Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Coronavirus turns busy Chinese cities into ghost towns

After making sure everyone's face mask is on and sanitizer is to hand, the Qiao family heads out to Jingshan Park, a former royal sanctuary beside the Forbidden City in China's capital Beijing. Snow has fallen for a second day, a rare event in the city of 21.5 million that would normally bring hundreds of thousands of people out to take photos and play. But the streets are empty and the parks are so quiet the only sound is of birds chirping. Coronavirus cases outside China may be 'tip of the iceberg': WHO

People across China trickled back to work on Monday after an extended Lunar New Year holiday as the government eased restrictions imposed to counter the coronavirus, but the World Health Organization said the number of cases outside China could be just "the tip of the iceberg". The death toll from the epidemic rose to 908, all but two in mainland China, on Sunday as 97 more fatalities were recorded - the largest number in a single day since the outbreak was detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December. Researcher sees global smartphone output at five-year low due to virus

Researcher TrendForce said on Monday it expected global smartphone production to fall by 12% to its lowest level in five years in the first three months of 2020 because a virus outbreak in China. TrendForce said it cut its forecasts for the global smartphone output, expecting Huawei, Apple Inc. and other companies to bear brunt of the market slowdown. Vietnam culls tens of thousands birds to contain H5N6 outbreak

Vietnam has so far this year culled tens of thousands of birds to contain an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N6 bird flu detected at several farms in its northern provinces, an agriculture ministry official and state media said on Monday. The authorities have culled the birds, mostly chicken and ducks, at farms in Nghe An, Thanh Hoa and Quang Ninh provinces, said the official, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media. Four more patients test positive for coronavirus in England

Four more patients in England have tested positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of cases in Britain to eight, Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said on Monday. The new cases were all known contacts of a previously confirmed British patient in France, and were identified by public health officials working to trace possible cases. Briton in French Alps may have spread coronavirus to others across Europe

A British man who contracted the new coronavirus while attending a conference in Singapore may have led to seven other people catching the disease when he stopped off at a chalet in a French mountain village on his way home, health experts said on Sunday. The man, Britain's third case of the virus, stayed for four days in the chalet in Les Contamines-Montjoie late last month, under the same roof as a group of British holidaymakers as well as a British family who lived in the village. A mother's fight for toddler stranded in China's coronavirus epicenter

Amelia Pan is at home in Canada while her 2-year-old daughter Cerena is stranded far away in China's Hubei province, epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, being cared for by a distant relative after the girl's father and grand-parents fell ill. "I am just hanging in there," Pan, a Canadian citizen originally from China, said in a Skype interview. "I need to stay strong so I can fight for my family." China reports first H5N6 bird flu in Sichuan poultry farm: Ministry

China's agriculture ministry said the highly pathogenic H5N6 strain of avian flu had been found in a poultry farm in southwestern Sichuan province. This is the first H5N6 avian flu detected from a poultry farm after four cases found in swans this year. Roche, Lilly drugs fail to halt gene-driven Alzheimer's disease

Experimental drugs from Roche and Eli Lilly failed to halt Alzheimer's disease in their latest test, the companies said on Monday, in a blow to people whose genes make them particularly vulnerable to the illness. Pursuit of an Alzheimer's remedy, which would inevitably reap drugmakers billions of dollars, has been marked by more than 100 failures, although researchers still hope to tame a condition that affects nearly 6 million Americans, more than 40 million people worldwide, and which is growing more prevalent. Biohaven anxiety treatment fails in late-stage study

Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Ltd on Monday said its treatment for anxiety disorder failed to meet the main goal in a late-stage study, sending its shares down 25%. In the study, patients receiving the experimental drug, troriluzole, twice everyday did not show improvement in anxiety symptoms, compared to a placebo.

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