Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Do social distancing better, White House doctor tells Americans. Trump objects

Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House task force on the coronavirus, had a message for Americans on Thursday: do better at social distancing. President Donald Trump didn't like the message. At what has become a daily briefing by the president and his advisers, Birx, a highly respected expert in global health, has served the role of explainer, walking journalists and the public through the data behind federal recommendations designed to slow the virus's spread. Volunteer disinfectant sprayers help Wuhan prepare for a return to work

Volunteers in hazmat suits have been spraying Wuhan with disinfectant to help the Chinese city where the coronavirus first took hold get back to work as the number of new cases in China drops. Wuhan, where 11 million people live, had been paralysed by containment efforts imposed by authorities, who shut down public transport as well as taxi services as part of a lockdown, leaving it mostly to ordinary citizens to keep the city running. U.S. CDC reports 213,144 coronavirus cases, 4,513 deaths

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday reported 213,144 cases of coronavirus, an increase of 27,043 cases from its previous count, and said the number of deaths had risen by 910 to 4,513. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4 pm ET on April 1 compared to its count a day ago. (https://bit.ly/2IVY1JT). Washington, D.C. needs 3,600 hospital beds for coronavirus peak: mayor

Washington, D.C. needs an estimated 3,600 hospital beds within the next two weeks as it braces for a coronavirus outbreak, the mayor wrote in a letter to hospitals in the U.S. capital. The federal district is asking hospitals to consider repurposing unused clinical spaces, cafeterias and meeting rooms and reopening medical office buildings and medical towers to create room for more hospital beds, Mayor Muriel Bowser wrote. Fujifilm says new coronavirus test can produce results in two hours

Fujifilm Holdings Corp said it has developed a new test for the novel coronavirus that reduces the results time to about two hours. The test was developed by subsidiary Fujifilm Wako Pure Chemical Corp and will be released on April 15, the company said in a release on Friday. Explainer: How an old tuberculosis vaccine might help fight the new coronavirus

There is no vaccine against the novel coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, that is spreading rapidly around the world. But scientists in several countries are testing a century-old tuberculosis (TB) vaccine to see if it might boost the immune system to reduce respiratory symptoms in people who get new coronavirus infections. Researchers in Australia and Europe are testing whether the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, introduced in the 1920s to fight tuberculosis, might be deployed to combat COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Clinical trials are focused on two groups at high-risk for COVID-19: health care workers and the elderly. Staff at a NY hospital dump protective gear in outdoor trash can after handling bodies

Staff at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in New York City were seen disposing of their gowns and caps and other protective wear in a sidewalk trash can on Thursday after wheeling bodies out of the hospital and loading them into a refrigerated truck. Hospital workers typically wear protective gear while caring for patients suffering from COVID-19, the sometimes deadly respiratory disease caused by the highly infectious new virus. Reuters was unable to confirm whether the bodies were those of coronavirus victims. Exclusive: Sanofi can produce millions of doses of potential coronavirus drug - CEO

Sanofi SA will be able to provide millions of doses of hydroxychloroquine for patients with the illness caused by the novel coronavirus if the old malaria drug proves successful in clinical trials, its chief executive told Reuters on Thursday. Paul Hudson, who became CEO of the French drugmaker in September, said in an interview that the company is currently manufacturing at over 93% capacity during the pandemic. U.S. officials redistribute protective gear seized from alleged hoarder

U.S. officials said on Thursday they would distribute a stockpile of personal protective equipment, including 192,000 N95 respirator masks, which they seized this week from an alleged hoarder. The departments of Justice (DOJ) and Health and Human Services (HHS) said the equipment had been seized by a task force set up to crack down on coronavirus-related hoarding and price gouging. Global coronavirus cases surpass one million

Global coronavirus cases surpassed 1 million on Thursday with more than 52,000 deaths as the pandemic further exploded in the United States and the death toll climbed in Spain and Italy, according to a Reuters tally of official data. Italy had the most deaths, more than 13,900, followed by Spain. The United States had the most confirmed cases of any country, more than 240,000, the data showed.