Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. U.S. coronavirus lockdown to last 10-12 weeks, top Trump official says

The lockdown affecting large segments of the American public to try to curb the spread of the coronavirus is likely to last 10 to 12 weeks, or until early June, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday. Americans are adapting to the biggest change in daily life since World War Two with schools closed, sports canceled and economic upheaval as job losses mount with the shuttering of businesses across many industries. 'We are at war' says Spain of its coronavirus efforts, seeking extended state of emergency

The Spanish government sought on Sunday to extend until April 11 a state of emergency that it has imposed to try to control Europe's second-worst outbreak of coronavirus. The death toll jumped to over 1,700, with more than 28,000 cases of infection. Johnson tells UK: Stay apart or face tougher coronavirus measures

Britain may need to impose curfews and travel restrictions to halt the spread of the coronavirus if people do not heed the government's advice on social distancing, Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Sunday. Pubs, clubs and gyms have already closed, but social media on Sunday was awash with pictures of people congregating in parks and food markets, apparently ignoring advice to stay two metres apart. China sees drop in new coronavirus cases; all new cases imported

Mainland China saw a drop in its daily tally of new coronavirus cases, reversing four straight days of gains, as the capital Beijing ramped up measures to contain the number of infections arriving from abroad. China had 39 new confirmed cases on Sunday, the National Health Commission said, down from 46 a day earlier. All of them involved travellers arriving from abroad, many of whom are Chinese students returning home. South Korea reports fewest new coronavirus cases since February 29 peak

South Korea on Monday reported its lowest number of new coronavirus cases since the peak so far on Feb. 29 and the extended downward trend in daily infections has boosted hopes that Asia's largest outbreak outside China may be abating. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said there were 64 new cases on Monday, taking the national tally to 8,961. The death toll rose by one to 110. Canada coronavirus death toll jumps, officials could punish those ignoring precautions

The Canadian death toll from the coronavirus outbreak jumped by more than 50% on Sunday, and impatient officials threatened to punish people refusing to take precautions to fight the spread of the highly contagious illness. The number of deaths from the respiratory disease rose to 20 by 6 p.m. (2200 GMT) on Sunday from 13 the previous day, Ottawa said, while the number of confirmed cases jumped to 1,430 from 1,099. There are coronavirus cases in all 10 Canadian provinces. Venezuela prohibits company layoffs and suspends credit collections over coronavirus

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced on Sunday a series of economic measures to address the financial fallout from the spread of the coronavirus in the country, including prohibiting layoffs while also suspending rent payments and credit payments. "We have the conscience and the absolute decision to protect all jobs in the country, to protect the entire operation of all companies and businesses in the country," Maduro said during a live appearance on state television. Exclusive: U.S. axed CDC expert job in China months before virus outbreak

Several months before the coronavirus pandemic began, the Trump administration eliminated a key American public health position in Beijing intended to help detect disease outbreaks in China, Reuters has learned. The American disease expert, a medical epidemiologist embedded in China's disease control agency, left her post in July, according to four sources with knowledge of the issue. The first cases of the new coronavirus may have emerged as early as November, and as cases exploded, the Trump administration in February chastised China for censoring information about the outbreak and keeping U.S. experts from entering the country to help. Gilead puts emergency access to experimental coronavirus drug on hold amid surging demand

Gilead Sciences Inc said on Sunday it was temporarily putting new emergency access to its experimental coronavirus drug remdesivir on hold due to overwhelming demand and that it wanted most people receiving the drug to participate in a clinical trial to prove if it is safe and effective. The drugmaker said in a statement there had been an exponential increase in so-called compassionate-use requests for the drug. The spread of the virus in Europe and the United States has "flooded an emergency treatment access system that was set up for very limited access to investigational medicines and never intended for use in response to a pandemic," it said. UK scientists to track mutations in coronavirus to map spread

UK scientists are to track the spread of the new coronavirus and watch for emerging mutations by using gene sequencing to analyze the strains causing thousands of COVID-19 infections across the country, Britain said on Monday. Researchers will collect data from samples from infected patients in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the government said in a statement.