Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. China reports fewer coronavirus infections, tallies asymptomatic cases

China, where the coronavirus outbreak first emerged in December, reported dwindling new infections on Wednesday and for the first time disclosed the number of asymptomatic cases, which could complicate how trends in the outbreak are read. Almost all of Tuesday's 36 new cases involved arrivals from overseas, the National Health Commission said, down from 48 a day earlier, and taking total infections to 81,554. Pentagon looking to provide up to 100,000 body bags for civilians in virus outbreak

The Pentagon is looking to provide up to 100,000 body bags for use by civilian authorities as the coronavirus outbreak worsens in the United States with a high death toll expected in coming weeks. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has requested 100,000 such bags to the U.S. Department of Defense, a Pentagon official told Reuters on Wednesday. U.N. nuclear agency sending coronavirus testing gear to 40 countries

The U.N. atomic agency is sending an initial batch of equipment to about 40 countries with which they will be able to perform a standard test for the coronavirus involving a technique derived from nuclear science, it said on Wednesday. The technique, real time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/how-is-the-covid-19-virus-detected-using-real-time-rt-pcr, or real time RT-PCR, is commonly used in developed countries to tell whether someone is infected. It detects the coronavirus's RNA, its genetic fingerprint, on a swab sample. China's Shenzhen bans the eating of cats and dogs after coronavirus

The Chinese city of Shenzhen has banned the eating of dogs and cats as part of a wider clampdown on the wildlife trade since the emergence of the new coronavirus. Scientists suspect the coronavirus passed to humans from animals. Some of the earliest infections were found in people who had exposure to a wildlife market in the central city of Wuhan, where bats, snakes, civets and other animals were sold. Trump says U.S. will soon have more ventilators than it needs for virus victims

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States will soon have more ventilators than it needs and there will be enough eventually to send some to other countries. Many state governors complain they do not have enough of ventilators at present to meet the urgent need. Shortage of drugs and equipment: Brussels hospitals sound the alarm

Hospitals in the Belgian capital called on the federal government on Wednesday to address a shortage of medicines and equipment, as COVID-19 patients continue to arrive at intensive care units that are starting to fill up. "Federal authorities do not seem to see or hear that the reality is that hospitals are in a massive shortage of all protective gear and drugs needed to treat COVID-19 patients and other categories of equipment like syringes," around 10 public and private hospitals said in a statement issued via the federation of hospitals and care homes for Belgium's regions of Brussels and Wallonia known as Santhea. France passes 4,000 coronavirus deaths, no end of lockdown in sight

France became the fourth country to pass the 4,000 coronavirus deaths threshold on Wednesday, after Italy, Spain and the United States, as the government scrambles to stay ahead of the curve regarding ventilator-equipped beds that are quickly filling up. French health authorities reported 509 new deaths from the disease, taking the total to 4,032. But, after speeding up the previous two days, the rate of increase of deaths has decelerated in France, which is now in its third week of lockdown to try to slow the spread of the virus. COVID-19 cases and deaths rising, debt relief needed for poorest nations: WHO

The head of the World Health Organization voiced deep concern on Wednesday about the rapid escalation and global spread of COVID-19 cases from the new coronavirus, which has now reached 205 countries and territories. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that his agency, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund backed debt relief to help developing countries cope with the pandemic's social and economic consequences. Most Americans huddle indoors as coronavirus deaths keep spiking

Four new states imposed sweeping stay-at-home directives on Wednesday in response to the coronavirus pandemic, putting over 80% of Americans under lockdown as the number of deaths in the United States nearly doubled in three days. The governors of Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Nevada each instituted the strict policies on a day when the death toll from COVID-19 shot up by 925 to more than 4,800 nationwide, with 214,000 confirmed cases, according to a Reuters tally. Coronavirus can spread one to three days before symptoms appear: CDC study

People infected with the novel coronavirus can transmit the infection one-to-three days before symptoms start to appear, according to a study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The study, which underscored the importance of social distancing to fight the coronavirus outbreak, looked at 243 cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, reported in Singapore between January 23 and March 16.