The World Health Organization has no blanket recommendation for countries and regions for easing measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, but urged them not to lift them too early, a spokesman said on Tuesday. “One of the most important parts is not to let go of the measures...

Officials in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro have divided public opinion by preparing more than 600 graves for coronavirus victims ahead of anticipated deaths. The Dnipro mayor's spokeswoman Yulia Vitvitska told AFP the city had dug 615 graves and readied 2,000 body bags in preparation...

 Australia’s lock-down measures have bought it time in its fight against the coronavirus and it must now decide its next course, its top medical officer said on Tuesday, as the prime minister warned against irreparable economic damage. Australia has seen a sharp drop in its rate of new...

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will on Tuesday declare a state of emergency in parts of the country, including Tokyo, over a spike in coronavirus infections. "I have decided that a situation gravely affecting people's life and the economy has occurred. This evening, I plan to call a...

The Taliban on Tuesday broke off talks with the Afghan government on a prisoner exchange, a main step in peace talks being brokered by the United States after it agreed on a troop withdrawal pact with the militants. Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Islamist insurgent group's political...

The World Health Organization (WHO) voiced concern on Monday that the wearing of medical masks by the general public could exacerbate the shortage for health workers who are on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns in many places are proving effective in dampening spread of...

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, citing the coronavirus outbreak, ordered Tuesday's Democratic presidential primary and other elections in the midwestern US state to be postponed until June. Evers said holding the elections as planned on Tuesday would expose poll workers and voters to...

President Donald Trump and members of his administration are growing emphatic in promoting an anti-malaria drug not yet officially approved for fighting COVID-19, even though scientists say more testing is needed before it’s proven safe and effective against the virus. Trump trade adviser...

The United States had no knowledge of a shipment of face masks bound for Germany that officials in Berlin have accused it of diverting from an airport in Bangkok, a spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Thailand said. The comment came after Berlin Secretary of Interior Andreas Geisel said...

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday the government plans to declare a state of emergency and proposed a stimulus package worth $1 trillion as new coronavirus infections spike in Tokyo and elsewhere.  "We hope to declare a state of emergency as early as tomorrow after...

Taiwan has replaced its tourism chief and ordered vacationers who visited crowded scenic sites over the recent holiday weekend to avoid public spaces as it strives to maintain its relative success in containing the coronavirus.  Tourism Bureau Director-General Chou Yung-hui was demoted...

Officials in Greece on Sunday placed a second migrant camp near Athens under lockdown after an Afghan resident tested positive for the coronavirus, the migration ministry said. Officials said the camp in Malakasa, some 38 kilometres (24 miles) northeast of Athens, had been placed under...

Most Brazilians are against President Jair Bolsonaro’s potential resignation despite mounting criticism toward his handling of the coronavirus outbreak, according to a poll published by local newspaper Folha de S.Paulo on Sunday. The survey conducted by Datafolha pollster between April 1-3...

The United States enters one of the most critical weeks so far in the coronavirus crisis with the death toll exploding in New York, Michigan and Louisiana and some governors calling for a national order to stay at home. New York is the hardest-hit state with more than 40 percent of all U.S....

Pope Francis called for courage in the face of the coronavirus pandemic as he delivered Palm Sunday mass by livestream instead of before Saint Peter's Square crowds. The Vatican is abandoning centuries of tradition and refraining from public celebrations of the official start of the...

A planned $1 billion cut in U.S. aid to Afghanistan would come from funds for Afghan security forces, according to three U.S. sources, a step experts said would undercut both Kabul's ability to fight the Taliban and its leverage to negotiate a peace deal with them. Secretary of State Mike...

No one should have known Bella Lamilla’s name.  But within hours of her diagnosis as Ecuador’s first coronavirus case, it was circulating on social media along with photos showing the retired schoolteacher unconscious and intubated in a hospital bed. Her large, close-knit family watched...

The New York governor said Saturday the Chinese government was facilitating a shipment of 1,000 donated ventilators to his state, highlighting the extreme measures leaders are taking in what has become a cutthroat scramble to independently secure enough lifesaving devices during the coronavirus...

Shady middlemen, phantom shipments, prices soaring by the hour, goods flown in on a private plane. What sounds like an organized-crime thriller is now the new reality for governors desperately trying to find the medical equipment their states need in the throes of a pandemic. With the...

The global death toll in the coronavirus crisis soared past 60,000 on Saturday, as U.S. calls for the public to cover their faces reignited debate about whether masks can be effective in stemming the pandemic. The latest milestone came as Britain recorded a new daily high in fatalities,...