Health News Roundup: Fiat Chrysler to make face masks for North America; Italian coronavirus cases likely '10 times higher than reported' and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Three-pronged distancing most effective at controlling COVID-19: study

A key modeling study from Singapore has found that putting multiple social lockdowns in place - including school closures - will have the biggest impact on curbing COVID-19, the pandemic disease caused by the new coronavirus. Quarantining infected people and their family members, closing schools, and imposing workplace distancing and homeworking can all limit the spread, the study found, but a combination of all three is most effective in reducing cases.

Italian coronavirus cases likely '10 times higher than reported'

The number of cases of coronavirus in Italy is probably 10 times higher than the official tally of almost 64,000, the head of the agency that is collating the data said on Tuesday. Latest figures show 6,077 people have died from the infection in barely a month, making Italy the worst-affected country in the world, with close to double the number of fatalities in China, where the virus emerged last year.

First hearse arrives at Spain's makeshift ice-rink morgue as coronavirus toll mounts

The first hearse arrived on Tuesday at Madrid's ice rink, hastily transformed into a makeshift mortuary as Spanish authorities scrambled to deal with a rising death toll from the coronavirus. Spain is Europe's second-worst hit country after Italy, with 2,696 deaths and nearly 40,000 confirmed cases after 6,600 cases and more than 500 deaths were reported overnight, the sharpest daily increase since the start of the crisis.

U.S. surgeon general says coronavirus outbreak 'to get bad' this week

The U.S. surgeon general issued his starkest warning to date on Monday about the health risk posed by the coronavirus outbreak, warning Americans that the crisis was "going to get bad" this week. The country's top public health official, Surgeon General Jerome Adams, sounded the alarm as nearly one-third of Americans awoke to "stay at home orders."

Britain wakes up to coronavirus lockdown, confusion continues

Britain awoke to a virtual lockdown on Tuesday after Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered people to stay at home, shops to close and an end to all social gatherings to halt the spread of coronavirus. The unprecedented peacetime restrictions, which will last for at least three weeks, were brought in to prevent the state-run National Health Service (NHS) from being overwhelmed as the number of deaths in Britain rose to 335.

Ford joins 3M, GE in speeding up ventilator, respirator production

Ford Motor Co said on Tuesday it was working with General Electric's healthcare unit and 3M Co to speed up production of ventilators for patients and respirators for healthcare workers as the coronavirus pandemic escalates. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that U.S. automakers General Motors Co, Ford, and Tesla Inc had been given the green light to produce ventilators and other items needed during the coronavirus outbreak.

What you need to know about the coronavirus right now

Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:

The $2-trillion shot in the arm U.S. has potential of becoming coronavirus epicenter, says WHO

The World Health Organization said on Tuesday it was seeing a "very large acceleration" in coronavirus infections in the United States which had the potential of becoming the new epicenter. Over the past 24 hours, 85 percent of new cases were from Europe and the United States, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told reporters. Of those, 40 percent were from the United States.

Fiat Chrysler to make face masks for North America

Italian-U.S. car giant Fiat Chrysler has confirmed plans to produce a million face masks a month and said it will distribute them to emergency services in North America to help the fight against coronavirus. FCA, which is also trying to help produce badly needed respirators for patients in intensive care in Italy, is one of a number of large manufacturers adapting production lines to make products in desperately short supply.

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Germany's Qiagen starts shipping coronavirus diagnostic tests to United States

German molecular testing company Qiagen NV said on Tuesday it has begun shipping its diagnostic test for COVID-19 to the United States. The test kit, QIAstat-Dx Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Panel, requires less than one minute for sample preparation and can deliver results in about one hour, the company said.

(With inputs from agencies.)