Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. U.S. hospitals, patients cancel elective surgery as coronavirus spreads

U.S. hospitals, anticipating a need for beds as more people are diagnosed with coronavirus, are postponing elective surgeries, while some patients, leery of going to a hospital, are canceling appointments themselves. Several hospitals in the hard-hit Seattle area, including EvergreenHealth, have suspended elective procedures like knee replacements for the next 30 days. Emergency surgeries like appendectomies or a broken wrist that needs surgery will continue. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday said he would sign an executive order to postpone all elective surgeries at New York City hospitals so doctors and nurses can focus on treating patients infected with the virus. FDA giving states authority to approve own coronavirus tests, official says

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday took a step toward speeding the development of coronavirus test kits, agreeing a regulatory change to give states the ability to approve tests developed in laboratories in the states, an administration official said. The regulatory relief came as President Donald Trump attempts to accelerate the availability of testing for the pandemic as the virus spreads deeper into the United States. Brazil to hire more doctors to fight coronavirus, including Cubans

Brazil is set to hire more doctors to fight coronavirus and the drive will include Cuban doctors in Brazil as part of a medical program that was canceled in late 2018 amid a diplomatic spat between Havana and Jair Bolsonaro, the health ministry said on Monday. Health ministry officials said they will initially look to hire Brazilian nationals, but after that, they would try to bring in Cuban doctors - collateral damage in a war-of-words between President Jair Bolsonaro, who was then the president-elect, and Havana. Coronavirus causes historic market drop, global scramble to contain 'invisible enemy'

Coronavirus fears led to a historic drop in U.S. stocks, shut borders and disrupted daily life around the world, as governments took increasingly drastic measures to try to reduce the severity of the global outbreak. Financial markets had their worst day in 30 years despite emergency action by global central banks to try to prevent a recession, with U.S. stock markets falling 12% to 13%, wiping out trillions of dollars in market value. Trump and U.S. states ramp up drive to slow spread of coronavirus

The White House, under pressure to escalate national action to combat the coronavirus, urged Americans on Wednesday to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people and called for closing bars, restaurants and other venues in states where local virus transmission exists. But President Donald Trump refrained from ordering sweeping public quarantines, lockdowns or curfews for the time being, even as some state and local authorities independently imposed mandatory restrictions on eateries, movie theaters and other places of leisure in a bid to contain the respiratory virus. Deserted streets, talking drones as Spain imposes state of emergency over virus

Spain's streets were eerily quiet on Monday but for loudspeakers mounted on police cars or carried by drones telling people to go home, as Spaniards spent their first working day under a lockdown forced by the coronavirus epidemic. Spain's 47 million people have been under partial lockdown since Saturday night, allowed to leave their homes only to go to work, buy food or visit a pharmacy or hospital. Trump urges U.S. to halt most social activity in virus fight, warns of recession

U.S. President Donald Trump urged Americans on Monday to halt most social activities for 15 days and not congregate in groups larger than 10 people in a newly aggressive effort to reduce the spread of the coronavirus in the United States. Announcing new guidelines from his coronavirus task force, the president said people should avoid discretionary travel and not go to bars, restaurants, food courts or gyms. Imported coronavirus infections top new local cases in China for fourth day

China reported on Tuesday another rise in confirmed coronavirus cases as infections from abroad made it increasingly hard for authorities to reduce the overall number of new infections to zero. Mainland China had 21 new confirmed cases on Monday, the National Health Commission said, up from 16 a day earlier. Of the new cases, 20 involved infected travelers arriving in China from abroad. EU weighs in with loan to support CureVac's European operations

The European Commission said on Monday it offered up to 80 million euros ($89 million) of financial support to CureVac to scale up development and production of a coronavirus vaccine in Europe. The funding pledge comes one day after German government sources told Reuters that the Trump administration was looking in to how it could gain access to a potential vaccine being developed by the unlisted German firm, sparking a backlash in Berlin. Trials of potential coronavirus treatments start for some existing drugs

Drugs used for treating arthritis are being tested as treatments for COVID-19, the disease caused by a new coronavirus, as researchers rush to find ways of helping patients and slowing the number of infections. Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said on Monday they began a clinical trial of their rheumatoid arthritis drug Kevzara as a coronavirus treatment, while in Spain a separate trial is studying if a combination of two drugs can slow down the spread of coronavirus among people.