Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

'A disaster': Roche CEO's verdict on some COVID-19 antibody tests

Some blood tests being marketed to tell people if they have had the new coronavirus are a "disaster", Roche Chief Executive Severin Schwan said on Wednesday as he prepares to launch the drugmaker's own antibody test next month. Roche's diagnostics business has moved out of the shadow of its main medicines unit during the pandemic, as the Swiss pharma giant confirmed its 2020 sales and profit outlook amid rising demand for COVID-19 testing.

Italy's daily coronavirus death toll falls, but new cases climb

Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 437 on Wednesday, against 534 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the daily tally of new infections increased to 3,370 from 2,729 on Tuesday. The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on Feb. 21 now stands at 25,085 the agency said, the second highest in the world after that of the United States.

France coronavirus death toll close to Spain's, still world's fourth highest

The number of people who have died from coronavirus infection in France increased by 544 to 21,340 on Wednesday, the fourth-highest casualty tally in the world, but trailing just a few hundred behind Spain, which has a death toll of 21,717. The toll increased at a rate of 2.6% on Wednesday, the same as Tuesday, and remained well below the four to five percent rates seen a week ago. In Spain, the increase in the number of deaths has been close to 2% for four days.

U.S. CDC reports 802,583 coronavirus cases, 44,575 deaths

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday reported 802,583 cases of the novel coronavirus, an increase of 26,490 from its previous count, and said the number of deaths had risen by 2,817 to 44,575. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of April 21, compared with its count a day earlier. (https://bit.ly/2IVY1JT)

Alarmed as COVID patients' blood thickened, New York doctors try new treatments

As the novel coronavirus spread through New York City in late March, doctors at Mount Sinai Hospital noticed something strange happening to patients' blood. Signs of blood thickening and clotting were being detected in different organs by doctors from different specialties. This would turn out to be one of the alarming ways the virus ravages the body, as doctors there and elsewhere were starting to realize.

Recovered, almost: China's early patients unable to shed coronavirus

Dressed in a hazmat suit, two masks and a face shield, Du Mingjun knocked on the mahogany door of a flat in a suburban district of Wuhan on a recent morning. A man wearing a single mask opened the door a crack and, after Du introduced herself as a psychological counsellor, burst into tears.

U.S. dentists seeking to conduct coronavirus testing face regulatory, supply hurdles

U.S. dental care providers are pushing for permission to test patients for the coronavirus, both to help augment a nationwide effort to combat its spread and shore up their own dwindling business, with most of the country still under stay-at-home orders. North American Dental Group (NADG), a Pittsburgh-based dental services organization, wants to provide diagnostic testing in all of its approximately 250 facilities across 15 states, the company told Reuters. This week, it launched a small pilot program in New York state, epicenter of the U.S. epidemic.

Coronavirus circulated in U.S. weeks earlier than thought, mistaken for flu, health official says

The novel coronavirus circulated in January in California, weeks earlier than thought, and early deaths were likely mistaken for the flu, a county health official said on Wednesday. A 57-year-old woman had died of COVID-19 on Feb. 6, far earlier than any other reported cases in the United States, said Sara Cody, the health officer in Santa Clara County, California.

U.S. deaths top 46,000 after near-record increase previous day: Reuters tally

U.S. coronavirus deaths topped 46,000 on Wednesday after rising by a near-record single-day number on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally. A University of Washington model https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america, often cited by the White House, projected a total of nearly 66,000 U.S. coronavirus deaths by Aug. 4, an upward revision from its most recent previous estimate of 60,000 deaths. At current rates, U.S. deaths could reach 50,000 later this week.

WHO chief urges U.S. to reconsider funding, says 'virus will be with us for a long time'

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that he hoped the Trump administration would reconsider its suspension of funding, but that his main focus was on ending the pandemic and saving lives. There were "worrying upward trends" in early epidemics in parts of Africa and central and South America, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.