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.

Germany's Merkel goes into quarantine after contact with infected doctor

German chancellor Angela Merkel went into quarantine on Sunday after coming into contact with a coronavirus-infected doctor shortly after announcing more curbs on social interaction to slow the spread of the disease. Merkel, 65, will continue her work from home and will submit to repeated tests over the next few days, her spokesman said in a statement, adding it was too soon for a conclusive test yet.

Coronavirus supplies donated by Alibaba's Ma arrive in Africa

A first planeload of protective and medical equipment donated to Africa by Chinese billionaire and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma to help it fight the coronavirus arrived in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Sunday. So far, the continent of 1.3 billion people has registered only around 1,100 cases spread across 43 countries, with 39 deaths. While that is a tiny fraction of the more than 305,000 people infected and more than 13,000 deaths worldwide, there are concerns that Africa's relatively poor health infrastructure means it will not cope if the virus becomes established.

China scrambles to curb rise in imported coronavirus cases, Wuhan eases lockdown

China reported 46 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, while the city of Wuhan, the pandemic's ground zero, announced it would be loosening a two-month lockdown by gradually resuming public transportation and allowing healthy people to resume work. It was the fourth day in a row with an increase in Chinese cases, all but one of which was imported from overseas.

Syria confirms first coronavirus case

Syria on Sunday confirmed its first case of coronavirus, in a person who had come from abroad. Health Minister Nizar al-Yaziji told state media "necessary measures" had been taken regarding the 20 year-old woman, who he said would be quarantined for 14 days and given medical checks.

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.

Facebook donates emergency reserve of 720,000 masks due to coronavirus outbreak

Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Sunday that the social media company has donated its emergency reserve of 720,000 masks to provide health workers with more protective gear. "To help, Facebook donated our emergency reserve of 720,000 masks that we had bought in case the wildfires continued," Zuckerberg said in a post, adding that the company is also working on "sourcing a lot more to donate."

Italy bans internal travel as death toll rises a further 651

Italy banned travel within the country on Sunday in yet another attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus, with data showing a further 651 people had died from the disease, lifting the number of fatalities to 5,476. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced late on Saturday he would freeze all non-essential business activity after previous measures failed to peg back the contagion, which emerged a month ago in the wealthy north before slowly advancing southwards.