Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. U.S. doctors want details on federal distribution of Gilead coronavirus drug

The Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) is asking for more information on the federal government's plan for deciding how and where to supply the only drug so far shown to help patients infected with the novel coronavirus. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday gave emergency use authorization to Gilead Sciences Inc's remdesivir for patients with severe COVID-19 - the disease caused by the coronavirus - clearing the way for broader use in more hospitals around the United States. China open to probe of origins of coronavirus, says envoy: report

China is open to an independent investigation to determine the origins of the coronavirus now sweeping the world, its ambassador to Berlin told a German magazine on Friday, amid U.S. allegations that it came from a laboratory. China has dismissed as groundless U.S. and Australian questioning of how it had handled the coronavirus pandemic, saying it had been open and transparent, despite growing scepticism about the accuracy of its official death toll. Wuhan market had role in virus outbreak, but more research needed: WHO

A wholesale market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan played a role in the outbreak of the novel coronavirus last year, as the source or possibly as an "amplifying setting", the World Health Organization said on Friday, calling for more research. Chinese authorities shut down the market in January as part of efforts to halt the spread of the virus and ordered a temporary ban on trade and consumption of wildlife. Copper takes aim at COVID-19 with virus-killer coatings

At an outer suburban manufacturing plant, engineer Byron Kennedy is resetting a machine to spray-print a layer of copper on to a door handle, aiming to use the metal's antiviral properties to counter the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. His firm Spee3D is better known as a producer of 3D printers for copper and aluminium, used by customers including the Australian defence force and U.S. Marines to rapidly print new parts to get broken equipment back in action without waiting days for spares to arrive. As deaths mount in Brazil's Amazon, official COVID-19 toll under scrutiny

The death toll from COVID-19 in the worst hit part of Brazil's remote Amazon region may be three times the official count, according to data from public notaries reviewed by Reuters, as the spread of the disease overwhelms the public health system. Officials in Manaus, state capital of Amazonas, said they were out of hospital beds and struggling to keep pace with the burials needed. The largest of nine states in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, Amazonas has registered nearly 19.4 coronavirus deaths per 100,000 residents, compared to 4.4 for all of Brazil, according to a Reuters calculation based on the death toll released by the federal Health Ministry on Thursday. Factbox: Latest on the worldwide spread of the new coronavirus

More than 3.80 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 264,682 have died, according to the latest Reuters tally on Thursday. DEATHS AND INFECTIONS Health beats wealth for nurse expecting pandemic Mother's Day baby

Samantha Salinas never planned to give birth during a global pandemic, but Mother's Day 2020 may be when her baby finally arrives. The 33-year-old nurse, whose second child is due on Friday, said she had worked through her first pregnancy with ease in San Antonio, Texas. But news that COVID-19 patients were checking into her intensive care unit in April prompted her to make some changes. Malaria drug touted by Trump for coronavirus fails another test

The malaria treatment repeatedly championed by U.S. President Donald Trump as a "game changer" in the fight against the novel coronavirus has again failed to show a benefit in patients hospitalized with COVID-19, according to a study released on Thursday. While the study being published in the New England Journal of Medicine had certain limitations, doctors reported that the use of hydroxycholoquine neither lessened the need for patients requiring breathing assistance nor the risk of death. What you need to know about the coronavirus right now

Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now: Lessons unlearned Sony to make, donate face shields to Japan hospitals

Sony Corp said on Friday it will manufacture and donate medical face shields to hospitals in Japan, amid worries about the availability of protective equipment for healthcare workers dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. Sony joins a growing list of global companies such as Boeing and Exxon Mobil helping to provide hospitals with face shields, which protect frontline workers from potential virus-containing droplets released by coughing, sneezing and other forms of close contact.