authorities to reinstate lockdowns across several states. | | | | | | Malta marked a week without new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the first since the virus was detected there for the first time on March 7. | | | | | | Wearing black face masks, Spanish and foreign dignitaries paid tribute to the victims of the coronavirus pandemic and the health workers combating it in a ceremony on Thursday led by King Felipe VI. | | | | | | A multi-billion dollar Japanese campaign to boost domestic tourism faced uncertainty on Thursday as coronavirus cases grew in Tokyo, with government ministers and experts looking at ways to stop the virus being spread from the capital. | | | | | | Russia plans to produce 30 million doses of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine domestically this year, with the potential to manufacture a further 170 million abroad, the head of the country's sovereign wealth fund told Reuters. | | | | | |
