 | | | | Less than three-quarters of close contacts of positive COVID-19 cases identified by England's test and trace system were reached in the latest weekly figures, Britain's health ministry said on Thursday, a fall in the proportion of contacts reached. | | | | | | Novartis AG agreed to pay more than $729 million to settle U.S. government charges it paid illegal kickbacks to doctors and patients to boost drug sales, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Wednesday. | | | | | | Kazakhstan will implement a second, softer lockdown for two weeks from July 5 to help combat a surge in coronavirus cases, the government said on Thursday. | | | | | | Tokyo confirmed 107 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, its highest daily tally in two months, but Japan's chief cabinet secretary said there was no need to reintroduce a state of emergency. | | | | | | With new coronavirus cases in Tokyo surging to a two-month high, Japan faces the prospect of a second wave without the experts who tackled the first phase of the epidemic. | | | | | | Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now: | | | | | | China's local governments and medical institutes should ramp up and reserve coronavirus testing capacity in preparation for increased demand amid potential outbreaks, national health authorities said on Thursday. | | | | | | Indonesia reported 1,624 coronavirus infections on Thursday in its biggest jump in new cases since the epidemic began, health ministry official Achmad Yurianto said. | | | | | | A large Indian city badly hit by the coronavirus has recorded a sharp rise in deaths not attributed to the outbreak, according to official data and burial records, highlighting how the pandemic has affected general healthcare. | | | | | | Russia on Thursday reported 6,760 new cases of the novel coronavirus, pushing its nationwide tally to 661,165. | | | | | | A strain of COVID-19 that has infected more than 300 people in Beijing since early June could have originated in South or Southeast Asia, according to a study by Harvard University researchers. | | | | | |
