Health News Roundup: U.S. CDC reports 565,585 COVID cases; Trump's COVID-19 disinfectant ideas horrify health experts and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

U.S. CDC reports 865,585 coronavirus cases, 48,816 deaths

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday reported 865,585 cases of the novel coronavirus, an increase of 37,144 from its previous count, and said the number of deaths had risen by 2,437 to 48,816. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of April 23, compared with its count a day earlier. (https://bit.ly/2IVY1JT)

Trump's COVID-19 disinfectant ideas horrify health experts

U.S. President Donald Trump's musings on whether injecting disinfectants might treat COVID-19 horrified medical professionals on Friday and raised fresh concerns that his stream-of-consciousness briefings could push frightened people to poison themselves with untested treatments. An international chorus of doctors and health experts urged people not to drink or inject disinfectant after Trump on Thursday suggested that scientists should investigate inserting the cleaning agent into the body as a way to cure COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus.

Water shortage leaves poorer Mexicans high and dry in coronavirus fight

In the shade of a rust-colored hill, a dozen women gathered on a dusty road to fill buckets from a water tanker truck that pulled up to service their modest community built on a former Mexico City dump. Grappling with the largest public health crisis in modern times, Mexican health authorities battling to stem a jump in new coronavirus infections have made the phrases "wash your hands" and "stay at home" their mantras.

U.S. FDA warns against malaria drugs Trump championed for COVID-19

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday cautioned against the use of malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 patients even as President Donald Trump, who has touted it as a "game changer," advocated for an additional review. The drug, first approved in 1955, provided no benefit and potentially higher risk of death for patients at U.S. veterans hospitals, according to an analysis that has been submitted for an expert review on Tuesday.

World leaders launch plan to speed COVID-19 drugs, vaccine; U.S. stays away

World leaders pledged on Friday to accelerate work on tests, drugs and vaccines against COVID-19 and to share them around the globe, but the United States did not take part in the launch of the World Health Organization (WHO) initiative. French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa were among those who joined a video conference to launch what the WHO billed as a "landmark collaboration" to fight the pandemic.

In coronavirus pandemic, do your part by staying healthy.

Here's what doctors recommend

Americans can avoid burdening an already stressed healthcare system by staying healthy, and experts said some simple practices help during the novel coronavirus pandemic. For people isolated at home, experts said daily habits should include sufficient sleep, adequate water intake, nutritious meals, physical movement, virtual social contact and limited alcohol.

Coronavirus and COVID-19: Fact versus fiction

U.S. President Donald Trump's musings about whether disinfectants and ultraviolet light can be inserted into patients' bodies to treat COVID-19 have alarmed doctors and drawn warnings from the makers of Lysol, Dettol and Clorox. Here are some other claims that have circulated about how to treat COVID-19 or stop the transmission of the new coronavirus, and the facts according to doctors and health experts:

Reasons for hope: the drugs, tests and tactics that may conquer coronavirus

With much of the world living in lockdown, the spread of the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, that was first detected in China late last year is beginning to slow in some places. As of April 23, 2.7 million had been infected and 192,000 killed by COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. While a safe, effective vaccine is still more than a year away, researchers are rushing to repurpose existing drugs and non-drug therapies as well as testing promising experimental drugs that were already in clinical trials.

Up to one in 10 residents of Moscow may have had coronavirus infections: laboratory

Tests in the wider Moscow region to see if people are carrying coronavirus antibodies suggest that as many as one in 10 residents may have been infected, a government project said on Friday. The results, disclosed to Reuters by Moscow's International Medical Cluster, suggest that the novel coronavirus has spread more widely than the official tallies of confirmed infections.

Exclusive: Trial of Gilead's potential coronavirus treatment running ahead of schedule, researcher says

A key U.S. government trial of Gilead Sciences Inc's experimental coronavirus treatment may yield results as early as mid-May, according to the study's lead investigator, after doctors clamored to enroll their patients in the study. Preliminary findings from the randomized trial of the antiviral drug remdesivir, begun in February by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), could come even sooner, lead researcher Dr. Andre Kalil told Reuters in an interview. There are currently no approved treatments or vaccines for COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new virus that has killed over 190,000 people globally, according to a Reuters tally.