Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Indonesia's frontline hospital defends policies to tackle coronavirus

Indonesia has the resources to cope with a coronavirus outbreak, the director of its leading infectious diseases hospital said, defending detection procedures in the Southeast Asian nation of more than 260 million, where no cases have been reported. The world's fourth most populous nation has tested 141 suspected cases, a small figure for its population, sparking concern among some medical professionals of a lack of vigilance and a risk of undetected cases. Some Tenerife hotel guests head to airport after coronavirus tests

Tourists staying at a Tenerife hotel that has been on lockdown after five cases of the coronavirus were detected there are free to leave if they test negative for the virus, regional health authorities said on Sunday. Hotel guests, now on their sixth day of lockdown, can leave if they do not show symptoms, test negative for the virus less than 24 hours before their flight, and continue their period of isolation in their home country, the Canary Islands' health authorities said. South Korea seeks murder charges as coronavirus kills more than 3,000 worldwide

South Korea sought murder charges against leaders of a secretive church at the center of a ballooning coronavirus outbreak in the country on Monday as the global death toll rose above 3,000. World stock markets regained some calm as hopes for global interest rate cuts to soften the economic blow of the virus steadied nerves after last week's worst plunge since the 2008 financial crisis. Coronavirus deaths rise in Italy, government prepares economic support

The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has risen to 34, five more than a day earlier, officials said on Sunday, as the government prepared to boost spending to help the fragile economy. The head of Italy's Civil Protection Agency said the cumulative number of confirmed cases of the virus had jumped to 1,694 from 1,128 on Saturday, virtually all of them coming to light since Feb. 20 in the worst such contagion in Europe. Washington state nursing home on lockdown after two cases of coronavirus found; two other cases confirmed

A nursing home near Seattle is locked down after a resident and a worker were found to have the coronavirus, officials at the home said, and two other cases in the area were confirmed on Sunday. Officials with King County Public Health said the two latest cases involved men in their 60s with underlying medical issues. Both were listed in critical condition, one at Valley Medical Center, and the other at Virginia Mason Medical Center. U.S. to give Zambia $389 million grant for AIDS relief

The United States will give Zambia a new one year bilateral grant of $389 million for AIDS relief starting in October after Congressional approval, Zambia's ministry of health said in a statement. The grant under the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) follows a meeting on Zambia which was held last week in Johannesburg, South Africa. U.S. agency investigating production of faulty coronavirus test kits

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed on Sunday that it is investigating a manufacturing defect in some initial coronavirus test kits that prompted some states to seek emergency approval to use their own test kits. On Saturday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said his state would immediately begin using its own test kit developed in-state after asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday for permission to do so. UK health minister: We are planning in case coronavirus gets much worse

Britain is planning for the global coronavirus epidemic to get worse, health minister Matt Hancock said on Sunday, describing the outbreak as a "very, very significant challenge". "We've got a clear strategy for dealing with coronavirus - a very, very significant challenge," Hancock told Sky News. "We're also planning in case this gets worse, much worse." Special Report: Broken Health - The medical crisis that’s aggravating Iraq’s unrest

On the walls of Basra children's cancer hospital hang photos of some of the youngsters who've been treated there. Most are smiling. Some of the portraits have a black stripe in the upper left corner. Those are pictures of children who passed away. Hesham Abdullah says he quit his office job to care for his son Mostafa, 14, and sold his house and all the family's valuables to pay for treatment. With no medical insurance, he estimates he has spent at least $120,000 on black market medicines and trips to overseas clinics. His family of five had to move in with his brother. Washington state confirms second U.S. coronavirus death; New York reports first case

Health officials in Washington state said late Sunday that a nursing home resident had died after contracting coronavirus, while New York's governor confirmed his state's first positive case, as the virus moved out of its West Coast foothold. The coronavirus, which emerged in China late last year, has decimated global markets as it quickly moves around the world. It appeared poised for a spike in the United States, in part because of more testing to confirm cases.